For those who cannot read Japanese....Maui's Obon Season has started! This year I will blog the Obon Season.
I am already 3 weeks behind. Such a hectic schedule!
毎週末、中山民謡会は お盆踊り リードして助けています。Such hard work. I don’t know how our Sensei or even my cousin remembers all the dances. What a hectic day I had to get to this church. I had a workshop in the morning that ended early (thank God!). Because of the workshop, I had to preplan my outfit and have it ready so I could do a quick 変身. Then I had to get downtown to catch a ride to Lahaina because of the limited parking around the area.
June 4, 2011 - ラハイナ真言(Lahaina Shingon)
ファストお盆はラハイナ真言。久しぶり！It's the first bon dance of the season. This year the first dance is Lahaina Shingon again. It's been such a long time since I went to this church. Last year, I planned to go, but classwork got in the way (T-T).
I cannot remember the last time I went to this church’s dance. The dance area is just as small as I remembered it.Each year, it seems more and more people are coming to Obon. Is it the “in” thing to do? I know it is a big social gathering for the Japanese. Lately there has been more of a variety of people.
During the dance I noticed flashes every so often. At first I thought it was just people in the crowd taking pictures. It was actually lightning in the sky that was catching my eye. The only thing I think is “Oh no, it better not rain.” It had to be the day I decide to wear a light colored 浴衣.
2 hours seem to fly by. Before I know it, the dance is over. Time to change and have our after party! This year, a group of my 民謡会 friends plan to hang out after the dances. For the kickoff of Obon, we decided to go down the street to Kobe Steakhouse.
By the time we get there, the restaurant side is closed but the sushi bar is still open. We have 15 people to seat…I hope they have room for us. Luckily they did! The only problem was that one person was underage and couldn’t go into the bar area. So the group was split up. I felt really bad so I would go between the two groups.
 |
| What we do best outside of bon dance! |
The weirdest thing happened when we went that night. As I tried to order more sushi, the waitress says “I’m sorry but we ran out of rice…but you can still order sashimi.” That blew my mind. How can you be a sushi bar and run out of rice? It’s like going to KFC and them telling you that they ran out of chicken….which on occasion has happened to some of my friends.
After some sushi, lots of drinks and lots of laughs, it was time for all of us to head back home. Well that was the plan. I think a few of us drank a little too much and need to do some sobering up. Where do we end up….well they only place that is affordable and open is Zippy’s! So we have bonus time to spend with everyone.
Next week プーネネ日蓮
June 7 and 9, 2011 - マカワオ本願寺お盆踊り稽古.
I cannot believe Makawao Hongwanji is having 4 bon dance practices this year. This week there are two 1 hour practices. I got talked into helping with the practice. You cannot say no to your 先輩, especially when you are planning on becoming 名取like them. So I had to work around my running schedule…meaning I had to cut my running short on those two days. Part of me is worried that no one is going to show up and I sacrificed my running time and Nadine time for nothing.
In the end, enough people came to the practice to make me content. What I didn’t expect was that I was going to help lead the dances. It’s only the beginning of the season and I haven’t really gone to the other practices off season.
June 11, 2011 - プーネネ日蓮
Another hectic day for bon dance! Today there was 民部稽古 from 12:30 to 14:00. Actually we started early so we could finish early. Our Sensei had to drive back home to take care of her husband and then get ready and drive all the way back into town for the bon dance. 大変！As for me, there are some errands to be done since I am already in town. 15:30 comes around and I’m STILL downtown. I guess I should have planned a little better. Gotta head home to do another quick 変身! Will I have a day where I don’t have to change so quickly?
This time Akiko is dressing in 浴衣. She brought it home from Japan. Her kids are dressing as well! Now we just have to get Jayson into the act. His dad dresses….I guess we just have to get him a 浴衣 so he has no excuses.
It’s so windy today….my poor hair. I made it all curly and it’s gone flat. しょうがない。
I think this year we should make it a point to teach people dancing to follow the correct lines. Every year, the circles are all ぐじゃぐじゃ. I think we may be in the middle for some dances so there is no one to keep the second line…..
2 hours fly by again. Time for our after party! It takes us a while to figure out what we want to do. In the end, pick up food and drink and go karaoke!
来週はワイルク浄土とワイルク真言!
June 14 and 16, 2011 - またマカワオ本願寺稽古….
This week is a full week of dance! Monday I had 民謡稽古 from 18:30 to 20:30. Tuesday and Thursday I am going to the bon dance practices up at Makawao. Then I there are 2 bon dances this week. When I add it all up, I danced for 15 hours this week. I don’t know how Sensei can dance that much on a regular basis.
June 17, 2011 ワイルク浄土
 |
| 先生 w/some of the 中山民謡会 ladies |
 |
| Jane typing up Nelson |
It’s Friday! I have to rush to my parent’s house so I can change for the bon dance. Yet another day to rush and get ready. There really isn’t any parking at this church. We have to park on the street.
This is where we practice 日本舞踊. Almost the entire 中山民謡会 is here. It’s a small dance area as well. I hope we can all fit!
This time we’ve added more to the group shot. Maybe we should do this more often!
For some reason, this bon dance seems more crowded than the rest. I guess it’s because no one is following the correct line…again! I think we should invest in some wooden dowels and rope and make the actual lanes that people should dance in….but that wouldn’t work here since it’s all asphalt.
This time we stick to the plan about eating at the church to save money….but then we do a change of plans after eating and go to Tiffany’s for some refreshment. Since there is only 2 or so hours left until last call, it’s time to start with the hard stuff, no fooling around!
It shows how often you go to a drinking establishment when they already know what kind of drink you are going to order. Come to think of it…we have gone quite often. I would say almost every weekend we have ended up at Tiffany’s for some reason.
I think drinking margaritas and martinis isn’t a good idea on so little amount of food. But I guess it was okay with all the water I drank the whole day….Others need some karaoke I think.
Once again, we are at karaoke! The owner comments “Soon, you guys are going to be VIP status.” I think we’ve gone 3 times in a month. It’s so late….I think I got home around 5:00 AM. I guess I should be glad that there isn’t 民部稽古tomorrow.
明日I mean 今日ワイルク真言…I hope we’ll be up for it.
June 18, 2011 - ワイルク真言
 |
| The reason for going to Wailuku Shingon Obon |
What time is it? OMG it’s 10:00 AM!!! Too much after party. I am supposed to train for my marathon but I’m too tired and dehydrated to run. Plus it’s 10:00 AM, I usually run earlier in the morning during the weekend.
Today, I get relax and recover. Plus it’s the first bon dance, where I don’t have to do a quick 変身!
It seems like everyone was recovering from last night….We didn’t get a chance to take our usual picture.
Tonight we get a workout! This church has a lovely incline and majority of the dances goes up that incline.
Also tonight, no Maui Taiko. At first I was curious when I overheard Allan guys debating about Fukushima Ondo. It didn’t occur to me until tonight what the whole debate was about. I would have been fine without the song, but it’s a favorite with the rest of the crowd. So during the whole dance I was wondering if they really were going to play Fukushima Ondo. Almost at the end of the dance, they decide to play it.
No eating at the church tonight….they ran out of bento for the dancers….errr. It makes me a little frustrated when people go to the dance and stay to the very end to get the complimentary dinner even though they didn’t dance or do anything to help. Because the people who do dance, don’t get a chance to eat…oh well. A small after party tonight…which included karaoke.
来週。。。カフルイ浄土
No comments:
Post a Comment