MI Bon Summer Festival 2024
Obon (お盆) / SECOND JAPANESE BON FESTIVAL AT CRANBROOK / #MIBON2024
Sunday, August 11th, 2024 | 1:00pm - 5:30pm
Cranbrook Japanese Garden
550 Lone Pine Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Featuring Great Lakes Taiko Drumming, MI Bon Dancing, Cranbrook Japanese Garden Tours, and More!
Free Admission (Advance Registration Required)
SUNDAY AFTERNOON MI BON FESTIVAL PROGRAM AT CRANBROOK from Cranbrook event website
1:00pm > First Shuttle Bus Departs Cranbrook Schools PAC Parking Lot at 550 Lone Pine Road
A Cranbrook bus will take visitors from the PAC lot to the Japanese Garden and the Bon Festival.
[1:00 - 6:00 Shuttle Bus Operates Continuously between PAC Parking Lot and Bon Festival]
1:30 - 2:00 Prelude - Music in the Japanese Garden
Listen for a festive shinobue bamboo flute medley by Murasaki Shikibu ensemble
2:00 - 5:00 Cranbrook Japanese Garden Tours Ongoing during the Bon Festival
2:00 - 2:45 Japanese Taiko Drumming
Experience the energy and spirit of Taiko Drumming Performances by T3 Tanoshii Taiko Tai, A2 Taiko Players, Godaiko Drummers, and Raion Taiko; Featuring both contemporary and traditional pieces along with a North American debut presentation of the Minbu Japanese Folk Dance "Imabetsu Arama Odori" (Wild Horse Dance from Imabetsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan)
3:00 - 4:00 Bon Odori (Japanese Festival Dance)
Enjoy the music and join the MI Bon dances led by Murasaki Shikibu members, with bon dance songs including "Tanko Bushi" and "Tokyo Ondo" (Obon Festival Classics), "Ei Ja Nai Ka" (1997, PJ Hirabayashi, North American Taiko Conference), and our own "Michigan Ondo" (2021, Kyoko Johnson and Noriko Maidens, GLTC)
4:00 - 4:45 Japanese Taiko Drumming (Reprise)
Celebrate with Taiko Drumming Performances by T3 Tanoshii Taiko Tai, A2 Taiko Players, Godaiko Drummers, and Raion Taiko; featuring contemporary and traditional pieces and a presentation of the Minbu Japanese Folk Dance "Imabetsu Arama Odori" (Wild Horse Dance from Imabetsu, Aomori Prefecture, Japan)
5:00 - 5:30 Postlude - Music in the Japanese Garden
Hear the echoes of a Summer Song by members of the GLTC Taiko Arts Collective
6:00pm > Last Shuttle Bus Departs Bon Festival and Returns to PAC Parking Lot
#MIBON2024 is a Community Project presented by the Great Lakes Taiko Center (GLTC) 五大湖太鼓センター Taiko Arts Collective and hosted by the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research at the Cranbrook Japanese Garden in Bloomfield Hills, MI.
This MI Bon Summer Festival is made possible by Great Lakes Taiko Center volunteer members and supported by grants from Taiko Community Alliance, TaikoVentures, and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.
Additional cultural activities are provided by GLTC community partners including JACL Detroit (Japanese American Citizens League) and the Consulate-General of Japan in Detroit along with botanical displays by Ikebana International Detroit (Detroit Chapter 85) and the Ann Arbor Bonsai Society.
The 2024 Cranbrook Japanese Garden Tour Season and related cultural programming is sponsored, in part, by the Clannad Foundation and the Japan Business Society of Detroit.
MI Bon Dancing!
Bon dancers and drummers at our first GLTC community MI Bon Summer Festival in 2021, Novi, MI #MIBON2021
Watch our MI Bon Dance & Tutorial videos and learn more about each song and dance that we will be featuring at this year’s MI Bon Summer Festival on our MI Bon Dance page:
#MIBON2021
Japanese Taiko drums in the field at #MIBON2021 [photo: Eileen S. Ho, 2021-08-07 at Wildlife Woods Park, Novi, MI]
#MIBON2022
MI Bon logo (2022) created by Michigan artist Deanne Bednar with GLTC member Ronna Fisher.
Festival audience learning Bon dance movements and gestures for the song Michigan Ondo at #MIBON2022 [photo: Noriko Maidens/Emi, 2022-09-24 at Novi Public Library]
Our T3/BBK Team: Kyoko Johnson, Noriko Maidens, Rieko Muroi-Bowman, and Akiyo Fisher, sensei for the Tanoishii Taiko Tai (T3) community group and Bondaiko-Bondance-Kane (BBK) festival music class, also performing as Murasaki Shikibu Ensemble [photo: Kyoko Johnson, 2022-09-24, Novi Public Library #MIBON2022]
#MIBON2023
MI Bon 2023 (pre-event) Dance Workshop participants dancing to Tokyo Ondo, one of the Bon dances featured at GLTC #MIBON2023 (video: July 23rd 2023 at Rudolf Steiner HS, Ann Arbor, MI)
donations welcome!
New #MIBON T-shirts!
MI Bon T-Shirts
Visit our GLTC info table at the cultural booths tent to purchase our MI Bon T-shirts (Adult sizes $25, Youth sizes $20) … NEW for #MIBON2024