My Journey as a Flute Player in the Awa Dance Group

I joined "The Furusato Festival Tokyo." at Jaunuary 12th and 13th. I was a member of "All Koenji Team" that consist of 270 dancers and band members. I played Japanese flute with other 15 flutists. I longed to perform in this festival held in Tokyo Dome which is the biggest baseball stadium in Tokyo.

We practiced for 2 moths and tried to play with perfect harmony. We had 4 stage performances for 2days. It was a great experience I felt that I would love to play the flute throughout this event!

I felt that I was able to join this activity because many people made an effort for the success of this event. The leaders of band members create music to support dancers and the leaders of the dancers think of the formation and movements on stage.

All I could do was to take part in this event... I hope I can support them in the future.

Thank you for everyone especially friends and family who supported this event,

Another thing that made me so happy was the hand-made flute case that our team member made for 16 flute players! It's so kind of him.

We joined an “Autumn stage performance.” This stage was held in “Za Koenji” where the theater in Koenji is located and 24 teams performed. Sui-ren’s stage started around 7:30 p.m. Usually it takes time to make a good sound when I start to play, so I reserved a studio for practice before the performnce and it worked. We had enough time, anyway. This helped my tension go away, too.

The music I played was the same as I did this summer stage, “Zomeki” “Zomeki-slow version” “Yoshino-gawa” and “Kohiki-uta.” They are all traditional Japanese songs. The most difficult part for me is “Zomeki-slow version” because it was a solo part for me. I closed my eyes for a short period before I started playing this song and it worked to release some tension. I enjoyed the stage and I feel this is a kind of improvement on my part.

I joined the Edogawa-bashi Festival. It was a kind of a Halloween event. We did a short performance with Konpei-shisho who is a famous Japanese comedian. He joined an Awn-dance team in Tokushima before. Sui-ren usually does this kind of performance. So, if you want to have Sui-ren at your party or event, please contact us!