The fifth week of Omiyage class began with a warmup of the basic strikes while utilizing movement through kata and the rubberband-like tension built between the player and bachi. Yuta was able to focus on everyone’s basic strike and help them concentrate on form, refining each person’s bachi, arm, and body movements. Next, Yuta taught the “River” section, or a part that is heavily reliant on timing, playing together, and utilizing movements to begin and end in specific timing to create a cascading effect.

This class was the most difficult, yet rewarding. It was difficult because Yuta taught the left handed bachi twirl, which added a whole new layer of difficulty in body and arm coordination. However, by the end of the class I was beginning to feel more authority over playing the piece!

You can't talk about teaching taiko without phrases like "Authentic", "Legitimate", and "Traditional" coming up. When students embark on a journey to learn, they want to feel like they're investing in something real. They want evidence that their teacher can produce results. Are you that teacher? Do you feel confident that you're teaching it the "right" way? Do you ever feel the weight of thousands of years of craftsmanship and taiko mastery staring over your shoulder as you run your weekly class?

Week 2 classes began with a recap of Omiyage Basic hits, where we focused on arm placement and expression. I’m beginning to learn that Omiyage is a balance between exemplifying both strength and grace at the same time. Yuta has made the analogy that some key moves should look like a stretching rubber band and it’s release. We also began learning a few of the main phrases, deconstructing the movements to fully understand where our body, weight, arms, hands, and core should be for each movement. The class ended with learning the basics of the shime/okedo parts of the main phrases.