Okinawan Cultural Day Camp set for June

Okinawan Cultural Day Camp set for June

“Hai Sai, and “Chaganju” — Hui Okinawa’s 12th annual Children’s Cultural Day Camp for children ages 8-13 — will run from Sunday, June 2, through Friday, June 7. The fee for six days of fun and learning is $90 per child, with a discount for two or more siblings. Limited fee waivers will be available. Maximum student enrollment is 48. The camp is open to all ethnic groups.

Exciting sessions in the Okinawan Language, or Uchinaguchi, are planned, in addition to hands-on Okinawan cooking, singing, dancing, karate and taiko.

This year, camp coordinators will be re-introducing the “Shime Daiko,” a hand-held drum that the students will make and use. The instructor of this “Eisa” dance will be Nicole Hori of the group “Chinagu Eisa.”

Okinawan history and storytelling, arts and crafts of Okinawa and Japan, and “Plantation Days” activities will add to the fun. The week will wind up with a special fun night featuring plantation days and Okinawan games, an outing to Liliuokalani Park for bamboo-pole fishing and bamboo squirt gun competition and a Friday presentation for family and friends along with a fabulous potluck buffet featuring Okinawan cuisine.

Mildred Uchima, club historian and storyteller, is planning a musical extravaganza featuring the “sanshin,” classical Okinawan dance, the Eisa, and the “Shimedaiko.” The karate instructor will be long-time Okinawan karate expert James Kudo.

The Children’s Day Camp is sponsored by Hui Okinawa, Hawaii United Okinawa Association, and it is supported by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. For registration forms or more information, please call camp coodinators Ruby Maekawa at 959-4855 or 895-6801 or Margaret Torigoe at 895-0994.