Bon Dance and Japanese Taiko Drumming
Free Admission (Advance Registration Required)
FEATURING:
- Bon Odori dances and dance demonstrations
- Traditional Japanese taiko drumming and music
- Ikebana and bonsai displays
- Flavored ice for purchase from Kona Ice
Guests of Honor:
Consul General Hajimi Kishimori, Consulate-General of Japan in Detroit
Shin Sasaki, President, Japan Business Society of Detroit
#MIBON2025 is a Community Project presented by the Great Lakes Taiko Center (五大湖太鼓センター) and hosted by Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. Additional cultural activities provided by JACL Detroit (Japanese American Citizens League) and the Consulate-General of Japan in Detroit, along with botanical displays by Ikebana International Detroit (Detroit Chapter 85) and the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society. This MI Bon Summer Festival is made possible by Great Lakes Taiko Center volunteer members and supported by grants from the Taiko Community Alliance, Taiko Ventures, and the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan.
Come as you are this summer—or wear your favorite festive clothing, like a Japanese yukata kimono or happi jacket—and join Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research and the members of the Great Lakes Taiko Center for the third annual Japanese Bon Festival at Cranbrook. Whether you call Japan or the United States home, whether you have participated in a traditional Japanese Bon Festival or not, all are welcome to join this community celebration of Japanese taiko drumming, music, song, and dance.
The Bon Festival, as described by Susan Osa, is an annual Japanese holiday (known as Obon in Japan) that commemorates and remembers deceased ancestors. It is believed that their spirits return to visit their living relatives in the summer months. Today, participants dance to express their joy to be living happily and to honor loved ones who have passed away. Central to its celebration among Japanese are the folk dances (Bon Odori) performed outdoors to music that includes the steady beat of a taiko (drum). The taiko sits on a raised platform, a yagura, and musicians use bachi, or drumsticks, on the taiko, to keep time for the Bon Odori dancers. While associated with Buddhism, Obon has become a time of family reunion celebrated and embraced by all, regardless of one’s religious background.*
The Japanese Bon Festival at Cranbrook takes place at the time of Obon in Japan, traditionally a four-day festival. This year, the festival will be celebrated in Japan from August 13 through August 16. The festival at Cranbrook will take place on August 10 in a grassy meadow on the shores of Kingswood Lake, just south of the Cranbrook Japanese Garden, in the shade of two majestic red pine trees. The spirited energy of taiko drumming will lead into a presentation of festive Bon Odori songs during which the performers will provide the audience with brief instructions and encourage them to join the dances. The Japanese Garden will be open throughout the Bon Festival for exploration and informal tours, including a musical prelude and postlude before and after the activities in the open meadow. In case of rain, the celebration will move indoors to the Cranbrook Schools Performing Arts Center (PAC).
*To learn more about Obon and its evolution into Bon festivals in the United States, we suggest you read the article by Susan Osa written in 2006 for the Japanese American National Museum Store Online: "Gathering of Joy: A History of Japanese American Obon Festivals and Bon Odori." To see examples of bon odori, go to the Great Lakes Taiko Center website.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON MI BON FESTIVAL PROGRAM AT CRANBROOK
Parking for the Bon Festival will take place in the Cranbrook Schools Performing Arts Center (PAC) Parking Lot, located at 550 Lone Pine Road, at the northeast corner of Lone Pine and Vaughn Roads. A Cranbrook bus will take visitors to the Japanese Garden and the Bon Festival. Additional parking will be available at the Kingswood School parking lot, accessed through Cranbrook’s Main Entrance at 39221 Woodward Avenue. Guests using the Kingswood School parking lot will not have access to the shuttle but will be able to walk to the Japanese Garden and Bon Festival.
12:00pm First Shuttle Bus Departs Cranbrook Schools PAC Parking Lot.
12:00 - 4:30 Shuttle Bus Operates Continuously between PAC Parking Lot and Bon Festival.
12:30 - 12:45 Prelude - Music in the Japanese Garden
Listen for a festive shinobue bamboo flute medley by Murasaki Shikibu ensemble.
