Never say never!
Yes, you can learn Tsugaru Shamisen not living in Japan!
Kotori Kai - Tsugaru Shamisen School
Yumi won 1st place in 2 divisions of the online tsugaru shamisen contest, Bachido Cup 2021. Thank you!!!
with Ryuhiro Oyama at Chef Naoko in Portland, OR (2019)
Resources
Yumi studied (and keeps learning) Tsugaru Shamisen from Ryuhiro Oyama of one of the biggest Tsugaru Shamisen association in Japan, and obtained natori in 2019. Kotori Kai uses learning materials from her teacher (Oyama style materials), and also Kotori’s original compositions.
Also, Yumi is a proud Bachido member! Bachido is the “home” for shamisen players around the WORLD with over 3,000 members! It is an amazing international Shamisen community with online store carrying shamisen & accessories.
Natsu Matsuri 2019 at Beaverton Uwajimaya
Experiences
Yumi has been directing a Portland-based taiko group, TAKOHACHI since its inception in 2007. With her fun personality and creativity Takohachi has grown as a unique and entertaining music family!
Kotori Kai will be more like a school unlike Takohachi, and she will more focus on teaching basics with a curriculum. But yet, she will not forget to share the fun part of Tsugaru Shamisen. Her goal is for you to love the instrument, and enjoy playing Tsugaru Shamisen.
Yumi is also an experienced learner. She has started takeing skype lessons to learn Tsugaru Shamisen from her teacher in Japan, and learned to learn how to effectively learn this challenging instrument by trial and error. She will use some supplemental audio and video materials for her students to learn in efficiently effective way.
Internet Shinobue Contest 2019 filming with Takohachi
Creativity
Onkochishin: Developing new ideas based on study of the past. Yumi seeks learning more Tsugaru Shamisen and minyo from her teacher Ryuhiro Oyama. Meanwhile, she creates her own music in her own way of expressions using shinobue (bamboo flute) and taiko drums. She also enjoys many collaboration projects with other musicians and artists.
Music in Japanese kanji character (音楽) consists of two words, ‘sound (音)’ and ‘fun (楽)’. She wants all her students to have fun and enjoy Tsugaru Shamisen.
Kotori Kai’s lessons are very well structured with Oyama Kai’s materials and Yumi’s original compositions with a lot of supplemental study materials including audio files and video files. Kotori Japanese Music provides a lot of shamisen information through YouTube channel to the public and also some materials exclusively for her students. Lessons are well adapted for online.
The video series, “Shamisen Topic” is open to the public informational videos to share shamisen tips and hacks.
