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2015年09年18日 | diary

Hello, everyone! We’ll talk more about the IYCPF in this third blog. During the conference, we had many opportunity to learn about Japanese culture. We’ll describe visiting Funairi High School and Motomachi High School and going to Uedawahudo for tea ceremony.

 

○Visiting Funairi High School and Motomachi High School

Funairi High School

First, a student’s father taught us how to play the Syakuhachi. His explanation was very easy to understand, but it was still difficult to play a melody.

Then, we wrote kanji, for example the kanji for love (愛), cherry blossom (桜), and truth (誠)　on fans.

Finally, we were taught to play “Sakura” on the koto. It is a beautiful song.

Vincent Caspers from Germany said :
“I really liked the school visit since it offered me and the other people who visited Funairi High School a great view on Japanese culture and school life. Japanese schools are kind of different from German ones but in a positive way. I was very impressed by how friendly and polite everyone was… Politeness is definitely no strength of German schools to be honest. We were offered a possibility to try out Japanese calligraphy and Koto. But first off we tried out Shakuhachi, a really difficult Japanese flute. I barely was able to play a melody and in fact only three people were able to produce something else other than plain noise. It was really funny and everyone was laughing because we all had fun trying. After that I experienced that my talent in calligraphy was… Let’s just say it was way below average. It was fun anyway and I had a great time. Playing the Koto was even better for me since I finally succeeded in somethingWe were taught to play “Sakura” which is a beautiful song .
When we had to leave I came to take a look of some boys playing soccer on a big field in the playground of the school. I was surprised that a school had such a big soccer field and it looked awesome even though I’m totally not into soccer. When we left all the students and parents who helped to organize our visit waved us goodbye, it was a moving picture.”

 

Motomachi High School

We experienced Kendo and Kyudo.

Konokarn Nuangsakul (Thailand) It was a special activity. I’m interested in Japanese sports. I didn’t know how to do Kendo or Kyudo before. The students and teachers taught us well and gave me a chance to try.

 

Frank Tandwe (Malawi)
I loved the school visit, since it was my second time. I knew I’d experience Kendo again and I’m a fan of both. I also want to mention art exhibitions and the warm welcome by the students who were also very polite.

 

○Tea ceremony

Before tea ceremony and explanation was given about the tea house and garden. The Japanese members thought they knew a lot about tea ceremony, but they learned many new things.

Non Japanese members found kneeling very difficult, but they enjoyed tea ceremony.

Jaron Tsukamoto from America said:
“I enjoyed the traditional aspect of the tea ceremony. I have done it once before but it is always great to see the process, though this time was slightly different. We were able to go through the process of preparing ourselves for the tea ceremony. It was interesting to see how many students were studying the techniques involved in doing the tea ceremony properly. I truly enjoyed learning about the tea ceremony and Japanese tradition.”

 

Thank you for reading!!

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