Public Spark

It is hard to believe that it has been 7 years since my teacher passed away. He was my nagauta (literally meaning long song, is a lyrical music accompaniment of Japanese Kabuki and classical dance), and shamisen (Japanese 3 string instrument) teacher for 14 years.

Master Kineya Kichisaburo studied music since his youth and earned his professional name at the age of 17 to work as a professional shamisen player and nagauta singer. He performed in the Kabuki theater in Tokyo. His father Toyotake Homaredayu, a famous gidayu player (a form of Japanese music that accompanies bunraku or puppet theater) in Osaka was the first to come to the United States to teach gidayu. In 1968, Master Kineya Kichisaburo came to Los Angeles at the request of his father and began teaching and performing nagauta music in the United States. Over the course of 35 years, he taught many students and was in over 42 performances.

Although he was primarily a shamisen player and nagauta singer, he was also able to play the gidayu (3 string instrument for bunraku music), tzuzumi (Japanese drum), and shimedaiko (Japanese stick drum). Sometimes he would tell dancers where to come in with their moves as well.

He also had another unique talent, which was that he could read music/ words upside down. We would practice facing each other. If I made a mistake he would point at the exact part on the sheet where I made the mistake. That’s when I realized that he could read upside down. My mom, who also took lessons with him concurred. I was amazed every time. I remembered him laughing because I guess I always had a “wow” expression on my face.

In addition to his musical and reading talents, he also displayed excellent craftsmanship. He would repair a shamisen, which in it of itself is another profession. That is because it takes time and skill to replace the skin (formerly made of cat skin, but is now artificial) on a shamisen. It must be stretched over the main instrument properly and carefully or the sound will be poor. He also changed all of the strings when it broke and tuned the instrument with his ear.

Over the course of the next couple of blogs I hope to share with you, the person that I have come to know and highly respect.