Sharing worlds
Japanese students exchange culture with Tule River Tribal members
The smell of sage filled the Tule River Indian Reservation gymnasium as members of the tribe gathered on Thursday evening to take part in the second culture exchange workshop with eight university students from Japan.
The Japanese students attend Meiji Gakuin University and share an interest in learning more about Native American culture and histories. Many of their university majors include Native American and American studies. All eight of the students have taken a Native American studies course in Japan.
The tribal members were happy to educate them and many opened their own homes to the students for their stay.
While sage smoke drifted up into the air, a prayer was said to bless the people in attendance at the workshop. After the prayer was finished, three members of the tribe began the night with a drum song that filled the space with rhythmic music.
Kumiko Noguchi, the Japanese students' instructor, introduced herself and explained what her students would be doing next.
“I would like to give this presentation to the several past elders who could share their beautiful stories and their beautiful lives with me over these last several years,” said Noguchi before the students began presenting.
With a complementary slide show playing in the background, each of the eight students took a turn speaking into the microphone about different aspects of Japanese culture including language, greetings, customs and festivals. The students taught their audience many Japanese words and why bowing to each other in Japan is considered respectful.
Towards the end of their presentation, the students focused in on the Obon festival and dance, which is a seasonal Japanese festival celebrated in the summer.
The students finished their presentation and applause filled the air. When the applause died out, Noguchi took to the microphone one last time.
“We want to get everyone together to dance,” Noguchi stated with excitement. “This is the favorite Obon dance and we usually do it in a shrine or temple.”
As Noguchi spoke, her students began to form a circle in the middle of the room and encouraged members of the audience to join them. Soon, the circle was large enough to fill up nearly all of the space available on the floor.
Noguchi took her place in the center and taught each step of the Obon dance. As participants began to grasp each move the circle started slowly rotating. Tribal members and the Japanese students mingled and danced together with big smiles and loud laughter.
The traditional Japanese dance ended, and Tule River tribal members were ready to hit the floor with their own dances.
Drum beats echoed off the walls as Tule River dancers span and bounced around the floor to the beat. Shawls dawned with silver glitters and bright colored tassels whipped around in circles with every spin and a feather-lined head piece captivated the audiences attention as a man in full traditional dress stomped around the floor.
The night was topped off with a delicious tritip sandwich dinner where the Japanese students mingled, spoke and danced with children who approached them.
There are hopes that students from Meiji Gakuin University will continue to visit the Tule River Indian Reservation to exchange cultural insights with the tribe.