Stories of ghosts and the supernatural, deeply significant in Japanese culture, regularly feature in traditional visual and performing arts. Join us for an exploration of the otherworldly as illustrated in Japanese woodblock prints, a fitting theme for the Halloween season. A special evening program with John Szostak, PhD, Associate Professor of Japanese Art History at UH Manoa. UH music instructor Darin Miyashiro (koto) and an accompanist (shakuhachi) will open the program with a traditional Japanese piece. Enjoy an evening of hauntingly beautiful tales, traditional Japanese music, onigiri and sake as the sun goes down at Liljestrand House.

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John Szostak’s primary research focus is on modern Japanese art history, especially Nihonga, or neotraditional painting. He did his PhD research as a Fulbright fellow at Kyoto University, where he studied Kyoto-based Nihonga painters and their professional networks in the early 20th century. His academic work has been funded by the Japan Studies Endowment (UH-Manoa), the University Research Council (UH-Manoa), and the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies; in 2010 he was selected as a Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow, funding one-year of post-doctoral research at the University of London (SOAS). Generally speaking, Szostak’s research investigates the intersection of artistic identity, national heritage, and received cultural tradition in modern Japan, with special attention paid to both the technical and ideological aspects of neotraditional Japanese painting. In 2013 he published a book on Kyoto painter Tsuchida Bakusen (1887-1936), and he has contributed essays to several edited volumes, international exhibition catalogues, and academic journals. His ongoing research includes a translation project entitled “Japanese Modern Art Sources and Documents (1860s-1940s),” and a study of modernist Japanese Buddhist painting.

Musician & instructor Darin Miyashiro graduated from Waiakea High School and attended the University of Redlands earning BA degrees in Music and Asian Studies. During his junior year abroad at Waseda University he was introduced to koto master Kazue Sawai and began studying classic and contemporary koto music under her and other master instructors at the Sawai Koto Institute in Tokyo. After earning his instructor certificate, Darin returned to Hawai‘i to serve as instructor for the Sawai Koto Kai Hawai‘i. He also serves as instructor for the So-shin Kai in Hilo. He has studied gagaku with the Hawai‘i Gagaku Society led by Rev. Masatoshi Shamoto and currently studies Ryukyu soukyoku with Okinawan koto master Hideaki Miyazato. In 2015 he established the Hawai‘i Koto Academy and continues to study under Kazue Sawai, Hikaru Sawai, and other master instructors at the Sawai Koto Institute in Tokyo. Darin currently teaches koto ensembles at the University of Hawaii at Manoa Music Department.

This event is 21 and over. Proceeds benefit Liljestrand House preservation and programs.