Shamisen, koto, shakuhachi!

Yesterday happened to become a wonderful day with many new experiences! I followed a friend, who's a Shamisen player, when he went to get his instrument repaired. We came to a really neat little house, with a small shop on the bottom floor, a newly built room with seats to host concerts and the workshop and two nice tatami rooms on top. We spent a couple of hours speaking to the craftsman and his family, ate a nice lunch and I got to hear some live shamisen music. During our lunch we were invited to go with Kato-san (the craftsman) to a concert in Ueno, where a famous shamisen player would preform. I was excited, of course I want to go! I've never been in contact with this part of the Japanese culture before!

So in the evening we met up with the shamisen craftsman, his friend and went for the concert. What an experience! The shamisen music is really interesting. The instrument has only three strings, but there is so much sound and soul coming out of it! I loved when she also started singing, went straight into my soul, giving me goose bumps all over. A wonderful feeling!
After she had played three or four pieces a group of four people came out, three of them dressed i traditional Japanese kimono. There was one woman playing the shakuhachi (bamboo flute), a blind (!) man playing the koto (the floor harp), a woman playing some sort of Japanese drum and a woman playing the piano. Together they performed a kind of poetry act, with music. Although I didn't get much of the words the feeling coming out of the performance was mindblowing! Gave me goosebumps all over and made me both hold my breath and gasp a couple of times! Almost went crying. Kind of an exhausting experience.
After a short pause a man and a woman, dressed in Kimono, performed a couple of pieces on Shamisen, more of traditional style. And then the group above and the first Shamisen player came out and played a couple of songs which many Japanese seemed to know. Really nice when people started to sing a long to the music and clap their hands with the beat.
Their last number was kind of an improvisation, first for each instrument alone, and then together, I found it really interesting to see how the traditional instruments went so god together with the piano.
The best part for me was when they did their poetry/music thing, I loved how it moved my soul. Made want to study the Japanese shakuhachi, would be nice to learn to play!

Tomorrow I'll go with a group from California to Kamakura, where I hopefully will learn to surf! Never tried surfing before, but I've always wanted, and now the opportunity comes while I'm in Japan! How good isn't that!?

Training:
I've been to a lot of classes this week, with different teachers. Really blows out your mind and the body starts to rearrange things on it's own. So now I'm in an in-between-state, where pretty much everything I try to do sucks. But that's how it is, probably rewiring some stuff.
It's interesting to see how the movements of all the Shihans actually are the same, but with some flavour of their personality to it. There's always a proper distance, timing and posture, making sure to be prepared for whatever the attacker comes up with next.
I find the talk about "there is no tori or uke when in a fight". So we should not train ourselves to be tori or uke, we need to always be sharp and watch out for openings, both the attackers an ours. When being on the "recieving" side you should always try to maintain your balance and posture and strive to get back if your are allowed to. Only take a roll when there is no other way out. Watch out for the openings and point the out for your partner if they don't see them. The hard part is to be "hard enough", not resist everything that happens. There's always that fine line. If we don't take care of our own training all the time we'll end up deceiving our selves and our partner.

Last but not least, here is finally the picture of my red tabi!

Red tabi! So proud!
Photo taken by Erik.

  

Spring is in the air.

Training:
Now I've been here a little more than a month, literary soaking myself in Budo, going to different classes, trying to see the similarities and take with me every little clue I can get from each teacher. Though every shihan is different and move according to their body and personality, they should still have the same basic movements programmed into their nervous system.
Going to classes with non-Japanese shihans has helped me get some clues and a framework for what to look for and how to train my self to be able to make the movements I see. Of course you need to mimic your teacher, but it's impossible for me to move exactly the way he does. So I want to find the essential points in what the instructor is doing and mimic them and the feeling with which the technique is done. And that's where it starts being difficult, am I really mimicking or am I doing something that I think they did? The only thing to do is to put your movements to test, if my Uke tries to escape, can I still keep control? Can I move from where I am? Could there be another attack and I would be able to see/feel it and move accordingly?
It really starts being interesting! And for every "answer" I have 10 new questions. :)

On the class with Nagato sensei this monday he talked about the contract between training partners in the Bujinkan. That many of us will take ukemi even if we don't need to. He didn't say much more, but I interpreted it as we needing to train more as uke and try to keep our balance and posture for as long as we can, and don't take ukemi until we really need to. If we don't take care of our selves and remember that being Uke is also training we will fool our selves and our training partners, because they will never know if their techniques actually work or not.
On Sokes class this tuesday Soke said that we shouldn't try to do the same techniques as he does, but to look for the feeling and the essential points (kaname) and try to mimic that. He was in a really cheerful mood, throwing around his Ukes vividly. He's as energetic as ever and you forget the old man walking through the doors of the dojo when he comes up on the mat. Truly amazing! Being mostly confused about what actually happened on the mat, I tried just take in as much energy and feeling as I could. 

