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The weekend before last was a special event in which an artist who is my island’s most famous living child (he’s moderately famous throughout Japan) came and gave a group of about a hundred people a guided tour of the island’s secret places and history. In the evening was a big party at which the taiko group (including me) played. These pictures are from the rehearsal.

The artist mentioned above is most famous living person from this island, but only the second most famous person the island has produced. The most famous was born here about six hundred years ago, and became one of the most important kings of the Ryukyu Kingdom — as Okinawa still was back then, before it had been conquered by Japan. Next week there will be another, very special taiko performance to mark the transferral of the bones of one of his descendants into a special royal tombs on the side of one of the island’s hills. We start practicing (two new pieces!) tonight.