ハワイには出雲大社の分社もあり様々な面で日本との縁が深い土地。日本やアメリカ本土から訪れた神輿愛好家達との交流を育んだ。
そして3/20には代表の清野健二さんがロサンゼルスへ赴き現地の神輿會『羅府睦會(らふむつみかい)』との交流を行った。

羅府睦會は現在二代目會長の増田堅太郎さんを中心にロサンゼルスを拠点にサンフランシスコやラスベガスまで出向き20年以上に渡り精力的に活動をするグループ。

交流には會長の増田さんを始め副會長の宮田英文さん夫妻や創設メンバーの一人である門田桂子さん等8名が参加した。

海外の都市では日系・日本人の数が世界一とも言われるロサンゼルスはバンクーバーと同様に先の大戦において日系人の強制収容等の歴史を持つ土地である。

同じ北米西海岸の街での文化活動という事や代表同士が同年代という事もあり友好的な雰囲気の中で、お互いの神輿や日本文化を現地に伝えていく事の意義など話が弾んだ。

羅布睦會の特徴は女性メンバーの多さ、そして運営をリードするのも女性が中心だそうだ。

清野さんは交流の印象をこう語る 『今後の協力関係も含めてとても良い交流ができました。女性が積極的に活動しているのも素晴らしかったです。 羅布(らふ)とはかつての日系の方々がロサンゼルスの街を呼んでいた名称だそうです。それを會の名前とした所にも僕たち櫻會と同じ心を強く感じました。またどちらからともなく“TPM (Trans Pacific MIKOSHI Network)構想”という話になりました。海外にはバンクーバー、ロサンゼルス、ハワイだけではなくサンフランシスコやグアムやタイやインドネシアにも神輿があると聞きます。日本から神輿を担ぎに来る方の中には海外での神輿をもっと盛り上げたいとの思いを持っている人達もおり、そういった個人や団体との交流やネットワークで世界に向かって日本の伝統文化である神輿の輪を広げていきたいと多いに盛り上がりました』 バンクーバー、ロサンゼルス、ハワイの仲間たちと神輿を通じた友好の輪を世界へ… 今年も夏の神輿担ぎへ向けた櫻會の活動は以下のWebサイト、Facebookでも確認できます。

WEB: www.vancouversakurakai.com
Facebook:@vancouversakurakai.com

“ Our thoughts toward Japanese culture along with Mikoshi colleagues overseas”

~ Vancouver Sakura-kai interaction at Los Angeles and Hawaii~

Vancouver Sakura-kai (hereinafter, referred to Sakura-Kai), an NPO organization concentrates in Mikoshi (portable shrine) to expand Japanese traditional culture, had an interaction with the local parties at Los Angeles and Hawaii last month.

Our director, Ken Namatame participated in the Honolulu Festival parade, the biggest Japanese cultural event in Hawaii. It was the 24th year for this event to take place.

Due to the branch shrine of Izumodaisha located in Hawaii, there is a strong connection with Japan. We had great interaction with Mikoshi lovers from both Japan and the US.

In addition, our chief president, Kenji Seino visited a local Mikoshi group, Rafumutsumi-Kai at Los Angeles on March 20th.

Rafumutsumi-kai has a 20 years of history in Mikoshi. The group is organized by their second generation leader, Kentarou Masuda and their events are centralized in San Francisco and Las Vegas.

A total of eight people attended the meeting. The members included Mr. Masuda and vice-president, Hidefumi Miyata and his wife, Mrs. Miyata, and one of the founding member, Keiko Kadota.

Both Los Angeles and Vancouver are said to be one of the foreign cities carrying the highest number of Japanese populations. Also, both lands had a history of incarcerations of Japanese during World War II.

As both organizations are located on the West Coast and the leaders are from the same generation, the meeting ended with a friendly atmosphere. The two leaders shared their passion in expanding Japanese cultures and Mikoshi to the local community.

One of the characteristic of Rafumutsumi-kai is their number of female members. Their management is also leaded by mostly females.

Mr. Seino described his impression as follows;

“ I believe we had a great meeting. We also had the chance to discuss how we are going to cooperate in the future. ‘Rafu’ is how Japanese used to call the city of Los Angeles. The fact that their organization included this word in their group name gave me the impression that we share great similarities. We also came up with the idea of ‘TPM (Trans Pacific Mikoshi Network)’. In addition to Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Hawaii, we hear that there are Mikoshi organizations in San Fransisco, Guam, Thailand, and Indonesia. Many Japanese have the passion to bring more excitements in Mikoshi overseas. We would like to spread this great Japanese culture with these individuals and organizations.”

We would like to further expand our friendship to the world along with our colleagues from Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Hawaii. For our Mikoshi event this summer, please visit our Website or Facebook Page.

WEB: www.vancouversakurakai.com
Facebook:@vancouversakurakai.com