Akama-jingu

The last two weekends I have attended events at the Akama shrine in Shimonoseki.
Last night Stephanie (an American teacher at Baiko University) and I saw a musical about the history of the area and the shrine. It was performed on the central staircase inside the Suitenmon gate. There was some amazing taiko drumming and elaborately beautiful costumes. Everything was narrated and sung in Japanese, but I knew about most of the events in the story. I was able to recognize the basic plot line.

Last week Ruthie and I went with some of our Japanese co-workers to watch gagaku (ancient imperial court music) and bugaku (the dance which accompanies gagaku). It has been performed for over 1200 years and is very elegant. At both events we were the only noticeable foreigners. We met the head of the shrine after the gagagu event. He was excited to meet us since he had visited the U.S. thirty years ago.