Shoko Hikage

The Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, in conjunction with Yerba Buena Gardens,
will present Sawai USA as part of this year’s ongoing Thursday Lunchtime Concert
Series at Yerba Buena Gardens, located on Howard Street between 3rd and 4th streets.

As part of its diplomatic mission, the consulate participates in the series every year. This year's concert will take place Thursday, Aug. 14, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Sawai USA, led by Shoko Hikage, is a group of musicians composed of students and teachers of the koto. They will perform traditional Japanese music, as well as some original and contemporary pieces, including "Sakura Sakura," "Hyakkafu" (Multitude of Flowers), and "Tori no You ni" (Like a Bird).

"With between two and eight members performing each piece, the sound is beautiful, seductive and powerful," said a Yerba Buena spokesperson. "This is an event not to be missed."

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit the consulate's website at www.sf.us.emb-japan.go.jp/, the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival website at www.ybgf.org, or Hikage's website at www.ShokoHikage.com.

Shoko Hikage

Hikage began playing the koto at the age of three. In 1988, she graduated from Takasaki
College with a major in koto music and was accepted as a special research student at Sawai
Sokyoku-In under Tadao Sawai and Kazue Sawai, where she received her master’s certificate.

In 1992, she moved to Honolulu to teach koto at the Sawai Koto Kai Hawaii. There she
held her first American solo recital at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Theater as part of the “New Music Across America” Series.

In 1997, she moved to San Francisco, where she continues to perform regularly both solo and in collaboration with other artists throughout the world.

Sawai Sokyoku-in was founded in 1979. The Sawais are pioneers endeavoring to spread koto music around the globe, with school branches in the U.S., Australia, Europe and elsewhere. Their goal is to take the koto beyond the boundaries of traditional Japanese music and develop new means of expression through the instrument.

In pursuing this goal, they have worked not only with other Japanese musicians from the traditional genres, but with major performers from Western classical, jazz, avant-garde, and other world music traditions.

They encourage and welcome students from all over the world at their school in Tokyo.