Dance/Book: "Joy of dancing (踊りの愉しみ)" by Mitsugoro Bando X (十代目坂東三津五郎) (Japanese)

While in Japan, I picked up some Japanese books about physical performance. People involved in martial arts, dance, music, traditional performing arts, medicine and sports provide various inputs from their own viewpoints about physical performance. Interestingly enough, sometimes they are saying the same thing. 

**********************************************
One of the books was "Joy of dancing" by Mitsugoro Bando X (十代目坂東三津五郎).

Mitsugoro Bando X  was a Kabuki actor and the chief of Bando school of Nihon Buyo (Japanese traditional performing arts). He died of pancreatic cancer on 2/21/2015.

Nihon Buyo is a mixture of dance, acting and pantomime, presenting traditional stories on stage. The tradition was maintained by a few families and schools dedicated to the art.

Some examples of Kabuki can be seen on YouTube, like this.

"Kabuki Cool" 01   (Kabuki explained in English)

[I found this "Kabuki Cool" series very beginner (including myself) friendly. Fully recommended]

Right. It's not Michael Jackson, not Ballet, not ballroom dance, not Broadway musical. It may look very strange and exotic. Maybe it's most similar to Opera (minus singer's domination) to contemporary audiences.


I picked up this book as a part of my research for stage arts. As Mitsugoro X was known to be a master dancer, this book had unique insights on dance on stage and body usage.

For example,

"The most important thing for professional dancer is to acquire good form through repetition".

"You have to know 'good form' to achieve the good form."

"Stand firm on the ground, have stable center, and relax upper body."

"Beginning of a dance is tricky; you aim at a perfect start and try to do too much, and end up with disappointment that can linger to later. Instead, only aim at giving an impression to your audience at the start. Then let your dance unfold."

"Build a body that follows your order. To order your body well, know good form."

"70% of your audience are looking at your face. If your face and sight look shaky, the dance won't look good. Good dancers have precise movement in the face."

"To have stable face, your lower body has to work hard."

"Use your toe to grip the floor."  
 --> This is probably referring to the same notion as the "3-toe base" some swing dancers are talking about.

    ...........

In many points, good performers' body usage converge. If you are a dancer, you should be able to relate to many of his statements. 

Life: "Extremely Good Fortune (大大吉)" in Fushimi Inari (伏見稲荷), Kyoto

I went to Fushimi Inari, Kyoto, with my mother on 7/21/2015. I don't come to Japan or visit her very often. In fact, if I have to stick around her for longer than a week or so, I can't stand her. (During this time-off, I tried to figure out why I have this love-hate feelings. I think I figured it out, but I don't feel like writing it on this blog yet.) Anyways, you got to do something nice to mom while you can.


Fushimi Inari (伏見稲荷) is head shrine of Inari shrines and is famous for exotic Senbon Torii (千本鳥居,1000 Shrine Gates). The Inari gods (Japanese fox gods) are gods for fertility, rice, sake, agriculture and good harvest. 

In Japan, anything powerful can be called a god. The view and the notion of god are different from those in monotheistic religions. A major religion in Japan, Shintoism, has animistic origin, and another major religion, Buddhism, has a hierarchical and polytheistic view not unlike that of Catholicism. During the history of Japan, these two religions (Shintoism and Buddhism) blended, and there are many gods and deities in the culture.

                              

[The Inari god]                                [at the 1000 Shine Gates]

Although Fushimi Inari is only 2 short train stops away from Kyoto station and the access is easy, it is on a small mountain that is supposedly a spiritual spot, and if you want to go all the shrines and take all major routes, it would easily take 3 hours and would be a good hike. My mother is no trekker and it was a hot day, so we just went, walked around, and came back when she got tired enough. 

The place is a very popular place to foreign visitors. I heard English, Italian and Chinese from the people around.

Inari is a god of harvest. On the market street in front of the shrine, they serve grilled birds that harm harvest. Grilled sparrow was off-season, so I tried grilled Japanese quail instead. With a hint of liver-like taste, quail tasted different from chicken.

     

[Grilled Japanese Quail, 750 yen (about $6)]

Fushimi Inari is a shrine, and you can try Omikuji, a fortune telling. 

I tried it, and I got "Extremely Good fortune (大大吉)". I used to think "Good Fortune (大吉)" is the best one. I never saw "Extremely Good fortune" before. 

It reads, "Anything you pray would be granted and come true. Be thoughtful about what you wish for.  Business: Good and profitable. Moving: Good. Relationship: Good. Contests: Victorious. Disease: Cured before long.". Whoa. I never read this good Omikuji before.

[Omikuji. Japanese fortune-telling]

Then I remembered something the monk at my father's funeral said. "During this time, the soul of the deceased is staying around, not too close, not too far. We send good prayers and gifts for the soul, and the good prayers and gifts serve as additional good karma for the soul. They are said to aid the soul to go to better place and rest in peace."

