I first became interested in the kind of silk that was been used to make strings when I bought an old biwa (dating perhaps from before the war) which still had strings on it some of which appeared to be very old. I played the instrument with these strings for a number of days and was struck at the different “feel” to the string. Even though it spoke loudly the tone was very beautiful. Moreover, the string was light and very comfortable to play. Since this experience, I have always found the strings that are sold today to be very hard and irresponsive.

In June 2006, I had just started teaching Masaki Sakurai who is an independent film director and producer. He is very interested in the silk industry in Gunma and had made films explaining it for the purpose of promoting awareness of its past status and present situation in Japan. The previous year I had planted a mulberry tree in my garden (Satsuma biwa are made from mulberry) and a lot of silk worm like insects had settled on it. At one of the lessons, I proceeded to tell Sakurai of this and also of what the strings are made from. He asked me if natural silk worms had ever been used to make biwa strings and I answered that it is logical to think that at some point in history they must have been used. I then heard from him about Sanden Forest which is run by Sanden. Here, Sanden Company has set up a facility with aim of encouraging a healthy relationship between society and nature. They had been raising wild silkworms for a number of years and Sakurai had worked with them in the past. He suggested the possibility of trying to make strings using these wild silk worms. I though that it would be very interesting to see how the strings would turn out and what manner they would compare with the strings I had found on the old biwa.

It was very well received. I could not see much because I had to focus so much on my own playing that I did not have any idea how the others in the studio were responding. It shall be broadcast again tomorrow at 10:00 am in full and on Sunday in a shortened version.

He is also a prolific composer for koto, following in the tradition of his father. He heads a team of teachers in Japanese traditional music, including other koto teachers and teachers of shamisen, wadaiko (Japanese drums), modern satsuma biwa, traditional satsuma biwa, shakuhachi, and shinobue.

For those students who are majoring in one of the tradtional instruments, classes in that instrument are on a one-to-one basis and last at least forty-five minutes. For those who are doing the instrument as a second “subject”, classes are at least twenty minutes in length, but generally they extend to thirty minutes. Practice instruments are provided for all students.  

Yesterday, I had two performances, one planned, the other unexpected. I played in Niigata for a 30 year anniversary of the foundation of a clothes and fashion business there. It went well considering that I am down with a pretty dreadful cold, and running a temperature. I finished at about two o’clock and raced back to Tokyo for the Chieftains with my sister, Triona, on the Irish Harp at Triphony Hall. I managed to arrive pretty early, but could not find Triona. Eventually, I got to see her backstage at about five minutes to six, only to learn that the Chieftains were planning on having me play biwa with them at this concert. Well, hearing this threw my life and evening asunder, but I was ready to accept the challenge and sure enough for the last number of the concert, I got to play my little bit on stage on the biwa. It seemed to have taken the audience quite by surprise, from what I heard later. Anyways, I enjoyed it very much, and speaking with Paddy Moloney and hearing his opinions of the biwa was great fun afterwards.

Over the next few days, I like to give a little information on the University I work at, and the events that are coming up soon.

The concert on the whole was satisfying. This was only due to the wonderful performance of Vittoria’s Requiem. The first half of the concert was a considerable let down. In fact, I was left feeling that they wre sightreading the pieces, what with the lack of a unified tone colour amongst other things. The second half was for me a wonderful experience. There was so much I found to enjoy in it.

She will be coming here again in December (with a different group) and hopefully we will get to do a few more performances together then, too.

I stay at the university lodgings which are about two minutes from a catholic church with a respectable choir organ. I practice there from 6:50am to about 8:15am most mornings. Of course, I must play at the Sunday masses to get to practice on the instrument. At the moment I working on Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue BWV 582.　This is a piece I have always wanted to play, but never had the opportunity to really sit down and challenge it. It is a very fine composition, I find and more difficult than it appears on paper. Trying to keep a sense of the whole of the piece alive when there is so much variation in the counterpuntal texture throughout, is harder than one might think.