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The Japanese Bon Festival at Cranbrook coincides with the first day of Obon in Japan, traditionally a four-day festival. This year, the festival will be celebrated in Japan from August 13 through August 16. The festival at Cranbrook will take place in a grassy meadow on the shores of Kingswood Lake, just south of the Cranbrook Japanese Garden, in the shade of two majestic red pine trees. The spirited energy of taiko drumming will lead into a presentation of festive Bon Odori songs during which the performers will provide the audience with brief instructions and encourage them to join the dances. The Japanese Garden will be open throughout the Bon Festival for exploration and informal tours, including a musical interlude between activities in the open meadow. In case of rain, the celebration will move indoors to the gymnasium at Brookside School Cranbrook, where the Japanese School of Detroit first opened to the Japanese community of Metro Detroit fifty years ago in 1973.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON SCHEDULE AT CRANBROOK
Parking for the Bon Festival will take place in the Cranbrook Schools Performing Arts Center (PAC) Parking Lot, located at 550 Lone Pine Road, at the northeast corner of Lone Pine and Orchard Ridge Roads. A Cranbrook bus will take visitors to the Japanese Garden and the Bon Festival.

1:30pm        First Shuttle Bus Departs Cranbrook Schools PAC Parking Lot
1:30 – 5:30pm         Shuttle Bus Operates Continuously between PAC Parking Lot and Bon Festival 
1:45 – 5:15pm          Cranbrook Japanese Garden Tours ongoing during the Bon Festival
2:15 – 3:15pm          MI Bon Festival – Set One
                                        ●    Taiko Drumming Performance by T3 Tanoshii Taiko Tai and A2 Taiko Players
                                        ●    Songs for Bon Odori (Japanese Festival Dance)
    ○    Tokyo Ondo (1932, classic Obon festival song)
    ○    Michigan Ondo (2021, Kyoko Johnson and Noriko Maidens, GLTC)
    ○    Ei Ja Nai Ka (1997, PJ Hirabayashi, North American Taiko Conference)

3:15 – 3:45pm           Interlude – Music in the Japanese Garden
       Sazanami Taiko Arts Ensemble and Sakura Japanese Instrumental Group

3:45 – 4:45pm           MI Bon Festival – Set Two
    ●    Taiko Drumming Performance by Godaiko Drummers and Raion Taiko
                                        ●    Songs for Bon Odori (Japanese Festival Dance)
                                                     ○    Tanko Bushi (another Obon classic)
                                                     ○    Michigan Ondo
                                                     ○    Ei Ja Nai Ka

5:30pm                     Last Shuttle Bus Departs Bon Festival and Returns to PAC Parking Lot