I went to the Japanese festival. It was held in a bigger city where it took us 1.5 hour drive to get there. Last week they had a similar Japanese festival. The host of last time was the owner of the private Japanese garden. This time the festival was organized by the nonprofit organization and held at the local community college. Therefore the number of the guests was far more outnumbered than that of last week.
There were several martial arts’ dojo showed their demonstrations. I always feel awe to know so many foreigners are interested in Japanese culture and martial arts. One of the dojo showed the mochi-tsuki (rice cookie making) demonstration. I appreciate them for doing that so that children like my daughter can see the actual mochi-tsuki procedure.
The festival was held for four hours. Before I went there, I didn’t think we would enjoy the whole four hours. I thought we might leave early. But in reality, we all had enjoyed from the beginning to the very end.
We enjoyed the demonstration of Japanese martial arts of Kendo and Aikido. Especially for my husband and daughter, it was their first time to see the actual Kendo outfit and demonstration. They were excited. While I was watching the Kendo demonstration, my memory went back to my high school days. I belonged to the volleyball club. Our main practice place was inside the gymnastics. At the corner of the gymnastics, there was Kendo club students practicing. I used to like healing their voices of Kiai (fighting yell). Their voices would echo to the throughout the gymnastics.
And the last of the festival, we had a Japanese drumming. It was the same group as last week, but some members were different from last week. I saw three Japanese women this time in the group. They played a Japanese flute too along with the drumming. One Japanese woman’s drumming sound was outstanding. I fall in love with her drumming sound. I definitely enjoyed the drumming of this week much more than that of last week. I did enjoy it last week. But this week’s drumming gave me goosebumps all over my body throughout their session. Their drumming could reach deep into my soul. My soul was trembling with joy.
♬ Any feedback? (^^♪
three wisdom 