I participated in the Edogawa-bashi festival. It was held in a small local place which is close to where I live. Sui-ren was the only group that attended this event.

Many people gathered for a Bon dance. After they enjoyed dancing, our performance started, it was the final event of the festival.

I played the same song that I did on the summer stage. I usually play with “bamboo instrument” when I play slow song called “Kohiki-uta”. But not all band members could join the night, So the drummer played using the edge of the drum and made a high pitch sound to accompany my flute. That was nice. Because it was a casual festival, I was able to play happily without being nervous.

The audience was very happy to see our dancers, especially the kids. Because it was just a 20-minute performance, kids who joined said they wanted to do more!

The summer event is almost over.

I participated in the Awn dance at the Koenji festival.
It was not too hot this year so it was easy to play outside. The cool autumn breeze was also blowing.

My son participated for three days for the first time this year. I think that was because many of his friends joined as members of their team.
I played a new song called “Kohiki-uta” for the famale dancers. I practiced a lot for this song.

Performing on the stage always makes me nervous, but this year, I was able to enjoy it for the first time. Maybe it was because I was too busy to have time to think about extra things. There was too much to do other than just performing on the stage and there was no time for me to relax. In the past, I only concentrated on playing as a flute player, but this year, I also participated in preparations. It seemed that I was able to help the management, and that gives me one of the happiest feelings.

When the Koenji festival was over, I felt like the summer was over.

I participated in the Awn Odori festival on Kagurazaka.
Five new children who are my son’s friends joined this year. It was great for my son because he was the only kid in the team before.
They practiced very hard to perform for their first event.

I helped them wear Happi costume and put on a madcap for them. I used blue eye shadow to fit their blue costume and use red rip. Girls loved it and they were so excited. It made them look older than their age.

Their friends when they were in nursery school rushed to see and cheer for them. It was a lot of fun to take photos with everyone.

Everyone danced for 2 hours. I am sure they got tired but they looked very happy. It was a wonderful night especially for my son to dance with his close friends!

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!

This year’s Koenji Awa-dance festival was very special to me because of three reasons. First, I played a new music at the stage. Second, I joined Koenji-Godo team for the first time. We have been selected from each team to complete Koenji-Godo. The last reason is because of my daughter. She started to learn Awa-dance when she was five years old. Now that she has grown, she joined Women’s dance team. She was so happy to wear the pale blue kimono that she adored for a long time. It has been her dream to wear this kimono.

For this stage performance, I practiced a year to master these two songs “Kohiiki-uta” and “Zomeki(slow version).“ I practiced for this because I performed the solo part in the slow version of Zomeki. I found a perfect place to practice and play my Japanese flute and that is the Karaoke so I used to go there even by myself for practice!

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My performance at the stage was not perfect at all... Because I got very nervous, my flute sound was trembling even though I didn’t plan to play like that! I need to get used to playing in front of an audience, I think.

These were 2 hot days. The temperature went up really high, so it was very hard to march on the street, especially for drummers with big heavy drums. It was my first time to sweat in this late summer festival.

For this Koenji Awa-dance festival, our flute team had a lot of practice. Two new players joined, it is great for me because it was alone until last year. During this festival, the dancers can hear louder flute sound.

It was a big event of end of summer, I feel the summer is gone and I feel a little lonely.