Last day.....

Now I have come to my last day!
Usually at this point it feels like time has gone by really fast, but this trip has been so full of different experiences that it doesn't feel fast at all. But it does feel wonderful. And tiring.
When I came to Japan I wanted to soak up as much taiko as I could....and I have to say I have certainly achieved that! All the places I have been, people I've met, things I have seen and learnt...it is all so phenomenally incredible. It will take a long time to digest it all I think :)

And speaking of digestion.....my last day of course, was full of some shopping....and eating :) I met Keiko and Kenji on a very rainy day in Tokyo and my last meal - was udon. Delicious.

Tokyo Taiko Contest

Today I met up with some of my bootcamp friends as we all went to see the Tokyo Taiko Contest. It runs all weekend, and today was the finalists for the Odaiko soloist and the Open group sections. They all have to play the same set song, and then one of their own pieces. It was really interesting watching them all as each one had their own take on the set song and some made it seem quite flat and technical, while others really brought it to life. The different groups really gave it their own style and flavour as well and it was interesting to see how each person had interpreted the song.
They were all incredibly talented though and I'm sure that choosing the winner is not an easy task!

Today the weather turned cold and rainy! (as you can see I was not prepared for that - the umbrella I'm holding isn't even mine!).

But it was lovely to meet up with Kenji and Keiko for dinner :)

Awaodori Festival

In the evening we set off for the Awaodori Festival in Koenji. This is something I was really looking forward to, and as it turned it seemed like the whole of tokyo was looking forward to it too because it was packed with people! I don't think I've ever been in crowds like that before!

Awaodori is a traditional dance from Shikoku and they have a massive festival there in August every year. The one in Tokyo started from people who had moved from Shikoku, and now heaps of different dance teams participate. They all dance up the streets which are lined with thousands of happy onlookers.

Most teams had a few different groups - a guy in front with a really tall pole with lanterns which he would spin around, a group of kids, some people in socks with fans and lanterns, guys with the yukata tucked up and dancing really low, and women in yukata dancing in the wooden shoes (geta) (this looks really hard!) Then they would be followed by the musicians which usually had some shimedaiko, flutes and shamisen and sometimes a bamboo log drum, and big drums at the back. It was really interesting to see them all - and I felt tired just watching them all dance for so long in the heat!

the kids :)

dancing on geta!

the musicians

Tokyo!

Sadly, my time with Hide came to an end and I had to head back to Tokyo. On the way I got a great view of Fuji!

I met up with Kenji Furutate - another of our taiko gods(!) and had lunch at the very flash Italian restaurant where he works (while pursuing a career in professional taiko). It was very good and I highly recommend the creme brulee.

We randomly were given tickets by one of the waiters to the aquarium nearby so went to check it out. It was really small but cool - they had jelly fish floating around and lights on them to show the fluoresence spots. Trippy....

Then we headed to Asakusa - for shopping :) ...I wanted to find some presents for people, and in particular was hunting down some 'lucky poo'. The word for poo and the word for lucky sound similar in Japan so they have these little souvenirs that are 'lucky poo'. Poor Kenji asked so many shopkeepers for me but it proved very difficult to find!

at Asakusa

with Kenji

One of the best things about travelling is when you are just going along to some tourist spot and there happens to be something awesome happening there just by chance! Today happened to be the asakusa samba carnival! So on our way back we got to see some of the parade :)

Shopping!

On the way back we stopped at Jazz Dream. Which is a massive outlet mall. It's right beside an amusement park - which Hide had thought to take me to but decided that I should have some culture instead :)
The outlet mall was huge, and full of all kinds of shops from Dolce and Gabbana, to Louis Vuitton, to Canterbury NZ!
After wandering all over the place and checking out so many things we decided it was time to eat..... Hide suggested we could try one of the restaurants in the mall that sells famous steak (like kobe beef but from this area).....but the line was sooooo long....and we were tired and hungry. So we decided to give it a miss, and headed for......
BIKKURI DONKEY!  (= SURPRISE DONKEY!)

