Inadani. 1. Towards the undiscovered country.

The last few days for me was taiko heaven in the mountains of Nagano prefecture. A lot happened: lots and lots of excellent hands-on taiko instruction by one of the foremost practitioners of the art; wonderful food and alcohol-mediated taiko history lessons; camaraderie galore; a trip to the Asano Taiko factory including a highly genki encounter with Jige-sensei; and finally, watching and then joining Art Lee on stage. And so, of necessity, I will split my narrative into several posts. This is the first of them.

It is becoming apparent to me that there is an astonishing amount and variety of taiko in Japan. Not just amateur and community groups, as in North America, but a tremedous number of high-quality professional taiko artists. One of the best of these is Art Lee, a superlative taiko practitioner who started out with Sacramento Taiko Dan (!), was a performer with Ondekoza (!!), studied with Daihachi Oguchi - the father of modern taiko (!!!), and who last year (2005) won the Odaiko category of the Tokyo International Taiko Contest (!!!!). Art is definitely one serious taikoista.

Art now lives, practices, and teaches taiko in Nagano prefecture, and this year, the 2nd in a row, he has put together a multi-day taiko course at his base in Achi village near Iida city. My friend Jay went last year, loved the course, and this year he didn't find it difficult to convince me to come along.

Achi-mura is in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture. Click here for an interactive googlesat map.

Achi-mura (mura=村=village) is a small village in the mountains of Nagano prefecture, and is famous for its onsen (hotsprings). It is a little off the beaten track, and it took Jay and me about 7 hours by shinkansen, local train, and finally bus to get there from Kyoto. Despite its length, it was a pleasant journey: it allowed us old friends to catch up, and also gave me the time to mentally transition from city to rural life and from work to vacation mode.

Our shink arrives at Kyoto station

Jay loves his coffee

The milkrun train from Okaya to Iida

The mountains of Nagano from the train

In Achi-mura our base and home was the Misaka Ryokan, owned and operated by Mr. Toyama-san and Mrs. Toyama-san. Wonderful hosts, both of them. More about them, and Mr. Toyama's antics, later.

Misaka Ryokan, with The Misaka Ryokan Bus in front. Both played key roles in our adventures

The view from our window at Misaka Ryokan

On our arrival, we were wonderfully greeted by the Toyamas, and by Art and his wife Yukari. We met the other 11 participants of the course, and got our first taste of Mr Toyama-san's hospitality in the form of a huge (and I mean HUGE) bottle of freely-flowing sake. An unanticipated pleasure was meeting an old taiko friend, Eri-san, now a member of Art Lee's Tokara ensemble. But soon it was off to bed, for next day was to be the first day of the course.

An old friend: with Eri, formerly of Yamabiko Taiko in Kelowna BC, and now with Art's Tokara ensemble

Inadani. 1. Towards the undiscovered country.

The last few days for me was taiko heaven in the mountains of Nagano prefecture. A lot happened: lots and lots of excellent hands-on taiko instruction by one of the foremost practitioners of the art; wonderful food and alcohol-mediated taiko history lessons; camaraderie galore; a trip to the Asano Taiko factory including a highly genki encounter with Jige-sensei; and finally, watching and then joining Art Lee on stage. And so, of necessity, I will split my narrative into several posts. This is the first of them.

It is becoming apparent to me that there is an astonishing amount and variety of taiko in Japan. Not just amateur and community groups, as in North America, but a tremedous number of high-quality professional taiko artists. One of the best of these is Art Lee, a superlative taiko practitioner who started out with Sacramento Taiko Dan (!), was a performer with Ondekoza (!!), studied with Daihachi Oguchi - the father of modern taiko (!!!), and who last year (2005) won the Odaiko category of the Tokyo International Taiko Contest (!!!!). Art is definitely one serious taikoista.

Art now lives, practices, and teaches taiko in Nagano prefecture, and this year, the 2nd in a row, he has put together a multi-day taiko course at his base in Achi village near Iida city. My friend Jay went last year, loved the course, and this year he didn't find it difficult to convince me to come along.

Achi-mura is in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture. Click here for an interactive googlesat map.

Achi-mura (mura=村=village) is a small village in the mountains of Nagano prefecture, and is famous for its onsen (hotsprings). It is a little off the beaten track, and it took Jay and me about 7 hours by shinkansen, local train, and finally bus to get there from Kyoto. Despite its length, it was a pleasant journey: it allowed us old friends to catch up, and also gave me the time to mentally transition from city to rural life and from work to vacation mode.

Our shink arrives at Kyoto station

Jay loves his coffee

The milkrun train from Okaya to Iida

The mountains of Nagano from the train

In Achi-mura our base and home was the Misaka Ryokan, owned and operated by Mr. Toyama-san and Mrs. Toyama-san. Wonderful hosts, both of them. More about them, and Mr. Toyama's antics, later.

Misaka Ryokan, with The Misaka Ryokan Bus in front. Both played key roles in our adventures

The view from our window at Misaka Ryokan

On our arrival, we were wonderfully greeted by the Toyamas, and by Art and his wife Yukari. We met the other 11 participants of the course, and got our first taste of Mr Toyama-san's hospitality in the form of a huge (and I mean HUGE) bottle of freely-flowing sake. An unanticipated pleasure was meeting an old taiko friend, Eri-san, now a member of Art Lee's Tokara ensemble. But soon it was off to bed, for next day was to be the first day of the course.

An old friend: with Eri, formerly of Yamabiko Taiko in Kelowna BC, and now with Art's Tokara ensemble