Watch Hidden Legacy here
Upcoming events and screenings for
Koto and shamisen performance, Topaz concentration camp. ca. 1944
Sensei Haruko Suwada (far left). Tamako Nakata playing shamisen (fourth from right). Courtesy of Kent Nakamoto.
Sat. Nov 4, 2023 2 to 4 pm
J-Sei: 1285 66th Street, Emeryville, CA
Desert Wind and Strings: In honor of musicians held in Japanese American prison camps who performed traditional music.
Concert by koto musician Shirley Muramoto, her students and guest artist, Bando Hiroshichiro.
Featuring koto and shamisen instruments newly restored that have not been played since the family departed Topaz camp. The audience will also hear the music of a restored shakuhachi whose owner was interned in the Fort Lincoln Department of Justice internment camp in Bismarck, North Dakota. Kabuki dancer and teacher Bando Hiroshichiro will perform a Nihon Buyo traditional dance that was well known to the issei generation.
Limited seating available. RSVP at Eventbrite here: https://DesertWindAndStrings.eventbrite.com
This concert will be held in-person at J-Sei: 1285 66th Street, Emeryville
Sponsored by ACTA’s 2023 Living Cultures Grant Program, Friends of Topaz and J-Sei
Hidden Legacy
Screenings for 2019:
Screenings in Tokyo, Japan
Screenings: (open to the public)
December 3, 2019 (Tuesday) 18:15-19:45
Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai) at Ueno campus
Screenings: (open to the public)
December 4, 2019 (Wednesday) 14:40-16:10
Nihon University College of Arts at Ekoda
Hidden Legacy PAST EVENTS
Sunday, February 24, 2019 3 to 5 PM,
Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th Street, Oakland, CA 94607
Screenings for 2018:
Screenings in Tokyo, Japan
Tuesday Dec. 4, 2018 14:40～16:10
Tokyo University of the Arts, Ueno Campus
Room 5-109
Friday ,Dec. 7, 2018, 13:00～14:30 and 14:40～16:10,
Kunitachi College of Music
Room 5-211
Sunday, June 3, 2018 12:30 PM United Japanese Christian Church
136 N. Villa Ave., Clovis, CA 93612Contact: info@ujcclife.com 559-322-0701
Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps
Cost: Free (donations welcome) • RSVP: https://www.ujcclife.com/events
About The Event
Special opening performance by koto master / filmmaker Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto .
Plus pre-show featuring local performers of traditional Japanese arts,
including Kiyoko Nosker (koto), Clovis Heiwa Taiko, and more.
Thursday, October 27, 2016 6:30 to to 8:30 PM, Brandeis University, 415 South St, Waltham, MA 02453
Mandel Center for the Humanities
Room G12
Directions/Parking
After 5pm visitors may park anywhere. Tower Lot is closest to the Mandel Center.
Film screening, Q&A, and koto performance
Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto Wong
Special Guest, Takayo Tsubouchi Fischer
Admission free, and open to the public
Wednesday, October 26, 2016, 7 to 9 PM Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA . Acorns House,
It’s a new space, and isn’t on the map yet.It’s just to the right of Harambee House
as you face that building. Both buildings are between the Clapp Library and the Lake.
Guests can park in the Davis parking facility, which is just inside the Route 135 entrance to Wellesley College.
Film screening, Q&A, and koto performance
Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto Wong
Special Guest, Takayo Tsubouchi Fischer
Admission free, and open to the public
Wellesley College Acorn House
Monday, October 24, 2016, 3 – 6PM University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA
100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125 , McCormack Hall, Ryan Lounge, Room M-3-721 (3rd floor)
Screening Film, Q Ando A, And Koto Performance
Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto Wong
Special Guest, Takayo Tsubouchi Fischer
Directions/Parking
Directions
Campus Map
Parking Map
Detailed parking information
Recommended lots:
University of Massachusetts, Boston Bayside Lot (200 Mt. Vernon Street)
Morrissey Satellite Lot (75 Morrissey Boulevard) Herb Chambers property next to the Boston Globe building
Christopher’s Church across from the Bayside Lot
Admission: Free, and open to the public
Saturday, October 15, 2016, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Oakland Buddhist Church, Social Hall
825 Jackson Street, Oakland, CA
510-832-5988,
Admission: Free. Donations are welcomed and appreciated.
