Shakuhachi in Ritsurin Koen

A shakuhachi player gives a solo performance.

I'm clearly daydreaming in the background.

On Sunday, Tamara and I were invited to play shakuhachi in Ritsurin Garden, Takamatsu.

I had played in public once before, to a small audience at Enza Community Centre back in February. Yet this was the first time I'd be playing somewhere so visible and open to all the visitors of the park who would be walking by. Although a peaceful escape from the city, Ritsurin Garden still has many visitors everyday who would walk past the Kikugetsu-tei tea house where we would be performing. This event was mostly held as a warm-up in preparation for our concert in October, but it was somewhat nerve-wracking all the same. I've only been playing shakuhachi for just over a year, starting in Spring last year, so I'm still a bit inexperienced and learning the ropes.

Tamara and I walk through the park, lead by Anabuki-Sensei.

Preparing to perform.

One exciting aspect of the event was a chance to wear the yukata which I'd been gifted by my friend Hiroko Tomozawa for my birthday last year. As all of the players had to wear a yukata for the performance, it was a great occasion to wear it in public (and I have to say, it is very comfortable - especially during the summer months!).

Wearing my yukata: a birthday gift from Tomozawa-san.

Tamara wears her yukata.

Our event lasted from around 1.30pm through to 4pm, during which time we played plenty of songs (including many which Tamara and I had never played before and so couldn't participate in). Being the height of Summer, of course, it was obviously very hot, but thankfully we were also treated to a brief tea ceremony with iced-green tea midway through the ceremony by the hosts at the teahouse. A very welcome refreshment.

Playing the shakuhachi.

Tamara rehearses while I chat to the other players.

The performance was also accompanied by several koto players, who played along with the shakuhachi to create a very complete musical experience. The two instruments compliment each other perfectly along with the shamisen, and give an iconic Japanese sound when played in unison. The koto players were excellently skilled, wearing much heavier clothes than the men; a commendable feat in this summer weather.

The koto.

As I mentioned, the weather was suitably hot and humid, but subsided to be thankfully a little overcast in the later afternoon. Many people stopped to watch our performance for a song or two, with lots of photographs and videos taken (especially of me and Tamara, who must have been something of a novelty as the foreign performers). A nice surprise was fellow ALT Thomas Monaghan (from Naoshima), who happened to be visiting the garden that day. His superintendent, Oka-sensei, is a fellow shakuhachi player, and we enjoyed our small little reunions in the garden.

The stunning Ritsurin Garden.

All in all, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. With our shakuhachi concert in October fast-approaching, it was excellent preparation for performing in public and to calm the nerves. While both Tamara and I made our fair share of mistakes when playing, it was definitely a big step forward for us.

Wrapping up.

Thumbs up.

I'll keep you all posted on information regarding our upcoming shakuhachi concert in October. In the meantime, if you're in (or planning a trip to) Kagawa, get yourself to Ritsurin Garden if you haven't been yet. It never ceases to amaze every time.

The gorgeous Ritsurin Garden.

Image from here.

Cherry Blossoms! Hanami at Ritsurin Koen

First published: 7 Jul 2012

Note: Apologies for my very inconsistent updates recently. I'm afraid I haven't given this blog as much attention as I would have liked to over the past few weeks. However, I have uploaded a new introduction video to my YouTube channel, and am planning to shortly release a few vlogs of recent adventures. Sorry for the slowness, folks.

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Beautiful cherry blossoms in Ritsurin Koen.

Many people, from near and far, gather under
the beautiful sakura bloom.

One of the most iconic and enduring images of Japan is undoubtedly the sakura trees, or as they're popularly known in the west, "cherry blossoms". Appearing for around only two short weeks in the Spring every year, these beautiful tries have fascinated the people of Japan for centuries due to their short but glorious bloom, often likened to the life of a samurai.

Enjoying the Sakura Bloom in Ritsurin Koen, Takamatsu.

Coming into Spring this year, I finally got an opportunity to see these beautiful flowers for myself, first hand, in Takamatsu City. The environment was breathtaking to behold, and I'm sure my words would struggle to truly do it justice. Instead, here are some of my photo highlights from my visit to Ritsurin Koen in Takamatsu.

A forewarning, however; I took far too many photographs that day. So much so, in fact, that I still haven't uploaded them to Facebook as I've been slowly whittling down the best ones over time (I took around 600 on the day). For my Facebook friends, well... I've been sparing you a mega-upload, but it's certainly coming!

One of the nicest aspects of being in Ritsurin Koen was the  great wealth of people wandering around the gardens and enjoying the local sights - including quite a few unfamiliar foreigners, many of whom must surely have come to this garden for tourism. The garden was rife with many tour groups and children feeding fish in the large pond.

 

Plenty of other photographers were also out for the day, enjoying both the sakura bloom and the wonderful weather. Everywhere I turned, cameras were everywhere, including families taking photographs of their children and loved ones. It was a magical sight, seeing how such a small event as the blossoming of leaves could bring so many people together.

 

 

Many locals were very friendly and talkative, and I found myself enjoying an udon lunch with the company of a lovely trio who spoke excellent English and were keen to learn about my home country and the differences between Scotland and Japan.

A particular highlight of the day was meeting a friendly Japanese family who invited me to join their hanami (flower viewing) parties. There was much merriment around the garden and it felt great to meet more local people and enjoy the scenery with them. There was quite a lot of alcohol involved, though! It was still a bit early for me, but I enjoyed at least one glass of sake.

