Japanese Culture

This week's practice will be this Sunday, from 4 to 6 pm, at AfterHours. AfterHours is located on UNCC campus, at the Cone Center. www.uncc.edu I'm looking forward to showing some of the things I learned at the taiko camp in California!

San Jose Taiko is holding a performance at Spirit Square, in uptown Charlotte, on October 26. San Jose Taikois one of the first professional taiko groups in North America, and a great show. In addition, they are wonderful people! The details for their performance can be found at:
http://www.blumenthalcenter.org/events/detail.asp?id=295

It might be fun to go together and watch the show. I'm meeting San Jose Taiko while I am here in California, and I'll try to arrange a meeting with them for Kuroshio members after the performance. Members from Triangle Taiko, my former group in Raleigh, plan on coming. So this will really be a gathering of all Carolina taiko.

Please let me know if you are interested in performing in the workshop. We can begin preparing for the performance.

Workshop and possible performance on October 21:
The Blumenthal Center has asked us to hold a workshop in order to introduce taiko for the San Jose Taiko performance. The workshop will be on October 21, from 10:00 until 11:45, at Myers Park Presbyterian Church.I'm putting together the format of the workshop now. The first half will probably be a mixture of describing the taiko art form, and presenting short demonstrations. The second half would then be teaching a short matsuri (festival) piece.

ImaginOn is also interested in having us perform on October 21, after our workshop. Please let me know if you are interested and available, and I can start the preparations.Both performances are a great opportunity to market the group, and raise some funds for equipment.

Jason
charlottetaiko@yahoo.com

I decided to dive into Aikido a little bit. According to wikipedia, Aikido is a modern japanese budo. The name Aikido is formed of three japanese characters ai-meaning union/harmony, ki-meaning universal energy or spirit, and do meaning way. So it can be translated as "the way to union with universal energy," or "the way of unified energy." Another common interpretation of the characters is harmony, spirit, and way, so Aikido can also mean "the way of spiritual harmony" or "art of peace." The japanese word for 'love' is also pronounced 'ai,' but a different kanji is used for it. Aikido was developed by Morihei Ueshiba over the period of the 1920s to the 1960s. Ueshiba is also known by practioners of aikido as O-sensei meaning "great teacher." Aikido contains a very significant spiritual component which is the result of O-sensei's interaction with the Oomoto religion, as well as Shinto, and Buddhism.

Aikido was born out of three Enlightenment experiences of O-sensei. In each of these, he received a divine inspiration that lead away from the violent natures of his previous training, and towards something more peaceful or "spirit of peace." He ultimately said that the way of the warrior is the "way of divine love that nurtures and protects all things."

A little bit on training: Training is done through mutual technique, where the focus is on entering and harmonizing with the attack, rather than on meeting force with force. Uke, the receiver of the technique, usually initiates an attack against nage (Nage is also reffered to tori or shite depending on style) who neutralizes this attack with an aikido style.

This style sounds soo cool :D I think it would be interesting if our world consisted on martial arts as the form of fighting rather than weapons and such XD.

information came from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/aikido
image came from : http://www.aikido-wuerzburg.de/media/kimeda2002/index.html

Just recently fell in love with UVERworld. I've been watching a series called Blood+/Blood Plus which they did an opening for called "Colors of the Heart." They also did a song for the anime Bleach called "D-technolife." I love the lead vocalist of this group. His voice is sooo nice to listen to. I've watched some of their videos on youtube as well. This group is known for the mixing of hard rock, rap, electronic, and beat boxing. I like it :D it's a nice mix. If the link shows up correctly then there should be more info on them there :D!! or you can google them too. The link seems to be under the title if you can't tell :D

*piccu came from here www.tofurecords.com*

I found Gackt on Myspace Music and checked out a few of his songs. The one I liked best was Love Letter. It's such a pretty sounding song, it has a lot of strings in it, which seems to emphasize the romance in it. Gackt seems like he has all the girls swooning for him and his lyrics. Just the sound of his calming voice with the sounds of the instruments is enough to make you fall in love or put you to sleep, depending on your mood. I think if Gackt were American, he would have been a Nick Lachey or Backstreet Boy.

This video was really cruel. However, it is a true story. Chinese people in the village took care of a Japanese soldier, but at the end of the movie, Japanese soldiers killed every Chinese people in the village. In the WWI and WWII, Nobody cared even if somebody was killed. Japanese also killed a lot of Chinese and raped Chinese women. It is really sad history. By watching this movie, we can learn the cruel history and not to do same thing in the future.

I like The BOOM. They combine Okinawa Syamisen, a baby cat skin banjo, with modern musical instruments. "Shimauta" meaning "Island Song" is my favorite.
http://www.five-d.co.jp/boom/
You can search tons of Japanese and foreign music and listen to the samples here.
http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Arch/SR/TheBoom/index.html

Initially I was upset and disturbed. It was difficult for me to separate my feelings for Japanese culture from my feelings about death and violence (especially the death of the little boy). Ultimately once I started thinking about the film as a metaphor I found I had different thoughts and feelings about this film.