Alright. So I gave this "Extremely Good" fortune sheet to him as an offering. It's a part of my prayers for him. Hope it works as advertised.

Life: When your father dies, it makes you think about.....

When your father dies, it makes you think about ......his life and what's left. His legacy. His relationship to other family members including yourself.

And then, about your own life, what you are going to leave, and your relationship to others.


My father passed away on 6/30/2015. I took some time off to take care of associated social necessities (funeral, cremation, paperwork, etc), and to take due time to aid grief work of my mother and of my own. That would help me to have no regrets in the future. I tend not to dwell on the past, but it would help to deal with big life events at the time appropriately before moving on. 

Thanks to my collaborators and lab members who are working on important experiments, and neighbors who are taking care of my cat, I can take this time off. I got to bring them sweets or something as a token of my appreciation.

**********************

When I was young, my father was quiet, self-reliant yet family-oriented man. He read many books. His habit of reading is passed down to me.

He did have an aspect of not liking to lose. When I was a kid, I learned Japanese chess (shogi). Once I got the rules, I played the game with my father, with a streak of his winning. He stopped playing after I won the game for the first time at the age of 12.

Around the time when I left home for University, he moved to a new house and started his own construction company. He was busy, but certainly he had his days. 

We had to close down his company when he had a stroke in the winter of 2002. Afterwards he and my mother worked together on his rehabilitation. Although half-paralyzed, he was eager to walk again with his own legs. Thanks to the tax his old company paid, my parents were getting social security enough to support his unplanned retirement.

He had another stroke in the summer of 2006. I flew back to Japan and met him who was holding out in ICU. When I called him, tears came down from his eyes, then he slipped into calmer coma. It was one of the most emotional moments in my life.

Afterwards, he never spoke nor was able to communicate clearly except for some hand squeezes until his death. 

Every time I came to Japan and met him, I said goodbye, assuming the greeting would be the last one while he is alive. The last greeting was on 5/27/2015. After a couple of pneumonia in June, he passed away without much apparent suffering.

Now I can be sure he is not in physical discomfort, and I am relieved by the fact. May his soul rest in peace.

From now on in my life, he will be playing a symbolic role rather than a role as a physical and breathing being.  In many cases, a symbol is much stronger than a physical being. How I deal with the symbol is up to me.

***********************

What I can present as a summary of a man's life is very limited. I am certain that it is true to most people. This fact is astounding.

Parents are people about 30 years ahead of you in life stages. 30 years can be short or long. I have my own life to live, and this is an opportunity to think ahead.

[Temporal Buddhism altar for the deceased]

Life: My father Akira's passing

My sister in Tokyo sent me an email about deteriorating condition of my father, who had been in bed for nine long years after a stroke that nearly killed him. Thirty minutes later, she sent another email, reporting his death.

I am his firstborn son, so following Japanese custom I flew back to Japan to attend his funeral as the Ceremony master. By the time I got to my hometown, my sister and the funeral service had completed his funeral arrangements. He was in casket and in a temple. It was a Buddhism funeral.

A Buddhism funeral ceremony is highly ritualized. It's not unlike Catholic services. We received relatives and had a dinner with them, which was followed by an overnight wake with family members in the temple. The next day was funeral service and cremation. In the main ceremony, a Buddhism monk chanted sutra, and supporting three monks chanted and played some instruments. The idea was to let the soul know that he had died and also to slightly disorient the soul by the sutra and loud noise, so that he should not stick around too close as a ghost.

In the Buddhism belief, the soul of the deceased does not leave to the other world immediately. The soul would be around for a while (seven weeks). During the time, people hope the soul to be around at an optimal distance, not too close nor too far. During the time, people pray and send good thoughts for the deceased. The prayers and good thoughts are believed to bring good extra karma for the soul and aid the soul rest in peace.


I am not exactly a religious type. But I understand these explanations and ceremonies should help the family to cope with the emotional time. These upcoming prayer sessions should keep my mother busy and should help her to get used to his passing, for example.


After the chant and incense burning, I gave a short eulogy speech as the Ceremony master and thanked the attending guests. Then we filled the casket with flowers and went to a crematory with him. We, family members and relatives, waited until the cremation was done in about 80 minutes. Then we collected his bones and ashes in urn.  

We came back to the temple from the crematory (taking a different route to disorient the soul), had a dinner, and the funeral and cremation was over.


The whole funeral business felt very strange, or even surreal. It was tiring, too. But it was done nonetheless. If someone asks me the "Kill Bill vol 2" question "relief or regret", my answer is definitely "relief".

[My father, me and my sister; a long time ago]

What was important for me and my sister was to take care of troublesome things associated with the death, like transferring ownership of his car and other stuff, making payments, various paperwork, etc etc, in order to ensure smoother transition mainly for our mother. I am glad these secular jobs are almost completed.