Have you heard of "Shakuhachi", the Japanese traditional bamboo flute. Several schools of it have developed since 7th century. The school which I belong to is called Tozan-Ryu and is the biggest one. The governing body of the school has held a rather huge concert every 10 years in Kyoto Concert Hall and I was invited this year as a Shakuhachi player to the 120th commemorative concert, which means my school was founded 120 years ago.
I started practicing a number, "Kukai", a half year ago. "Kukai" is the name of a historical monk who founded the basis of the Shikoku 88 Pilgrimage. I was a member of the representatives from Shikoku and this year is the 1200th anniversary year of his birth. That's why this number was chosen as the number which the representatives from Shikoku would play.
This number is designed to be performed by three sections; Shakuhachi, Koto, the Japanese harp, and Sangen, the Japanese guitar-like traditional musical instrument. All the players have their own job and it was not easy to get together for practice, but they managed to arrange some time for joint practice.
Moreover, the composer of "Kukai" would join us on the day of the concert without enough rehearsal. I got tense. A man in the center of the front line in the following picture is him.
It was great fun to play Shakuhachi in front of lots of people. I've just started to practice for the next, after-ten-years concert.
(Vocabulary)
decennial １０年ごとの
commemorate
to do something to show that you remember and respect someone important or an important event in the past:
historical (出来事・人物などが) 歴史上実在した
historical figures 歴史上の人物
Rehearsal: 以下リハーサル風景
尺八には十分な楽屋なし。演奏者が多すぎて、、、
With my instructor 師匠と看板の前で
『空海』作曲者の菊重精峰先生(左側奧から２人目、黒いシャツ)をお招きして懇親会
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