By Iris Shiraishi, MU Performing Arts

I saw Hanayui for the first time at the North American Taiko Conference in Los Angeles in 1999.  I was a brand-new taiko player then and I was simply bowled over by their performance.  Twelve years later I’m stilled bowled over whenever I have the opportunity to see them.  Hanayui is a great part of the reason why I keep practicing and composing and performing.

Hanayui is comprised of three women who dance, sing and drum.  They epitomize the best in Japanese/Okinawan performing arts and were in the forefront of women in taiko.  Two of the women are founding members of the world-renowned taiko group Kodo and trained alongside the men in their formative years but were not given opportunities to perform.  They carved out specialty niches within Kodo (dancer, vocalist) and are now featured on Kodo’s national and international concerts.  They all live and create together on the hauntingly beautiful Sado Island off the northwestern coast of Honshu, the largest island in the Japanese archipelago.

Yoko Fujimoto – her voice fills any space it encounters and her performances are mesmerizing.  She commands the stage with a presence that is both illuminating and riveting.  Her elegant and heartfelt song renditions draw you deeply into her world of melody and words.

Chieko Kojima is the spitfire sprite of the trio; her dance performances display virtuosity in a wide range of styles and traditions.  She is playful, mischievous, joyful and soulful.  And she is a master of the Hachijojima style of drumming – at once both graceful and powerful.  I sigh every time I’m able to watch her.  She makes both dancing and drumming look so easy and effortless.

A certified master of Okinawan dance, Mitsue Kinjo is amazing; her sheer athleticism and mental focus embedded within precise and elegant movements are immediately apparent.  There is a meditative quality to her work, a deep and moving peace within an outer framework of fluidity, speed and agility.

I’ve traveled to Sado Island and have taken workshops with both Yoko san and Chieko san, and Mu Daiko has hosted both artists individually during their North American workshop tours.  Yoko’s Voice Circles are legendary; she is able to draw out the most reticent of singers and I have seen one participant after another end the session in happy tears.  Singing with Yoko is at once both enriching and cathartic.  One of my unforgettable experiences of all time was learning Chieko san’s Hana Hachijo taiko song in her hometown of Iwafune.  Chieko and her parents let us stay in their old farmhouse as we dined on home grown, home cooked food, ate in Iwafune’s best ramen shop and soaked in the town’s sparkling onsen (community bathhouse).

Try as I might, and for a number of different reasons, we’ve never been able to host a Hanayui performance in Minnesota… until this season!  Mu Daiko is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and Hanayui will be the featured guest artist group during its February 2012 mainstage performances at the Ordway’s McKnight Theatre. This means that we’ll be able to hear and see outstanding performances of Japanese/Okinawan music and dance.  This means that we’ll be able to learn from and share the stage with artists of the highest caliber.  This means that we’ll be able to feature three stellar individuals who have helped to break down barriers for women in taiko and perhaps other male-dominated art forms as well. And we will be graced by their passion and virtuosity, their humanity and humility, their beauty and presence.

I’m putting myself on a rigorous practice and training schedule – I want to be musically, physically and mentally ready for anything they are willing to teach and share.  I’m always striving to find the core of any piece that I’m composing or learning.  Maybe, if I listen carefully and work very hard, I’ll be able to find a little bit of that profound connection Hanayui embraces with such joy, heart and soul.