{"id":3133,"date":"2015-04-07T14:12:45","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T05:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/?p=3133"},"modified":"2015-04-07T20:36:04","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T11:36:04","slug":"a-new-season-begins-by-tomohiro-mitome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/posts-by-kodo-ensemble-leader\/20150407_3133.html","title":{"rendered":"“A New Season Begins” by Tomohiro Mitome"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Apr. 1, 2015<\/p>\n

Hello, everyone! I hope you are well.
\nThis is Tomohiro Mitome, leader of taiko performing arts ensemble Kodo.<\/p>\n

Now that it’s April on Sado Island, spring has arrived\u00a0and buds are appearing on the branches of the cherry trees.<\/p>\n

In Japan, both the new work year and school year start\u00a0in April.
\nAt Kodo, it’s the time of year when we welcome new apprentices. The Year 34 class are about to arrive at the Kodo Apprentice Centre to start their lives as apprentices. I am sure they will all head to Sado with high expectations, some apprehension, and huge\u00a0dreams.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>

Hekireki<\/span> from “Kodo One Earth Tour 2015: Mystery” (Brooklyn, New York, USA)\u3000\u00a9Julieta Cervantes<\/p><\/div>\n

Our first tour this year, the \u201cKodo One Earth Tour 2015: Mystery\u201d North America Tour, concluded\u00a0successfully thanks to all of your support.\u00a0I would like to express our gratitude to all the staff members involved, the presenters, and everyone\u00a0who attended\u00a0our performances.<\/p>\n

The Kodo members that remained in Japan spent March giving a variety of small-ensemble and solo performances in so many places. On March 15, we even had 4 different performances in 4 different places at the same time: Iizaka in\u00a0Fukushima, Kurashiki in\u00a0Okayama, as well as Seiro and Joetsu in\u00a0Niigata. The performers\u00a0and staff were hurtling\u00a0around Japan at a great pace.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a><\/p>\n

Also, we had Kodo Special Performance 2015 \u201cMichi\u201d at Kanagawa Arts Theatre (KAAT) in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, on March 19 & 20. Although these two performances were held on weekdays, we were greeted by full houses on both dates. I believe that the programme was nostalgic for long-time Kodo fans and supporters, yet\u00a0would have\u00a0felt brand new to audiences who started to attend Kodo performances in recent years.<\/p>\n

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By presenting an orthodox\u00a0“Classic Kodo” programme with new members, I am confident that we were able to\u00a0produce a whole new work, not just an “encore” performance. During our rehearsals, all the performers had the\u00a0chance to see\u00a0what makes us\u00a0“Kodo,” or what Kodo holds dear,\u00a0in a new light: how\u00a0to perform, how to\u00a0change sets (instruments and stands) between pieces, how to walk on stage, and so on. While recognizing all of this anew, the senior members were able to hand these core elements down\u00a0to the younger, next-generation members. The\u00a0newer members did their best to absorb the valuable knowledge and experience shared by\u00a0the\u00a0senior members, which they had accumulated over the years.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a><\/p>\n

While maintaining our core, the foundations Kodo has forged over\u00a0the past 34 years, it is vital for the current Kodo ensemble\u00a0to gain new\u00a0strength so we can\u00a0survive in a\u00a0new era. The new forms of expression we are exploring now are very important because they will help Kodo to evolve and continue its activities for many years to come. I\u00a0think the fruits\u00a0of this special performance, “Michi,” will also become apparent in the future. I hope that we can continue to provide opportunities for you to experience\u00a0the core and roots of Kodo in various forms of expression.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a><\/p>\n

In April, all the Kodo members\u00a0return to Sado Island and gather\u00a0for rehearsals. We will work hard together as we create brand new productions and prepare for “Amaterasu” and our upcoming tours. We look forward to sharing them with you on stage soon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"tomohiro_s\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apr. 1, 2015 Hello, everyone! I hope you are well. This is Tomohiro Mitome, leader of taiko performing arts ensemble Kodo. Now that it’s April on Sado Island, spring has arrived\u00a0and buds are appearing on the branches of the cherry trees. In Japan, both the new work year and school year start\u00a0in April. At Kodo, it’s the time of year when we welcome new apprentices. The Year 34 class are about to arrive at the Kodo Apprentice Centre to start their lives as apprentices. I am sure they will all head to Sado with high expectations, some apprehension, and huge\u00a0dreams. Our first tour this year, the \u201cKodo One Earth Tour … \u25b6\u7d9a\u304d\u3092\u8aad\u3080<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[6,141,89,35],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3133"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3146,"href":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions\/3146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kodo.or.jp\/blog_en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}