Celebrating Cultural Festivals
Explore how Portland Japanese Garden has brought local and global communities together to celebrate traditional Japanese cultural festivals.
Lion dance during O-Shogatsu, New Year's (2023-01-08) by Photographer Credit: Portland Japanese GardenPortland Japanese Garden
O-Shogatsu, Japanese New Year (January)
O-Shogatsu, Japanese New Year, is a time of celebration for the start of a new year and hopes of happiness and prosperity to come. All ill-feeling and disagreeable recollections are left behind with the old year and a new chapter of life opens, replete with happy prospects.
O-Shogatsu kadomatsu displayPortland Japanese Garden
Kadomatsu, traditional arrangements of pine, bamboo, and plum branches, known as the “three friends of winter,” are displayed in the Garden. Other celebratory activities include the exciting shishi-mai, or lion dance, presentations of tea ceremony, and koto music.
Hina Matsuri dolls (2018-03-03)Portland Japanese Garden
Hina Matsuri, Doll's Day (March)
Hina Matsuri, also called Doll’s Day or Girl’s Day, is celebrated in March of every year in Japan to celebrate the happiness, growth, and good health of girls. This celebration is also known as Momo-no-Sekku, or Peach Festival.
Hina Matsuri dolls (2023-03-01) by Portland Japanese GardenPortland Japanese Garden
Hina Matsuri is said to have originated in the Heian period (794-1185), a time when people believed that dolls had the power to drive away evil spirits.
At the Garden, visitors can view and take photos with a traditional display of dolls in the Cathy Rudd Cultural Corner.
Kodomo no Hi (Children's Day) (2023-05-09) by Photographer Credit: Julie GurshaPortland Japanese Garden
Kodomo no Hi, Children's Day (May)
Kodomo no Hi, also called Children’s Day, is commemorated each year in Japan on May 5th to celebrate the growth and good fortune of children.
Kodomo no Hi (Children's Day) koinobori (2016-05-01)Portland Japanese Garden
A range of family-friendly activities, including taiko drumming, a treasure hunt, and take-home crafts, making this the perfect festival for kids of all ages. Throughout the festival, cloth carp streamers, or koinobori, are flown to bring good fortune to children.
Tanzaku wish strips in celebration of Tanabata (2023-07-02) by Portland Japanese GardenPortland Japanese Garden
Tanabata, Star Festival (July)
Tanabata, the Star Festival, commemorates the one day a year the divine star-crossed lovers Orihime (Vega, the Weaver Star) and Hikoboshi (Altair, the Cowherder Star) meet in the sky: the 7th night of the 7th month.
Tanzaku wish strips in celebration of Tanabata (2023-07-02) by Portland Japanese GardenPortland Japanese Garden
In celebration of Tanabata, visitors can write a wish to add to the colorful display of tanzaku, or wish strips, hanging from bamboo in the Garden’s Crumpacker Bamboo Allee.
Also available is the chance to hear the Tanabata story and listen to a taiko performance.
O-Bon Festival at the upper pond (2015-08-12)Portland Japanese Garden
O-Bon, The Spirit Festival (August)
O-Bon, the Spirit Festival, is an important Buddhist festival celebrated in mid-August to honor ancestors and pray for the souls of the departed. In traditional beliefs, the spirits of ancestors come back to their homes to be reunited with their family during this festival.
O-Bon tōrō-nagashi at the upper pondPortland Japanese Garden
Portland Japanese Garden's O-Bon event features sutra chanting of the Lotus Sutra by Reverend Zuigaku Kodachi, reading names of the recently departed, and the quiet reverence of toro nagashi (lantern floating) as guests hold their ancestors in solemn remembrance.
Moonviewing at the Pavilion's East Veranda (2009-10-20)Portland Japanese Garden
O-Tsukimi, the Moonviewing Festival (Fall)
Moonviewing, or O-Tsukimi in Japanese, is the custom of gazing at the full moon and enjoying its sacred beauty. Portland Japanese Garden schedules this beloved annual tradition to coincide with the harvest moon, which occurs anytime from September to early October.
Moonviewing festivities in the Tateuchi Courtyard (2018-09-24)Portland Japanese Garden
At this festival, one of the most beloved at the Garden, guests anticipate the moonrise with a cup of tea and an opportunity to compose haiku as shakuhachi and koto music wafts through the air.
In celebration of O-Tsukimi, the raked gravel in the Flat Garden is designed in a special, once-a-year checkerboard raking pattern; the alternating squares of white river gravel cast shadows in the moonlight.
Bringing communities together through traditional cultural festivals is part of our mission, Inspiring Harmony and Peace.
Please visit our website for more information on upcoming events at Portland Japanese Garden: japanesegarden.org/events/
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