Thematically speaking, I felt that Devils was clearly an anti-war film. There seemed to be a constant dialogue on humanity - whether that was the evil or compassion being displayed. Ultimately, I felt that through the constantly changing roles of villain and victim, we were led to see people as not Chinese or Japanese, but people. This was most clearly illustrated in Dasan Ma's final transformation from compassionate brother to vengeful murderer. I also found that honour was an interesting and ironic theme. Although the Japanese characters in the film spoke of it constantly, it seemed to be the Chinese who acted with the most honour. Yet, even those who had honour, ultimately sacrificed it in anger. This too was seen in Dasan Ma. Through these we were told: violence begets violence, war knows no honour, war knows no innocence.

Symbolically - I found several things to be interesting. I believe that the devils in the title are not the Japanese, or even the Chinese - but unthinkable situations and decisions. I felt that Dasan Ma's situation placed him squarely between two demons, or as we westerners would say, "between a rock and a hard place." Both "Wo"'s namelessness and his facelessness served as a symbol for the anonymity of evil. As long as we see our enemies as faceless, we are severed from their humanity and capable of acting in horrible ways. Also, evil is faceless and named "me", because anyone of us, if pushed far enough is capable of it.

As for good and bad - I believe the shifting roles of the characters in their emotional disposition to their fellow human beings makes that an impossible decision. In fact, I think this film intended to blur the lines between such black and white notions as good and evil. This was ultimately symbolised by the fact that Dasan Ma's dying view was in colour - as in his final moments he saw everyone as the same, not as good and bad, or brother and enemy.

I felt that 'One Stroke Lin's prophecy was fulfilled - and because of that and the colour - that Dasan met his death as the peaceful release from his very immediate suffering. I don't know that we can ultimately understand Hanaya's motives. From a western perspective, I would think he acted dishonourably for taking the life of the man he owed his life to. However, from the perspective of a culture rooted in the way of the samurai, I feel that perhaps he repaid his debt in the best way possible. Since removing of the head was traditionally the duty of the kaishaku (often a close associate or friend) - Hanaya may have felt he was accorded great honour to perform this duty for the man who had saved him.

i think the movie vividly shows that human beings go crazy when they are in the chaos like a war. they don't recognize what is just and what is evil. since the people in the chaos abandon to think what is right by themselves, thier morality or humanity go benumbed. they just do whatever they are told to do.
also, many ordinary japanese people in japan at the wartime just believed that japanese troops are trying to emancipate the asian countries from the western colonists. under the name of the emancipation, they supported the conduct of the tropps even if they killed the people against the emancipator, japanese troops.
we really should keep self-sesoring to judge if we are doing right thing.

> Kintaro Walks Japan is a documentary film produced and directed by
> Tyler MacNiven. It is an account of MacNiven's journey walking and
> backpacking the entire length of Japan from Kyushu to Hokkaido,
> more than 2000 miles in 145 days

http://www.kintarowalksjapan.com/index.html
free google site to view the film:
http://video. google.com/ videoplay? docid=3067683435 545761102& q=Kintaro

Your homework is responding to this post as a comment.
1. What did you learn about Taiko from the presentation on Thursday?
2. Do you have any question for professional Taiko players? If you do, please write it specifically.
Check out the Kodo website as well. So cool!
http://www.kodo.or.jp/

Please post a short review of the movie which we watched in the clas;
"Oni ga Kita (Devils on the Doorstep)."
Description: Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and banned in its native country, Jiang Wen?s ravishingly photographed anti-war epic is set in 1945 in a Japanese-occupied rural Chinese village. Wen stars as Ma Dasan, a peasant, who, one night at gunpoint, is compelled to shelter two prisoners. One is a captured Japanese soldier who wants to be killed, the other his Chinese interpreter, who wants to stay alive. As the days turn into months, Dasan and his fellow villagers keep their unwanted guests hidden from the Japanese forces, while deciding whether or not to execute their captives. A plan to exchange the men for grain leads to the film?s harrowing and devastating climax.

Hello, my name is Shoji, and I am teaching Japanese at UNCC. (*I used to teach at Winthrop.)
The UNCC students will post their research on the Japanese Regions/Culture.
Please enjoy them and feel free to comment on them.

Konnichiwa.
The Winthrop Japanese cluture class researched about Japanese desserts and drink. Please enjoy this sweet topic and write some comments.

When living in Okinawa, Japan one of the most fantastical and fearsome foods I ever saw was called Habushu.

Habushu is a type of sake that is made almost exclusively in Okinawa. Habushu is sake with a habu snake coiled inside of it.
The origin of habushu is sketchy at best. It seems that habushu stems from a certain type of sake called awamori. Awamori is made from a special type of crushed rice imported from Thailand. The rice is soaked, washed, steamed, and cooled before black yeast, koji, is added. The mixture is left to ferment on triangle shaped shelves for about two weeks. Next, awamori must be put into a distiller for 2 ½ hours, before it can be bottled and stored to mature for another two to three years.

The habu snake was originally brought to Okinawa Japan to help control the mongoose population on the island. Over time, the habu began to overrun the island and became more of a hazard than a help. Those who have tasted habushu say it tastes smoother, stronger, and will definitely affect you differently than regular alcohol. Local officials say the magic of habushu comes from the mixture of habu venom and the special type of alcohol.

Habushu is not for everyone, however, as even the cheapest bottles of it cost upwards of 8,000 yen ($80). Bigger bottles with more impressive habu can set you back upwards of 25,000 yen ($250). It is, if nothing else though, a great souvenir to scare your guests with.

References

http://www.jahitchcock.com/okiawamori.html
http://ussmariner.com/2005/05/25/game-45-mariners-at-orioles/