Tradition
Innovation
& Inspiration
THE LATEST
Fall Concert a Success!
Thank you to everyone for coming out to our fall concert! Our players worked extra hard to make it a fitting tribute to the late Kazue Sawai, and we hope we made her proud.
Special thanks to Satoko Motouji (https://satokomotouji.com/) for sharing her beautiful art to decorate the stage and to Toshimi Tanaka and Yoshiko Takei for helping us look our best in Kimono!
We captured audio, video and took a ton of photos. Stay tuned to catch some highlights if you couldn't be there in person, or just want to hear some of the music again.
Player Spotlight: Rocco
Rocco first discovered the sounds of koto while working at Portland Japanese Garden in 2022. After falling in love with the sounds of the instrument, he began studying with Mitsuki Sensei in February 2024. Learn more about his journey learning the koto.
About Oregon Koto-Kai
Oregon Koto-Kai is a group of musicians passionate about playing the Japanese koto. Founded by Mitsuki Dazai in February 2012 with only six members, the ensemble held its first concert that fall at Epworth United Methodist Church in Portland, Oregon. Since that time, the group has grown to 20 members, and they are featured artists at many festivals and venues throughout the Pacific Northwest each year.
Debut Album Kin Out Now
We're proud to announce that on June 9th we released our first album, Kin, both digitally and on CD! This project started over two years ago and we’re happy to finally share it with the world.
The incredible album art was created by Kayo Kondo-Cox and the beautiful 'Kin' calligraphy was done by Nobuko Chalfen. Kin is the 13th and highest string on a standard koto and because we're releasing this album during our 13th year as an organization, it also symbolizes our progress up to this point. We look forward to sharing koto music and Japanese culture with our community for many more years to come.
Digital and physical copies are now available on Bandcamp, or you can pick up your CD in person at select OKK performances.
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