posted by Dave on Sep 9
Among the Bonsai plants was this miniature set of plants on a mat that caught my attention. Bonsai items like this are primarily created for the grower and the viewer. Somehow I think this one particular one would look good at my desk at work however I’m afraid something like that would be too fragile.
posted by Dave on Sep 8
Here is one of the cultural displays at the 2010 Okinawan Festival. The instrument you see is a popular one at Okinawan celebrations. It is the Sanshin (three strings) which is a fret-less 3-stringed instrument with a long slender neck attached to a rounded square, hallow sound box usually covered with snakeskin. The Sanshin is plucked rather than strummed using a plectrum worn on the index finger. The three strings rang from thick (lowest pitch) to thin (highest pitch) and are called the”uujiru” (man-string), “nakajiru” (middle string) and “miijiru” (female-string). In Hawaii Okinawan immigrants played the Sanshin at get-togethers in the plantation camps.
posted by Dave on Sep 6
Happy Labor Day everybody. I hope your weekend is going well. Today we begin our series on the Okinawa Festival. Here is a pictures of the Okinawa Prefecture Junior & High School Wind Ensemble Select Band that flew all the way from Okinawa to perform at the festival. This year was the 28th annual Okinawan Festival whose theme was “Sharing Uchinanchu Aloha” or sharing aloha from Okinawa.