Eto (干支)

The next year is the year of the horse. Every year are represented by Eto(干支）in Japan and some Asian countries. Eto is the Oriental Zodiac. It represents year ,time, bearing by the twelve units in days of old. The twelve units are mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, boar in order. They are represented 子（ネ、ねずみ）、丑（ウシ、牛）、寅（トラ、虎）、卯（ウ、ウサギ）、辰（タツ、龍）、巳（ミ、蛇、ヘビ）、午（ウマ、馬）、未（ヒツジ、羊）、申（サル、猿）、酉（トリ、鶏）、戌（イヌ、犬）、亥（イ、猪） in Japanese. For example, 子 represents twelve o'clock, the bearing of 辰巳 represents the bearing of south and east.
There are various kind of Eto in some other Asian countries. Only Japan and Mongolia seem to include boar in Eto instead of pig. I think the reason is because Japanese think boar is stronger than pig. 「猪突猛進」 is a phrase about boar. The meaning is " rushing own goal ".

You may wonder why cat isn't included in Eto. There is an anecdote about Eto. One day the race was played. The race was to determine twelve animals of Eto. Twelve animals of Eto was determined in order of arriving to God early. The cat couldn't join the race because of being cheated by the mouse. So the cat seemed not to be included in Eto. The anecdote says the cat catch up mouses because of being angry at the mouse. Incidentally, there is a contry which include cat in Eto instead of rabbit. It's Viet Nam. I don't know the reason but it is interesting that the kind of Eto is different by countries.
By the way, You may be wondering why the mouse could arrive to God most earliest. It is because mouse rode on ox's head until the goal and mouse took a leap from ox's head at the last goal. The mouse is very smart or foxy, isn't it?

 

Enka(演歌), a male singer and an American singer

I introduced a female Enka singer in previous entry. Let me introduce a male Enka singer and an American Enka singer to you. One is Yamamoto Jyouji(山本譲二）. He is a famous Japanese Enka singer. I like his Enka song 「みちのく一人旅（mitinokuhitoritabi)」. This song is sung about a beloved woman. Another one is Jero. He is a first-ever non-Japanese Enka singer. He was born of African-American parents in 1981 and grew up in Pittsburgh. Jero has a quarter Japanese lineage because his grandmother on his mother's side is Japanese. He has listened to Enka since  childhood under his grandmother's influence, so he likes Enka and singing Enka.

He went on to Pittsburgh University and made a special study of infotech and he studied in Japan for three month. He decided to become an Enka singer while studying in Japan. He came back Japan in 2003 after graduating from the university, and he entered Japanese song contests while working as an English conversation teacher and as a computer engineer. After that, he was recruited by a Japanese major music company because his singing voice was appraised. His dream came true. He sings Enka very well like Japanese singer and he is a very unique Enka singer not only because he isnot Japanese but also another reason. The reason is that he is a hip-hop dancer. Hip-hop and Enka are very different, aren't they? He sings Enka hip-hop style. It is very interesting.

Enka(演歌）、a female singer

Do you know Enka( 演歌 )? I will introduce Enka. Enka is a Japanese characteristic song. The songs are amenity songs which basad on Japanese original feelings or emotions. Words of the songs have often the content about sea, alcohol, tears, woman, rain, northland, snow, farewell. And Enka singers represent wistful love between a man and a woman through these phrase to sing Enka.
This time I will introduce a female Enka singer, she is Ishikawa Sayuri（石川さゆり）. My favorite her song is Tsugarukaikyoufuyugeshiki(津軽海峡冬景色）. Tsugarukaikyou(津軽海峡） is a narrow between Hottsukaidou(北海道） and the isiand of Honsyu(本州）. Fuyugeshiki(冬景色） is winter landscape. This song represents a farewell between a man and woman at Tsugalkaykyou in winter.

 She sang this song on kimono(着物）after several years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEFnxPtlKxI&feature=fvst

Wadaico (和太鼓), a Japanese traditional instrument

I introduced one festival (ねぶた祭り) and one dance (阿波踊り） before. And Japanese traditional music was played there. Especially I think you could hear the sound of wadaico (和太鼓）. Wadaico is Japanese traditional drum. There are some Japanese traditinol instruments but wadaico is most famous and popular instrument in Japan. The other traditional instruments are koto(琴）、 shyakuhachi (尺八）、shou (鉦）、etc. Koto is like laid harp, shyakuhachi is like recorder, shou is like triangle.

The size of wadaico is various from big to small, and the playing style is also various from many player to one. The playing style by many people has a beautiful harmony, and the playing style by one person has strong sound.

Awaodori (阿波踊り) , a Japanese traditional dance

I will introduce Awaodori (阿波踊り） this time. Awaodori is a Japanese traditional dance which people walk street with dancing. This is danced on summer in Tokushima prefecture (徳島県） of Shikoku (四国）. This dance have a history of four hundreds years. Pepple danced with duple sound which is played by drums and recoders, etc. And People danced with saying 「えらいやっちゃ、えらいやっちゃ、ヨイヨイヨイヨイ、踊る阿呆に見る阿呆、同じ阿呆なら踊らな損々…」 or phrase like 「Yattsutosa-yattsutosa(ヤットサーヤットサー)」. This meaning is that　「It's crisis. It's crisis. Dancing fool, watching fool. Both are the same fool, so why don't you dance?」. In short, dance crazy with no worry. It is really funny dance.

Touhoku area (東北地方)

I will introduce the prefectures of Touhoku area. Touhoku area is constituted of the six prefectures which are Aomori(青森), Akita(秋田), Iwate(岩手), Yamagata(山形), Miyagi(宮城), Fukushima(福島). There is the Seikan tunnel(青函トンネル) which is a railway tunnel between Aomori and Hokkaido. Its total length is about ５７km. It is like the Channel tunnel of Europe.

And Aomori have a very famous festa called Nebutamaturi(ねぶた祭り). People parade with very big dolls called Dashi(山車) on the street. This festa is very beautiful and　exuberant. Many people visit this festa in summer. And Aomori is No.１ perfecture in Japan on a yield of apples. Akita perfecture is production area of rices. The rices producted in Akita are famous for deliciousness.

Hokkaido

  Hokkaido is the northernmost big island in Japan. The area is about the same size of Iceland. Avarage temperature of the area in winter is about -6℃. It is very cold, isn't it？ One of the aspects of Hokkaido is delicious foods like fishes of salmon, sea egg, salmon roe, and crops of potato, asparagus.

The nature in the north area of Hokkaido is beautiful. There are many national nature park there and range wild animals like bear , fox, crane, etc. One of the specialty of the sightseeing in Hokkaido is to see Japanese cranes in winter. The cranes range the north area of Hokkaido and many tourists visit there to see them. The cranes are national nature treasure of Japan. The courting dance and call of the cranes are very beautiful.