 

 

 

As I say, there were far too many photographs to post here and far too many to post on here (I've already included far too many). However, I'll leave you with my favourite photograph from the day. It's not technically brilliant (not very many of these photographs were, to be honest), this one captured a moment for me that tugged more than just a little at the heart-strings.

 
 You can't help but smile.

Adventures in Takamatsu (Autumn 2011)

First published: 25 Jan 2012

Sunset over my home in Kouzai, Takamatsu City.

I took this shot whilst cycling home one afternoon.

So, as you know, I'm way way way behind on my blog entries.

I'm endeavouring to get this blog back in line with my present day activities as quickly as possible, and in order to do so, I've decided to summarise most of my activities from the end of last year in Takamatsu into a single blog entry to try and bring us up to speed. While there's a lot that I could talk about in more detail, I think it's best to mention just some of the highlights and get us back in line with the present.

As such, without further ado, here's some of the more noteworthy adventures I had towards the end of last year in Takamatsu City!

 

Sharing drinks with my Kocho-sensei (School Principal)

at a Friday-night enkai (work party). Kanpai! (Cheers!)

Towards the end of October, I was invited by my friend Professor Kensho Okamoto at the Kagawa University Robotics & Engineering Department to visit their open day. I met Professor Okamoto at the Konami Sports Club gym, and he was keen to have me pop along to engage some of the students and talk to them in English. I thought this was a great opportunity to investigate Japanese student life, as well as see first-hand some of the next generation who create Japan's world class engineering.

So, I popped along.

Check out this little guy!

I was pretty blown away! I spent the afternoon wandering around the facilities, chatting to some of the students and being served food from some of their stalls. The electronics and engineering on display were quite spectacular - everything from microscopes and satellite radios, to cycling simulators and moving robots! It was a great experience, amplified with live J-pop style music and multiple students wearing Halloween costumes.

Cycling simulator!

The automatic Udon noodle dispenser! 

This arm is probably more flexible than I am.

Walking around the campus, I stumbled upon a great little surprise; a Mario Kart tournament being run by the students! Needless to say, I immediately signed up. Both Wii and N64 tournaments were being run, but being a purist, I of course went for the N64 version (obviously the superior of the two). After playing through several rounds of the competition, I ended up winning the damn contest! My prize? A nice little 3D jigsaw of Tokyo tower. Not bad!

 Playing (and winning!) the Mario Kart 64 tournament.

Clearly all those hours spent playing this game instead

of studying for exams at uni paid off...

After I'd had a little walk around the campus and the exhibits, I paid a direct visit to Professor Okamoto's laboratory on one of the upper floors of the university building. In great spirits, the Professor showed me around some examples of his best work on display - which was honestly absolutely spectacular. A pioneer of revolutionary LED technology, Professor Kensho Okamoto has done some fascinating research into cancer treatments using LED irradiation. There's an interesting article on some of his recent work here;

http://www.kagawa-isf.jp/glycobio/english/pdf/pharmaceuticals_03.pdf 

I can't pretend to understand most of it, but it's fascinating all the same! It's very interesting to hear about this potentially great new method of cancer treatment, and I was priviliged enough to see some of the technology behind it.

Professor Kensho Okamoto demonstrates his LED solar cell.

This machine was the first of it's kind utilising (3060!) LEDs, and

can automatically track the sun and emit a lovely blue light!

Of course, one of my favourite pieces of his technology is actually something he developed for a bit of fun - a revolutionary walking stick! I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that it involves LEDs and it's absolutely incredible.

This is the start of a revolution.

Seeing Professor Okamoto's work was absolutely spectacular, and I felt very priviliged to have been given an opportunity to see it first-hand. All in all, it was a spectacular trip, and I had a great time indeed.

Of course, October also proved to be a highly sociable month! Following my trip to Kagawa University, that very same evening I was popping along to the AJET Halloween Party at Delta Market...

Me, Julia Mace, and David Harris (concealed) at the Halloween Party.

I was meant to be Harry Potter, by the way. There was a scar that faded away...

Other social events involved a fantastic barbecue organised at Asahi Park. This was a great opportunity to spend time with some friends and meet new ones. I arrived a little late - it was very, very far from my house. Yet, a fantastic trip all the same, and I got to spend more time with Takashi Harade and Takahito Ito, which can only be a good thing!

Hanging out with Takashi Harade, Rainer Wessels, and Yuka Kubo!

 

Barbecue banter! No matter where you go in the world,

this concept seems to be universal.

One of my afternoons spent around this time was a brief visit to the Takamatsu Castle ruins next to the Sunport area with Arran Chambers. Haven been given a half-day by both of our schools, we decided to pop along and see this area that we'd walked past so many times and see it for ourselves.

Tsukimi Yagura ("Moon Viewing") Turret in

the Takamatsu Castle Grounds.

Reconstruction work on Takamatsu Castle.

The castle was decommissioned in the Meiji period and tore down, leaving only a few turrets and the luscious gardens in place. Yet while the castle is no longer standing, reconstruction work has recently begun, and it's possible to see the cranes building the structure back to it's former glory. Even so, the castle grounds that remains have left a beautiful garden in place, one well worth exploring for a peaceful, sunny afternoon in Autumn. The grounds are full of the giant koi fish; food can be purchased for feeding.

Arran Chambers enjoys an afternoon feeding
koi fish in the Takamastu Castle grounds.

Any more stories? Well, there's loads! Some of the bigger ones, of course, will have their own blog entries, but I'm keen to move rapidly towards catching up with the present.

 Rilakkuma-Gav!

There's so much to talk about! Stay tuned, and bear with me (pun-intended).

We'll catch up soon, folks.