Chin! Don! ya!

No, I haven't totally lost it. And I'm not just making funny noises, either. You see, my friend Kyoko was part of a Chin-don ya group in Japan, and her group members flew over to Holland to see her and to do a few performances after winning first prize in the annual "All Japan Chin-don competition! They just got back from performing at a musical festival in Paris, and tonight were due to perform at Cafe Luniz in Delft.

What is "chin-don"? Well, it's Japan's original means of advertising, and has a tradition more than 100 years old. It is said that chin-don originated at the end of the Edo period. A sweet shop named "Ame Katsu" prospered because of its performance advertising. Other shops took notice and asked "Ame Katsu" to do their advertising as well, and thus was the Japanese advertising business born.

Why "Chin-don"? Well, as it was very clearly explained to us at the performance, "chin" is the sound of the bell, and "don" is the sound of the drums. "Ya" means performers, so Chin-don ya could be translated to"The Ding-thump performers." Who here thinks we should just leave it in Japanese? *looks around* I most heartily agree. But to get back to my story....

I wasn't quite sure where the cafe was, but I shouldn't have worried. The ladies from the group were in the center of Delft market, dressed for the performance, making merry and calling out to people walking by, asking them to please come to the show. I saw Kyoko's husband there too, so I stopped and said hello and got some directions. I got to the cafe just in time, found Kyoko and said my hellos. I found out they decided to postpone the start of the show a little bit because of the disappointing turnout, but those ladies in the square sure know what they are doing! By the time they decided to start, the cafe was packed.

The show itself, in case you were wondering, was excellent. You really should have been there! All told, there were 4 ladies (all shorter than me, by the way) playing instruments: Sayoko on the chin-don daiko (chin-don drum), Eri on goros (a big Japanese drum), Yuki on trumpet, and Kyoko on her clarinet. Picture if you will, 4 very lively ladies dressed in kimonos playing these instruments as loud as can be. That's how the performance started out, with everyone walking off the stage, dancing in a circle and going back on stage again. The audience moved forward to stand in front of the stage so I joined them of course, squeezing my way between people until I could actually see something. There was of course singing, but also traditional dancing, and of course audience participation. There was a rather humorous song about a guy who had to follow his boss around, carrying his luggage, do everything his boss told him to do (maybe you had to be there to really appreciate the humor).

Perhaps my favorite part of the show was some really cool art that Eri create from a sort of bamboo mat that you can use to make sushi. As they sang a song about luck and happiness, Eri would manipulate the bamboo mat and make the most wonderful things: a bridge, a traditional Japanese hat, a wreath, and what looked to me like 2 branches from a cherry tree, though I'm not sure what exactly it was supposed to be. We (the audience) were also encouraged to sing along and help, as it would also bring us luck, they said. The song was infectious, and I soon found myself singing unabashedly at the top of my lungs, "A-sore sore, a-sore sore sore!" along with the rest of the crowd. I felt like a kid again, oohing and aahing, clapping in delight and laughing out loud as I sang along and Eri made her wonderful bamboo creations. I suppose it was like those clowns who make animals out of balloons, only way cooler. *grin*

I stayed much later than I had intended, not being able to pull myself away from the performance. I left the cafe after 2300, totally revitalized and happily humming to myself as I walked to the bus station to catch a ride home. I don't know what it is about Japan and Japanese things, but something about being around the culture and the people... it just makes me feel good.