Live folk music survives

On Saturday I was suddenly invited to go to a special pub, where live tsugaru jamisen can be heard. There is a bit of a history to the place. After the war, in the 1950s people flooded to Tokyo to find work, from poor country areas, especially in the northern part of Japan. These workers all arrived at the Ueno area of Tokyo, and there were hundreds of little bars and restaurants where they could go and hear live music from their home countryside. This little establishment is the only one of these that still survives. Apparently it is popular with sumo wrestlers, many of whom come from this area. There are two sort of folk types of music in Japan. One is enka, which is really nostalgic drinking songs, using conventional Western styled instruments. It has some similarities with country and western music, songs about lost love, drinking too much and so on. It could be considered a sort of early version of pop music. In contrast to this, minyou, is folk music, more similar to the folk songs of Ireland or Scotland, deeply rooted in a place, and played with traditional Japanese instruments. The tsugaru peninsula is in the very north part of Honshu island, and is famous for its harsh climate, and its shamisen players. The area is also where the famous writer, Osamu Dazai came from. It is a wild and beautiful place, far from the bustle of Tokyo, and consequently from the economic advantages found in a big city. I wonder if poverty and folk music have an inverse relationship, as the musical heritage is rich. These young guys and gals were also our waiters at the low flat tables and several of them are winners of the national tsugaru jamisen contests. Interestingly enough two of them come from Kyushu, the other end of Japan!
Their clothing is typical work pants, called momohiki, and happi jackets. These are seen in the country and in festivals throughout Japan. The indigo and white is beautiful in its simplicity and their performance was stunning in its energy. Enjoy!

Kurofune Matsuri

The festival of black ships takes place in Shimoda and commemorates the arrival of ships from America, at the end of the Edo period, and is significant in that it was the beginning of Japan renewing official with relations with the outside world, which in turn led to the modernization and development which took place in the Meiji period. The matsuri is a large event, which happens in the center of the little town and included a kimono fashion show, in the beautiful grounds of a temple under the mountains, and a big parade through the city the next day. The parade is an interesting mix, with Okinawan drummers, Brazilian samba dancers, and traditionally dressed samurai, geisha, ninja, oiran and all sorts. There is plenty of music, too, with American military bands, Dixie groups, shamisen and taiko. The stores all open up food stands on the street and there is much eating, drinking and celebrating going on. It was nice to see whole families watching the parade go by, grandparents and little kids, everyone out of their houses. In spite of Japanese being known as generally shy, they do have events like this, where the community pulls together. Such events don't have a counterpart in the UK, I don't think, so it is a great thing to see. In spite of all the drinking, you do not see people behaving badly, or making a nuisance of themselves, and people take the time to stop and talk to people they do not know. I think this is the kind of thing I think is really special in Japan.
We spent the night in a Japanese style inn and of course, we enjoyed karaoke, an onsen bath, and ate good seafood for dinner.
The Okinawan dancers have bingata kimono, and you might notice that they have osode, and also no hashiori, presumably because of the climate. Their hats are lotus flowers. The oiran's outfit is very gorgeous, with a small triangle on the collar turned over, which is supposedly erotic. The American's costumes are 19th century naval ones. There is a mad here in Edo period traveller's costume. He is actually travelling around Japan in this outfit, with his whole family! There were some interesting looking people in Shimoda yesterday!