Day 2 - "Der Weg ist das Ziel" (The Journey is the Destination)

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping in my ears. It's morning! I bolted up right and got completely disoriented. Why is everything so dark??? I thought it's morning already!
I reached to my phone only to realize that it was my alarm clock that sounded like the chirping birds and that it was only 3 am on the Saturday morning. It was time for me and Lady M to start our shift lining up for the color coded ticket at Kisaki Shrine.

"Lady M.... good morning. I'm sorry but it's time..."

"OK, give me 5 minutes."

While Lady M was getting ready, I walked to our car to get it ready for the 5 minutes ride to Kisaki Shrine to start lining up. We got to the shrine and everything was very quiet and dark. I counted how many bodies were sprawled on the earth heading towards the ticket box... 8. 8 people were there already and I thought that 3 am was early enough to start the queue!
Lady M and I spread our blue tarp and position my sleeping bag on top of it. Hmm, cozy.
Confident that there will be no action going on for a few hours we passed out immediately once we stretched our legs under the stars.

At 5 am, 2 Waraku Daiko comrades turned up to take over the shift.

"Hey, you guys, we're here to take over! You can go back to sleep in your tents now."



I smiled cheerfully. There is no way I am going to sleep now. An avid morning person, it is impossible for me to close my eyes when the sun is out. And it was such a BEAUTIFUL day! We must go about and do something!!

We decided to go and visit a beach for the morning. Yes, we should take advantage for being up that early and do something somewhere.
Going back to the campsite, we realized that it was only 5:30 am. Letting Divelydoo slept some more, we sat by the waterside and stared into the serenity of morning. The horizon was so scenic and everything peaceful.



At 6:15 am we were well on our way to the beach. First we drove to the north west direction of Ogi, trying to trace back the beach we found the year prior. We drove on and found ourselves at a beautiful cliff overlooking the waters, and decided to drive a little more wishing to find the beach.
We passed a lighthouse, but still no beach. Unsure of what to do, we continued on and next thing we know we were going up and up and up. I looked at the navigation system a little gob-smacked... a beach surely will be down on the sea surface, not up in the mountains. Lady M then wisely said, "Well if we go up, surely we will go down at some point, we might end up at a beach, you know. We shall just enjoy this beautiful drive - as the old saying in German said 'der weg ist das ziel'!"

That has a ring of truth. So, I continued on driving.



After some more 15 minutes going up and leveled with the brightest and greenest spot I've ever seen on the island, I gave up looking for the beach. So I told Lady M and Divelydoo that we are going to the one beach which location I am positively certain: Sobama Beach!

Oh the water was delicious!!! The sun was high, but not burning. To be very honest, Sobama beach is not exactly the most beautiful beach in the island. But, hey, it's still a beach!
We had a blissful dip into the ocean we went back to the city. Failing miserably to find an onsen that's open early in the day, we decided to crash the shower at the Japanese inn where everybody else were staying at.

The second day of the celebration was pretty much laid back. I joined a flute making workshop with a well-known flute maker Ranjo-san.


Ranjo-san the flute master

We were also able to enjoy some fringe shows. One particular fringe show that I enjoyed tremendously was "S&T Taiko Talk" featuring Eiichi Saito (one of Kodo's founder) and Kazuaki Tomida, who was formerly a member of Kodo player and now had gone solo. This fringe show was HILARIOUS. Saito and Tomida started the show in a top form improved comedy and combining it with taiko performing. They were so funny. There was also a piece where they communicated using only taiko sounds, no words. They said the taiko sounds "Don doko!" or "Don suko suko" or "Teretsukutsukudon". Then they would act the part, angry, or laughing, or sad or sulking or nonchalant, and then they will start 'speaking' the taiko sound really quickly and had an argument with each other and THEN played the part they're saying while hitting it.
It was pretty freakin' amazing! With my taiko background, I understand that verbalizing the sound of taiko makes the hitting easier, but doing it at their speed needed a great deal of rhythmical control and synchronization. Heck, that really took serious concentration - and for them to do such an amazing duet lightheartedly... BRAVO! Yeah, I've decided long ago that all Kodo members must be clones of human and robot breed.



PEEKING INTO HISTORY

It was only 3 pm and I was contemplating what to do next. Should we just hang around the fringe shows or do something somewhat different.
One of the drummers suggested that we took off to a historic town called Shukunegi and enjoy the ancient setting. Hmm... Having never heard of this place, my curiosity was aroused and I agreed immediately to take her there.

