Taiko Drums!

So things have definitely been looking up! This past Tuesday I was invited to attend a Taiko Drum rehearsal in a nearby neighborhood. Seki-san, the man who invited me, came into the office and Manago-san who works in the office told him I was interested in taking Taiko lessons. In broken Japanese from my end, and broken Japanese from their end, we sort of made plans for Seki-san to pick me up and drive me to the rehearsal. At least that’s that I gathered. This brightened up my day very much and I eagerly waiting for the work day to end and for it to be time for the rehearsal. Around 745 pm that night I was worried that I might not have understood them correctly and that the rehearsal wasn’t really that evening. But fortunately it was and Seki-san arrived to take me. It was already dark out and I felt strange getting into his vehicle as I had only met him that afternoon. We drove for a while and the majority of the time it was silent because neither one of us spoke each other’s language. Eventually, after about 15 minutes of driving in pitch black darkness we arrived at a place that resembled a log cabin. Immediately I could hear the sounds of the Taiko drums being played. Up to this point the only thing I knew about Taiko was that they were drums with which traditional Japanese music was made. I had never really heard Taiko music but I had seen pictures of people playing the drums. As I looked through the windows of the building I could see about 4 massive drums. They were huge, probably the size of 4 regular sized barrels put together. The people who were playing them looked to be about 50 years old and looked almost stoic as they beat on the drums. They stood facing the drum, with their left foot in front, right foot in back and their knees slightly bent. As I entered the building I took off my shoes and watched in amazement at the sheer size of the drums. Finally, the two men finished playing and one of them came up to me and Seki-san introduced me. The man, Ueno-san clearly looked tired because he was sweating profusely. Apparently playing the drums is a good workout! After the introduction, he gave me these huge drum sticks and began to show me how to properly stand and how to properly hold the drum sticks. Seki-san got on a drum, Ueno-san got on a drum, and they counted to three and we started playing. I had no idea what I was doing but Ueno-san motioned to me trying to get me to do what he was doing. I was definitely nervous at first but I got the hang of it quite quickly and I was surprised that it sounded good. As we were playing, more and more people started arriving and sitting on the floor around a coffee table. After we finished playing, the three of us went to sit down and I introduced myself to the people who then began to ask me a bunch of questions as usual. After about 5 minutes of chit chat they all got ready to rehearse. They moved the drums around as I sat and watched. Then they started playing. Man did it sound amazing. The three women who were in the group started to sing some sort of chant with the music and it was something out of this world. I was taken aback by the big sound of 12 people playing the Taiko drums and chanting. 10 minutes later they finished and came back to the table to chat again. They kept repeating my name because apparently its hard to pronounce, which is fair because even some Americans have trouble pronouncing my name. During the break, one of the women taught me a piece of the song they were rehearsing which was really cool. After they all rehearsed again, they invited me to attend a festival they are playing at this coming Friday. They gave me a t-shirt and said that it was their uniform and then they said I was officially a member! How exciting! I can’t wait to be a part of the Hongu Taiko group!