{IN PERSON} OBON: THE JAPANESE DAY OF THE DEAD

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TICKETS ARE NOT TRANSFERABLE.

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Festivals to honor the ancestors span cultures and spiritual practices throughout the ages. Many of these festivals include the visitation of spirits to the earthly realm to visit relatives. Obon is one of these festivals and is among the most sacred and widely practiced Japanese summer traditions. In this class we will look at the history of the festival, the rituals practiced and how it appears in other East Asian cultures. One of the primary rituals of Obon is to dance in community to welcome the spirits of the dead. Together we will learn a common Obon dance to celebrate our ancestors.

Akemi Tsutsui-Kunitake is a visual artist, karate-ka and creator of Live Deliciously. Based in Denver, her work is informed by her identity as a third and fourth-generation (sansei-han and yonsei), mixed-race Japanese American. Her artwork blends themes of Japanese folklore with Western mysticism. She is inspired by the intersectionality of cultural tradition, ancestral wisdom and modern identity. She is a lifelong student of Shotokan karate-do under the instruction of her father, Isao Gary Tsutsui, at Colorado Budokan.
Akemi has also been fortunate to train with masters of other karate styles in California, Hawaii and Japan. As karate embodies so many elements that are integral to the Japanese American experience, she describes karate as her ethnic and spiritual identity in motion. With a formal education in Ethnic Studies, Akemi has worked in the fields of culturally specific education, advocacy and holistic health. She has continued her studies through courses on Japanese energetic healing, Shinto, deep ancestral work and radical community care. Akemi is a frequent collaborator with the Japanese Arts Network as a Cultural Consultant and artistic partner.