January 2018 "Shikishi" exhibition at Doizaki Gallery of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. (Cultural News Photo Archive)
Los Angeles, CA (November 6, 2025) — The Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) announces that it will resume annual shikishi board submissions for its 21st Annual New Year Shikishi Exhibition, to be held from January 10–24, 2026, at the George J. Doizaki Gallery in Little Tokyo.
Shikishi, the traditional Japanese art of “first writing” (kakizome), celebrates the New Year with auspicious words, poems, and seasonal motifs such as zodiac animals, pine-bamboo-plum, Mount Fuji, cranes, and turtles.
Artists, calligraphers, and community members are invited to create original works—hand-painted or printed—on shikishi boards, symbolizing good fortune, longevity, and renewal. These works will be displayed as part of JACCC’s cherished annual tradition, which resumes this year after a pandemic hiatus.
Blank shikishi boards will be available for purchase at JACCC for $5 each starting December 1, 2025. Completed boards (size: 9-1/2" x 10-3/4") may be delivered in person or mailed to:
JACCC, 244 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
The submission deadline is Monday, December 29, 2025.
The exhibition is free and open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information about the Shikishi Exhibition or other cultural programs at JACCC, please visit www.jaccc.org or contact lzhu@jaccc.org.
To coincide with 2026 New Year Shikishi Exhibition, JACCC will host the 9th Annual Cultural Ikebana Exhibition by members of the Ikebana Teachers Association of Southern California on Saturday & Sunday, January 10-11, 2026 at the George J. Doizaki Gallery of JACCC.
In the 2026 New Year Ikebana Exhibition, Sogetsu Ikebana teachers from the association will be responsible for the display. This exhibition is free to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
To celebrate the New Year, the Ikebana teachers will use special seasonal materials, such as Pine, Bamboo, Plum, Chrysanthemum, Camellia, Narcissus, Orchid, Peony or Nandina berry. The colors of these ikebana arrangements will be the perfect way to bring in the New Year and invite good luck and happiness.
