Q&A on the legacy of Madame Fujima Kansuma with Miyako Tachibana, June Berk, and Yuka Murakami
Friday, June 26, 2020
6 p.m. - 7 p.m. (PDT)
FREE

"Madame Fujima Kansuma" shares the life of the celebrated Japanese American kabuki dancer and teacher with a career beginning in the early 1940s and spanning decades. Join filmmaker Yuka Murakami for a discussion around the legacy of Madame Kansuma with Madame Kansuma’s daughter, Miyako Tachibana, and longtime student, June Berk, who were both featured in the film produced for a celebration of Kansuma’s 100th birthday in 2018. As the third part of the JANM Digital Film Festival, this Q&A will explore her extensive career and the impact of her work today.

Born May 9, 1918, Madame Fujima Kansuma is a celebrated Japanese American kabuki dancer and teacher with a career beginning in the early 1940s and spanning decades. From learning under the “God of Theatre,” Onoe Kikugoro VI, in Japan to being invited to travel across different concentration camps to perform her pieces while incarcerated during World War II, she has dedicated her life to sharing the culture of kabuki and Japanese heritage in the United States. She has received a number of awards: most notably the Order of the Precious Crown, Apricot, by the Japanese government in 1985, and the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1987.

In 2018, at 100 years old, she was the choreographer for the Los Angeles Nisei Week Parade. In the same year, the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center hosted a birthday celebration for which this film was produced. Madame Fujima Kansuma continues to teach and choreograph along with her daughter, Miyako Tachibana, who also became a master kabuki dancer and teacher. Madame Kansuma’s legacy continues through her and the hundreds of students with whom she has crossed paths.

This film will be available to watch on JANM’s YouTube channel starting Friday, June 19, 2020:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jo77BpcbY8

The Q&A will be streamed live on JANM's YouTube channel. You can submit your questions in advance using this form. Participants will be able to chat and ask additional questions live (you will need to be logged in to YouTube to participate in the chat).


*This program is presented in partnership with Tadaima! A Community Virtual Pilgrimage by Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages. The film was produced for the program Fujima Kansuma: 100th Birthday Celebration, a co-presentation of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Japanese American National Museum, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. It received federal support from the Smithsonian Asian Pacific Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.