Greetings from the Sponsor of this Performance

(From the Printed Program of the October 26, 2014, Concert Introducing New Shinnai Natori)
Tsuruga Wakasanojo

A good season has arrived, and the mountains are covered with gorgeous fall colors.
I am delighted that you are here with us today.
Thank you very much for your support of our shinnai events.
Also thank you very much for coming today, although surely this is a busy time for you.
This is the first time in five years that we’ve had a performance to introduce new natori.
This time, the new natori include four of my students, one of Tsuruga Ise’ichiro’s students, and six of Tsuruga Isekichi’s students. Those two teachers have worked hard to develop their students to the level of natori. All together, eleven students, including mine, have been selected to be natori.
In order to produce natori, both the teacher and the student must invest considerable time, patience, and energy. They achieve this while repeatedly accumulating and releasing stress.
The relationship and interpersonal chemistry between teacher and student creates art and mutual trust; this enables them to improve their artistry together. Today’s event is the product of that process.
Tsuruga Isekichi, who has accompanied me on domestic and overseas tours as my shamisen player, has changed her name from Tsuruga Isejiro to Tsuruga Isekichi in order to expand her genre as not only a shamisen player but also a tayu (joururi performer) in future performances.
So this performance also commemorates her name change.
For today’s event, I invited Sachiko Kobayashi, the number one singer of Japanese popular music, whose 50th anniversary as a performer is this year, to do the Yushima Keidai scene from Onna Keizu with me, as the crowning touch of the performance.
Today’s event is enhanced by many congratulatory addresses from experts, guest appearances by distinguished artists, and the encouragement of many people. I am greatly honored to have received this support and would like to express my deepest gratitude.
In November, I will be going to Paris and Bordeaux to perform, in order to spread the appreciation of shinnai.
I greatly appreciate your continued support.
I hope that you will relax and enjoy all of today’s concert.