Japanese Instruments Pt. III: Yokobue

The final installment in my mini-series on Japanese instruments will be about the third instrument we were introduced to that summer, yokobue, the art of the Japanese flute. This was the only instrument that came with an additional fee for participation, but being only 1,000 yen (approximately $10 USD), it was worth it. That small fee bought each of us our own flute for us to keep following the program.

This was the shortest set of lessons we had, only meeting four times in the latter half of our summer. We were scheduled for more lessons, but a few had to be cancelled. Our summer was packed to the point of overscheduling, so unfortunately some sacrifices had to be made. That being said, although our time was short, yokobue was actually a lot of fun. A lot of that had to do with the energy our sensei brought to our lessons. (Below: Our senseis gave a performance at our farewell ceremony, performing a few of the songs we learned. This also included a short taiko performance. Photos by David Parker).

Both were professional yokobue players and members of a taiko troupe, so their performances and abilities were beyond impressive.
Before their performance, though, those of us that took the lessons were going to perform the introductory song, "Sakura." Although I attended all the lessons, because I was already performing on the koto during our closing ceremony, I didn't get to play the yokobue, too.

However, my fellow students Sean and Joe were able to play, and while we all had equal time in our lessons, these two were able to pick up the flute a bit faster than the rest of us. I was able to get the hang of it somewhat, but without any prior woodwind experience, getting my breathing and the air flow under control was quite the challenge. I felt much more confident in my abilities with strings, hence my decision to play the koto over yokobue.

I had a photo I was going to post of my friends' performance, but because of the embarrassing anecdote of one performer I'm about to share, I will spare my unfortunate friend additional photo evidence. During each of the performances, one member of the group would give a short introduction, for both koto and yokobue. These were nothing more than an introduction to who's playing and then one or two extra sentences about your experience with the instrument. As I had mentioned earlier, all of our instructors were in attendance for our closing ceremony, so after saying their names, my friend gave the following as his short speech (in kana and romaji):

先生がいるから、私が浣腸しています
Sensei ga irukara, watashi ga kanchou shiteimasu

This illicited a mixed reaction of shock, disbelief and hilarity. What my friend had wanted to say was "Because my instructors are here, I am a bit nervous," which properly translated should be:

先生がいるから、私が緊張しています
Sensei ga irukara, watashi ga kinchou shiteimasu

Naturally, the majority of us students didn't pick up on the mistake as quickly as our host families and teachers, so we didn't understand the abnormal reaction. However, when we looked up the translation, turns out our friend has mistakenly said, "Because my instructors are here, I will be giving an enema."

After the first wave of native speakers had their laugh at our friend's mistake, there was then the secondary wave of laughter as all the students caught on to the mistake in our translators. This still lives as a moment my friend will never forget, mainly because anyone who was there won't let him.

This is perhaps the best (and most hilarious) example I have in the whole of my time in Japan of the subtleties of the Japanese language. A mistake in one syllable can be the difference between being nervous and giving someone an enema.

Useful phrase in this week's post:

Yokobue - よこぶえ - 横笛

Meaning: Japanese flute