Life in general:
When Erik still was here we made our way to Ueno koen (park) two times and got to enjoy the blooming of the Sakura (cherry trees). It's really amazing how the Japanese make it a true feast to watch the flowers - hanami. People sitting under the trees, eating, drinking, playing music, playing games, enjoying them selves to the fullest! A little funny to see the otherwise really strict Japanese Business men getting drunk and making the funniest things, screaming. :D
The spring has almost come, it's getting warmer and the jacket has stayed at home a couple of days no. Nice!
Here are some pictures to enjoy:

 Also found some funny signs around Tokyo. Here's a couple of them!

At Bic Camera.
And the lord sayeth....

In Harajuku.
Say what!?

Back in Tokyo

So, it's been two good days of training since we came back to Shim-Matsudo. Someya-senseis class was all about Naginata and the basics of holding, cutting and blocking with it. We also did a couple of techniques. Was sure an inspiring class for me. I haven't done much Naginata, so getting used to that particular weapons qualities and it's peculiarities was nice. Moving around wasn't a big challenge though, and I was happy to notice that my efforts on working on my taijutsu is beginning to pay off. Well, I know, it's said all the time, your skills in taijutsu shows when you start working with the weapons, but it's a whole different thing when you experience it for your self. Of course.

Tuesday I trained at Duncan's class in the afternoon. It was a great review on the basics, really working some details of what we are doing. I'm looking around for tips and inspiration on how to keep improving my taijutsu and training further, so this was a great opportunity! Really got some good stuff with me from those hours!

Went to Sokes class tuesday evening, turned out to be one of my most confusing classes so far. Couldn't really make much of it, but most of it will probably be coming back when I visit classes in the future, so I just kept on going, thinking to my self that hopefully some images will pop up in my head later on, while in training. Sometimes it's just giving up on understanding at just watch that will help me comprehend, I hope this was such a case. :)

Travels:

Before we came back to Tokyo we had two nice days in Osaka and Nara.
Went around walking in the den-den-town in Osaka, which is the place where you find all you could ever wish for in electronics. The Osaka answer to Tokyo's Akihabara. Continuing our stroll we found our way to next specialized area, the "cooking" district. Anything, even remotely related to cooking, could be found there. For example you could buy the plastic models restaurants use to display their food. That would be something, putting a plastic sushi among my home made ones... >:)
It was heaven for anyone interested in cooking, and I found a couple of things that I would like to bring home, like a tamago-pan, a wooden bowl for making sushi rice, a rice cooker, and some smart things for taking up fried stuff from the oil. Bought my self some ohashi (chopsticks) and ceramic knives.
Also took a short walk along the river in the Minami-district. The street just south of the river was crazy! Busy, lots of young Japanese walking around, neon lights everywhere! Was nice to enjoy the calmness when walking along the river, almost quiet, just meeting a few people and a nice full moon lightening up the sky.

Doutombori

Neon madness!

Little less neon madness.

We also had  the time to visit the aquarium in Osaka, really big! Hosted a lot of strange animals, among them a capybara -  a huge rodent, the size of a medium sized dog, with the looks like a hamster - sharks, rays, turtles, dolphins and penguins.

Outside of the aquarium.

It was nice walking from the top down, just looking at all the strange, funny and interesting animals in the tanks. Well worth a visit!

On the way back  to Tokyo, we made a quick stop in Nara and went once again to the nice tabi shop! http://www.tabi-ji.jp/. I tried many pairs on and finally decided for a red pair with fur on the inside! Pictures will come! :) We stayed one night at a friends apartment, he lives with his family in a place a 10 minute trainride north of Nara. Had a nice and tasty dinner and then did some training in his living room. Pretty much took my notes and reviewed them and went on from there. It ended up being a couple of great hours, with ideas of what we've been doing popping up in our heads, being tried and refined.Thanks Rod and Erik!

Bullet train taking us back.

Ekiben, another great thing with Japan!

