On January 30, 2020, Asian Improv aRts Midwest’s Tsukasa Taiko and Shubukai presented a special cultural seminar at Walter Payton College Preparatory High School in Chicago, IL. The roots behind ozashiki (chamber) music was explained through the use of shamisen and shime daiko by Tsukasa Taiko executive director Tatsu Aoki and Gintenkai performers while Grandmaster Yoshinojo Fujima demonstrated basic Japanese classical dance. The interactive seminar gave students the opportunity to experience both instruments and dance with Yoshinojo, finishing the day learning an arrangement of “Sakura, sakura,” a traditional Japanese folk song about cherry blossoms.
*Video shot and edited by Keiko Takenaka of GEN-J (Grassroots Exchange Network Japan)