Saturday September 17, 2016 Hidden Legacy presented at Buddhist Temple of Chicago, private screening.
Saturday, May 14, 2016, 1pm Moraga Library, 1500 St Mary’s Rd, Moraga, CA 94556 Phone:(925) 376-6852
http://ccclib.org/locations/moraga.html
Thu April 21st 2016 at 7p, Town Meeting Hall, 201 Front Street, Danville, CA, open to the public, part of the “Art of Survival: Turmoil at Tule Lake” exhibition, presented by the Museum of San Ramon.
The exhibit focuses on San Ramon Valley Japanese Americans incarceration in the camps during WWII…
Museum of the San Ramon Valley
205 Railroad Ave
Danville, CA 94526
925-837-3750
March 15, 2016, 10:00-12:00, Tokyo, Japan
Room D, Shinjuku Satellite, Musashino Arts University (9th floor of Shinjuku Center Building)
6-minute walk from West Exit of JR Shinjuku station
9th floor, Shinjuku Center Building, 1-25-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 163-0609
TEL：03-3343-6311／6312
Public workshop
Date: March 15, 2016, 10:00-12:00
Japanese Overseas Migration Museum Academic Research Project “Looking back the past 150-years of overseas migration: International relations from the viewpoints of migrant people” -public workshop
Lecturer: Minako Waseda (Lecturer, Tokyo University of the Arts)
(1) Theme: Performing arts in Japanese American concentration camps
（２）上映：Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps
Film screening: Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps
(about 1 hour)
see:：https://jcalegacy.com/
(3) Q & A
Friday, February 19, 2016, at Stanford University from 12:30 to 2:00 pm at Levinthal Hall at the Stanford Humanities Center. Guests include Reiko Iwanaga (Amache/Granada camp), Setsuko Abe HIrano (Topaz camp), and Mollie Nakasaki (Poston camp). It is free, but limited seating. Map link
They are taking RSVPs at this website:
http://panasianmusicfestival.stanford.edu/2016/index.html
Friday, January 22, 2016, 7:00 to 9:00 pm,
Location: Jan Popper Theater, Schoenberg Music Building, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Admission: Free, but please reserve in advance because of limited seating.
To reserve, visit ethnomusic.ucla.edu and click the Hidden Legacy link in the right column of the webpage.
Parking: UCLA Lot #2, corner of Hilgard and Westholme avenues; $12 all-day parking.
Short-term parking also available.
More info about the film: info@jcalegacy.com or 510-482-1640
Info about reservations, parking, or directions: donnaa@arts.ucla.edu or 310-825-8381
Co-sponsored by Center for World Music of the Department of Ethnomusicology,
UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music; UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies;
Tadashi Yanai Initiative; and UCLA Department of Asian American Studies.
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October 2015
Friday, October 2, 2015 ,7:30PM, The NUS Japanese Studies Department and Japanese Studies Alumni Association
11 Kent Ridge Drive, Singapore 119244. at Auditorium, Shaw Foundation Alumni House, National University of Singapore Kent Ridge Campus.
Register for free at: http://aranel.net/hiddenlegacy
September 2015
Sunday, September 20th, 2015 at 12 noon @ Aldersgate United Methodist Church,
4243 Manuela Ave,Palo Alto, CA 94306
Service at 10:00 AM
Lunch at 11 AM
Film at Noon
Thursday, September 17, 3:30 – 5 PM, at University of California, Berkeley, CA,
554 Barrows Hall
Japan
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Doors open: 18:00, Screening start: 19:30, Talk Session: 20:45 -, Entrance fee: 2,000 yen (with 1 drink)
Next screening of Hidden Legacy will be at “Yagi ni Kiku” (“shall we ask a goat?”) cafe at Daikan-yama, in Shibuya, Tokyo on July 22, hosted by Prof. Minako Waseda…
July 1 Wednesday, 15: 00-16: 30 -Address: Doshisha Women’S College (Doshisha Joshi Daigaku) – Imadegawa Campus, Junsei-Kan 301, Kyoto, Open To The Public
June 2015
Tues Day June 30, 16: 30-18: 30 -Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku – Address: 12-8 Ueno Koen, Taito-Ku, Tokyo; Open To The Public
Monday June 29 – Tokyo Gakugei University – not open to the public
Sunday June 28, 14:00-16:30 – Waseda University, Japanese Association of Migration Studies Conference – Address: 2-579-15 Mikajima, Tokorozawa, Saitama; open to the public
Friday June 26, 17:00-18:30–Sophia University – Address: 7-1 Kioi-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; open to the public
Thursday June 25, 16:30-18:30 – Musashino Art University Address: 1-736 Ogawa-cho, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo, open to the public
Place: Room 201, Building 12, Musashino Art University (Takanodai Campus)
English: http://www.musabi.ac.jp/english/access/
Japanese: http://www.musabi.ac.jp/access/
Guests:
Ms. Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto (filmmaker, koto teacher, performer, band leader)
Ms. Takayo Tsubouchi Fischer (actress, performer)
Dr. Minako Waseda (lecturer, Tokyo University of the Arts)
Tuesday June 9, 2015, 5:30p-7:00p Berkeley Public Library 2090 Kittredge Street Berkeley CA 94704, 3rd floor Community Meeting Room
510.981.6100, https://www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org/
“Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps”
Meet filmmaker and creative director Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto-Wong, who will perform koto music to begin the program, and answer questions after the film screening.
