Hitting stuff with sticks is fun.

So why have I been building up this coming weekend for so long?

In case it wasn’t clear from previous posts, I love snow. I can’t get enough of it. When it snows properly in London, I get very excited, pop JJ72’s Snow onto the stereo and head outside for snowball fights as soon as possible. In short, I revert to being a particularly immature 7 year-old. Equally, I once went ski-ing with my school and, along with amusing (but slightly cruel) memories of my friend mistaking sun block for after-sun and turning lobster-red, I have happy images of beautiful  white mountains  stored somewhere in my head. Also, Fox in the Snow. Yes, I am that wet.

I thought I should write something about taiko as I’m now starting to settle into a weekly rhythm with the classes. Taiko is a type of traditional Japanese drumming. Many ALTs do it, because it’s seen as a relatively straightforward way of meeting Japanese people in a non-work environment. It also  allows you to play at festivals and the learning curve is maybe less difficult than judo for example.

I haven't had to do it in my underwear yet.

However, despite first impressions, it isn’t easy. For a start, the initial practice session ripped my hands to shreds. I’m not sure if it was a poor technique on my part or the fact that I’ve never done a hard day’s work in my life-but the rubbing of the drum sticks tore the skin off by my thumbs on both hands. There was blood. The following session I developed some impressively gross blisters. At the time, I was more embarrassed by this than I was pained by it. I didn’t want to cause a fuss on my first session when I was trying to suppress the “big freak” factor.

This might sound obvious, but it is very gratifying to whack a big drum with some sticks. As it happened, yesterday was an irritating day for me as I encountered a new class that I’m going to be teaching regularly. They were far and away the worst behaved class I’ve come across since I arrived here and, whilst I kept my nerve, it was a real struggle. So it felt like a great release to be beating the crap out of something. Probably best not to get too caught up in what this says about my subconscious desires.

I practice for one hour with the elementary/junior high school school kids (who are super-cute, by the way) and then for an hour with an all-female adult class. The practice session with the kids is particularly fun, because they are still learning the basics, so I don’t feel too inept. They are also surprisingly tolerant of me-I have been trying very hard lately not to act clownishly and to try and play down the gaijin freak thing. This has paid off so far and I feel like I’m generally treated as a member of the club rather than as a special guest.

The adult group requires me to sit out and watch for long periods as they are more advanced than me and need to practice a particular piece that they will perform later this year. But they are very friendly and I get a real kick out of watching how enthusiastic they are. I’m not quite sure why I was put in with a female group. It might just have been that they wanted me to practice with the elementary school kids and the men’s group don’t meet on those days. They are very welcoming, but I think there would probably be more potential for socializing if I was doing it with guys instead.

The other thing I hadn’t realized was just how fit you need to be to do it properly. The main movement in taiko comes from your shoulders rather than biceps. You don’t just bang the drum but repeatedly lift your arms above your head with each stroke. Try holding your arms vertically above your head for any long period and you will get a sense of how tough it is. All the women are much fitter than I am (me being a lanky smoker with a taste for cream buns) but even they find it difficult sometimes. You could definitely make yourself pretty buff by doing taiko regularly. Body muscle is the last thing I want, but I may have to build up my arms a little if I’m going to be able to do it justice.

I’ve enjoyed working up a sweat once a week and throwing myself into a hobby that I can hopefully take back to the UK. In time, it would be good if it became more of a sociable thing, but that really relies on my Japanese skills improving. Whatever happens, it has been a rewarding experience. But most importantly, I get to hit things! With sticks!