Obon's royal couple
| • | Audio recording of James Kunichika's singing (mp3 format) |
| • | Iwakuni style |
| • | Glossary of terms |
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer
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| People dance together at the bon festival at Shinshu Kyokai on South Beretania Street. Bon-dance enthusiasts of all ages attend weekend dances islandwide.
Photos by Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser |
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| Katherine and James Kunichika of Kalihi have been married for 61 years. They have been members of the Iwakuni club for more than 50 years. |
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| Evie Kobayashi, left, of 'Aiea, and her mother, Katherine Kunichika of Kalihi, dance together at the bon-dance festival at Shinshu Kyokai. Kunichika and her husband have four children and 11 grandchildren who continue the family enthusiasm for traditional music and dance. |
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| James Kunichika, 89, has been singing in the obon tradition for more than 70 years. His recordings are in local and national archives. |
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| Kelli Miyata of Salt Lake, granddaughter of James and Katherine Kunichika, dances at the bon festival at Shinshu Kyokai. |
Once Kunichika has climbed onto the platform of the bright red structure strung with chochin, or lanterns, he opens a Japanese umbrella and puts it overhead.
"To keep out the rain," he said, though he was kidding. The umbrella helps extend his voice down into the crowd.
At 89, you can use all the help you can get.
Kunichika, a founder of the Iwakuni Odori Aiko Kai bon-dancing club who has been singing his haunting songs for 70 years, is a celebrity in this scene. He and his wife, Katherine, are known throughout Japanese temple circles; he singing from the yagura, she in the kimono or bright turquoise happi coat at the base, circling in time with the songs.
One could go so far as to dub these two bon dancing's king and queen.
James Kunichika has all the marks of royalty: He's earned accolades such as the Pan-Pacific Festival's Silversword Award for cultural excellence and has had his music recorded and archived by the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the Bishop Museum and the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
He is considered a master artist, winning a grant from the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts to train an apprentice, Ralston Nagata, in the lilting tradition of Japan's Iwakuni town.
If you were casting the "Bon Dancing King" musical, James Kunichika would play the part of Gene Kelly. Katherine Kunichika would not get the flashy female part, though in her kimono finery, she has graced the cover of a book ("The Japanese Bon Dance in Hawaii" by Judy Van Zile; 1982). She'd be the girl he ends up with — the quiet, loving girl destined for "best supporting" billing.
Like all good royalty, this couple, whose lives and marriage has been infused with the love of the bon dance, have groomed heirs. Their children spent many a summer weekend dancing with the crowd and perpetuating their Japanese culture, and 27-year-old granddaughter Kelli Miyata, a business consultant now home from the Mainland, can be found standing at the base of the yagura with taiko-drum stick in hand.
Miyata is learning to drum and someday may claim her place in the line of succession.
But when she thinks about the sacrifices it took for her grandparents to bring their family and their heritage to her point in the lineage, tears stream down her smooth cheeks.
She's overcome with emotion.
"I definitely feel it," Miyata said. "When I think about what Grandpa has given to Hawai'i and Japanese culture ..."
Her voice trails off and she wipes her face with the back of her hand.
Humble beginning
James Kunichika's children tell the story as well as he does, they've heard it so often. (He's quite the storyteller as well as a jokester.)
Growing up on Kaua'i, James had a hard life. The oldest son, he left school in eighth grade to help support his family. He'd wake at 2 a.m. to walk the five miles to his work shift in the pineapple and cane fields. After work, he'd come home, but only after more work in the family rice field.
At home was a cranked phonograph and the album of Iwakuni songs, written in 1912, that James memorized as a young man. The Iwakuni style of singing was popular at that time.
(The personal connection is that James' mother was from Iwakuni, as was Katherine's father.)
When James moved to O'ahu, he continued to send money he earned back to Kaua'i to help his family (his father died in 1935, leaving seven children), but now he did a little socializing. A friend took him around to court the girls. He was 27.
He met Katherine, then 23. His courting would soon be over: They married three months later.
Ask Katherine about her first impressions and she's succinct but smiling: "He's nice. Looks good."
