Kyogen, Day Three

Just got back from my third day of Kyogen training. We had a day off on Thursday, so I went over the lyrics to the two songs with one of the other Kyogen students, Shaiya, who goes to UCLA. Later, we went to a second Kotsuzumi workshop at the art center. While it may seem like a simple instrument, the Kotsuzumi is quite difficult to play reliably, especially when considering that most performances require the musician to hold the instrument on his shoulder and sit seiza for up to one-and-a-half hours. Youch. Afterwards, we had some delicious ramen and friend rice at a tiny restaurant just around the corner from the art center that had free comic book porn for us to peruse. Hooray!

Anyway, today's lesson was taught by our second teacher, Mariushi-sensei. He studied with Shigeyama-sensei's father, and then ended up working with him on a variety of projects. We ended up going through the script line-by-line again. I have a feeling we'll be doing this a lot, since the accent is very exact. Jonah conducted a "knowhow" workshop today on the fusion of eastern and western theatre styles and it made me wonder how one can translate a theatre form like Kyogen which is so inherently based on the rhythms of a the Japanese language. In my opinion, new rhythms would have to be created for the new language, but I might be in the minority on this one.

After a short break, we went through both songs beat by beat, which was incredibly helpful. The first song is a children's song that has a lot of peculiar rhythms, making it difficult to follow. The second is a chant about a rain god. Finally, we went over the dance steps we had learned in the previous two lessons as well as learning some new, more complicated ones. I'm better than I thought I would be at this dancing thing. Maybe I should take some lessons when I get back to the states.

As I was leaving the art center I stopped by the office to drop off some things. Higashi-san was there and she told me that Mariushi-sensei thinks that I have a very good ear for the Japanese language. Huzzah! Two out of three. Shall I go for the hat trick?

I'll try to get some more photos up soon, as I just bought a nice little tripod.

~

Today I met a magical man...

(As best I can remember... I'm walking north along Karasuma-dori, which is directly adjacent to the Kyoto Imperial Palace. I'm about to meet one of the other T.T.T. students to go over what we had done the night before in class.)

(The Magical Man jogs past me swiftly, then stops suddenly and turns around.)
Magical Man: Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!
Me: Uh, hello! Thank you.
(The Magical Man begins to jog again and then stops a second time.)
MM: I love jogging! I may be old, but I jog often. Do know know, uh, how do you say, jogging?
Me: Hah, yeah, jogging is very good for you.
MM: I do it every day! Once at least, for many miles. Where do you come from?
Me: The United States.
MM: Ah, very good! Many people jog there. You see, I am very old but I want to be young again. So, I exercise every day and I go jogging. I want to be young! How do you say, I want to be young again?
Me: Uh, reclaim your lost youth?
MM: Yes! I want to regain my youth. You are young still. But you must exercise. I am very old so I exercise to be young! And, you must also eat well. How old are you? Not as old as I am, hah!
Me: I just turned 22 actually.
MM: Ahhh, you are very young then. You must eat a lot! Meat, especially, and, how do you say, protein? Eat plenty of that, since you are young.
Me: I've been eating a lot since I arrived in Japan, plenty of meat.
MM: Ah, that is very good. When I was young I was diabetic. How do you say? I have the diabetic.
Me: Diabetes?
MM: Yes, and I had the diabetes and I have the high blood pressure. Here they say high blood pressure, too! Hah. I have that. But I exercise every day. To stay young. You see what I am wearing? A T-shirt. How do you say?
Me: We call that a tank top in America.
MM: Ah, yes, this is my favorite tank top! You see, it makes me not so hot, since Kyoto is very hot during the summer months. It is my favorite, and I wear it when I go jogging, which I do every day. But you must exercise! Do you exercise?
Me: Probably not enough, but I try to. I try to do sit-ups and push-ups every day.
MM: Ah, yes the push ups! When I was young I could do thirty-two, but now I can only do five, as you see! (he points to his arms) How many can you do?
Me: Maybe 30 or 35.
MM: Hah, you are very young, that is a good number. So, what are you? What is your status? Are you a student?
Me: I just graduated from college.
MM: Ah, yes, a university. I went to the Boston College and then to Harvard. Both very good schools, I studied for a very long time. Do you know these schools? Also, the MIT school. That is a very good school.
Me: Yes, I have some friends at Harvard. Well, they just graduated.
MM: Ah, what are their majors? What do they study?
Me: Uh, I'm actually not sure.
MM: Well, they are obviously good at what they do, if they go to those good schools. Come, let us jog! (I giggle as he takes off ahead of me) You are always laughing! That's good for you. Come on, let's run! (We run for about 100 yards, with me giggling the entire time. He stops suddenly.) You are a very happy person. That is good. I wish I was as happy as you are. (A bike, riding on the sidewalk rings its bell to tell us to get out of the way) Hmm. In America, where do the bikes ride?
Me: We ride on the street in America. It's odd to me that people ride on the sidewalk here.
MM: What is the penalty in America?
Me: Well, it depends where you are, but it's probably a ticket or a fine.
MM: Well, we are here, right outside the Kyoto Imperial Palace and they are riding on the sidewalk, is that not worth a ticket? You are supposed to ride on the road here but there are so many bikes and the cars are supposed to stop for them. So the cars would never move if the bikes all ride in the streets. But they are dangerous, you must watch out! My mother was hit by a bike.
Me: What happened?
MM: Yes, they hit her hand. It has made me very careful on the sidewalks, but they should be more careful, too. You know, if I went to a police officer I could report someone biking on the sidewalk, but everyone is too busy here, they never care. The fine is almost 20,000 yen! Can you believe that. It is very expensive, but no one cares enough to report the bike riders. But, if there is a collision! Then, there is trouble.
Me: Well, I was just walking to meet my friend, and she's just across the street on the corner there.
MM: Yes, I will let you go on your way. I have nothing to do with you, but this is the southwest corner, that is the northwest corner.
Me: There she is, do you see her?
MM: Yes, she is very pretty. I will let you go, I have nothing to do with you.
Shaiya: Hey, Matt.
MM: Ah, hello, you are his friend. I will let you go as I have nothing to do with you, but I was jogging and said hello and we started to talk! I am very old. Only twenty-seven years old! (he laughs) I told him of my high blood pressure and my diabetes. I have nothing, but that makes me strong, and I don't care about money.
Shaiya: Um, that's good.
MM: Why is that good? If I were rich, that would be good! Hah! But, I am not rich. But that makes me rich in spirit, which is all one really needs. Yes, I am truly rich in spirit, but again I have nothing to do with you, so I will let you be. Goodbye now, goodbye! Goodbye!
Me: Goodbye! Nice to meet you.

