Okinawan experience: Hilo Hongwanji hosting cultural children’s camp

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The 14th annual Hui Okinawa-sponsored Children’s Day Camp registration is open.

The 14th annual Hui Okinawa-sponsored Children’s Day Camp registration is open.

The cultural day camp for children ages 8 to 13 will run from June 7-12 at the Hilo Hongwanji YBA Hall on Kilauea Avenue.

The fee for six days of fun and learning Okinawan culture is $100 per child with a discount for two or more siblings. Limited fee waivers are available. Maximum student enrollment is 48. Enrollment open to all children regardless of ethnicity.

Children will learn Okinawan language (Uchinaguchi) and participate in Okinawan cooking, singing, dancing, karate and taiko. One of the highlights will be making a Shisa puppet and learning a dance using the puppets.

Okinawan history and story-telling, arts and crafts of Okinawa and Japan, and plantation days activities will add to the fun and learning. The week concludes with a fun night featuring plantation and Okinawa games, an outing to Liliuokalani Park for bamboo-pole fishing, and a Friday Friends-Family Presentation Day with a fabulous pot-luck buffet featuring Okinawan cuisine.

Kristen Uchima Doolittle, historian and story-teller, will talk about Okinawan tattoos, and karate instruction will be led by longtime Okinawan karate expert James Kudo.

The Children’s Day Camp is co-sponsored by Hawaii United Okinawa Association, and supported by the state Foundation for Culture and the Arts.

For registration forms or for more information, contact camp coordinators Ruby Maekawa at 959-4855, Dwayne Miyashiro at 896-0512, or Margaret Torigoe at 895-0994 or matori58@msn.com.