Kagara Debut Stolen From An Email John Wrote
04. August 2007 | en
I`ll just jump in somewhere in the middle…
at the insistence of the office manager of Sherrie`s high school two lucky foreigners have been coerced into learning the ancient and revered art of kagura. Japanese traditional shrine dancing…a testament to japan`s long history and culture. something that should never have been entrusted to two clumsy foreigners.
Anyone that knows either myself or sherrie, or anyone who has had the misfortune of seeing or experiencing our dancing prior to japan should realize that this story will most likely end in an injury of some sort.
(foreshadowing)
But first, a brief intro to kagura. Each performance is perhaps 4 acts long, each act lasting about 20-30 mins. The characters are all manner of earthly
and divine beings. We`re not sure, but we believe that our first performance involved a family who had to ask for the gods assistance after all but one of their children was devoured by a snake. really great battle scenes.
For music there is one person playing a bamboo flute while several others play japanese drums. It`s a very rhythm driven performance.
They let me and sherrie play the bell.
But they also let us dance. Problem being that neither of us has any rythm.
Jump ahead a couple of practices and we find ourselves at the local old folks club. We`ve apparently been invited to give a performance. Regional newsgroups have been tipped about the two foreigners arsing up the previously mentioned art form and there is a video crew on hand.
Act two – sherrie makes her first appearance as a, well we`re not quite sure what she was, but she managed to dance perfectly for the first time since
practice began. She was given a huge ovation after her part was finished, and once again she left it all up to me to arse up. While sherrie is putting on the kagura performance of a life time I`m being reminded of my part.
I`ve completely forgotten it, again. Before I completely learn my part the other dancers (who are all students at Sherrie`s school) usher me into a small room and attach a devil`s mask of some sort to my face, effectively
eliminating all peripheral vision. I`m then corralled into a queue of other devils and told to wait my turn…`but what the jesus am i supposed to do once i get out there?` no answer.
Act 3 – sherrie is on the bell, I`m waiting impatiently for my turn to dance. In the meantime I`ve been given a sword. this doesn`t bode well for anyone involved. My turn comes and I walk devilishly out onto the stage,
knocking over a camera man along the way, only to be grabbed from behind to be told that it is not yet my turn. I stumble back, only to be pushed directly back onto the stage amid a cheer of `let`s enjoy.`
My confidence is briefly boosted by the applause from the audience, but that comes crashing when I can`t get the rythm straight at all. So I stagger around the stage like a drunken devil for a while before putting my sword
down in favour of the traditional twig stealing. During my re-enactment of an inebriated devil I noticed, through my limited vision, that there were people in the crowd taunting the devils by waving branches at them.
This much of the dance I remember. I`m supposed to steal one of their twigs.
Guided only by my myopic vision I wander towards the crowd.
The first person I come across with a twig I recognize as the oldest man in Japan. At least a hundred and fifty. I don`t really want to steal his twig, but it was only a miracle that I managed to walk a straight line towards the
crowd so I give in and make a grab for it. But the old bastard isn`t giving it up. First he takes advantage of my poor vision and hides the branch behind his back. Confused by this new development I fall over and he
gives me a couple of taunting whips. I manage to get back on my feet, hiss at the old bastard and grab ahold of the branch. Only he doesn`t want to let go. I
look around for a hint of what to do and see that there are other devils also fighting to get the twigs from the audience. Bolstered by this I don`t feel so bad when I pull him out of his seat, twig and all. By this point my
mask has come completely undone and the forehead is around my eyes, eliminating any vision that I had had.all future events have been narrated to me by sherrie.
I continue to drag the old feller around the room. The floor is pretty slippery so he is sliding everywhere but he won`t let go. I get a footing and at this point sherrie realizes that things are going down an all too
familiar path. The old guy pulls on the twig for a bit before I give iteverything I have, in the process pulling the poor old man completely off his feet and sending him into a spiral towards the ground, headfirst. all I
notice is that the drums lose their rythm for a second. But I`m not deterred by the drums or the lack of vision, I start my victory dance, while the oldest man in japan lies helplessly at my feet. I puff my chest out and
jump around the floor not realizing that i may have killed a national treasure.
Sherrie never fully recovers the rythm of the bell, but she did notice that my adversary got back to his chair and looked quite pleased with himself, although she did say that his eyes had a peculiar glaze.
as for me, it wasn`t until i put a little kid into a headlock before the manager ran out to direct me off stage…
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N 33° 26.624
E 131° 6.162