Kyogen, Day One

I've just returned from my first Kyogen training session. Our first teacher (of three) is an incredibly skinny man by the name of Akira Shigeyama, who we respectfully call Shigeyama-sensei. He is easily the Kyogen authority in Japan and is also active in Japanese TV, radio, opera and experimental theatre. Jonah Salz, the T.T.T. program director, and Akira started the Noho Theatre Group in 1981 which "has attempted to interpret western texts through noh and kyogen techniques and spirit" and has also written and performed bi-lingual Kyogen plays. During the Kyogen workshop we were able to see Shigeyama-sensei and one of the other Kyogen teachers, Maruishi-sensei, perform Bonsan (The Bonsai Thief) which we will be performing during the recital. He has a hilariously expressive face and voice, both of which he has no doubt perfected after years and years of training.

For the recital we're required to perform Bonsan as well as one of two songs and one of two dances. We began the keiko by going through the play line-by-line repeating after the teacher. Kyogen features a very specific accent, so even if you know Japanese it still sounds pretty foreign. We did some one-on-one repetition for a little while and after my turn Shigeyama-sensei turned to Jonah, who was translating.

"Sensei is surprised that you're the least well-versed in Japanese. You don't understand any of what you're saying?"
"Uh, no, not really."
"He says you have a very good ear."
So far, so good.

I'll go on record as saying the hardest part of class was sitting seiza.

The dreaded orientation...

Orientation has been about as hectic as I expected. My schedule has been wake up, eat, have a knock-down drag-out with traditional Japanese theatre and dance forms, sleep, repeat. We had workshops in Nihonbuyo (dance), Kyomai (dance), Kotsuzumi (shoulder drum), Noh (dance/theatre), Kyogen (dance/theatre), Shamisen (three-string guitar-like instrument), and the Tea Ceremony (hopefully this one is self-explanitory). Rather than go into all the nitty-gritty details of each, I'll just show you some of the pictures I took. Enjoy.


Orientation!

A short walking tour

At 3 PM I was greeted by Higashi-san and Kano-san, the main admin for the T.T.T. program and her assistant, respectively. Higashi-san is quite petite, somewhere between 22 and 26 and rocks a pretty wicked bowl cut. Kano-san is similarly petite, quite fashionable and speaks relatively good English. Soon, two of the other participants of the T.T.T. program, Jane and Phillipe, arrived. Jane lives about 30 minutes outside of London. We bonded over Little Britain. Phillipe is originally from France, but he's studying to obtain his master's in set design at UCLA. He likes to talk a lot.

We took a quick walking tour of our neighborhood in Kyoto, making sure to hit all the necessities -- the banks, the library, the post office, etc. Kyoto is like many large cities in that there are a few "main" streets that run throughout more or less the entirety of the city and which surround a large network of smaller side streets. The side streets in Kyoto, however, are almost always one-way and are what many Americans would consider alleys. Fortunately, these alleys aren't filled with the usual American alley fare, i.e. bums, dumpsters, trash, etc. Instead, the alleys serve as true side streets and are often lined with businesses, restaurants, and condominiums, which the Japanese refer to as "mansions."