I'd seen the signs for this earlier and have never been.....apparently it's a big restaurant chain in Japan and sells 'hambaagu' this is basically meat patties (like the hamburger but no bread). I asked Hide what they have: "hambaagu, rice, curry sauce" . Me: "what about with a burger bun?" ....Hide: "No. Hambaagu, Rice, Curry Sauce".
So....we went along. I also asked why its called Bikkuri Donkey. Apparently the food is so good even a donkey would be surprised! (although most donkey's I've ever met would probably be surprised at anything that wasn't grass....but I don't know any Japanese donkeys).

So here we are. Surprise!

(I actually broke the rules and did not get the rice and curry sauce one...I got cheese and fries. No buns though). :)

The biggest shrine...

The next day Hide came and picked me up after he had done his morning temple duties, and we headed off to Isejingu. The biggest shrine in all of Japan.
We picked up breakfast on the way at a weird little cafe place. The set breakfast is called "morning" and varies depending where you go, but here it was a big piece of toast, banana, boiled egg and iced coffee or tea. It was quite a long way from the temple village and we travelled by car (this is a new thing for me in Japan!)...they have great motorways, in fact at one stage there was a road above and below us! crazy!
But most of the highways are toll roads so you have to go through toll booths at different points.
It was a beautiful drive though, lots of trees on every side.

Ise shrine is amazing - the whole area has old style shops and streets selling all kinds of traditional goods.

The shrine itself is a number of different buildings including some really old preserved parts which have the old thatched roofs and everything. The gardens are lush and green with the beautifully manicured trees, and the walk around the shrine grounds is really peaceful (in spite of the crowds and tours) with trees everywhere and bordering on a river.

You can feel the serenity.

Ise Shrine

Afterwards we had 'kakigoori kyuukei' (=icecream break). Kakigoori is one of my favourite summer things. Shaved ice with syrup. We have them in NZ too, but in Japan its better. And here at Ise shrine, they have famous kakigoori. You have to try it. It's cultural.
This one is with green tea flavour - and inside is anko (red sweet bean paste) and mochi (rice cake). And it's huge! We only just finished one between us!

Drums and Festivals

I spent two days with Hide, and on the first day we did some drumming practice. He had diligently written out some practice drills for us to do, and a whole lot more for me to take back to work through with the group! So we did a really awesome drum set drill which he called 'basic practice' but is more like 'super awesome song'. It was soooo cool. I love it. I sing it all the time.
Then we did 'shuffle' or 'swing' practice, which was quite funky - one hand is keeping the swing rhythm while the other is doing other rhythms on top. You kind of have to split your brain in two to really do it!

Then after practicing we headed off to a local festival. It was interesting because there are some common elements (games, food, people in yukata etc) but other different things from the hirugami festivals.

There was a group drumming a local festival drum song - two drummers would play along with the a couple of shimedaiko (using the bamboo sticks) and flute players, and they would repeat the same rhythm over and over again, with the players taking turns to keep the rhythm going. It was interesting to see their style - drumming on the side and with sticks that look like short baseball bats. There were drummers of all ages, and a couple of the teenage guys would go hard out! In fact, a lot of them had their hands taped, and later in the night I noticed there was blood on the drums!

We found a range of different yummy festival food - this great savoury pancake type thing, yakitori (chicken skewers), yakisoba (noodles) ...and more!

There were massive lanterns hanging up which later on they lit with massive candles.

Two or more guys would come and string up this big candle thing and run it down the line to the lanterns. Then they were lit, and carried up into the lantern through a trap door in the bottom.

Unfortunately it was summertime, so you couldn't really see the lighting effect until quite late at night....we decided we were too tired...

