Mdm. Bando Mitsuhiro

The Bando Mitsuhiro Kai is under the direction of head instructor Madame Bando Mitsuhiro who has been teaching Japanese classical dance for 62 years, 42 of those years in the United States.

Bando sensei, who turned 83 this year, was born in Yawatahama City in Ehime prefecture, in southern Japan on the island of Shikoku. She began Japanese classical dance lessons at the age of 4, and during the course of her training, studied under Kabuki actor and Bando School Headmaster Bando Mitsugoro VIII, who has been recognized as a National Living Treasure of Japan.

After teaching Japanese dance in Japan for 20 years, she visited Los Angeles to see her aunt. On an outing to a Kenjin Kai picnic (prefectural gathering), she saw a Japanese dance program performed on the stage. That experience and the encouragement of her relatives led to her permanent move to the United States in 1969, with the goal of teaching true Japanese classical dance. She has taught Japanese dance to students in studios in Los Angeles, San Diego, Vista, Santa Monica, Huntington Beach, Monterey (Northern California) and Tacoma, Washington, and has awarded her top students with 28 natori (rank with professional stage name) and 11 shihan (teaching certificates) titles in the United States. She has participated in the Nisei Week Festival from the 1970s and has choreographed the parade dances on many occasions, most recently in 2005.

Her students have presented Japanese dance programs in Canada and in cities across the United States, as well as at popular local venues such as Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Japan Expo, the Japan America Theatre, and Asian cultural festivals held on California college campuses and in various community centers. For her lifetime contributions to the Japanese-American community, she was awarded 2006 Woman of the Year by the Downtown Los Angeles Chapter of the JACL (Japanese American Citizens' League) and the Japanese Women's Society, and was selected as one of the 2008 Los Angeles Nisei Week Pioneers for the Nisei Week Festival. She was also presented with the prestigious title called the Chokumon Shihan by the Grand Master of the Bando School in Tokyo, Japan, renown Kabuki and television actor Bando Mitsugoro X.

Today, her students range in age from the youngest at 3-year-old preschool children to seniors, well into their 80s. Their language abilities vary as well, from fluent Japanese native speakers to American born non-Japanese speaking students. But somehow, through the language of dance, she is able to communicate and promote this cultural art.