We drove towards Shukunegi, unsure where to look, we predicted we're in the area and saw a giant hall with a giant boat peeking out from it.

"Hey B, do you know where this place is at? This hall can't be it, right?"

"I don't know, Tari. But it should be somewhere here."

I looked around, it's either the boat hall or green paddy fields.

"OK, guys, we're going to make a stop at this... well, boat museum it seems like, and I will ask for directions there."

My suspicion was right. This museum was not where Shukunegi village is located, it will need about 5 more minutes drive down the road, but we have to know what we're looking for otherwise we will miss it altogether. The kind lady clerk at the museum fumbled through her documents and produced a map.

"This is where you need to go. Look to your right, that's where the village is."

The three of us then spent about half an hour at the boat museum. Divelydoo who had once attended a boat making course found this stop completely worthwhile. She had to take a closer look at the boat displayed and everything.
I was impressed by the massive size of the boat, but not having a particularly deep interest in boats in general - I decided to sit calmly in front of the fan and enjoyed the breeze in peace.



Carefully following the instructions given by the museum lady, we drove on to the direction of the port of Shukunegi.

Observing the surrounding, I suddenly cracked up laughing. This is ridiculous! I had passed this road like 100 times before and how I had failed to notice the historic village in the past 4 years was beyond me. It had been there all this time. And if I had taken my eyes away from the coast line for 2 seconds to look to my right, I would've noticed that!

Quoting from the JNTO website:

The hamlet of Shukunegi is located at Ogi-machi on the island of Sado-ga-shima in the Sea of Japan, and is part of Niigata Prefecture. There are now just over 100 simple houses clustered together in the small inlet. The hamlet began as a port town in around the 13th century, and grew rapidly from around the 17th century, with increased shipping in the Sea of Japan. All over Shukunegi visitors will find vestiges of these earlier days. The homes of ship owners built on fortunes made in trading are open to the public. Pillars and fittings in these houses are lacquered in red. Living rooms have high ceilings and ornate household altars. An example of the largest type of ship or Sengoku-bune (a junk able to hold 1,000 koku of rice) used in those days has been restored and is on display to the public. This ship was based on drawings of Sengoku-bune built in Shukunegi in 1776.

We walked into the village and suddenly you were walking into history. The houses were old and wooden and all built next to each other. There was this one house whose shaped is like a boat. It was very tranquil and beautiful. The more special touch of this village is that people still live there. We ran into a postman who was slaloming the very narrow street by the canal and there was a tiny shrine where procession was still taking place.





If you could arrange to come to this village well before 4 pm, you could actually knock on the doors of any of the houses and arrange to have tea with the owner (if s/he is there) for 400 yen and then the house owner will be showing you inside his/her house while tell you tales of history.

What a special visit! Thank you Drummer B for suggesting to go to this place. Every year, a new discovery!

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

Just like the previous day, we were already geared up to go at Kisaki Shrine 5 pm for the evening concert. We made it up there in time and secured a good block for 12 people in front of the stage. Hehehe... that was very good.



Performing for the night was the much celebrated Indian tabla player Zakir Hussein. It was amazing to hear the sound that his hands produced. Quoting from a Drummer World article:

Zakir Hussain is today appreciated both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon. A classical tabla virtuoso of the highest order, his consistently brilliant and exciting performances have not only established him as a national treasure in his own country, India, but gained him worldwide fame. The favorite accompanist for many of India's greatest classical musicians and dancers, from Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar to Birju Maharaj and Shivkumar Sharma, he has not let his genius rest there. His playing is marked by uncanny intuition and masterful improvisational dexterity, founded in formidable knowledge and study.

That's what Drummer World wrote, and that's what we got. Except he wasn't accompanying any other musician, but he was accompanied by Dilshad Khan on an ancient Indian instrument sarangi.

At the second half, a series of Okinawan musicians tackled the stage. From the Ryukyu dance master Takako Sato, Ryukyu Genno Dan, the sanshin trio. Several members of Kodo also came on stage at this second half and performed the drumming part.

It was so magical and rich. I know that this year's celebration was to highlight the 20 years this celebration, but to have all this on one stage, under the starry sky, celebrating with 3,000 other people - it was heavenly.

This is history in the making.

Amazing.