Indeed. Pictures of the young James Kunichika, including the family picture with all the boys barefoot, show a handsome young man with a full head of wavy hair.
The Kunichikas' early days started with a full house, something that would continue in their 61-year marriage. Katherine's mother-in-law and two brothers-in-law both came to live with the newlyweds, and finally, the 15-year practice of sending his paychecks back to his mother ended.
But having a houseful of in-laws suited Katherine just fine.
"That's because my mother is a very harmonious person," said Caroline Miyata, the couple's oldest daughter. "She keeps everything together."
The pair filled the house with four children, who in turn brought them 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
But through it all was bon dancing.
Lord of the dance
The Iwakuni club is more than 50 years old now, but James and Katherine Kunichika were among its charter members.
James would sing the songs he learned at his hand-cranked phonograph, and Katherine would be in the coveted inner circle, the line of kimono-clad dancers closest to the yagura. And the family would join them.
It's a little less formal these days about who gets into the inner circle than it was when granddaughter Kelli Miyata was learning to dance.
"When I was little, if you didn't have a club kimono on, you'd stay in the outer rings," she said.
Since she fell and hurt herself, Katherine Kunichika doesn't wear the full kimono, opting instead the club's turquoise-and-black happi. In the back, they tuck an oval fan into the belt. When it's time for fan dances, the fan comes out and is waved in the air.
The Iwakuni connection
The Kunichikas have visited the town in Japan's Yamaguchi prefecture several times over the past few decades, with relatives and with the bon dancing club.
Alan Inaba, vice president of the Iwakuni club, said theirs is probably the largest in the state. Members attend weekend dances islandwide, plus practice sessions.
"At the time when my wife, Gladys, and I joined, there were only about 30 members," Inaba said. "Now it's up to 180."
James Kunichika was the club's lead singer. Katherine always could be found steadfastly working behind the scenes.
"She has kept excellent records, not only being a treasurer but done everything else to help the club, such as taking care of membership," Inaba said. "She's always there, beside him at all times."
Inaba recalls taking James Kunichika to Iwakuni, for a dinner with dignitaries. Beer and sake flowed as folks got up to sing.
"But when Mr. Kunichika stepped up and started to sing, they looked at him, put their beer down and started to dance, along with all the hostesses," he said.
"The mayor said to me, 'When did Mr. Kunichika go from Hawai'i to Japan?' I told him
Mr. Kunichika was born on the island of Kaua'i and raised on the Islands. He never lived in Japan.
"The mayor was amazed. He said, 'I don't think there's anyone here in Iwakuni who sings the original Iwakuni songs in the lingo he does. That's tremendous.'"
Reach Mary Kaye Ritz at mritz@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8035.
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From "Musics of Hawai'i," a State Foundation on Culture and the Arts publication by Lynn Martin, 1994:
"The Iwakuni style of the bon odori is one of the oldest genres represented in Hawai'i. It originated in the town of Iwakuni, which is located in the Yamaguchi Prefecture on the Japanese island of Honshu. In Hawai'i, Iwakuni ondo (songs) are performed by one or two ondotori (singers) and a hayashu (caller) who perform from atop the yagura."
Other marks of the Iwakuni style:
- The singing, drama and dancing should match, explains expert James Kunichika.
- It uses only the ondotori and drums, no other accompaniment.
- Singers put umbrellas overhead, which is said to help deflect the sound into the crowd.
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Bon dance: Born of a Japanese religious tradition nearly 1,000 years ago, it's a celebration of filial piety or devotion to one's ancestors.
Obon: Buddhist festival of the dead, in which you feed your ancestor's hungry ghosts. In Japan, it's celebrated in August, elsewhere it's mid-July, but in Hawai'i, Buddhist temples cooperate to spread out the season over the entire summer.
Yagura: The central music platform, where the singers stand. Dancers will move around its base, in a circle.
Happi coat: A light wrap-around top. Bon dancing clubs may have all the same color coat.
Kimono: The traditional Japanese dress.
Taiko: Drum used for bon dances.
Chochin: Paper lanterns.
