Tag ‘Masami Miyazaki’
“Chieko Kojima & Masami Miyazaki ‘Taiko Camp in Fukuchiyama’ Report” by Masami Miyazaki
Chieko Kojima & Masami Miyazaki “Taiko Camp in Fukuchiyama”
Chieko Kojima & I led a taiko camp in Fukuchiyama from May 22 through 24. It was such a fun three days with the 18 participants who gathered from Maizuru, Himeji, Hiroshima, Gifu, Aichi, Yokohama, Tokyo, and even Australia!
On the first day, after the orientation, everyone got straight into the first taiko performance workshop, based on “Hana Hachijo.” Everyone was quite rigid and nervous on the first day. (But that night… they loosened up during a fun party)
On Day 2, in the morning we split into two teams: one went for a walk through the local hills while the other team made breakfast. Then we all spent the rest of the day playing taiko.
Everyone also learned part of a dance and got ready for a recital & mini concert to display everything they had learned.
That night, we were all licking our lips at the deer and wild boar on the BBQ. Then we gathered around a campfire and everyone danced like crazy to the sound of the taiko, chappa (cymbals), and bamboo flute.
We later found out that some people could hear us 10 km away!
On the last day, we held a recital and mini concert to show our appreciation to everyone who helped us, as well as to cheer on the people of Fukuchiyama, who have been hit by natural disasters in recent years. Everyone who came along, from little kids to senior citizens, had huge smiles from start to finish. We all danced a local dance together in a big circle to end the event.
Fukuchiyama is written using the kanji character for “happiness,” and the locals say you come there for happiness. I hope we can come again for some more happiness with them all soon.
This taiko camp was presented by the four members of Fukuchiyama-based wadaiko unit “Hitotsu.” We are so grateful for their warm welcome and generous hospitality. Thank you, Hitotsu!
After the camp, Chieko and I appeared on a local radio (FM Tamba) broadcast with Makoto Shimozawa, the leader of Hitotsu.
“Mar. 2015 Sado Island Taiko Centre Special Project: Taiko Lessons” by Masami Miyazaki
Apr. 3, 2015
Here are some photos from our Sado Island Taiko Centre Special Project “Taiko Lessons” last month. Thank you very much to everyone who came along. You really made our Centre lively for the entire month!
Each of the three courses, “Play Taiko to Diet!,” “Taiko for Better Health!,” and “Casual Taiko Lesson,” had a class once a week. The Diet Course was a bit tough: the participants had to drum non-stop and drum with large strokes while yelling from their abdomens.
There were little cuties running all over the hall during the Casual Lessons, and for the Better Health Course, we made sure that everyone stretched and twisted their bodies in all sorts of ways to make sure they all got a full-body workout.
We gave a voucher for a free Taiko Experience to anyone who came to every session in one course. There were 4 people in the Diet Course and 1 in the Casual Lesson Course. Well done, all of you! And thanks again to everyone who participated in our taiko lessons! We are already planning some further lessons this fall.
If you are keen to join us this fall, please let us know if there is a certain kind of course you’d like to take part in or a certain time of day that suits you to come along. We welcome your suggestions!
NEWS FLASH!
Sado Island Taiko Centre now has English information on its website! Please have a look. We hope to see you soon!
http://www.sadotaiken.jp/en
“’Tatakokan Matsuri’ – Oh What Fun!” by Masami Miyazaki
Sado Island Taiko Centre Festival “Tatakokan Matsuri” – Oh What Fun!
We held a festival called “Tatakokan Matsuri” at the Sado Island Taiko Centre on Dec. 14. We’d had blizzards leading up to that weekend, so we were wondering if we could finish clearing the snow away from the parking lots and if people could reach our Centre safely…. but in spite of all our worries, so many people came along on the day!
The festival ended on a lively, high note with Ogi Matsuri Daiko performed by Sado Taiko Club (mainly Kodo Cultural Foundation staff members), taiko group Anedaru, and many of the festival attendees.
150 people gathered for the festival, including the stall holders and performers. They made the Centre so lively and warm.
[Workshop 1] Advent Calendar Workshop: Children and parents worked together happily making calendars. They were all looking forward to opening each box every day until Christmas!
[Workshop 2] Sagegami (New Year’s Decoration) Workshop: An instructor from Shukunegi area shows participants how to make Sagegami. Let’s see how well can they cut the paper out from the pattern…
Thank you very much to all of the performers, stall owners, staff, Kodo apprentices, and especially to all the festival-goers, who braved the snow to join us! Tatakokan Matsuri really brings people together, and we look forward to hosting another one someday soon!
Presentation by the Kodo Cultural Foundation Community Development Course trainees: They have lived on Sado since April 2014. They gave a presentation on what they have learned from the locals on Sado Island. In this picture, they introduce “Koba-ya,” a workshop where wooden shingles are made in the Shukunegi area.
Some Kodo staff members also popped in. You can tell how the curry tasted by looking at their smiles.
▶Sado Island Taiko Centre (Tatakokan) Website (in Japanese)
▶Sado Island Taiko Centre (Tatakokan) Official Facebook (in Japanese)
“Mirai no Gakko Presentation” by Masami Miyazaki
Presenting “Mirai no Gakko”(School of the Future),
A New Company Training Program
by Cornell University and Kodo Cultural Foundation
Aoyama, Tokyo on September 12
When you hear “School of the Future,” you may imagine a modern, high tech school. But this project aims to give new purpose to the Fukaura Schoolhouse on Sado, a recently closed-down elementary and junior high school. Mirai no Gakko (School of the Future) is produced by Yasuhiro Karakawa, Senior Manager of Market Creation Strategies – Asia at the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University. He is a member of the team at ifs Future Laboratory and planned a research trip last summer to the Fukaura Schoolhouse, which tied in to his annual research theme, “Inconvenient, yet comfortable.” It was a two-day/three-night program for Mr. Karakawa’s acquaintances (who he describes as an interesting bunch) and we, Kodo, offered them a taiko workshop to suit the program.
At the presentation, Mr. Karakawa briefly introduced this project and some of the summer participants’ impressions on it. To let the audience experience non-verbal communication, I brought a taiko drum along to show them how fun it feels to make one unified sound all together. The sound of taiko made all of them smile, even the serious-looking businessmen in suits. This project gives people the opportunity to come to Sado, play taiko, and through that, they can open up, free their minds, discuss and start to solve a range of issues, for example job or future-related concerns. We, the Kodo Cultural Foundation, highly recommend it!
Photo: Amazon Kajiyama
Kodo Blog | “’Mirai no Gakko’ Presentation on Sep. 12″ by Hirofumi Uenoyama
“Sado Island Taiko Centre (Tatakokan) in Spring” by Masami Miyazaki
At the Sado Island Taiko Centre (Tatakokan) in spring the sounds of energetic taiko echo out every day. Today members of “Aoba-kai,” a physical rehabilitation group on Sado Island, visited us at the Centre.
I was glad to see them play taiko and have fun, saying with pleasure that “We thought we wouldn’t be able to play taiko with our bent backs, but we were able to play so much!” Seeing that really made an impression on me.
So, please come to the Takokokan to play taiko, all of you. Taiko gives you a lot of energy!