O-Shogatsu New Year’s Festival

O-Shogatsu, Japanese New Year, is the most important festival of the year in Japan. It is a time for family and friends to celebrate this auspicious day together and wish for good health and blessings in the new year.

The Garden’s celebration of O-Shogatsu features kakizome, the writing of the first calligraphy of the new year, presented this year by Yoshiyasu Fujii.

The practice of kakizome is held throughout Japan on the second day of the New Year, and children are encouraged to write a celebratory character in their best hand to set the tone for success in their studies in the coming year.

12:30 p.m. Remarks by the Consul General Hirofumi Murabayshi & Steve Bloom, CEO, Portland Japanese Garden

1:30 p.m.  Calligraphy Demonstration by Yosiyasu Fujii

Join us to try your hand at writing with brush and ink and be sure to sample O-Matcha, the green tea of The Way of Tea.