So we headed off for ofuro (japanese bath). More on this experience in another post :)

A little bit aye....meeting Hide

From Kyoto I headed up to Nagoya, where I met up with Hidenori Yura - one of the drummers that came over to teach us and perform in the Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival Concert earlier this year. He is an incredible musician - and part of a duo group that do some very very funky, jazzy percussion style songs, as well as being an exceptional drummer. He is inspirational and I attribute his influence and encouragement in helping me get here and do this.
So, it was lovely to be able to meet up with him.
He's a buddhist monk so until now has been super busy with all of the temple activities associated with the Obon festival, but now has a couple of days free to spend with me :)
After finally meeting (there were some ...issues...wrong station etc). We headed back to the temple (which is waaaaay out in a little village) - where I will be staying in a massive room. Alone. In the middle of nowhere. Not too scarey until he suddenly tells me that there is a guy loose in the area with a knife and police are looking for him.
Later on he asks if I'm scared to stay by myself. I say..."no....although....can you hear me if I scream". He doesn't think- immediately replying "No, my house is quite far from here". Me: "ummm...like, what about the guy with the knife!?" Hide: "oh, they've probably found him by now".
anyway....everything was fine :) the only attacks were from mosquitos!

Kyoto ...

On my last day in kyoto I met up with Tomo - one of the guys that I had met at Earth Celebration. He also played in the taiko club at Tachibana high school and is now thinking about starting his own club at his University.
We went shopping! My favourite place to go in Kyoto is Shijo-doori. There are shops everywhere. People everywhere. Food everywhere. I love it.
I found a little second hand kimono shop where I got an old obi for $15!
And later we found a game centre and had a go at taiko no tatsujin.....it's harder than playing real taiko!

kamo river

taiko no tatsujin

Gion and Riichi

One evening I met up with Riichi and Tokiko. Riichi is a professional drummer who has come over to teach and perform with us for a couple of years now. He performs and directs the Matsurishuu group in Kyoto and is amazing. And very cool.
They took me to a show in Gion which is a showcase of traditional arts of Kyoto for tourists. It was great! I highly recommend it!
They do a little bit of all different things and was really interesting. First tea ceremony, then koto and ikebana, a maiko dance, gagaku (traditional court music) with this awesome masked dancer, a funny play, and my favourite - bunraku - the puppet play. They even make the puppet climb up the wall!

gagaku and the dancer

maiko dance

puppet play

Afterwards we went for dinner at Izakaya (this is a well known drinking / eating are in Kyoto) Japanese style tapas :)
Sooo much fun and very cool to catch up with them again. :)

Ohisashiburi!

In Japanese, the word ohisashiburi is used to greet someone you haven't seen in ages. And for me, this completely sums up my meeting with old high school friends.
Four of my old friends from the taiko club met up with me in Kyoto for a day of sightseeing and catching up. Even though it has been ...erm...*a few* years since we last met, it was just like old times. They even said my Japanese hadn't changed at all! (which was supposed to be a compliment, but....I know how bad my Japanese is!) It was really interesting meeting up again as 'adults' - they all look so much more grown up than our school days, but in other ways we haven't changed much at all :)

some of the gang :)

We went to Kiyomizu-dera which is a beautiful old temple in Kyoto, built on stilts.

The water is sacred and good to drink, but...instead we went to a different section that I hadn't seen before - there is a part where you go down under a building into the dark - and just feel your way with the handrail (how did I end up being the leader in this!) until you come to a stone with a spotlight shining on the carving. Here you touch the stone and make a wish. It was scarey (you can't see ANYTHING) but cool.
We also saw the love stones - this temple is apparently quite famous for 'love' and relationships. There are two stones in the footpath and if you walk from one to the other with your eyes closed your love wishes will come true quickly. If you miss the other stone then....it may take some time for love to find you. After watching a few different attempts by people we all decided it wasn't worth the risk ;P

love stone

Kyoto....welcome home

I lived in Kyoto for a year on a high school exchange, and coming back now was really strange....so much has changed (including me) that it didn't really feel the same at all. But I still love it here.
I stayed with my coach - Kitamura-sensei and his wife and they were the most wonderful generous hosts. Lots of delicious food and nights watching taiko DVDs :)

