Tag ‘Shingo Kawamura’
“New Year’s Mochi Making at Kodo Village” by Shingo Kawamura
Jan. 14, 2017
New Year’s Mochi Making at Kodo Village
As you can see, Kodo Village is covered in deep snow and has been since we returned from our winter vacation.
Despite the cold conditions, we are all keeping well!
Today we enjoyed one of Kodo Village’s annual events: mochi making.
Mochi is a traditional Japanese pounded rice cake.
The young members did a lot of the rice pounding and the village was buzzing as everyone excitedly enjoyed the freshly made mochi.
This Japanese soul food gave us all a boost to start the new year.
On behalf of Kodo, I will take this opportunity to ask all of you for your continued encouragement throughout the new year ahead!
“Kodo Night!” by Shingo Kawamura
Join Us Next Week for Earth Celebration!
“Kodo Night” is the name of the first Shiroyama Concert this year, directed by Tsuyoshi Maeda. With powerful Kodo classics and exciting new pieces, it’s going to be an action-packed programme!
“Shime-daiko Tuning” by Shingo Kawamura
Apr. 30, 2014
The cherry blossoms have begun to fall and the days are getting warmer and warmer. On sunny days, the Kodo members come outside to do their shime-daiko tuning by the lawn in Kodo Village.
Yuta Sumiyoshi (left) pulls the rope and Tetsumi Hanaoka (right) hits the rope
Shime-daiko is a roped taiko with a distinct, high-pitched sound. When you pull the ropes, it stretches the skin of the drum heads on either side. We hit the ropes while they are being pulled, as tight as we can, to make the skin stretch further. By doing this, the sound of the drum becomes higher and higher. The tighter the skin is stretched, the higher the sound gets, so the tuners have to work hard to get a high sound out of the drum.
The domestic Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Mystery is about to begin.
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the various theaters around Japan.
“Umasa Gisshiri CoCoLo Special Festa” by Shingo Kawamura
On May 4, Kodo appeared at this special event on a special stage at the south exit of Niigata Station. Five members performed, but it felt like a large ensemble concert thanks to the atmosphere created by the warm-hearted Niigata locals filling the audience.
The weather was beautiful and koi-nobori (carp streamers, special decorations for Children’s Day in Japan) were “swimming” happily in the sky. The temperature went above 20℃ on this spring day, so there were some people in short sleeves at the 2pm performance.
Good weather reminds us our summer festival, “Earth Celebration” in August! We hope to see you at Earth Celebration 2014!
Kodo Blog｜Earth Celebration 2014 (Rehearsals, etc.)
We will also perform at Niigata Station on June 15. We hope to see you then!
Kodo Appearances at Niigata Station Events (Niigata City)
“Kodo Special Performances on Sado Island” by Shingo Kawamura
T’is the season again for “Kodo Special Performances on Sado Island”!
From April 27 to May 9, join us for the spring series of performances at Shukunegi Community Hall on the Ogi Peninsula, Sado Island. It’s during “Golden Week” (a week filled with public holidays in Japan), so it’s a good time for people living in Japan to visit us on Sado!
These performances are centered around Kodo’s Distinguished Members, joined by junior members and apprentices, who hope to be the future of Kodo. Please come and enjoy their collaboration!
Of course, this popular guy is also waiting for you!
“Takada Castle Cherry Blossom Viewing Event” by Shingo Kawamura
On April 19 (Sat), Kodo performed at the “Takada Castle Cherry Blossom Viewing Event” at Takada Castle, which is renowned as one of “Japan’s Top 3 Evening Cherry Blossom Spots.”
We worried about the weather as it was raining there the day before the performance. But luckily a beautiful blue sky welcomed us all on the performance day.
We gave two performances and the second one started at 18:00. It was chilly at night, but many people came to see our performance! We were very glad to see everyone there.
The performance was a week after the cherry blossom season peak, so the cherry blossom petals had started to fall from the trees… but everyone got to see some surprise petals on the Kodo stage!
It’s not just confetti, it’s a special cherry blossom version! At these performances, beautiful, real cherry blossom petals flew out from Chieko’s fan.
Thank you everyone that came along!
“Performance at Tokyo Station for Destination Niigata Event” by Shingo Kawamura
On March 16, a special Kodo unit performed on the GranSta stage inside Tokyo Station. The venue was so lively thanks to all the people who came along, so many that they couldn’t all fit into the space to watch!
Destination Niigata Campaign “Kodo Performance” at Tokyo Station
http://www.kodo.or.jp/news/20140316destination_en.html