With its rich mix of compelling interviews, historical photographs, musical performances, and rare archival film footage, this 2014 documentary offers extraordinary insight into the persistence of traditional Japanese cultural practice among Japanese Americans interned during World War II. Despite intense pressure to reject all aspects of their ethnic heritage, with often harsh consequences for Issei arts masters, many internees nevertheless chose to maintain or even discover for the first time, Japanese forms of music, theater, dance, and other performing arts.
May 2015
Saturday May 30, 2015, 4 PM to 6:45 PM Asian Pacific Film Festival, Guild Theater, 2828 35th St, Sacramento, CA 95817, http://www.sapff.org/
Saturday, May 9, 2015, 2-4 PM, San Francisco Public Library with Topaz Museum Koret Auditorium , 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA
+Screening of “Hidden Legacy – Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps”
+Koto performance by Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, koto player and documentary film maker
+Presentation by Brynn Saito author of The Palace of Contemplating Departure
+Presentation about the new Topaz Museum in Delta, UT by Kimi Kodani
This event is co-sponsored by the Topaz Museum
April 2015
Friday April 10, 2015,
2 PM, Screening at Rosie the Riveter Trust,
Rosie the Riveter Visitor Education Center
1414 Harbour Way South, Suite #3000/Oil House, Richmond, CA 94804
Call (510) 232-5050x 0 to RSVP Leave name and phone number and show date .
Saturday April 11, 2015, 2PM, Screening at Rosie the Riveter Trust,
with koto performance by Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto and Q/A.
Rosie the Riveter Visitor Education Center
1414 Harbour Way South, Suite #3000/Oil House, Richmond, CA 94804
Call (510) 232-5050x 0 to RSVP Leave name and phone number and show date.
March 2015
Tuesday, March 31, 2015 , 7:30 p.m. Lark Theater, 549 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur, CA.
Sponsored by the Marin Nakayoshi Club fund raiser for scholarship fund.
Koto performance by Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, koto player and documentary film maker.
There will be a Q&A after the showing.
Priority Entry: 7:10 p.m. General Entry: 7:20 p.m. See info below.
Tickets ($18.00) available at the door. Light refreshments served.
Saturday, March 21, 2015,
5PM Japanese American Museum of San Jose fund raiser At Wesley Methodist Church
566 North Fifth Street, San Jose , CA 95112. www.JAMsj.org
February 2015
Saturday Feb. 21, 2015,
Films of Remembrance New People Cinema, 1746 Post St., San Francisco’s Japantown. Admission see flier. A one-day film series held in conjunction with the Bay Area Day of Remembrance (Sunday, Feb. 22), commemorating the 73rd anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, which set the wheels in motion to forcibly relocate some 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry into American concentration camps during World War II.
Performances, Screenings • DVD Sales • Discussion with Filmmakers
Sunday, February 8, 2015 1:30 – 3:30 pm
San Mateo Public Library Main Library
Oak Meeting Room, 55 West 3rd Avenue, San Mateo, CA
Free event
+Screening of “Hidden Legacy – Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps”
+Koto performance by Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, koto player and documentary film maker
+Presentation by Brian Komei Dempster, author
+Presentation about the new Topaz Museum in Delta, UT
[Sponsored by the San Mateo Public Library, Asian Library Advisory Committee,
San Mateo PL Foundation; San Mateo JACL, Asian American Curriculum Project, Friends of Topaz]
January 2015
Saturday, January 31st, 2015 9:30 am to noon
J-Sei screening at
Rialto Cinema Elmwood in Berkeley
2966 College Ave, Berkeley, CA
$10 per person donation is requested. Please RSVP to 510-848-3560 or
Suzanne@j-sei.org.
