Some Culture

For those of you who keep up with this blog, I apologize for its sporadic nature. I just don't have the time I did when I first came to Japan and here is why: too much culcha ( that's culture with a Maine accent in case you didn't guess!)

Besides taking ikebana classes and calligraphy classes, and of course my regular courses, I squeezed in a concert of Japanese traditional and western music hosted by the same volunteer group that sponsored the lovely cooking class, the CCC. I don't have much time to write tonight but I thought a few pictures would keep me out of the dog house.

The concert was held in a 600 year old Buddhist temple. I got a chance during intermission to peek at the main hall and marvel at the huge wooden beams and pillars that support the structure. At the end of the concert we had a little tea with the volunteers and the musicians, many of whom are also part of the CCC. The shakuhatchi, or bamboo flute, player told us how he had made his "bass flute" himself. The smaller flutes he used were of plastic! I am including a few second of video of the koto player's performance. I could have listened to him a lot longer than his performance lasted.