Osaka

From Amami it took only an hour to reach Osaka, felt a bit sad leaving the comfy tatami-rooms and the calm atmosphere surrounding the village. It was quite a change, stepping out on the busy platform of Osaka station. After some confusion and getting a little lost we found our way to our hotel. Since it's been a sunny, warm spring day it was a enjoyable stroll between the high buildings along the busy street.
Standing in a street corner, looking at the map a Japanese guy approached us and helped us on the way. That's the best thing with this country, there'll always be someone to help you on the way! Just pick up your map and look confused, or even better, try asking in Japanese -  ... wa doko desuka?
He was heading our way, so we got a nice little chat with one of the locals, he recommended us trying out the okonomiyaki, which is a pancake/omelette with the most differing ingredients, and takoyaki, literally octopus "pancake/omelette"-balls. Sounds interesting, probably be good to do as he says. :)

Leaving the heavy suitcase on the hotell made the upcoming sightseeing much easier! Since the weather called for outdoor eating we found us a couple of bento (a box filled with different kinds of dishes, often rice, fish or some sallad, served cold) and went looking for place to sit and eat it. Lucky as we were the Sakura (cherry trees) have started blooming and there was a great path running along one of the riverbanks at Okawa (Big river). After strolling the river looking at the cherry trees we found us a bench in the sun, perfect for Hanami (cherry blossom viewing).

Erik surrounded by Sakura.

Bento on a bench! Sakura!

With stomachs well filled and our fair share of sakura viewing we went on with light feet. Over the river and 10 minute walk later we found our selves at the Osaka-ji, the castle. It's replica of the Castle, originally built during the beginning of the 17th century on the site for a former temple, Osaka Honganji. The first version was built under the reign of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but was burnt down by Tokugawa Ideasu's forces during the Summer war 1615. It was then reconstructed and stood again 1630. It played a major roll for the shogunate's control over western Japan and when the power fell to the emperor again, many parts of the castle was destroyed in the turbulence. In the beginning of the 20th century the main tower was reconstructed, and today it serves as a historic museum. Amazingly enough, one of the things that survived all turbulence and kaos was the roof of a well. Maybe no one paid it much attention?
The museum wasn't much of a thrill, except for the top floor witch offered great views over Osaka city. But the green areas and the parks surrounding the castle are well worth a visit, free of charge also! Quite a lot of people had found their way to the gardens and enjoyed their lunches under the blooming cherry trees.

Main tower, Osaka castle museum.

The golden well with the surviving roof.

View from top of the castle.

Top view, now over one of the gardens. Osaka skyline.

Shodokan, a budo hall.

The shodokan. Now that would be a good sized dojo!

On the grounds surrounding the castle I found this Shodokan, budo training hall. No class was taking place, but the sign said that judo, kendo, aikido and naginata is teached regularly. I think it has a perfect size for a dojo... No problems with the height of the ceiling... :)

Nara koen and Ryokan Nanten-en, in Amami

Yesterday was a great day! After a nice breakfast at Doutor, Erik and I took a walk to Nara Koen. We started out walking past Kofuku-ji, a five storied pagoda Buddhist temple, and there we had our first encounters with the famous deers, almost tame, out looking for snacks. Around Nara Koen deer cookies are sold from little stands. If you buy your self a pack you'll soon be surrounded by a bunch of deer fighting over the crumbs. 

Try avoid feeding them! :)

After a short walk through the nice surroundings of Nara we found Yoshikien Garden, surprisingly admission free! According to the information pamphlet it was the site of the Manshuin, a residence of the high priests of Kofukju-ji temple. Completed in the Meiji era, 1918. It's an old style Japanese garden with three sections, one Pond garden, near the main building, designed to become one with the building and it's surroundings. Manages quite well I think, truly a beautiful place to walk around! The sound of the running water and the birds, the nice views and the calmness is soothing for your mind.

Moving on we found the moss garden, with a traditional tea ceremonial house facing it. Quite different from the pond garden, but nice in it's own way.

Continuing to the highest part we found our selves walking through the Tea ceremonial flower garden, a beautiful place to stroll around! I could easily picture my self as a samurai walking the paths around the garden, pondering the dilemma of life and death, a la The last samurai. Imagination took me back to 19^th century Japan for a while. :)

Pond garden, with the main building to the right

Moss garden.

Stone lantern in moss garden.

Detail from the tea cermonial flower guarden.

Walking the paths going back in time.

From there we walked through some really nice quarters of Nara, with old style Japanese houses lining the streets and reached Toda-ji, the big tempel that houses the Great Buddha! And he's big! Huge! The building has burnt down two times, so now, on the third go, it's ”only” 2/3 of it's former size, and still it counts as one of the largest wooden structures in the world! So cool to walk around in. 

Toda-ji, housing the Buddha.

The great Buddha, really huge!

Just outside the entrance to the big hall I found a somewhat smaller and weathered Buddha. The sign underneath it said that if you touch a part of the Buddha and then touch the same part on your own body it would help you heal any injuries! He didn't look so nice, actually a bit scary... Think I'll take him home to see if he does his wonders at the ER to! :) 

The healing Buddha!

