Shishigumi LA members in lion costumes perform a “shishi-mai” or “lion dance” during the 25th Annual Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata Memorial Cherry Blossom Festival in the El Camino College Student Services Plaza on Tuesday, April 8. Shishi-mai is a traditional Japanese art performed throughout Japan to help ward off evil spirits. (Eddy Cermeno | The Union)
Lions approached the crowd slowly, moving to the center of the plaza to steady and rhythmic Okinawan beats.
Two, three, then four lions climbed over benches, rolled on the ground and pretended to bite attendees with their large, wooden mouths.
Shishigumi LA member Kyosuke Kataoka, 28, while wearing a lion costume, approaches El Camino College student Alonso Mora, 28, English major, and other attendees in a “shishi-mai” or “lion dance” performance during the 25th Annual Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata Memorial Cherry Blossom Festival in the ECC Student Services Plaza on Tuesday, April 8. Shishi-mai is a traditional Japanese art performed throughout Japan to help ward off evil spirits. (Eddy Cermeno | The Union)
Attendees were treated to a traditional Ryukyu-style “shishi-mai” or lion dance performed by Shishigumi Los Angeles at the 25th Annual Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata Memorial Cherry Blossom Festival at El Camino College’s Student Services Plaza on Tuesday, April 8.
Shishigumi LA members Ken Ishikawa, 18, and Takato Uchimiya, 18, perform a “shishi-mai” or “lion dance” in a lion costume during the 25th Annual Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata Memorial Cherry Blossom Festival in the El Camino College Student Services Plaza on Tuesday, April 8. Shishi-mai is a traditional Japanese art performed throughout Japan to help ward off evil spirits. (Eddy Cermeno | The Union)
“[The lion dance] is often performed at festivals to ward off evil,” Shishigumi LA President Kyosuke Kataoka, 28, said during the festival.
Each lion required two performers to maneuver the head and body.
“Most of my guys are high schoolers and for them to represent their own culture in public — it means a lot to them,” Kataoka said after the festival.
Shishigumi LA members stand in front of attendees and take off their lion costumes after their “shishi-mai” or “lion dance” performance during the 25th Annual Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata Memorial Cherry Blossom Festival in the El Camino College Student Services Plaza on Tuesday, April 8. Shishi-mai is a traditional Japanese art performed throughout Japan to help ward off evil spirits. (Eddy Cermeno | The Union)
The festival honors Nadine Hata, a former vice president of Academic Affairs and history professor at ECC. Hata retired in 2004, and in 2005, died from breast cancer.
The event was moderated by Dean of Humanities Scott Kushigemachi, who has been involved with the festival since 2018.
(R-L) Monica Delgado, El Camino College student success coordinator, Donald Hata, former CSU Dominguez Hills history professor and Scott Kushigemachi, ECC dean of humanities, are approached by Shishigumi LA member Ken Ishikawa, 18, while wearing a lion’s head costume during a dance performance at the 25th Annual Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata Memorial Cherry Blossom Festival in the ECC Student Services Plaza on Tuesday, April 8. (Eddy Cermeno | The Union)
This year marks the third time the Social Justice Center has hosted the annual festival which honors the legacy of Hata.
“As I spoke with [Hata’s] widower, it was very apparent to me how much she believed in social justice and the work that we’re doing,” Monica Delgado, student success coordinator at the Social Justice Center, said after the festival.
Guest speaker Donald Hata, widower of Nadine Hata, gave a powerful speech that told of his experience in a Japanese internment camp as a 3-year-old during World War II.
“I was a citizen, but the U.S. government called me a noncitizen,” he said during the festival. “I remember barbed-wire fences, soldiers with long guns and bayonets everywhere.”
Donald Hata, former CSU Dominguez Hills history professor, speaks during the 25th Annual Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata Memorial Cherry Blossom Festival in the El Camino College Student Services Plaza on Tuesday, April 8. The festival is based on the Japanese tradition called “hanami” or “flower-viewing” and honors ECC’s former vice president of academic affairs, Nadine Ishitani Hata. It included a “shishi-mai” or “lion dance” performance by Shishigumi LA and haiku readings from ECC students. (Eddy Cermeno | The Union)
Wiley Wilson, student services specialist at the Social Justice Center, said after the festival that history tends to repeat itself when people are not educated about it.
“[This event] exposes people to Japanese culture, Asian culture, in general,” Wilson said. “It just gives that education, that exposure, that innovativeness and understanding of what’s happening now.”
Shishigumi LA members Ken Ishikawa, 18, and Takato Uchimiya, 18, tap a flowering bush while wearing a lion costume during a “shishi-mai” or “lion dance” performance at the 25th Annual Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata Memorial Cherry Blossom Festival in the El Camino College Student Services Plaza on Tuesday, April 8. Shishi-mai is a traditional Japanese art performed throughout Japan to help ward off evil spirits. (Eddy Cermeno | The Union)
The festival was originally started 25 years ago by Nadine Hata after her efforts led to five cherry blossom trees being donated to the campus.
“Nadine and I were part of the negotiation that led to the donation of all the cherry trees here from [the American Honda Motor Company],” Donald Hata said. “Afterward, Honda helped create [an] endowed scholarship in Nadine’s name.”
With help from Helen Nakano, Nadine Hata also established at ECC the first college-accredited course in the U.S. on naginata, a martial art using a polearm blade.
Shishigumi LA members in lion costumes perform a “shishi-mai” or “lion dance” during the 25th Annual Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata Memorial Cherry Blossom Festival in the El Camino College Student Services Plaza on Tuesday, April 8. Shishi-mai is a traditional Japanese art performed throughout Japan to help ward off evil spirits. (Eddy Cermeno | The Union)
The festival was paused for two years during COVID-19 and resumed in 2023. Donald Hata missed the last two festivals due to illness.
“About six months ago, after I had a stroke and [an] optic nerve problem, I had realized, I’m 85, and looking at what the American political situation was looking at six months ago … I thought, ‘You know, I’d like to try poetry,’” he said.
(L-R) El Camino College students from English professor Rhea Lewitzki’s class Rosa Paez, English major; Lorena Segura, 26, English major; Serratia Krank, 29, film major; Alonso Mora, 28, English major; Henna Jivraj, 27, nursing major; and Pilar Dugard received certificates after reading their haikus during the 25th Annual Dr. Nadine Ishitani Hata Memorial Cherry Blossom Festival in the ECC Student Services Plaza on Tuesday, April 9. (Eddy Cermeno | The Union)
During the festivities, students in English professor Rhea Lewitzki‘s English 24A class took turns reading original haikus based on nature and the four seasons.
“Today, the haiku were entertaining, but sometimes really wacky and crazy and that’s great because Nadine would’ve loved that,” Donald Hata said.
Editor’s note: Video was added on Thursday, April 10.
