More than 500 school children took part in a wide range of Japanese cultural activities at Cowra's Japanese Garden on May 4 and 5 as part of the garden's Autumn festival Koyo Matsuri.
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The children, and adult visitors to the garden, had the chance to take part in tea ceremonies, Geisha make up and Kimono demonstrations, Japanese children's games, Japanese street theatre and story telling, drumming, Bonsai demonstrations, seminars on the cultural collection at the Garden, pottery and Kimono dress-ups, courtesy of the embassy of Japan.
Cowra Japanese Garden chairman Bob Griffiths said the festival: "is an opportunity for the garden board to say thank you to the Cowra community and all the organisations and individuals both in Japan and Australia who have supported the garden in the extremely difficult COVID-19 lockdowns and the recovery period since".
The garden was unable to hold its Spring festival, Sakura Matsuri, in 2020 and 2021.
"As was the case last year the Garden was once again forced to close for almost three months during Spring," Mr Griffiths said.
"The cancellation of Sakura in September last year, again denied us of a major fundraising event.
"The garden team has worked very hard to increase visitation since the reopening," he said.
Coinciding with the Japanese annual holidays of Greenery Day on May 4 and Children's Day on May 5 the focus at Koyo Matsuri was on sharing Japan's culture with the younger generations.
"Children's Day is a very special national day which takes place annually on May 5. It's a day set aside to respect children's personality and celebrate their happiness," Mr Griffiths said.
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