Nearly there...

So busy!

The past few days of class have centered around learning the blocking and memorizing the text. I've got to say that on both accounts it wasn't nearly as difficult as I imagined it would be. I feared that it would be a little overwhelming -- perhaps in part due to the fact that, at first, Japan itself was overwhelming -- but everything is turning out fine. It's actually quite a lot of fun to be able to do a piece I don't understand. I guess that's a bit of a lie. One of the other students in the program translated our text into English for us very early in the process, so I do know what I'm saying, but I certainly wouldn't be able to improvise if I lost my place. My favorite part of the whole process so far has been learning the interesting intonations and rhythms of the Japanese language, and more specifically, of the kyogen 'accent'. One of the girls in the nihonbuyo program sat in on the end of our class a couple days ago on a night that each pair of actors was running through the piece. She told me afterwards that I had done something peculiar. While rehearsing, I stopped to ask the sensei a question about a line and used my normal accent -- meaning, I guess, that I spoke the Japanese in a very American way. She said I used a hard r. However, when I backed up a few lines to run through the troublesome section again, I said the line with a surprisingly passable Japanese accent -- meaning, and I'm guessing again, that I automatically flipped over to the soft d/r sound that is so frustratingly difficult to pronounce. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that somewhere in the back of my subconscious, I'm learning the Japanese language. Hooray!

If you checked out my recent pictures you probably saw that I went with a couple of the other students to dinner with Doji-sensei at a tiny restaurant near the art center. It was fun. We talked about all kinds of stuff and argued about music for a while. He played me some crazy Brazilian stuff that I'll have to read more about when I get home. He also told his he dropped nine grand on a record when he was twelve. I wish I had that kind of cash to drop on music sometimes.

Last, but not least, I saw a bunraku performance in Osaka as part of my day off from rehearsal. There's some pictures of the backstage tour on my Flickr account. I think one of my favorite memories of Japan so far is seeing a particularly rough-looking puppet picking whiskers from his beard while his two minions got beat to a pulp by a tattooed puppet that had just gotten out of jail. Bunraku consists of the puppet teams (consisting of an unhooded lead actor who operates the head and right hand and of two black-clad hooded assistants who operate the feet and left hand), a storyteller who single-handedly provides the narration and character voices, and a shamisen master who provides music. It might sound kind of boring, but the puppets can be so lifelike times that if nothing else it's cool to see someone manipulate a puppet so masterfully. Oh, also, when the storyteller and shamisen player are (quite literally) rotated in at the beginning of each scene, one of the black-clad assistants gives them an introduction that is unintentionally hilarious. In fact, at this moment I find it difficult to describe the introduction because every time I think of it I giggle uncontrolably. Guess you had to be there.

~ 5 days till the recital...

Photos!

I uploaded some new photos. Some of them suck. Hooray!

MAKE IT HAPPEN.

"You are a natural boy!"

I turned on the option to leave anonymous comments, so (ab)use that to your heart's content.

It's been a long 4 days. Since I last wrote we had another day off from class (our second of three) which I used to study and rest. Memorization of the script is going to be a bitch. While I normally have a very good memory, I've never tested it with something in a different language, and such a complex one at that. If I lose my place on stage I'm more or less dead in the water. Hooray. I may have to get some ninja smoke bombs so I can make a quick escape.

On Sunday we worked with our third teacher, Doji Shigeyama, the twenty-three-year-old son of our first teacher, Akira Shigeyama. Doji is rail-thin and pretty hip. He's also been studying Kyogen since he was three. He's a lot more relaxed than our other two teachers and he doesn't like to drill us as hard as Mariushi-sensei does. He joked that he's not as tough about exact pronunciation because he says the lines differently every time, but as far as I can tell he says the lines exactly like his father does. It's not often one gets to see how traditional arts are passed from father to son.

After class we went out for drinks with a Bunraku puppeteer (whose name I don't want to butcher, I'll edit it in later) who wanted to "get to know us" before he gave his workshop. It turned out to be an amazing night. He's got quite the penchant for beer, and loves to speak English to all sorts of hilarious ends. At one point, Phillipe was telling him that he should go to Belgium since he loves beer so much, but he had such a problem understanding him that he just started laughing, exclaiming, "Your English is so bad!" Irony at its finest. Three beers later, he put his arm around Phillipe, looked him in the eye and said plainly, "You are a natural boy. No? You are a natural man!" I'm not quite sure what he meant, but I'm sure it was a big compliment.

The workshop was fantastic. It lasted for about three hours, and not only did we get to see the puppeteers perform (they work in intricate three man teams), but we also learned some of the Bunraku kana (forms). The puppets are pretty complex. Some of them are fairly static, but the craziest ones have movable fingers, eyes and lips. I took a lot of pictures -- I'll upload them ASAP.

The next day we decided to go to Club Metro, a tiny club located in one of Kyoto's subway stations. They were having a Beatles/Rolling Stones themed night and while it started off slow, the club was soon quite full of people. Before we left for the club, we invited Doji and after a late night meeting he decided to stop by. I chatted with him for a while and he's pretty cool. I also found out he just got married. Congrats. Anyway, I quickly realized that all the cool gaijin have obviously heard of this aptly-named club, because it was approximately half Japanese and half ex-pats and travellers. Actually, and you can file this one under the Small World Phenomenon, I met some dude from Chicago who is teaching English in Kyoto. Random. I also did a shot with a mustachioed Japanese man and my dancing antics were described as "legendary" by an Australian. I guess I can check those off my list of Things to Do. Oh, and I just want to say it's pretty difficult to hit on a girl when you don't speak her language. Luckily, my powerful pelvic thrust seems to be universally understandable.

The last thing I want to tell you about is something very serious. It involves a perfectly circular patty of grade A meat, perfectly cooked, topped by a thin slice of mozzarella cheese, a touch of mustard, a dollop of sweet chili, mouth-watering onions and the freshest half-inch of tomato that you'll ever see in your life. And that very serious something is Mos Burger. I ate there for the first time two days ago, and it revolutionized my fast food consumption habits. I'm seriously considering giving up this whole "acting" thing so I can start a Mos Burger franchise in America. But not because I want to share the beauty of Mos Burger with my fellow citizens. Fuck that. I just want to be sure that I can get my fix. I don't even eat the burgers anymore. I just freebase that shit. These burgers are seriously that good.

Pictures soon.

~

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!