Traditional Japanese Dance

This photograph was taken by Folklife Coordinator Leila Childs in 1998 to document Sahomi Tachibana (foreground) teaching Chisao Hata (background) traditional Japanese dance.  The two women worked together through the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program of the Oregon Historical Society Folklife Program.

Sahomi Tachibana was born Haruno Abey in Mountain View, California, in 1924.  She began dancing at the age of seven—performing between scenes at her grandparents’ amateur Kabuki theater.  When she was eleven, she traveled to Fukushima, Japan to study at the Tachibana Dance School.  While there, she studied under Saho Tachibana and earned her dancing name, Sahomi Tachibana (translated as “a beautiful bird of paradise who learned to dance at Tachibana”).  At her grandfather’s urging, she returned to California in November of 1941, just weeks prior to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Tachibana spent the duration of the war interned with her family (and other Japanese Americans) first in California’s Tanforan Assembly Center, then later in Utah’s Topaz Relocation Center. After the war ended, she moved with her family to New York City, where she began studying modern dance and ballet. Following a successful New York debut in June 1948, Tachibana’s dance career blossomed, earning her international acclaim as a master of traditional Japanese dance.

Tachibana and her husband, Frank Hrubant, moved to Portland in 1990 to be near their daughter, Elaine. Since then, Tachibana has continued to teach and perform traditional Japanese dance. Her repertoire includes classical Kabuki dramas as well as folk and semi-classical dances. Many of the dances are national treasures of Japan and are based on historical incidents; others are part of festival celebrations. “Dance has been my life,” says Tachibana. “Through this form I like to entertain and teach whatever I can offer.”

Written by Joshua Binus, © Oregon Historical Society, 2005.