箏の事:三番 飛躍

昨日は最初の近代の曲を始めた！久本玄智の飛躍という曲だ。とても楽しい！先生が少し難しすぎるかなと思った。でも、全然難しすぎなかった。１拍３連さえ弾いて何とかなった。手で音を止めスタッカートもあった。変な音があるから、スタッカートは楽しかった。曲の変わった五線譜は他の曲のような五線譜を気付いた。ハワイで最初のパウハナのパフォーマンスの曲はさくらのバリエーションを弾いた。あの時に、絶対難しすぎた。また戻れやりたい。今弾けるかな?

So, yesterday I started my first contemporary koto piece, "Leaping" by Hisamoto Genchi. This is a really fun piece! My teacher was a little nervous at first that it might be too difficult for me but that turned out not to be the case at all. She was going to change the eighth note triplets to something easier but I managed to play them (albeit a little slowly). It also has staccato in it! Koto staccato is so cool, you use your left hand to immediately stop the sound from a string you just plucked. The sound this makes is so strange, I love it! The score is done in a very strange style but I recognized it from another piece I had done. For my first Pau Hana performance in Hawaii, we learned a Sakura variation in this style and it was definitely too hard for me. I'm curious if I could play it now though (I really want to try it now!).

自分の着付け:春祭り

４月はフォートワース日本庭園で春祭りへ行った。テキサスの春は夏の天候のように、全部単衣や夏のものを着た。麻の足袋さえ！パッドと帯板を使わなかったけど、帯板は使わなければならない！それでいて、午後まで暑すぎたとか、痛いがあったとか、帰ろうにした。（笑）これから、へちまのパッドと帯板を買った。絽のシャーリングの伊達締め（クリップ付けとクリップない）も買った。とまれ、この大正の絹の小紋と長襦袢はハワイの店で買った。この長襦袢は赤とトルコ石色の竹とクリーム色の梅柄があって、広衿もある。かといって、小紋はバチ衿だ！バチ衿より広衿はちょっといようだと思う。長襦袢の衿は太いだから、半衿も使わなかった。賑やかなきものと、この心静かな紺色の紗の名古屋帯と好き。紅とクリーム色の帯締めと桃色の綸子帯揚げを選んだ。襦袢の衿と帯締めは同じ紅色だから。桃色は帯型にもみじんある。今でもコーディネートが好き。

祭りで、有名人らしかった。私の写真が取りたかった人は多い。箏の先生とまゆこさんのパフォーマンスを見るときに、男の人は自分の写真が取って気がついた。いやだと思うよ！許可を求める方がいいと思う。とどのつまり、祭りがすごい楽しかった。

In April I went to the Spring festival at the Fort Worth Japanese Gardens. Because spring in Texas is very often like summer elsewhere, I chose all hitoe (unlined) and summer items to wear--I even wore hemp tabi! I also made the choice to skip padding and the obi-ita because I thought they'd add more heat. This may be true but the obi-ita is really non-negotiable, I felt self conscious about the look of my obi all day. After that I ordered hechima (loofah) padding and obi-ita, as well as two synthetic, ro, shirring stye datejime (one with clips and one without). Both the kimono and the nagajuban are silk, Taisho pieces I found at a shop in Hawaii. The juban has red and turquoise bamboo with cream colored ume flowers on it and a wide collar (which is quite strange for a juban). The kimono, on the other hand, has a half width collar which gave the collar area an unusual look because the juban collar was so much thicker than the kimono collar on top. Because the juban collar was already so thick, I decided to forgo the haneri. I like the combination of this very lively kimono with a more sedate navy blue, sha, Nagoya obi. I paired these with a red and cream obijime and a peach colored, rinzu obiage. The red echoes a similar red on the juban collar and there is a very tiny amount of peach on the design on the obi. Overall, I'm still quite pleased with this outfit.

At the Festival I was a bit like a celebrity! There were so many people who all wanted to take my picture. I even noticed a guy sneaking a picture of me while I was watching my koto teacher and Mayuko-san perform! I think that was really rude, he should have asked. This made me so uncomfortable. Overall though, I had a great time at the festival.