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| On January 1st and 3rd,
ISF, organized New Year's ceremony (Hatsumoude, New Year visit
to Shrine), in New York City. As our first New Year's event was
quite successful in 2004, we celebrated the occasion several times
for 2005, which again was very well received by the Japanese community
of metropolitan New York area. As the United Nations has declared 2005 as "International Year of Sport and Physical Education," and as ISF is a NGO member planning to participate in the various events with UN partners, we were honored to be able to begin our New Year 2005 ceremony at the martial arts school "Muzosa Bujinkan Dojo" in Queens. On January 1st, we started at 11:00 AM with formal Shinto ceremony "Saitan-sai," attended by 16 people including many non-Japanese. Over the entire day, approximately 60 people attended, mostly families. We offered Sake for adults, oranges for children and Tea Ceremony for everyone. Everyone seemed to enjoy New Year celebration that also included the first martial arts performance of 2005 at the Dojo Studio. On Monday, January 3rd, the first business day of the year in NYC, we were able to continue offering New Year celebration in midtown Manhattan as the the Felissimo Design House (56th & Fifth Avenue) who kindly offered their reception space in their office building for our event. We offered tea and sweets to many business people, who offered their feelings of finally being able to have "Oshogatsu (New Years Day)." The International Shinto Foundation would like to express our appreciation and special thanks to Muzosa Bujinkan Dojo, Felissimo Design House and the many volunteers who made the 2005 New Year's events in New York a success. |
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** Jan 1st, 2005 **
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