Finally, we arrived at the Kyoto Art Center.


The center was surprisingly busy. I guess I'm used to the arts in America, which always seem to be sparse and floundering, for some reason or another. In any case, after visiting the arts center, we grabbed some dinner and headed back to the hotel to catch some shut eye before tomorrow, the always dreaded orientation...

Welcome to Kyoto

Well, I arrived safely at the Osaka/Kansai airport (apparently this airport has the "worlds longest terminal" which is 1.7 kilometers long) and I made my way to the ticket machine for the Kyoto express train. After fumbling around for about 10 minutes trying to figure out which one was the correct train, I was on my way to Kyoto. Unfortunately, it was raining pretty hard, so I wasn't able to get any decent pictures of the train ride, but as we zipped along I caught sight of a few sweet graffitti tags. So far, so good.

Now, I hadn't done too much research on Kyoto, but from everything I had read, I was expecting a quaint, quiet town with many gardens and the occassional geisha. But as I stepped out of the massive Kyoto Station in search of my hotel I was greeted with this surprising sight:



I had stumbled into a virtual Mecca of taxis, all sitting in a nice little bunch, who, with the wave of your hand, would whisk you away into the surprising urban sprawl of Kyoto. I didn't take many more pictures because, as you can probably see, without a tripod it was impossible to get a decent shot in that night's rain, but this gaggle of taxis continued for about 300 yards and wrapped around the building to my right. Um, wow. When the Japanese do taxi stands, they sure do it right.

Allow me to make a quick comparsion, for those of you who have never been to Japan. Take Chicago, replace 90% of the apartment buildings with businesses, bars and restaurants, then compact everything into an area that runs from the bottom tip of the South Loop to the bottom tip of Evanston. Oh, and get rid of all the trash, homeless people, and make the L a whole lot more convenient. Welcome to Kyoto.

I spent my first night wandering up and down the main drag adjacent to my hotel, determined not to go to the McDonald's right down the street to fill my aching belly. Finally, I found a place that looked friendly (i.e. had picture menus) and, with the help of my trusty index finger, pointed my way to a delicious dinner consisting of dumplings, ramen, and a ball of chicken fried rice. After stumbling back to my room, more full than I have ever been in my life, I passed out in a heap at about 9:30 PM.

I woke up the next day around 6:30 AM, about 2 hours earlier than I had hoped to. The Japanese administrative assistant for the T.T.T. program was going to show us around Kyoto and how to get to the art center at 3 PM, so I had a lot of time to kill. I was able to blast through to the end of Learning to Bow, a travelog/novel about an English teacher's year teaching English to junior high school children in a small rural city a couple hundred miles outside of Tokyo. The book is a bit dated, but it provided a good general view of culture and life in Japan, as well as an excellent review of the school system, which was actually quite interesting and informative.

After taking a quick shower and a customary soak in the tiny bathtub, I wandered around the gardens surrounding the Imperial Palace, which is literally across the street from my hotel (hence: The Palaceside Hotel). It was still raining and August isn't the best time of year to see the gardens, so I didn't catch a glimpse of anything particularly beautiful, but there was a tiny pond full of scary dark brown fish who followed me around, expecting something tasty. I also saw two quite shabby looking feral cats who I started to go pet, but then thought better of it. No need to get rabies on my second day in Japan.

continued...

Hi, Siberia!

Two-thousand miles to go. The flight to Japan has been mostly uninteresting, as, frankly, all flights should be. In other words, no snakes. It does, however, have the requisite crying baby. So far I have watched two movies to pass the time. The first was the Matthew Broderick/Nathan Lane version of The Producers which was well done (and directed by the choreographer, no less). The Producers is one of my favorite musicals (which is saying a lot, as I'm not really a musical kinda guy) but it can be a little long. I thought Uma Thurman was well cast as a tall, big-breasted Swedish woman, but that might just be because I fink she's purty. The second movie I watched was Ice Age: The Meltdown and it was more or less a complete travesty. Here is an open letter I wrote while watching it:

Dear Animation Studios,
Stop making bad animated movies starring celebrities with no voice talent or I will murder you. Also, no more sequels.

Love,
Matty H.

First class (thanks Dad!) is nice mostly because you don't have to step over anyone to get to the bathrooms. The hots nuts were also delicious. Hmm, that sounded bad.

I was able to finish off a couple more of the Pimsleur Japanese Language lessons and I'm feeling pretty good about my progress. I know how to say everything I'll absolutely need to say (Toire wa doko desu ka?) as well as a few things I'll want to say (Bieru ip hong, onegaishimasu!) and some things that I'll probably say to girls when I'm drunk (Watashi no tokoro de nanika nomimasen ka?) so I think I'm covered. Hearing the language spoken by natives will help tremendously. I've always said you can't really learn a language unless you go to the country in which it is spoken. The Pimsleur tapes are pretty great, though. That's all for now.

Good night, and stay vicarious,
~