A Message from Tsuruga Wakasanojo

A Message from Tsuruga Wakasanojo
From the Program Notes for the September 2, 2012, Yukata Kai

Thank you for coming today in such hot weather.

This year, everyone has been fussing: “It’s hot! It’s hot!” But summer is my favorite season. The sun is always shining brightly. The towering summer clouds, the sound of the cicadas and traditional wind chimes, and other typical summer things, such as watermelon, handheld fans, and yukata, all give me a nostalgic feeling.

In July, I went for two weeks to Poland and Latvia to perform shinnai. The people in both countries had good characteristics, such as patience and kindness. I felt an affinity with them. The performances were a big success.

In Krakow, Andrezej Wajda, the director of such movies as “Ashes and Diamonds” and “Katyn”, came to our performance. I was delighted to have the opportunity to talk with him about Japanese traditional culture.

In November, I’ll be performing in Singapore. Before that, I’ll have a performance at the National Theatre in Tokyo, together with other shinnai iemoto.

We used to have a performance there every year, but recently we haven’t done that, so this will be the first time in a long time for us to perform there. I’m glad that this custom is being revived this year. It’s strange that we stopped doing that for more than ten years.

We perform shinnai enthusiastically so that our audiences can experience the special beauty and charm of shinnai works.

There are also other shinnai concerts scheduled. Please come!

Information about upcoming shinnai events is included in this blog.