Note: Please forward this message on to all interested parties.

Greetings,

You are cordially invited to join the Kushi Family and other macrobiotic friends to celebrate the life of Aveline Kushi on the evening of July 30th, 2008 on the occasion of the Seventh Anniversary of her passing.

Aveline Kushi was born February 27, 1923 in a small mountainous village called Yokota, She was the third child of thirteen siblings and was born from a family descended from the Samurai.  Her father became a staunch supporter of the Salvation Army and of the BIble and named his daughter "Tomoko" which means "Go with God."  Later, Tomoko became interested in the cause of world peace and met Georges Ohsawa and became his student.  While studying with him, George gave her the name "Aveline."  After falling in love with the articles that Michio wrote and sent to George from the US for his newspaper, Aveline came to America in 1952 to meet him. Michio had been living in New York since 1949, pursing World Government studies at Columbia University.  She was on her way to Paris to attend a World Citizen meeting that was led by Mr. Garry Davis (www.worldservice. org) but ended up staying in New York, marrying Michio, bearing five children and becoming a pioneer of the natural and organic foods movement and teacher and leader of the macrobiotic movement.  She introduced many new things from Japan to the many young students that graced her home including Aikido, Tea Ceremony, Flower Arranging, Futon Making and Noh Drama.  She travelled the world with Michio, spreading the message of macrobiotics and of world peace, wrote several books with friends and taught countless individuals macrobiotic cooking classes.  She later fell ill and eventually passed away in July of 2001.

According to Buddhist tradition the seventh anniversary of someone's passing is a very special time and is honored with a special ceremony.  For this occassion we are honored to have the Abbott of the Dai-Bosatsu Zendo, the renowned Zen Buddhist School in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, Eido Shimano Roshi (http://www.daibosat su.org/eido2. html) to preside over the ceremonies.

In addition to the formal Buddhist Ceremony we are pleased to announce that Master Noh Performer, Akira Matsui (http://www.bte. org/index. php?page= ntp-faculty), friend and teacher of Aveline, will also be present and will perform select scenes from traditional Noh plays.  Noh Theater is an ancient performance art that was revered and performed only for the ruling class of Samurai lords and warriors.  Unlike Kabuki which is ostentatious in comparison, Noh theater is characterized by its subtlety and precision of movement.  The Noh tradition is being kept alive and furthered by Theatre Nohgaku (http://www.theatren ohgaku.org/ index_e.php) in New York whom were instrumental in helping us obtain Master Akira Matsui's commitment to perform for the evening in honor of Aveline.

The event is organized and will be hosted by Aveline's third son, Phiya Kushi, former Director of the Kushi Institute.  The Celebration will start at 8pm and end around 10pm on the evening of Wednesday, July 30th and is part of the week-long annual Kushi Institute Summer Conference that is being held at Babson College in Wellesley, MA from July 28th to August 30th (www.thepowerofnatur alhealing. org).  Persons may join us for the evening event only for a fee of $35 per person or may attend the conference for the full day or for the entire week.  For more information on the conference please contact the Kushi Institute (www.kushiinstitute. org).

Donations are welcome to make this and future events like this possible and are tax-deductible.

Phiya Kushi