Portland Japanese Garden kicks off the Year of the Snake with O-Shogatsu Festival

As the sounds of taiko and fue — traditional Japanese drums and flute — began to fill the Miller Living Room gathering space at the Portland Japanese Garden on Sunday, a crowd squeezed in tight to watch the first performance of the annual O-Shogatsu, or Japanese New Year, festival.

At the front of the room, Portland Shishimai Kai showcased a traditional Japanese lion dance known as Edo Kotobuki Jishi. Portrayed by a dancer with a gold lion head and a mane of long white hair, the shishi, or lion, roaed through the space, accepting dollar bills in its mouth and playfully nibbling on attendees’ heads.

Receiving a shishi bite means good luck for the year to come, said Kelsey Cleveland, cultural programs manager at Portland Japanese Garden.

The performance was one small part of the annual festival that attracts hundreds of guests to the Japanese Garden in Washington Park. O-Shogatsu is one of the most important holidays in Japanese culture, Cleveland said.

“I kind of consider it almost the equivalent of our Thanksgiving,” Cleveland said. “It’s really a family holiday where people (will) travel from wherever they live, travel to their hometown, and gather together as family.”

The event kicked off the Year of the Snake. Visitors wandered the gardens, participated in a scavenger hunt and ink brush painting workshop and watched dance performances.

Winter installations, such as yukizuri — straw ropes cast over trees in a cone shape to protect branches — created a festive atmosphere in the gardens.

The festival attracted both newcomers and longtime members of the garden.

Sophie Kramer and Ethan Nichols, newcomers to Portland, purchased a membership to the garden upon entering the festival, impressed by the natural beauty of the space.

“I was really excited,” Kramer said. “It feels like the second that you enter the gates, you’re kind of transported.”

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Yuki Wallen, special programs manager at the garden, visited on her day off to celebrate the new year with her daughter Nina Wallen and friend Mei Gillam. Bringing her daughter to the garden for O-Shogatsu has become an annual tradition to stay connected to their Japanese heritage, she said.

“She was born in Japan, but we moved here five years ago,” Wallen said about her daughter. “She already forgot her life back in Japan, but having a place like this, it’s really important.”

The Wallens usually celebrate Japanese New Year with ozoni, a Japanese soup featuring rice cakes (mochi) and vegetables. Wallen said the festival’s traditional dances are a unique draw too, since they’re not something easily replicated at home.

“We’re really happy that we can celebrate at the garden, so that either Japanese people who are living here, or Japanese Americans, can honor their cultural heritage by coming to the garden to celebrate,” Cleveland said. “But we also love introducing Japanese traditions to people who have never been to Japan.”

Sunday’s festival was Briawna Maruyama’s first experience at the Japanese Garden, and a special way for her to connect with her Japanese heritage, she said.

“My family is Japanese, but when the war happened and the camps happened, my family was pushed into trying to perform as white as possible,” Maruyuama said. “We lost a lot of the culture that would have been passed down through the family.”

As a teenager, Maruyama developed a deeper interest in exploring her Japanese heritage. She was eager to attend the O-Shogatsu Festival, she said, to experience an event she had missed out on during her childhood.

Her favorite experience of the morning was watching the Ryomen Odori, or double-masked dance. The performance was a new addition this year, said Cleveland. In the dance, a single performer portrays two characters: Okame, a well-known female figure in Japanese culture, and Warai, a male character that adds a comedic touch.

“It feels very special,” Maruyama said. “Since I don’t have any information through my family, this feels like the most refreshing and truthful way to get to know (Japanese culture).”