Japanese Cultural & Community Center holding free Childrens’ Day celebration Sunday

The Japanese Cultural & Community Center in Jackson Place invites you to celebrate Kodomo no Hi with them Sunday. It’s free and all are invited for story-telling, paper sumo and toy making, and more.

Visit the JCCCW website for a schedule of events. More details about the festival:

On Sunday, May 6, 2012, from 11 am to 5 pm, the Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Washington (JCCCW) will host a free event dedicated to celebrating Children’s Day.

Kodomo no Hi, or Children’s Day, normally takes place on May 5th and is one of the most popular national holidays in Japan. Its purpose is to rejoice in the health and happiness of children, wishing them luck in the future. Traditional practices commemorating this holiday include flying carp streamers outside of houses and displaying samurai helmets and dolls as symbols of courage.

Each year, JCCCW invites the community to celebrate Komodo no Hi with a free day of family fun at the Cultural Center. A wide variety of children’s activities are available, including kamishibai (traditional Japanese story-telling), kamizumo (paper sumo) making and matches, paper kendama (traditional Japanese toy) making and competitions, a paper yoroi (samurai helmet and armor) factory, and a manga workshop. Also featured are displays of traditional boy’s and girl’s day dolls, performances of traditional Japanese folk music & taiko drumming and demonstrations of martial arts such as karate and judo.

Children’s Day is a fun and exciting introduction to the rich world of children’s culture in Japan. JCCCW welcomes families in the community to take part in the Komodo no Hi festival as an opportunity to experience multiculturalism while celebrating the health and growth of all children. It will be a colorful, musical, fantastical event to be sure!

JCCCW would like to thank its sponsors, Japanese Community Service, Hayashi Family Dental, and Dr. Stacy R. Kanda for their support and efforts in putting on Kodomo no Hi.

For more information, including a time schedule of events, please visit our website at www.jcccw.org.

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