12:45 - 1:00 Arama opener/Greetings
1:00 - 1:45 Bon Odori (Japanese Festival Dance)
Enjoy the music and join the dances led by Murasaki Shikibu members, with bon dance songs including
"Tanko Bushi" and "Tokyo Ondo" (Obon Festival Classics), "Ei Ja Nai Ka" (1997, PJ Hirabayashi,
North American Taiko Conference), and MIBON's own "Michigan Ondo" (2021, Kyoko Johnson
and Noriko Maidens, GLTC).
2:00 - 2:45 Japanese Taiko Drumming
Celebrate with Taiko Drumming Performances by T3 Tanoshii Taiko Tai, A2 Taiko Players, Godaiko
Drummers, and Raion Taiko; featuring contemporary and traditional pieces and a presentation of the
Minbu Japanese Folk Dance "Imabetsu Arama Odori" (Wild Horse Dance from Imabetsu, Aomori
Prefecture, Japan).
2:45 - 3:00 Try Taiko Drumming
Festival attendees are invited to try Taiko Drumming with Great Lakes Taiko Center members.
3:00 - 3:45 Bon Odori (reprise)
3:45 - 4:00 Postlude - Music in the Japanese Garden
Hear the echoes of a Summer Song by members of the GLTC Taiko Arts Collective.
4:30pm Last Shuttle Bus Departs Bon Festival and Returns to PAC Parking Lot.
Parking and Shuttle Bus Information
Parking for the Bon Festival will be at the Cranbrook Schools Performing Arts Center (PAC), and at the Kingswood School parking lot. The PAC Parking Lot is located at 550 Lone Pine Road, at the northeast corner of Lone Pine Road and Orchard Ridge Road, Bloomfield Hills. The Kingswood School parking lot is accessed through Cranbrook’s Main Entrance at 39221 Woodward Avenue. A shuttle bus will pick up visitors at the entrance to the Performing Arts Center (on the east side of the PAC Parking Lot) and run continuously between the PAC Parking Lot and the Bon Festival (adjacent to the Cranbrook Japanese Garden). Those parking at Kingswood will be able take a short walk to the festival from the parking lot (no shuttles will stop at this location). Maps to both lots will be provided in your registration confirmation.
Restrooms
Restrooms are available in the Performing Arts Center Lobby. During the Bon Festival, additional restrooms will be available on the grounds adjacent to the Bon Festival meadow.
ADA Accessibilty
There will be a designated ADA Parking Area on the festival grounds and a golf cart on site to assist when needed. Additionally, there will be an ADA-accessible restroom. Be advised that the terrain is primarily grassy with pathways made of gravel. Please contact the Center at 248-645-3307 to get directions to the parking area or with any questions in regard to accessibility.
Food and Beverages
This year we are pleased to welcome Kona Ice where visitors will have the opportunity to purchase refreshing, flavored shaved ice. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted at any time during the Bon Festival at Cranbrook.
Seating
Visitors are also encouraged to bring their own folding chairs and picnic blankets to the festival; a limited supply of chairs and picnic tables will be provided by Cranbrook.
Rain Plan
In case of rain or inclement weather, the Bon Festival will take place indoors, in the PAC. Parking will remain in the PAC Parking Lot. In case of rain, tours will not be available of the Cranbrook Japanese Garden.
ABOUT GREAT LAKES TAIKO CENTER / 五大湖太鼓センター
Great Lakes Taiko Center (GLTC) celebrates the empowering art of Japanese taiko drumming. Taiko is rooted in Japanese music traditions and continues to grow today as a global cultural arts movement that amplifies imagination, uplifts spirits, and builds community. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and fiscally sponsored by the Nonprofit Enterprise at Work, GLTC supports the sharing of Taiko Arts with its collective members and communities through classes and performances in Southeast Michigan and beyond. For more information on the Great Lakes Taiko Center and memberships, visit the GLTC website.