I went along to one of my old high school club practices and was amazed to see the group had grown from about 20 to 60! They have a lot more drums and are much stricter now too!
I joined in on the warm up practices and it was lots of fun although really challenging, they do a lot more control stuff with Left and Right hand which was really fun. (I have finally got it after a lot of practice on long train rides!)
Then I watched them practice a couple of songs which was interesting - the group watching gives feedback and then the group that played huddles and gives their own feedback, and there is always lots of very loud responses (HELLO! YES! OK! I UNDERSTAND!)
They all treated me with the utmost respect which befits a senior student...which I found rather hilarious as I don't think I have ever been treated like that before!
The next day I went to watch a community group practice that my coach also leads. This was much more relaxed and covered all age groups - from primary school kids right up to older ladies. You could see how much they all enjoyed drumming and I couldn't help but smile along as I watched them play :)

EC - The Fringe

During the whole celebration there are all kinds of fringe events happening. Lots of different groups and people performing during the day, and special events at night.
I only managed to see a couple of the official fringe events - the Miyake drummers who were awesome! And had a dragon dancer as well as a couple of Kodo guys join in.

And Cocon which is a group of the girls from Kodo that do some very beautiful drumming and singing.

In the evenings after the concerts there are little surprise events - the first night we had the ogi okesa dance in the streets where we all joined in and I got to practice the moves I had learnt in the workshop that afternoon.

Lantern for the Ogi Okesa

The second night there was a Kodo "live" where they had a tent with demon dancers - people paid some money and could sit in the tent and have their own private demon dance, and in the end they danced outside for everyone. (Plus I got my photo taken with Yosuke - one of my favourite kodo's!) :)

On the morning of the last day when we were all lining up for our tickets some of the guys from Kodo came down all dressed in suits and performed for us too - they are so cool! and hilarious - they posed for photos afterwards (as you can see).

Too Cool

Then on the very last night there was a beautiful dance with Chieko-san from Kodo. There were red paper lanterns all around the ground and other Kodo members playing delicate instrumental music as we all joined in the graceful dance to send off the people on the ferry that night. And....I got my photo taken with Chieko and also with Miyazaki-san (she is hilarious and one of my favourites!) :)

And finally - on the very last morning as we all boarded the ferry - some of the Kodo people came to play a send off for us :) We were all given streamers to throw as we left the port.....and as I threw mine, somehow I knew this is not the last time I will be here.

Demon Dance send off

EC - The Concerts

The Shiroyama Concerts are the highlight of Earth Celebration and are almost an all day event in themselves.
The setting is absolutely stunning. A big stage set in a park surrounded by trees full of chirping cicadas. It's all open seating so the plan is to get the best (ie front row) spot!
Here's how....

First you have to line up very very early in the morning (ie 4am) by the shrine. Then when it opens they will hand out colour coded tickets. Red is the best and we got red everyday!!

RED!

Then an hour or more before the concert your red ticket and line up according to your number behind the appropriately coloured and numbered signpost. It is best to use this time to apply insect repellant too.

Then finally the gates are opened and you are let through in groups - red 1 - 40 first etc. Up the very steep road to the park. The road is lined with beautiful paper lanterns which are lit up at afterwards. Each one is painted with a different picture.

Then you line up in order again. And are let into the park line by line....
Then you rush to get the best spot you can!
You put out your tarp, place your shoes neatly by the side, and stake your position. And eat your bentou :)

dinner!

the audience is ready....

the stage is set...

The atmosphere is intense....this is so incredible I can't even believe it myself.

Then KODO arrive!!! They are sooooooooo mindblowingly, incredibly, fantastically, supremely, wonderfully amazing to watch. So vibrant and full of life, you can feel the joy in their playing and the rhythms and movement are mesmerising. This is taiko. It is beautiful.

This year they performed with Blof - a dutch rock band. I have to confess I wasn't really sure how that would go....but it was awesome! It was so funny sitting with all the japanese people and none of us knowing what they were singing about (since its all dutch), but you can still feel the emotion in the song and want to dance along. In fact a couple of times I did go over to the designated dancing area and have a boogie :)

The best part was when the drummer from Blof got given a happi and hachimaki by the Kodo guys and he joined in on the taiko for Zoku. So cool!

the gang

But the best best best part was Kodo.

I have to come back here.