Kanrin Maru 咸臨丸 Dance/Theater Project

The year 2010 is the 150th anniversary of the Kanrin Maru, the naval ship which brought the first Japanese emissaries to San Francisco from Japan. It was the first ship to travel directly from Japan to the United States and took 37 days of stormy journey to cross the Pacific Ocean. On board were political officials, cultural emissaries, and a crew of naval officers, all headed by captain Katsu Kaishu. This trip signified Japan’s first steps toward Democracy and a lasting relationship with the West.

This project will commemorate the first state visit of Japanese officials to the United States, reflecting the crosspollination of cultures that has occurred since then. The official objective of the mission was to establish the first ever Japanese embassy to the US, and to ratify the new treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation between the United States and Japan. The mission also tried, in vain, to obtain a revision of some of the unequal clauses of the treaties signed during Commodore Perry's negotiation in 1854.

We have started to create a dance/theater piece inspired by this historic event. Through artistic collaboration and with community support, this piece will educate the public on the history of the relationship between the US and Japan, looks into our present circumstances and challenges, and promotes further cooperation and understanding in the future. As a dancer/choreographer, I am collaborating with my long time collaborators on this project, koto player Shoko Hikage, songwriter/pianist Tony Chapman, several dancers in my dance company as well as with new collaborators. In May of last year, Shoko, Tony, and myself collaborated and performed an improvisational piece based on Kanrin Maru and John Manjiro’s amazing life story (he was a translator on board) at the Dionysian Festival at my studio.

We would like to continue developing the themes, for example friendship, tradition, modernization and create an evening length dance/theater work to present at a local theater in the fall of 2010 as part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Kanrin Maru.

We are hoping to find more inspired artists, non-arts organizations, neighborhood associations, social service organizations to work together on this special project. As for the artistic development, we are currently looking for the right collaborators, specifically playwrights, historians, and poets.

Thank you very much for your support and we hope to meet with you very soon.

Best regards,

Mary Sano
Artistic Director,
Mary Sano Studio of Duncan Dancing