Inadani. 4. Asano.

I am starting to run out of adjectives. On the last-but-one day of the course Art took us on an [insert your favourite praisy adjective here] trip to Asano Taiko, the premier taiko maker in the world. (Just to give you one indication: when you see Kodo on stage, you see them playing Asano drums.) But not only did we get to ooh and ahh over drums both in the Asano Drum Museum and in their showroom --- we also got to take a workshop with Akemi Jige, probably the finest female taiko player in the world.

At 7:30am we piled into Mr Toyama-san's bus and, equipped by Mrs Toyama-san with a box of onigiri for an on-the-run breakfast, set off for the 4-hour drive to Ishikawa Prefecture, home to Asano's headquarters on the coast of the Sea of Japan.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the in-flight entertainment on today's Misaka Ryokan Airlines flight will be provided by Art Lee"

Rest stop. Art and Andrea guard the bus agains the rampant crime in Japan, while everyone else heads to the bathrooms and to stock up on more Coolish^TM (ice-cream)

Arriving at Asano Taiko: the Drum Museum from the outside. If you squint really hard (click on the image for a blow-up), you will see an odaiko in the window of the building

The Asano Taiko Drum Museum has a good collection of Japanese taiko plus an assortment of other world percussion, including a complete gamelan set, various African drums, etc. The biggest hit, of course, are the o-daiko on display.

Ted soloing on the Museum's "little" odaiko
The big one. Would that be an "o-odaiko"?
But it's not just about wadaiko...
... oh, heck. It is! Out in the parking lot, logs waiting to be made into drum bodies
Dang! Too heavy to lift!

Next, it was over to the Asano showroom, where I didn't take any photos as we were all too busy ooh-ing and ahh-ing over drums, flutes, bachi, bachi bags, narimono, tabi, happis, t-shirts, CDs and DVDs. Oh... and where I bought a drum.

And finally, it was off for a workshop with Jige-sensei, where we were all too blown away to be taking any pictures... Now, Jige-sensei is the leader of Hono-o-daiko and herself is also probably the world's premier female taiko drummer. Ever since I had seen her and Hono-o-daiko in concert in Pasadena in 2001, I have been in total awe, and so it was an incredible honour to meet her in person.

Jige-sensei in concert. Photo stolen from the Hono-o-daiko website, no doubt in violation of all copyright laws

This is one of these places where I have definitely run out of adjectives... Jige-sensei is tiny, in her fifties, and has the energy of a 10-year-old on coffee. Totally genki. The word firecracker comes to mind.

We did a 1.5-hr workshop with her, focusing primarily on body mechanics for playing upright nagado drums. Jige-sensei speaks very little English, but her use of body language left very little room for misunderstanding. She showed us two very different styles of playing (both of which are apparently totally OK), but really focused on a free-flowing elliptical arm motion, which was ultra-efficient and incredibly powerful. I definitely need to find out how I can do more workshops with this lady.

And then it was off for a quick lunch at a local diner and a long drive back home, punctuated by singing, back-of-the-seat drumming, lots of ice-cream, and conversations about everything from the profound to the mundane.

On the long drive home

Inadani. 4. Asano.

I am starting to run out of adjectives. On the last-but-one day of the course Art took us on an [insert your favourite praisy adjective here] trip to Asano Taiko, the premier taiko maker in the world. (Just to give you one indication: when you see Kodo on stage, you see them playing Asano drums.) But not only did we get to ooh and ahh over drums both in the Asano Drum Museum and in their showroom --- we also got to take a workshop with Akemi Jige, probably the finest female taiko player in the world.

At 7:30am we piled into Mr Toyama-san's bus and, equipped by Mrs Toyama-san with a box of onigiri for an on-the-run breakfast, set off for the 4-hour drive to Ishikawa Prefecture, home to Asano's headquarters on the coast of the Sea of Japan.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the in-flight entertainment on today's Misaka Ryokan Airlines flight will be provided by Art Lee"

Rest stop. Art and Andrea guard the bus agains the rampant crime in Japan, while everyone else heads to the bathrooms and to stock up on more Coolish^TM (ice-cream)

Arriving at Asano Taiko: the Drum Museum from the outside. If you squint really hard (click on the image for a blow-up), you will see an odaiko in the window of the building

The Asano Taiko Drum Museum has a good collection of Japanese taiko plus an assortment of other world percussion, including a complete gamelan set, various African drums, etc. The biggest hit, of course, are the o-daiko on display.

Ted soloing on the Museum's "little" odaiko
The big one. Would that be an "o-odaiko"?
But it's not just about wadaiko...
... oh, heck. It is! Out in the parking lot, logs waiting to be made into drum bodies
Dang! Too heavy to lift!

Next, it was over to the Asano showroom, where I didn't take any photos as we were all too busy ooh-ing and ahh-ing over drums, flutes, bachi, bachi bags, narimono, tabi, happis, t-shirts, CDs and DVDs. Oh... and where I bought a drum.

And finally, it was off for a workshop with Jige-sensei, where we were all too blown away to be taking any pictures... Now, Jige-sensei is the leader of Hono-o-daiko and herself is also probably the world's premier female taiko drummer. Ever since I had seen her and Hono-o-daiko in concert in Pasadena in 2001, I have been in total awe, and so it was an incredible honour to meet her in person.

Jige-sensei in concert. Photo stolen from the Hono-o-daiko website, no doubt in violation of all copyright laws

This is one of these places where I have definitely run out of adjectives... Jige-sensei is tiny, in her fifties, and has the energy of a 10-year-old on coffee. Totally genki. The word firecracker comes to mind.

We did a 1.5-hr workshop with her, focusing primarily on body mechanics for playing upright nagado drums. Jige-sensei speaks very little English, but her use of body language left very little room for misunderstanding. She showed us two very different styles of playing (both of which are apparently totally OK), but really focused on a free-flowing elliptical arm motion, which was ultra-efficient and incredibly powerful. I definitely need to find out how I can do more workshops with this lady.

And then it was off for a quick lunch at a local diner and a long drive back home, punctuated by singing, back-of-the-seat drumming, lots of ice-cream, and conversations about everything from the profound to the mundane.

On the long drive home