Time travels fast when you have fun, and it was time to leave Nara for Amami, a small village between Osaka and Nara. After a little more than a hour of travel we found our way through the tiny village to the ryokan, Nanten-en. Just what I've been looking for! Traditional style Japanese rooms, with tatami mats, futons, a room maid in kimono greeting you and a little onsen where you can wash away the wear and tears of the day and all your thoughts and troubles!

We did a little walk through the village to one of it's small shrines, Kanii-ji. A small shrine with beautiful surroundings. Most of the village is beautiful, crouched between the mountains and a lot of forest surrounding it. Fresh air, birds singing and peaceful. Love it!

Nanten-en, entrance.

View over the Amami village

Erik at the stairs to Kanii-ji

The peaceful forest tempel.

Had a nice, long bath at the onsen, soaking my self in the hot water and again letting my imagination bring me back in time. Easy to imagine your self staying at the ryokan on your way walking between Nara and Osaka.

Afterwards I enjoyed tempura soba in the room.

The maid have now put out the futons and it's time for some well deserved sleep. As I started saying, a great day, with many of the experiences I've been looking for but haven't had the opportunity to try before.

Dinner in our room - Take (means bamboo).

Scroll on our wall. Notice the little flower arrangement and the small bowl.

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A little about training, most about Nara.

From now on I'll be writing in English, since I have friends in many places over the world and most will understand. 

I spent my Saturday  with Nick walking around in Yoyogi koen, a little in Harajuku, Shibuya and Shinjuku. Got to try my billiard skills again, it was really some time since my last try! It was great fun! Got some good tips of how to play, but that was first after Nick had won the second game. Next time I'll take you down! ;)

 On Sunday I went to the airport and met up with Erik, Fredrik and Kathi. Not much done on Sunday, since both Erik and I was really tired after sleeping too little. 

Went to training with Nagato sensei this Monday, great as usually! For you who don't train you can skip to the next part if you want to. He again spoke about the importance of not trying to win, just no to loose, about the importance to persevere. The only thing that can make you better is to keep training. Sounds like common sense, doesn't it? And still some people try to take short cuts. 

Nagato sensei also talked about the importance of having the right heart in training, that even if you lack the skills in Taijutsu, having the right heart will be enough. I interpreted that as also having the patience, not to give up, to keep going. There will most probably always be someone better than you in training, so just keep on going and do your best, that's enough.

Today me and Erik arrived at Nara, took a while to get here though. Started out well with the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto, but then the rapid train for Nara “disappeared” and we had to take the local one that was almost 50 minutes late. Could have something to do with the extremely strong winds and the heavy rain. Almost typhoon-like. So when we finally arrived Nara it was already late, most of the attractions, like the hall with the great buddha was closed, and the cold winds drew right through your clothes. The lust for sightseeing was down to zero, especially when we walked under the big pine trees, and things came blowing down... scary. 

Tabi!

 Haven't done so much walking around, but Nara seems to be quite a nice little town, with and air of old Japan in it. Found a cool tabi shop, with many models of daily wear tabi shoes! I became really fond of the blue ones, with kind of a sports shoe sole! Really cool! I'll be going there again, and probably end up buying a pair. :)

For you who aren't training, jika-tabi is a kind of traditional shoe, with the big toe separated from the others. In training we use indoor tabi, kind of a thicker sock with the big toe separated, and outdoors we use the jika-tabi. Workers in Japan (like carpenters and cleaning staff) use these at work.

I really like them, because I'm a Bujinkan nerd! :)

After trying to walk around in the icing cold we went looking for a Restaurant and accidentally stumbled upon a place with a small booths separated from each other. A little stream running through the restaurant, making a comforting bakground noice and really good food! Felt like walking into old Nippon!
We had some Nara style roast beef and Korean style wok with Kimchi, tasted great! I tried to ask for a sake that would taste good with the food, but my Japanese and the staffs English didn't go well together, so I just pointed my finger at one of the pictures.

Stream running through the restaurant.

Ended up with a small sake glass in a masu (the wooden box on the picture), the waitress started poring sake into it, at first slowly. When the glass was almost full she put up the speed and the sake run over into the wooden box, she stopped when the box was almost full. To my suprise! (You should have seen my face...) Anyhow, it tasted great! A sweet, a bit of mellow taste, went great with the roast beef!

In the restaurant, in our booth.

My overfilld sake-cup

In my Yukata at the hotel.

At the moment relaxing in my Yukata (a cotton wardrobe) at the hotel room. The yukata is kind of a obligatory when staying at a hotel or ryokan in Japan. Glad to be inside. Tomorrow Nanten-en awaits me. A traditional Ryokan lying between Nara and Osaka. Will be really interesting to visit! I really look forward soking my self in a hot spring!