Kazuyuki Sekiguchi first saw the ukulele in the 1985 film “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” one of Woody Allen’s most critically and financially successful movies. In one memorable scene, Mia Farrow, as main character Cecilia, accompanies her admirer Gil, played by Jeff Daniels, on the uke as he sings the catchy Tin Pan Alley tune “Alabamy Bound.”

In reality, Farrow’s strumming was dubbed, but she mimes the chords with convincing aplomb.

Sekiguchi, the bass player with the Southern All-Stars, a popular rock band in Japan, was captivated. “The song was fun and upbeat, and the ukulele looked like an easy instrument to play,” he said. “On my way home from the movie, I went to a music store, bought my first ukulele and taught myself how to play it.”

In 1990 Sekiguchi was listening to a Tokyo radio show when the host announced that “the best ukulele player on Earth” would perform on the air. It turned out to be Hawaii ukulele virtuoso Ohta-san, who played a Chopin etude and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust.”

Impressed with the beautiful renditions, Sekiguchi wanted to meet Ohta-san, which he did six months later. “I was working on my ‘Koko Wa Greenwood’ (‘Here Is Greenwood’) album at the time and wanted to include a song featuring the ukulele so Ohta-san could be a part of it,” he said. “I invited him to a recording session in Tokyo, and that’s when I met him for the first time. He plays my original song ‘Ukulelena Ani no Ai’ on the album.”

Since then Sekiguchi has been spreading goodwill through the ukulele both in Japan and Hawaii. He founded the PoePoe Hawaiian Culture Center in Tokyo in 1997 primarily to provide a place where people could learn how to play the ukulele. (Another center opened in Nagoya in 2004, and a third opened in Honolulu in 2011, offering lessons in ukulele, hula, lei making and Hawaiian songs; see en.poepoehcc.com.)

The music and laid-back ambience of a 1999 ukulele and slack-key guitar festival on Hawaii island inspired Sekiguchi to launch Ukulele Picnic in Shonan, Kanagawa, Japan, in 2000. Nine years later he brought that festive event to Honolulu.

Ukulele Picnic in Hawaii begins with the International Ukulele Contest on Saturday. Forty amateur ukulele players from Hawaii, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and Bermuda will compete for top honors in three categories: solo ages 13 and younger, solo 14 and older, and group (a mix of ages and genders).

Entertainment at Ukulele Picnic the following day will include Hawaii standouts Ohta-san, Kuuipo Kumukahi, Robi Kahakalau, Taimane Gardner and Kapena. Among the top entertainers from Japan who are slated to appear is folk singer Mike Maki, known for his hit “Bara ga Saita.”

Kumukahi translated that song from Japanese to Hawaiian, and Nathan Aweau, another well-known island vocalist and musician, wrote a “local-style” arrangement of it featuring ukulele instead of guitar accompaniment. They will perform the song at Ukulele Picnic with Maki and 100 hula dancers from Japan.

Attendees can also look forward to seeing Sekiguchi himself onstage. In addition to performing, he has amassed a collection of more than 300 ukulele and has written five books about the instrument.

“Each year, people from around the world enjoy our festival,” Sekiguchi said. “You can’t help but smile when you hear the sounds of the ukulele. It’s a happy instrument — a symbol of peace, friendship, ohana (family) and aloha.”

ABOUT THE UKULELE

The ukulele’s beginnings in Hawaii can be traced to Aug. 23, 1879, when the British sailing ship Ravenscrag arrived at Honolulu Harbor carrying 419 men, women and children from the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira.

It had been an arduous four-month voyage, and as the story goes, a passenger named Joao Fernandez was so happy to arrive in Hawaii, he began singing and playing his braguinha, akin to a small guitar, on the wharf. His performance delighted the crowd that had gathered to welcome the ship.

Also aboard the Ravenscrag were three cabinetmakers — Manuel Nunes, Augusto Dias and Jose do Espirito Santo — who had come to Oahu to work on sugar plantations.

Nunes is credited with redesigning the braguinha by increasing its size, slightly changing its shape, replacing its metal strings with ones made of catgut (dried, twisted sheep’s intestines) and altering the tuning so it would be easier to form chords.

Thus, the ukulele was born. When Nunes, Dias and Santo completed their plantation obligations, they became Hawaii’s first ukulele manufacturers.

King Kalakaua, a gifted musician and composer, contributed to the ukulele’s popularity; it was reportedly his favorite instrument.

Today the ukulele is a beloved Hawaiian icon that’s known and played around the world.

UKULELE MUSEUM

Kazuyuki Sekiguchi is founder of the nonprofit 501(c)(3) Ukulele Foundation of Hawaii, which plans to build an Ukulele Museum in Honolulu.

Proceeds from Ukulele Picnic in Hawaii will be earmarked for the museum, which will house a Hall of Fame, library, classrooms for workshops and a venue for live performances. Sekiguchi also envisions exhibits that chronicle the history of the ukulele and showcase his ukulele collection.

Donations for the museum can be made Sunday at the Ukulele Foundation’s booth or online at ukulelepicnicinhawaii.org/en/about_foundation.html. Checks can also be made out to the foundation and mailed c/o the PoePoe Hawaiian Culture Center, 1750 Kalakaua Ave. No. 206, Honolulu, HI 96826.

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.