Past weekend I decided to push my midterm paper aside, and go out for some fresh air. Tis the season for some Cherry Blossom in Japan, but there was no need to rush there right away, because San Francisco has its own Cherry Blossom Festival right at Japantown.
This year, San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival is celebrating its 45th anniversary (while Washington D.C. National Cherry Blossom Festival is celebrating its 100th anniversary). It is estimated that over 200, 000 people come to the SF festival, with over 30 shows, exhibits, and hands-on activities available per day. The festival lasts over 2 weekends, and on the very last Sunday a grand parade will be presented as the finale April 22nd.
Come join me for a peek at what I saw this past weekend at the festival portion.
The flower blossoms, the sun shines, the crowds are high, it was definitely a great day for the festival to begin its celebration.
The crowds gathered and anticipated the first show of the day (Above).
(Above) First video I made! A segment of the taiko drum performance to get everyone in spirit!
Then I went to visit a show room full of weapons and armors. It was interesting to learn that samurai warriors do not wear jewelry at all, so the decorated scabbard of the sword is the only fancy jewel that the samurai have with them. Decorations can signify the person’s alliance and rank, but some are purely artistic decorations.
I went to look at the Japanese embroidery exhibit, and found this guy sticking out among the Asian ladies in the room. Apparently before he decided to jump into the world of embroidery, he has never used a needle before. Now he is at level 7 course (level 10 is the highest).
Embroidery is usually used on Kimonos, and some on the obi(belt).
Then I wondered my way to a tea ceremony. There are several schools here in San Francisco that teaches tea ceremony on a weekly basis. Each school has its own style of procedures. Interestingly enough, tea ceremony use to be performed by men.
After the ceremony, 20 people in the audience also got the chance to try the tea and the snacks served in the ceremony.The dessert served was red bean cake. The sweetness of red bean cake is a perfect combination to offset the bitterness of the tea.
Lots of paper crane were made to be sent to the villages that suffered from tsunami in Japan.
Then I to see Ikebana: Japanese flower arrangement. In the old days, girls from wealthy families would be trained on Ikebana. My mom actually also learned some Ikebana before she was married.
I got a little hungry, so I decided to walk to the food stands….
Food is a big part of the festival. There are many food stands around, selling Japanese small eats like takoyaki, yakisoba, udon, spam musubi…etc.
I had to get this round red bean cake. Perhaps because Japan ruled Taiwan for 50 years and different cultures converge, we have these in Taiwan today at traditional markets still. I use to buy these every week after school when I was in kindergarten. Here is a video of how they make these red bean cake!
Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco is a great festival for families and friends to go to. If you do your homework and study their event program, you will find lots of hands on activities throughout the day for free. If you missed the festival this past weekend, come April 21-22nd. Admission is free, except on some specific activities noted. If you need parking, arrive early. I arrived at about 11am, an hour later when I went back to check on my car, there were no more parking spots left in the surround neighborhood! Also remember to bring cash for the food stands.
Public Transportation: Muni’s #38
Location: Japantown Center, San Francisco, CA
Remaining Festival Date: April 21-22
Time: 11am-5pm
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Beautiful photos and reporting, Annie. I take my hat off to that guy. He’s probably calling back a skill he learned lifetimes ago. Pretty neat, eh?
I used to love going to the one in DC — was there last year. The one in Sakura Park, NYC, is also 100 years old this year.
I was pretty surprised to see him doing so well in embroidery in just 3 years! Also the guys that hosted the exhibition of the samurai swords, they were all fellow Americans to (not Japanese Americans), it was interesting to see how people from all different countries/culture love Japan and are helping to preserve the culture too.
Wow, did not know NYC also have one!
Very pretty photos, Annie. This sounds like a very interesting festival.
Thank you. I like this festival because there are a lot of hands on things you can do (rather than just watching or looking around)
I can’t wait for the trees to start blossoming here in Montreal. Looking out the window I see some starting. I wonder if there is a similar festival here…
Google it! Many cities have Cherry Blossom Festival, particular if in the past there were some presence of Japanese in your community. I found mine by Yelp XDD
I had no idea San Fran had a blossom festival – lovely!
Thank you! It is a fun event, a lot of families with young kids come. High school students also love this event because of the cosplay contest! XD
What an experience, I wonder why the tea ceremony changed from men to women?
Haha, I forgot which war it was, but the guy who was explaining to us said during a war (WW1 or WW2) when most of the guys were out fighting, women started taking parts in tea ceremony instead.
I love taiko drums – the performances are so beautiful and the sound reverberates in your chest!
I love taiko drums too. I love how energetic they are and I wish I am up there playing the drums too. XD (The DIY taiko drum is actually staking 3 car wheels, the use the plastic wrape all around it)
We are so lucky to have cherry blossoms here in Nashville, but we don’t have a Cherry Blossom Festival. Which looks like so much fun! And tasty too. I’m always game for food!!!!
We are lucky to have cherry blossoms here in Nashville that put on quite the show for us every Spring. However, I don’t think we have a Cherry Blossom Festival. But since I’m not sure, I’m going to check it out. I’d love to get my mouth on some of that food like what you posted!
hehe, that would be interesting to see cherry blossom festival in different cities and countries. =D
The food at SF’s cherry blossom festival is not bad comparing to other festivals I have been to. So hopefully if you find one in your city the food will be awesome too!