Public Spark

Over the last couple of weeks I wrote a brief bio of Master Kineya Kichisaburo, his performances, important lessons I learned, and his excellent craftsmanship. Today I will focus on my fondest memories and share a side of him not linked to his music.

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Master Kineya Kichisaburo’s musical accomplishments were quite remarkable, but he also showed excellent craftsmanship. In addition to fixing the shamisen, he also loved to create items out of recycled goods.

The picture below is a water well he made out of recycled Japanese cookie box. It is intricately made. The wheel actually rotates allowing movement with the ropes.

The next picture is a tsuzumi (Japanese drum) that he made with wood, construction paper and rope. Although it does not make any noise it is very similar to the real instrument. He strung the rope similar to how it is done on a real tsuzumi.

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• Value of auditory learning

  My teacher was a great musician, able to listen to a piece of music and notate the music. Often new music would be sent from Japan via tape and without a music sheet. He would listen to it and write the notation in a book he made for all the students. Master Kineya Kichisaburo would teach auditory learning as well. During nagauta singing lessons for example, he would sing the new music part first. I would learn without music sheets, relying solely on listening to his singing. He would then sing with me the first time and then I would have to sing the new part on my own. These lessons have helped me to sharpen my ear rather than solely relying on reading music.

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Master Kineya Kichisaburo was a brilliant teacher and performer. I first started taking lessons with him when I was 3 years old. Although I could barely read Japanese, he handwrote a book for me and pasted a colorful bind. Usually he would sing and through auditory learning, I would copy him.

The picture below is my first performance with him at the Japanese American Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, California at the age of 4.

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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.

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March 3 of every year is Girl’s day in the Japanese culture and May 5th of every year is boy’s day, also known as Children’s Day. It used to be called Tango no sekku (meaning feast of the banners). On girl’s day the doll’s are displayed, but on Children’s day the carp-shaped Koinobori flags are displayed, as pictured below.

My family never had boys so we didn’t celebrate much of this. However, it was an excuse for us to eat Kashiwa mochi (which are mochi rice cakes wrapped in Kashiwa (oak) leaves.

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Although I was born and raised in America, my parents have kept me in touch with my Japanese culture. One of the Japanese holidays we celebrate is Hinamatsuri (Girl’s day), also known as momo-no-sekku (festival of peach blossoms) on March 3rd. There are several components to this festival.

• Display

  Before March 3rd, we put out a display of dolls called the Hina Ningyo on red platforms, as pictured below. The two dolls on the top platforms are replicas of the ancient emperor and empress. On the lower platforms are the subordinates. There are many different kinds of displays and this is just one style. Legend has it that if it this display is not put away after March 3rd, the single daughter can never get married.

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1. Respect

   The culture is based deeply on respect, whether it be business or casual friends. One way to show respect is through formal greeting, where one bows their heads. When visiting someone’s house, it is respectful to say “sumimasen” or excuse me to enter the person’s house.

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