Day 3 With Ondekoza (part four)
Yeah so here we go again. One video per post limit, wazzat all about? Anyway. After I half-slid down the grass sides of the bank leading down to the river, barely avoiding an unplanned swim in the process, I noticed how much louder the sound of the water was down near the river itself, probably a side effect of like 99% of the rivers in Japan having had concrete or stone embankments built directly at their sides (gotta keep those local economies thriving, ya know?). Ahem. Hehe. Yeah actually that’s one of the “secrets” to how Japan got where it is today, uh, or maybe to where it was until a few years ago: keep as many people employed as possible, doing the most trivial of things, and also make sure that workers are willing to work 60-70 hours a week but only get paid for 40 (“service overtime”). Boy, do the profits roll in!! This shit has come back to bite them in the collective national ass though, especially in this day and age of globalization and the internet—where it’s possible to see what standards other countries abide by and realize some things are better done differently. But I digress. Here, enjoy a riverside scene for a wee while:
Sorry for shoting that one in portrait mode. Shooting video that way goes against all my instincts as a photographer/videographer. Hehe. I shot another video further up the river that gets a bit Tarkovskyish at the end there, what with the underwater weeds undulating in the current and all. Ahhhhh, Solaris. Beautiful. But One Video Per Post! So too bad about that... Well, here’s some pics of other things I found outside, around and inside the schoolhouse.
How’s that schedule grab you? Keep in mind two things here. One, the Hand-copying of a Sutra (the Heart Sutra, Hannya Shingyō in Japanese), is done with either brush, inkstone and all the traditional calligraphy paraphernalia, or a brush pen (not sure which but I think the standard Pentel Fude-pen, grey body and black cap) but LEFT HANDED. I have yet to try this. I’ve done the normal deal tons of times, but never with the left hand. Two, Morning Practice is pretty much an hour straight of eighth notes, or sixteenth notes, or the horse-galloping rhythm (like takatan takatan takatan takatan (RLR RLR RLR RLR), there’s a proper Japanese term for this but it’s slipped my mind at the moment). For. An. Hour. Straight. Oof! Basic rhythm practice. Building a strong foundation. I wish I had an hour for this everydamnday.
Well, after everyone was up an around we had breakfast, finished cleaning up, then set everything back up the way it usually is. Here’s the main practice room:
Quite different from the café-slash-rest-space it was the day before. Once everything was done I noticed the time and it was tine for yours truly to get his butt on the road back home. Man, what a whirlwind weekend it was. It’s already a week since the Friday I left to head out there, and I’m STILL fucking reeling from the whole experience. Just escaped from work and went for a 10km run, and the whole time all I kept thinking was how much easier it was than that long downhill then uphill stretch in Higashi Chichibu Mura (Ondekoza HQ’s proper locale). This experience has changed me somehow, awakened a new understanding of the importance of each little piece in a large, working machine. Whether the machine is an actual mechanical construct, or a conceptual body such as a workplace, a group of friends, or a family, isn’t really important. This idea was really strongly left with me afterwards. That, and the idea that you can’t set your own limits—don’t decide you can’t do something especially before even fucking trying it. And then, if you try but have trouble, KEEP TRYING! Don’t give up, but it’s fine to take a break when the need arises. Being able to see the inportance of thibgs like this again is something that I really needed right now. Thank you, Ondekoza, for everything, and so much more.
Last, seems the Start button on my running watch must’ve been pressed when I threw my bags up on the luggage rack in the bullet train. Pretty funny shit, this. Heh.
Again, my sincerest and most heartfelt thank you to Ondekoza, especially to Naoto Kinoshita for making this happen. I am beyond grateful.