Reiko Iwanaga, Longtime Bon Odori Teacher, Receives NEA Award

She Expanded Participation Through Easy-to-Learn Steps, Collaboration With Music Groups

Surrounded by barbed wire, more than 1,400 miles away from her San Jose home, 4-year-old Reiko Iwanaga took her first lesson in classical Japanese dancing in 1942.

As she later performed for other Japanese Americans at the Granada (Amache) incarceration camp in southeast Colorado, she wore wigs stuffed with newspaper so they would fit on her head and a kimono painstakingly made by her mother with what materials she could find. She would  travel to shows at other blocks in the camp on a flatbed truck used to transport food.

Eighty years later, Iwanaga is still dancing and continues a lifetime involvement with Bon Odori and Shin Buddhism. In April, the head Bon Odori teacher emeritus for the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin was one of seven 2025 recipients of the prestigious National Endowment of the Arts National Heritage Fellowship.

The fellowship, similar to Japan’s National Living Treasure Award, recognizes contributions to “artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contributions to our nation’s traditional arts heritage,” the NEA said in announcing the awards.

“Adrienne Reiko Iwanaga has preserved and revitalized the traditional Japanese folk dance of Bon Odori, sparking new interest in the art form and expanding its reach and popularity through her innovative approach and artistic contributions,” the NEA said.

During her 25 years as San Jose’s head dance instructor, Iwanaga expanded participation in Bon Odori through easy-to-learn dance steps and groundbreaking collaborations involving San Jose Taiko, the Chidori Band and even mariachi singers.

"Thanks to Reiko's visionary leadership as an artist and educator, awareness about our festival, Obon, and Odori in general have grown significantly — both locally and nationally,” said San Jose Betsuin member Dr. Lisa Tsuchitani, who helped organize Iwanaga’s nomination for the fellowship. “Our festival honors the diverse historical and contemporary experiences of our broader Silicon Valley communities, as well as the creativity and resilience that always have been at the heart of these communities."

Dr. Wynn Kiyama, who has extensively studied Bon Odori, wrote a letter supporting her nomination in which he said her “influence has been felt across the country and her choreographies have been danced at temples throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, Oregon, Washington and elsewhere.”

Iwanaga’s reaction? “Unbelievable,” she said.

After hearing the news, she sent out an email thanking the people who have regularly danced with her at Obon and other events. “They’re part of why I was acknowledged,” she said.

Iwanaga has spread Bon Odori not just during Obon, but through performances at schools, other community events and workshops, and through the American Bon Consortium started by herself, Yumi Hatta and Kiyama. The consortium is dedicated to sharing and documenting the Obon dance tradition in the United States.

Iwanaga is deeply connected to Bon Odori and Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, ties so tight they are inseparable. Her maternal grandfather, Rev. Shodo  Tatsuda co-founded the Walnut Grove Buddhist Church in 1927; her father-in-law, Rev. Yoshio Iwanaga introduced and popularized Obon dancing in the mainland United States in the 1930s; her parents, Joe and Grace Akahoshi, were devout Buddhists and among the most active members of the San Jose Betsuin; and her brother, BCA Minister Emeritus Rev. Dr. Kenji Akahoshi is a retired BCA minister who remains active in spreading the Buddha-Dharma.

Her own participation in temple activities reaches back decades. In the 1970s, she, Rev. Hogen Fujimoto and Jean Wilson created the Padma religious Girl Scout award, and for more than 50 years she’s taught Brownie scouts working toward that award.  She is also a member of the San Jose Betsuin Sangha Support, Eco-Sangha, and BWA; the Betsuin committee planning a new $16 million building; and co-chairs the BCA Music Committee’s Obon/Taiko Subcommittee.

She began dancing on the yagura during the San Jose Bon Odori while a teenager and became the head dance instructor in 1998, following the four-decade tenure of the late Marjorie Nakaji.

Iwanaga recalled the first Odori number she choreographed after becoming the head instructor was “Wonderful Ondo.” 

Her version features just four steps. Although she studied Nihon buyo, the elegant and refined style of Japanese dancing, for years and received the title of Hanayagi Reimichi, she said she kept the Obon dances simple so anyone could participate and welcomed the freelancing steps of some younger dancers.

During her time as head instructor, the number of dancers at the San Jose Bon Odori more than doubled to more than 3,000 dancers over the two nights, the most among BCA temples.

She brought back traditional Japanese drumming to the San Jose Bon Odori in 2004, inviting San Jose Taiko to play “Ei Ja Nai Ka,” created by PJ Hirabayashi, a founding member of the group. The number has since become a staple dance not only at San Jose Obons, but other Obons on the mainland and Hawaii.

Each year, San Jose Taiko and the Chidori Band, a longtime San Jose group that plays Japanese popular music, combine to play two or three songs during the Odori such as the lively “Shiawase Samba.” 

She and San Jose Taiko developed an Odori version of Yumiko Hojo’s gatha, “Obon, Obon. It’s Festival Day.” When the Betsuin’s Junior Choir learned “Pokemon Ondo” at the Kona Buddhist Temple, Iwanaga introduced it in 2004 to the Odori playlist.

Rev. Jerry Hirano of the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple suggested what became the most ambitious Odori collaboration, “Remember Me” from the 2017 Disney animated feature “Coco.” It premiered at the 2022 San Jose Obon with mariachi singers, including a Japanese one, who sang in English, Japanese and Spanish.

“It was the culmination of the merging of everybody,” the embodiment that the temple is open to everyone, “inclusive, looking outward rather than inward,” Iwanaga said.

Obon dancing, she said, is community dancing. Numbers such as “Remember Me,” bring it back to those roots. Roots planted by Rev. Iwanaga.

“It’s a happy coincidence that I would continue what he started,” Iwanaga said. “I appreciate that part of the history.”