ABOUT THE #MIBON PROJECT
The Great Lakes Taiko Center (GLTC) celebrated the first annual MI Bon (“My” or Michigan Bon) Summer Festival on August 7, 2021, with taiko performances by groups in the GLTC Collective: Tanoshii Taiko Tai (T3), Godaiko Drummers, and Raion Taiko. The festival premiered the new Michigan Ondo (original song and dance) by Kyoko Johnson and Noriko Maidens, the MI Bon project creators. At this inaugural event, GLTC celebrated a year of taiko connections and programs and honored the people and places of the Michigan taiko community as they gathered to share the new Michigan Ondo, along with other folk songs and dances of the Japanese Bon Festival. Participation was limited in 2021 to GLTC members and their guests, for COVID safety reasons.
For the second annual festival, the 2022 MI Bon Planning Committee worked in partnership with the Novi (MI) Public Library to develop a broader audience. Despite an initial stormy weather cancellation in August, #MIBON2022 took place at the library on September 24. In addition to taiko drumming and folk dancing, the celebration included pre-event MI Bon drum and dance workshops, which were free and open to the public. More than two hundred people joined the event during which they enjoyed presentations of traditional Japanese festival pieces, contemporary Midwest compositions, and interactive Bon dance activities.
In 2023, the Great Lakes Taiko Center partnered with Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research to present #MIBON2023 at Cranbrook. The Japanese Bon Festival at Cranbrook, which attracted an audience of 500 people, included taiko drumming performances by Godaiko Drummers, A2 Taiko Players, Raion Taiko, and T3 Tanoshii Taiko Tai, as well as drumming and music in the Cranbrook Japanese Garden performed by Sazanami Taiko Arts Ensemble and Sakura Japanese Instrumental Group. The songs for Bon Odori--the Japanese Festival Dance--included "Tanko Bushi", "Michigan Ondo", and "Ei Ja Nai Ka."
In 2024, the Great Lakes Taiko Center again partnered with Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research to present #MIBON2024 at Cranbrook. Attendance ballooned to 650 people, who came to hear taiko drumming performances from T3 Tanoshii Taiko Tai, A2 Taiko Players, Godaiko Drummers, and Raion Taiko as well as performances in the Japanese Garden by Murasaki Shikibu ensemble and members of the GLTC Taiko Arts Collective.
To learn more, please visit the #MIBON2025 website.
ABOUT CRANBROOK CENTER FOR COLLECTIONS AND RESEARCH
Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research (the Center) centralizes Cranbrook’s 120-year story and offers intellectual engagement with its legacy. Launched in 2012, the Center encompasses the management and curatorial leadership of Cranbrook’s campus-wide collection of Cultural Properties, Archives, historic architecture (most notably Cranbrook House, Saarinen House, and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Smith House), Cultural Heritage Areas, and cultural landscapes (including the Cranbrook Japanese Garden). By preserving and interpreting the community’s unparalleled landscape, architecture, collections, and archives, the Center provides memorable educational experiences and meaningful research opportunities for internal and external audiences. For more information, please visit the Center's website.
PHOTO CREDITS
Banner: Taiko drummers at #MIBON2024 at Cranbrook, August 11, 2024. Photography by Shintaro Nabeshima, courtesy Great Lakes Taiko Center.
Bon dancers at #MIBON2024 at Cranbrook, August 11, 2024. Photography by Shintaro Nabeshima, courtesy Great Lakes Taiko Center.
Murasaki Shikibu ensemble perform in the Japanese Garden at #MIBON2024 at Cranbrook, August 11, 2024. Photography by Jessica Webster, courtesy Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.
Bon dancers at #MIBON2024 at Cranbrook, August 11, 2024. Photography by Shintaro Nabeshima, courtesy Great Lakes Taiko Center.
Kona Ice Truck, courtesy Kona Ice.
Great Lakes Taiko Center (GLTC) logo with MI-ON saying "Taiko is the greatest!!" The sound that a cat makes can be pronounced "mi-on" in Japanese, hence the name of the MI taiko playing cat (an endangered lynx species in Michigan) from the Great Lakes region.
MI Bon Logo, created in 2022 by Michigan artist Deanne Bednar with Great Lakes Taiko Center member Ronna Fisher.