It is now Sunday morning in Japan – I have managed to repack my bag and now have some time to reflect on my wonderful day yesterday. I have so many emotions while writing this post. In many ways I feel that everything was leading up to today. All of the Japanese studying, and coming to Japan after all these years was to reunite with the Mori Family – but more on that later. I will start with the run down of my day.
In spite of staying up until 12:30am catching up on writing my blog posts, I still woke up at 5am and was not so happy about it. I tried to go back to sleep, but when I realized I was awake for good, I embraced the day. I took a shower, made some travel plans for Erez and I, spoke to Aubrey and the kids for a bit and then headed down for the traditional breakfast in the restaurant that I had ordered the night before.
This is a pretty typical Japanese breakfast. There was rice, miso soup, a mixture of delicious vegetables, tofu with green onions and bonito flakes, some kind of white fish, a raw egg, seasoned dried seaweed strips and natto. Natto is a fermented, very sticky soy bean dish which I was warned off of when I lived in Japan. I am sure I tried it, and don’t remember liking it. This time I was going to try again. After consulting Sensei Google, I learned that it comes with a sauce packet and a mustard packet. I mixed it all up and then gave it a try. I actually really liked it!
After breakfast I noticed a wall in the restaurant had an adorable tribute to cats:
Just before 11, I set off for the Moris’ house – I couldn’t find it, but ended up at the shrine where I knew I was close. I called Mitsuka-san and she sent Mori-san to come and fetch me.
Seeing them all again was amazing. They all looked great – even Mrs. Mori who has not been in the best of health recently. Within a few minutes of my arrival, they had pulled out the albums, a picture of me and Mitsuka-san in a frame, some handmade needlepoint coasters that my mom had made them when she came to visit, and of course in the background, they were playing my Koren’s Song Safari CD that I recorded in 2001 and gifted them when I last came to visit. It was all a bit surreal.
We talked and laughed and had a bite to eat. Mori-san announced that the Kazo Doll Memorial Festival was happening that day and that at 12:30 his junior high school student taiko group were performing. I was thrilled! For more information on Doll Memorial Festivals like the one in Kazo, click here: https://www.japan-experience.com/all-about-japan/tokyo/events-festivals/tokorozawa-doll-memorial-celebration.
Right before lunch, Mori-san offered me a small cup of Hagen Dazs ice cream. I decided that I needed some real food first, so we had a light lunch and headed to the festival.
Kazo has many different Taiko groups – they all learn the same set of rhythms passed down through the generations, and each town has their own unique traditions. Our town has four instruments in the group – A tsu-keh drum (the main rhythm), a Tama drum (bass), a round metal pan and a bamboo flute. There is a process of learning and when I was there I started with the tsu-keh drum – once I was comfortable, I begged Mori-san to teach me Tama but he insisted that I needed to learn Tsu-keh for 5 years first. Eventually I wore him down and he let me learn it. He even let me dress up in one of the costumes with a mask once, performing the traditional character dance for one of the characters, but only once because he said they wanted to have my foreign face seen on the wagon 🙂
While I was at the festival, Mori-san pointed out the current principal for one of the Junior high schools I used to teach at. I recognized her! Her name is Toma Sensei. She was one of the Teachers I assisted when I lived there. When I get home I will have to scan the photo I have of us from 1996 🙂
More than once that day, Taiko was described to me as “Japanese Soul Music”. I wholeheartedly agree. As I wrote in my thank you letter to the taiko group: The Kazo city Taiko rhythms awaken something in my soul. When I watched the schools perform at the Memorial Doll festival, I was suddenly transported to another time. I could feel the music and rhythm in my bones.
Here are some photos and videos from the Nishi Junior High School group that Mori-San leads:
We even had a special appearance from one of the characters.
Short video of the group
Some of the shrine details:
After the festival, Mitsuka-san took me on a wild goose chase to find my old apartment – this time, in the car. Everything has changed so much, and many of the landmarks are not the same. In this town, many streets are tiny and there are barely any street signs. I remember thinking once while I was living there that it was a miracle I found my way home every time I went out for an adventure. Remember – there was no google maps back then! I had given up because I thought that perhaps the building no longer exists as many of the buildings around were no longer then. Suddenly, I mentioned the ice cream store – Baskin Robins, but I forgot that they don’t call it that here, there call it ” Saw tee-one” (31). Then immediately Mitshuka-san remembered where it used to be and then I was able to find it. I was in apartment 202 I believe… or was it 201? I will check when I get home.
Mitsuka-San made a beautiful dinner for us – Delicious! I really missed having home cooked food.
After dinner, Mori-San and I reviewed the rhythms and then we went to Taiko practice. First the kids practiced for an hour and then the adults practiced for another hour. I was in heaven. I barely took a break, I was so determined to remember the proper sequences.
Mori-san with some of the little kids:
Here is the notation I could follow along with as a cheat sheet. They have upgraded the notation since I learned 28 years ago.
For the second photo I told everyone to make a funny face. the two men in the front were also in the group when I was here before and they remembered me.
Here is a video that Mori-san took of me when I didn’t realize it. ( if you click place it won’t be just a black screen I promise – and it is pretty short)
At the end of the practice I was tired but extremely happy. I felt like I was vibrating with positive energy. I went back to the Moris’ house and had such a warm feeling inside – I had worked up an appetite again, so I finished off the salad from dinner. I was about to leave to go back to the hotel and Mori-San asked if I wanted that small cup of Hagen Dasz ice cream – that was the icing on the cake. I told Mori-san and Mitsuka-san that I didn’t think the day could get any better, and then he offered me ice cream – the perfect end to the perfect day.