Friday, January 16, 2015 6 PM, Saratoga/Muko Sister City group potluck at Joan Pisani Community Center. 19655 Allendale, Saratoga. – The Saratoga-Muko Sister City group will host the next screening of Hidden Legacy. It’s free, and a pot luck, so please bring a dish. The event will include a koto performance from Shirley Muramoto, screening the film, and Q&A following. To reserve a spot (as space is limited), contact Peter Marra at piero@pacbell.net or 408/741-1551.
Sunday, November 30th, 2014 2 PM,
Hollywood Theater, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97212, presented by the Oregon Nikkei Endowment. Special performances by the Sahomi Tachibana Company (Japanese dance) and Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto on koto. Tickets available Online to be purchased.
Thursday, November 6, 2014, Riverside Community College, Center for Social Justice and Civil Liberties, Arts Walk Film Series, two free showings at 6:00p and 7:45p. 3855 Market St., Riverside, CA 92506. To reserve a seat, please contact phone: 951-222-8846 or email socialjustice@rccd.edu ; Special Note: there are only 18 seats available per screening. http://socialjustice.rccd.edu/Pages/about.aspx . Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto will be there to answer questions and maybe play some koto.
Thursday, September 18, 2014, UC Berkeley campus, with Asian American Studies 122, 3:00p-5:00 PM, 554 Barrows, open to the public. If you will be attending, please email Professor Lisa Hirai Tsuchitani at lhtsuchitani@berkeley.edu . Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto will be there to answer questions and maybe play some koto.
Just heard that a special presentation of “Hidden Legacy” at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive at UC Berkeley next Thursday, Sep 18 at 6 PM has opened up some seats!
Free screening, includes Q&A led by Prof. Steven Vogel. Presented by the Center for Japanese Studies,
REGISTRATION REQUIRED, which you can get to at a link from this website:
First public TV screening, Sunday, September 7th, 2014 on public TV, KRCB, 10:30p
CATS and Murasaki Productions, LLC Proudly present the premiere screening of
HIDDEN LEGACY: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the WW II Internment Camps
Saturday, June 28, 2014, 1 pm
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
4th and San Fernando Street, San Jose, CA Room 225
Admission Free! donations welcome
Space is limited: send name of each attendee to info@jcalegacy.com
We will hold reserved seats until 12:45 pm , then first com/ first served.
Convenient parking at the 4th Street Garage.
Saturday, April 5, 2014 4:00 PM
JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM (JANM)
100 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90012
phone: 213.625.0414
http://www.janm.org/events/film/
Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Arts in the World War II Internment Camps
Premiere Promotional Screening
For over twenty years, executive producer Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, a teacher and performer of the 13-stringed Japanese zither known as the koto, has researched the history of Japanese traditional performing arts as practiced in the camps. She tracked down, located, and interviewed both teachers and students from most of the ten main prison camps. Her fascination with the subject began after discovering that her mother, who taught her the koto, first learned the instrument as a child in the Topaz and Tule Lake camps. The mystery of how anyone could get the 6-foot long instrument into the camps when internees were only allowed to bring what they could carry sparked her quest to find out how Japanese Americans managed to carry on their art traditions under the watchtowers of the camps.
The cultural traditions that had always tied Japanese American immigrants to their faraway homeland, now came to serve as a solace during their wartime incarceration. In the vibrating strings of the koto and shamisen, the graceful moves of buyo and obon dance, the emotional release of shigin singing, or the stylized dramatics of kabuki and gidayu, an escape from the bleak predicament of the camps became possible, if only for a moment through these arts.
“I believe in this project because it does two great things,” states filmmaker Joshua Fong. “One, it allows history to speak for itself from those who lived it, the last of whom are passing on; two, it tells the camp story from a fresh cultural perspective rather than the traditional political one. A culture’s spirit lives in its art, and the flourishing of music, theater and dance in the camps is the best testament to how Japanese Americans, shouldered the ordeals of internment.”
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