Now for the second part of とうかさん. I meant to write this a long time ago, but procrastination and other things intervened, and I'm writing this long after the fact. But I suppose if you're reading this, this doesnt bother you so much.
The main reason I wanted to go to this festival was because there was going to be a 盆踊り大会 or bon dance every night at the festival. I've been to a few dances in Hawaii, but never one in Japan. What kind of dances would they perform? Which songs would be played? There were many questions I had, and I was excited to finally experience a real Japan bon dance.
Surprisingly, there was enough of an overlap between Japan and Hawaii that I wasnt completely lost. Of the songs they played, I knew 花火音頭, 昭和音頭, and ドンパン節 to name a few. But as to be expected, the かた that they used to dance here in Japan are very different from the ones in Hawaii. ドンパン節 was the closest to what we do in Hawaii; I had almost no problems with that one. But 昭和 and 花火 were quite different. They clapped when we didnt, or used different poses than what we used. It was a bit difficult to get used to; once you get so used to dancing a certain way, it's hard to break that frame of mind, you know? But you'll forgive me if I say that I quickly picked it up. Naturally though, there were songs that we dont do in Hawaii. A few, like まりと殿様 and 日本チャチャチャ I am vaguely familiar with because I've seen this video before (not quite the same, but similar かた), but there were others that I've never heard before. But it was fun! What struck me was the difference in structure in the dance. I'm not talking about which かた are used where; but how the かた are structured, or which ones are used. (This might get technical, so I wont be mad if you skip the remainder of this paragraph.) The biggest difference was that in Hawaii, we use the moon かた and あけかざし a lot. You very rarely dance very long without it. But that was not the case here. There was a lot of that hand-holding かた and the open かた (similar to moon, but not round). Another difference that struck me was that they did not respect symmetry in the dance. In Hawaii, if you do something on the right, you do it on the left. And if you repeat, you repeat once on the right, and once on the left. Or when it comes to walking, if a multi-step かた takes you to the right, you repeat towards the left. But here, they did not do that. In Hawaii, there is a かた in which you use your right hand to present and turn around. I automatically assumed that when you switch to your left hand, you go back the way you came; not so in Japan. It was difficult, but after a while, I noticed that they would switch to the left hand, but complete the circle. That was such a curveball. Of course, there were others, but since I dont know the proper names, explaining it is a bit difficult. But trust me, my mind was open to ideas that I have never thought possible in the world of bon dance.
During one of the many breaks, I happened to sit next to an older woman. This was partly coinicidence, but from what she said, I imagine it would have happened anyway. This woman was one of the ladies in the center, which I rightly assumed meant that she was a leader. She mentioned that she had seen me dancing, and was curious as to why I was so good (a lie), and where I was from. I mangled up my response, but she got the gist of what I tried to say: that I was from Hawaii, where we have bon dance too, which is where I learned it. Surprised, she called over a bunch of the other ladies and told them my story. Unfortunately, they didnt introduce themselves, so I have no idea what their names are, but I learned that they're the 日本民謡研究会 or the Society for Research on Japanese Folk Music (lofty, arent we?). They're based out of Nagoya, but there was a branch in Hiroshima. The leader of which, I was amused, looked a bit like the leader of my dance group in Hilo. I would like to join their group, or at least go to a few practices, if only to learn dances that I dont already know, but unfortunately, I did not grab any contact information for them. Googling did give me a hit, but according to the map, it looks like it's a bit out of the ways. Furthermore, I only have a little over a month left. ugh, more decisions to make!
After the dance, I meant to talk to the ladies again, but the following happened. As I was walking towards the ladies, I was approached by several people. Basically, it was the same stuff as usual; Where are you from (ハワイ？！), why can you dance so good, blah blah blah. But one guy was a little...more forceful. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, 「ちょっと話聞かせてくれない？」 or "Can I ask you something?" I put a little more faith in ちょっと because his 話 was anything but ちょっと. After the usual stuff, he asked me directly if I would like to go to some island in the Inland Sea for a real country bon dance. Since it was so far away, I was invited to stay at his wife's parents house. Now, I dont know if it's an American thing, or if it's a Hawaii thing, or what, but generally speaking, I dont stay in the homes of people I'VE NEVER EVEN MET. Dont get me wrong, that was awful nice of him, but really? I had never met the guy before, and I was not about to go to some island in the sea with him. He tried to get me to agree, saying that the bon dances there were unlike any I had ever seen (盆踊りは趣味じゃないですか), and that it would be a great thing to experience. After I said I'd think about it for the millionth time, he gave me his business card, and took my phone number. I must admit, he did have a point; any bon dance in Japan would be different from any I have actually been to, a country one even more so. But to be quite honest, it sounded a little too "Burning Man" or something. I dont want to be murdered or something! I still havent contacted him, but I am thinking that I will have to send him something saying I must decline his invitation. Perhaps if I knew him more, I would go, but a complete stranger is something quite different.
My bon dance experience in Japan was both good and bad. It was good in that I was dancing songs I never would dance in Hawaii. And even the songs we do in Hawaii, we do differently. And dont tell anyone, but it was nice to be complimented by Japanese people. And I was invited to a country bon dance, where I'd probably be doing dances not done anywhere else in Japan. The bad was not getting contact information and being invited by strangers. But that's life, isnt it?
This concludes my blogging regarding とうかさん 2011. Back to our regular programming.
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