Blog for The Okinawa Cultural Association of Texas

OCATexas – ever expanding

During day two of their first Texas Road Trip OCATexas made great strides in its desire to become more involved in the ever expanding areas of Okinawan culture in Texas.  In the first day of the trip RMDTexas took Okinawa Eisa to the small Texas town of Rockport performing as part of their Asian Fantasies Junior High Band Concert.  As much fun as it was sharing the joy of the Okinawa culture with a brand new audience through Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Drum and Dance, day two of the Road Trip was to be very special for all members of OCATexas.

Day Two was centered around Yuri-san’s first official performance as a member of Miyagi Ryu NoSho Kai. It took place during the Austin Okinawan Tomonokai’s New Year’s celebration.  Okinawan classical dance had been a part of OCATexas, but they were just learning from videos.  Then several of the members decided to take there efforts to the next level and started making regular trips to Austin and personally study with Setsuko Kuniyoushi.

Yuri-san had put a lot of time an effort in learning everything she could about Okinawa classical dance from Setsuko sensei.  On the weekends she wasn’t in Austin, Yuri would pass on what she learned during OCAT’s classical dance practices to the members not able to make the trip to Austin.  Now, this was Yuri-san’s big day to become an official member of Miyagi Ryu NoSho Kai herself.

Austin is little over a two hour drive from Rockport, where RMDTexas performed the night before.  The Rockport Junior High provided motel rooms for the troupe so they could get a good night rests before making the trip from Rockport to Austin.  Everyone awoke excited about seeing Yuri’s performance later on that day.  But when they walked out of the motel into a grim and dreary Gulf Coast of Texas morning greeted then.  By the time everyone made it to Texas Hill Country of Austin the rain was coming down steadily and traffic was backed up for miles on I-35 outside of Austin.  The OCAT staff photographer was able to get a picture of the traffic jam because he was in the middle of it.  Unfortunately, that is also why he didn’t get any pictures of Migagi Ryu’s performance and we have none to show here.  In fact, the entire troupe was delayed by the traffic and no one was able to be there for Yuri’s debut.  But because of what was in store for the OCATexas members the rest of the day their disappointment was soon replaced with excitement.

Sharing the joy of Okinawa with all other cultures has been what OCATexas was about since its inception.  Although, for the native Okinawan’s in the group interacting with other Okinawan organization has been a dream that brings them closer to feeling like they are home again.  Once everyone arrived at the New Year’s celebration it was time for OCATexas to become a part of the bigger Okinawan picture in Texas.

The Austin Okinawan Tomonokai proved to be a wonderful group of people and welcomed OCATexas with open arms.  They have a fantastic organization dedicated to preserving the Okinawan culture and heritage by keeping alive all of the islands traditional art forms.  Their Eisa performances were splendid and the sanshin group had everyone remembering the happy days back in their homeland.

Day two of the Road Trip was everything everyone had hoped it would be.  At the end of the celebration there was still a two and a half hour drive back to Houston to deal with.  But at least it could be done with hearts full of wonderful memories from their day with the Austin Okinawan Tomonokai.

Now, the next big dream for the Okinawan Cultural Association of Texas is to sponsor an Okinawan event in Houston and have all of the other Okinawan groups come on over to our house.

SEE YOU THEN!!!!

OCATexas - Japan Festival 2011

Like never before, the riches of the Okinawa culture were experienced by Houston and its Japanese community during the 2011 Japan Festival.  Sitting proudly as Japan’s southern most prefecture, Okinawa blends well with the Japanese culture, but it does carry a very distinct identity.  An identity developed in the days of it’s sovereignty as the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Before; the Okinawa Cultural Association of Texas has participated in the Japan Festival with a merchandise booth and members performing traditional music and Eisa festival dance.  In the last few years Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko – Texas Branch has emerged, trilling crowds with its high powered performance style of Eisa drum and dance.  But this year their effort to share the Okinawa culture has flowered to new levels.

The Okinawa Cultural Association of Texas took on the chore of running a food booth.  As in an all ventures of this sort, the main objective was making money to put toward special projects.   But OCATexas wanted to do this with a distinctive Okinawan flare.  So a menu of Taco Rice and Okinawan donuts was decided on. 

Then Yuri-san crafted aprons and head covering for the ladies out of material with a very colorful Okinawan print.  Posters and banners were also displayed showing all sorts of Okinawan heritage and things of interest.  On top of all this a real live sanshin player was stationed in front of the booth playing traditional Okinawan music.

Everyone will now admit that; with getting permits and passing daily city inspections running a food booth was more detailed and required more work than anyone could have imagined.

But everyone walked away with a good feeling; a good enough feeling that all profits were donated to the Japan tsunami relief fund.

Ganbarre Nihon.

Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko – Texas Branch had wanted to get back to their traditional Eisa roots for quite some time.  And there seemed no better time that at the 2011 Houston Japan festival.  So prior to their performance, they assembled on the other side of Hermann Park from where the stage was located.  Houston’s Japan Festival was about to be treated to a good old fashion Eisa procession; the way it is done back in Okinawa.  For more about RMDT’s performance see “RMDTexas - Japan Festival 2011”.

But the crowning jewel of the Okinawan culture in this year’s Japan Festival was the Houston debut of Miyagi Ryu NoSho Kai - a particularly momentous event for the members from Houston.  This was the first showcase performance in Houston for the classical dance of Okinawa.  The Houston members had performed here before but it was always as part of an RMDTexas performance or just the entertainment portion of another event.  Here, Miyagi Ryu NoSho Kai was the show; they would be able to take their time and set the stage properly for the classical dance of Okinawa.  For more on Miyagi Ryu’s performance see “Miyagi Ryu NoSho Kai - Japan Festival 2011”.

The Japanese community in Houston totally embraced and cherished the vibrant culture of their southernmost prefecture at Houston’s Japan Festival 2011.  And with the presentations of Okinawan food, music, Eisa and classical dance; OCAT, RMDT and Miyagi Ryu must have made the ancestors of the Ryukyu Kingdom very proud that day.

A special thanks to our contributing photographer;
Allison - allison_b216's photostream