Portland Japanese Garden

Join us for a free musical performance featuring shinobue flute, Tsugaru shamisen and a piano performance by Maido Mind. This cultural performance will be held in the Jordan Schnitzer Japanese Arts Learning Center. Yumi Torimaru and Nozomi Imade, who come from profoundly different musical backgrounds, formed Maido Mind in 2022. Yumi studied traditional Japanese instruments including taiko drum, shinobue (bamboo flutes), and Tsugaru shamisen (Japanese lute). Classically trained Nozomi started studying piano at the age 3 and studied vocal music at a prestigious music university in Japan. Both women were born and raised in the Kansai region of Japan. In the Kansai dialect, “Maido” is a versatile word used as a greeting, a farewell, and a thank you. The mind enables a person to be aware of the world and their experiences: to think and to feel. Maido Mind, with Yumi on shinobue and Nozomi’s piano and vocal performance, offers a wide variety of music, from tradition to modern, standard to original, and Japanese to Western.

Enjoy a special holiday performance with the Koto and Cello duo, Samazama!

SamaZama is a collaboration of the Koto – a Japanese traditional musical instrument played by Masumi Timson and the Cello played by Joseph Harchanko. “Samazama” is the Japanese word for variety. The SamaZama Duo combines the esoteric nature of traditional and contemporary Japanese music with tango, jazz, blues and western classical music, blending the instruments and music of Eastern and Western cultures in a moving and uncommon musical synthesis. Their music deftly unites these two widely divergent instruments through traditional and contemporary Koto works to create a vibrant musical soundscape that soothes and inspires.

The standard Koto harp is a thirteen-string plucked zither. It was introduced to Japan from China through the Korean Peninsula in the 7th century. The instrument has been part of the Gagaku court ensemble for over one thousand years, gradually becoming popular among the merchant classes of the Edo period (1600-1868). An important member of the traditional Sankyoku ensemble, along with the three-string Shamisen and Shakuhachi (bamboo flute), the Koto developed further in a solo capacity, eventually gaining its place as one of Japan’s most prominent musical instruments. Today a varied repertoire along with a wide range of playing techniques provides a wonderful palette of sound textures, making the Koto appealing to audiences the world over.