Saiwai Shimoina Wadaiko Festival

Today, the final day of the Inadani Taiko Drumming Workshop, found us participating in the Saiwai Shimoina Wadaiko Festival, along with a number of other groups from the area and as far away as Yokohama in "The Fringe", the amateur section of the festival. The evening was reserved for the pros!

Both of Art Lee's student groups Suiko (酒鼓) and Nadeshiko(なでし鼓) performed, as well as a number of other groups. We were sandwiched directly in the middle of the program, which was good. Let's face it, 24 people of varying skill and experience levels learning a song in basically 6 hours isn't going to be the best performance ever. We did fine, though, and everyone had a good time, no one fell off the stage or threw a bachi at anyone.

A gorgeous FOH curtain in the theater

Tsumo, a one-man band from Yokohama

Four of our fellow Inadani members from Germany performing. They were very good!

Suiko and Nadeshiko together performing Hiryuu Sandan Gaeshi

The Inadani group, in all our glory!

After The Fringe finished, we had about 5 hours before doors opened for the evening "Super Show" which consisted of Art-sensei's Tokara and special guests Yamato Taiko. We passed the time running last-minute errands, including a hunt for a special Hello Kitty box to fill with some gifts we brought from the US (one of the Tokara members is a big Hello Kitty fan, we discovered, and Sumi was happy to find a kindred spirit). This took us out to Moto-Zenkouji, which meant we HAD to stop at CoCo Curry for a Caeser's Salad (they are very good there!) and some curry to hold us over. On the way we passed an interesting clinic sign

apparently for retired, 8-bit video game characters

Heading back to the theater, Sumi made a new friend

"Nyaa?"

we passed by the very first roundabout in Japan

the only other one in Japan is exactly one block away. Let's hope they stop at two.

And arrived at the theater about 50 minutes early to find a line had already started forming outside.

Across the street and down the block. It was standing room only. They had to keep printing more tickets to fill the demand.

While waiting, we admired the collection of World Puppetry Festival seals on the park wall.

Iida is famous for it's puppetry

It is, in fact, one of the only things besides apples they are known for

We couldn't, of course, take pictures of the show, but it was really great. Tokara was amazing! I had, of course, seen them play with us and knew they were obviously very good, but seeing a full set from them was just awesome. A cross between traditional taiko and modern jazz rhythms with a lot of athleticism thrown in. Their version of Miyake is my favorite. Powerful and beautiful. Yamato Taiko is very well known for their entertaining shows and they were certainly entertaining, and a bit of a contrast from Tokara. I would venture to say Yamato is Taiko's version of Hair Metal, and I don't mean that in a bad way at all. They were amplified (like taiko drums need amplification...), they were over the top with their presentation, there was a healthy dose of humor and they were very flashy with their technique, which was quite good. I especially liked the girls playing shamisen while headbanging (no, I'm not kidding). The music was not all that rhythmically complex, especially after seeing Tokara open for them. It was, to put it in rock terms, like Rush opening for Kiss.

After the show, the performers were all mobbed by the crowd in the lobby, so we didn't get a chance to talk to them, but we did get Art to pose with us for a group photo

It was a truly wonderful week. We learned so much in such a short time, had wonderful instructors and fellow students to enjoy the music with and culminated with a very enjoyable concert. We now, a bit sadly, pack up and head back to Tokyo to catch our flight back home. All good things must come to an end...