What we do

Traditional culture and performing experience program for kids and parent and child About Japanese harp KOTO

  • Organization : Yamaki Kai (The group of Yamada school of Japanese harp KOTO.)
  • Section : None
  • Type of Grant Program : Single

Outline

Hands-on experience event
Koto

Number of sessions (per person/including presentations, etc.)
7

Principal instructors
Senga Yamaki, Yamaki Kai (Yamada school)

Event features
Classes for parents and children aged 3-6, and classes for kids aged 6-18 will be divided according to age and experience and held at Yamaki Kai Koiwa Lesson place. The aim is for parent-child class participants to be able to play children’s songs, and for kids’ class participants to be able to play “Sakura” and “Sandan no Shirabe,” and showcase what they have learnt in a performance at the end of the program accompanied by shamisen and shakuhachi. There will also be kimono dressing lessons for parents while they wait, providing them with an experience of traditional kimono dressing over six sessions.

A framework enabling participants to continue with hands-on experience (practice) of traditional performing arts
By actually playing the koto, participants will be able to experience an appealing side to traditional Japanese music which they never felt simply listening to or watching koto performances. For anyone interested, we can provide details of a hands-on introductory session for the general public given once every three months at Ikebukuro Seibu Community College by Senga Yamaki, the head of Yamaki Kai.

Profile

Yamaki Kai (Yamada school of koto Japanese harp)
Yamaki Kai organizes and produces concerts featuring classical songs associated with the Yamada school of koto and plans to hold its 62nd concert in November this year (2021). Events in recent years include the large-scale Yamaki Kai 200th anniversary concert held in 2018.
The Yamada school, one of two major schools of koto, is a genre of koto music started by Yamada Kengyo (1757-1817); the form known as the Yamaki style of the Yamada school was started by Yamada Kengyo’s renowned immediate disciple, the first-generation Yamaki Kengyo (?-1820).
Senga Yamaki, the iemoto of the Yamaki style school, carries on the generations-old Yamada school/Yamaki style of koto performance/technique which has continued for more than 200 years since the late Edo period.
From the mid Showa era, he formed the Yamaki Kai with his disciples, working towards the promotion and development of the Yamada school of koto, and he boasts many years of achievements and history. Senga Yamaki the 7th, the chairperson of applicant organization Yamaki Kai, is the youngest ever director of the Japan Sankyoku Association and the Yamada Style Koto Association.
She actively engages in the creation of new hogaku traditional Japanese music in collaborations with other disciplines and organizations.

Contact

Senga Yamaki
President
The group of Yamaki (Yamada school of Japanese harp KOTO)
4-12-12,Minamikoiwa,Edogawa-ku,Tokyo 133-0056
Tel:+81-(0)3-5809-0390
Fax:+81-(0)3-5809-0390
E-mail:yamakisenga@gmail.com

Venues

Yamaki Kai Koiwa Lesson place, Edogawa City, Tokyo
Uchisaiwaicho Hall, Chiyoda City, Tokyo