Tag: Ken Ikemoto

Tag: Round Two. In this series museum staff, artists, and guests answer a grip of questions about life, love, liberty and all that magic. The featured person then tags another with five more questions. It’s like transmitting a virus, but happy and fun. Next up is, me, Ken Ikemoto, School Programs Associate, tagged by Nicole Harvey.

Ken Ikemoto

Where do you most want to be right now?

At this moment there are many places that I would love to be. But one place that comes to mind would be soaking in a steamy outdoor bath somewhere in northern Japan. My mind would be soft clouds slow gliding across tall azure skies and the sound of trickling water, distant songbirds, and the wind in the leaves. Yes, that is where I want to be right now. Oh, and about half an hour later I will want to be eating a sumptuous feast of delectable foods.

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150 Years of Immigration Issues

Every clear morning I tuck in my right pant leg and pedal my way over to the museum. After setting my silver wheels up on the bike rack in the loading dock, I take the stairs up to the Education offices on the second floor. The dimly lit entry to the Education office space is located behind the tea room in the second floor Japan galleries. Because I pass through these galleries everyday, I always look forward to new rotations of Japanese art.

The latest additions to the Japan galleries include a pair of near-life-sized Japanese dolls in kimono complete with miniature accessories in a striking installation. Their innocent smiling white faces reflect in the gallery cases behind my own reflection. I know my sister would absolutely shudder at that description because she is one of those people that are just irrationally creeped out by dolls but I find them to be quite cherub-like. They are a part of the thematic exhibition Japan’s Early Ambassadors to San Francisco 1860-1927, currently on display.

This exhibition begins with the arrival of the ship Kanrin Maru and the first Japanese embassy in San Francisco, this year being the 150th anniversary of their arrival. It examines the experiences of some of the first Japanese diplomats and cultural emissaries to the United States. The exhibition also includes artwork and objects relating to Japanese artists active in San Francisco in the late 19th and early 20th century.

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Field Trip to the Asian Art Museum

“Hey so you know Mr. C, the history teacher? He is actually pretty cool for a teacher I guess. He set up this field trip to go to the Asian Art Museum next month.”

“Yeah? That place is hecka cool man. I went there a couple times in elementary school and we did some Chinese painting class and another time had a samurai thing.”

“Neat! You know my cousin, she’s really into art, she is doing a program there where they’re talking to a high school in China.

“That’s cool. Yo, I heard that this one time, they even had some kung-fu guys breaking bricks and stuff!”

“No way! That’s awesome. This will actually be kinda fun. Go Mr. C!”

School Programs for Everyone

School Programs are a large and crucial part of the museum’s Education department’s work that may be less visible to the general visitor than other types of programming. School Programs staff have varied backgrounds, often as classroom teachers and artists, in museum studies, education, fine arts, art history, and Asian studies. We work closely with volunteer docents and storytellers, Education department colleagues, other museum departments, and teachers, administrators, artists, and arts providers in the community.

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600 years of tradition at HustleMania

Kyogen is a form of traditional Japanese theater and performance art. Kyogen can be literally translated as “mad words” or “wild speech”. This art form grew out of folk and Imperial court song and dance. Later the art form gradually divided into two branches. The more serious forms and elements further evolved into the masked no drama, the more comic forms and elements evolving into kyogen. Eventually lineages or schools of kyogen came into prominence and codified many of the traditions. I could go on and on about the history of kyogen and the intricacies of the art form, but that type of discourse is best left to my far more eloquent and expert colleagues.
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Poetry is best when shared.

Part of the Lords of the Samurai special exhibition is a programming space called the Daimyo for a Day Art and Activity Room. One element of this space is a poetry corner, where we’ve invited visitors to try their hand at Japanese collaborative poetry called renga.

Renga is a form of traditional Japanese poetry where multiple poets take turns composing alternating sections of the poem. Popular with samurai, participants also came from all walks of life: farmers and priests, rivals and friends. Renga is made up of repeating verses of two stanzas.The first stanza is made of three lines in a 5-7-5 syllable structure, a pattern that was the basis for modern haiku poetry.The second stanza is made of two lines in a 7-7 syllable structure.
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Harajuku Street Fashion, Top Gun, and Samurai Women

One of the most memorable festivals I attended during my time living in Tokyo was the Spring Grand Festival at Meiji Shrine (Meiji Jingu). Meiji Shrine is located in the western parts of Tokyo in Shibuya ward. This Shinto shrine is dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji was the symbolic leader of the restored Imperial government of Japan during a period of rapid modernization at the end of the 19th century.

Harajuku station and Takeshita street are located right in front of the main entry to the shrine grounds. Harajuku on a Sunday is the best place to see Japanese youth rockin’ their indescribable street fashion. My favorite was definitely the gothic-lolita kids hanging out on the bridge in front of the main gate to the shrine grounds. Imagine a cross between an emo Count Dracula and Alice in Wonderland. Yet once into the shrine grounds I always felt sense of sacred purity (especially after the craziness of Harajuku!)
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Samurai and Samba!

I inherited a lot of stubbornness from my grandmother. When I was a kid, I’d do the exact opposite of what she told me to do, just to assert my individuality. In Japanese there is a proverb, “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” Well, I was that nail and my grandmother was the hammer. But no matter how many times she tried to hammer, I’d keep popping my head out again. I look back on it fondly now. I mean, a cold-as-ice staredown across a shopping cart between a 10 year old boy and a 70 year old woman in the cereal aisle of a supermarket is funny no matter how you look at it.
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