Visit to Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments (3)

From 14:00, there was a guided tour for European musical instruments. First, we went to see the keyboard instruments. This is a clavichord.

The guide played it to let us hear the sound. It was elegant though quieter than that of the piano. After that she explained the mechanism to create the sound. But the most interesting thing I heard was that Mozart, the famous composer, used to carry his clavichord in a horse-drawn carriage. I wondered how because the clavichord in the museum was big and seemed to be heavy.

The next musical instrument was the harpsichord. While I was taking a note, a staff member of the museum came to me and said that you can’t use a pen in the exhibition rooms. She recommended me to borrow a pencil in the entrance, and I had to go upstairs to do so. It was a pity that I missed the most of the guide’s explanation of the harpsichord. This one is made in France in 1765, the age of Marie Antoinette.

 

Then, the guide took us to see the collection of wind instruments. She explained the origin of the trombone and played the sackbut (old type of the trombone) and the trombone. I was surprised that she could play both keyboard instruments and the brass instruments very well. According to her, the museum will have a concert with the suckbut and other musical instruments on March 17.

The guided tour was very interesting. On Sundays, they have two guided tours that start 11:00 and 14:00 respectively. Unfortunately, there is no guided tour in English, but self-guided audio headsets are available.

Modern European musicals instruments are familiar to Japanese people, but old instruments were exotic and very interesting to see. I liked this black harp lute made around 1825 in London. The dital harp beside it was also beautiful.

Near the harpsichords, there were old pianos. This piano made around 1860 had candlestands. I imagined how it looked great when it was played in a dark room in old days with candles lit.

 

Visit to Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments (2)

The museum has exhibition rooms also in the basement. Immediately beside the stairs, there is a big wooden object, which I had mistaken as just a sculpture. Actually, it is a tam tam slit drum from Vanuatu. It is one of the largest ones in the world and was used for rituals. The space in front of it is called “Tenku (sky) Hall” where concerts are held sometimes. The birds near the drum are sound reflecting boards to improve the acoustic of the hall. They are herons respected by people in New Guinea as a spirit or god.

In the exhibition of African musical instruments, there are many drums. The big brown drum is a Nigerian dimkedim made of two big gourds. It is no longer produced.

These are talkative drums used for communication. They can send messages with different rhythms of drums. There were also talkative flutes above them. I wanted to see how they were used. These drums and flutes were one of the most interesting items in this museum.

I saw another interesting musical instrument from Africa: a marimba from Tanzania.

I asked one of the museum staff members if the marimba originated from Africa. According to her, the marimba was spread from Africa to South America with the slave trade, and after that, the marimba was developed to become one of the musical instruments used in orchestras. As she explained, I could see marimbas from South America.

I wondered what kind of musical instruments they had in North America. I remembered an American folksong “Oh Susanna” and the banjo. According to the description in the museum, the banjo also originated from Africa. Behind the banjos displayed, there was mirrors so that we could see the beautiful design on the backside.

The America section had other interesting items such as quenas and maracas. There were so many things to see in the museum. I thought it might be interesting to learn the world history through musical instruments. If you study the background of each musical instrument, you may be able to learn quite a lot.

Visit to Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments (1)

Since long time ago, Hamamatsu has been known as a city of musical instruments because headquarters of leading musical instrument manufacturers such as Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland are located here. In 1995, the city opened Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments as a part of “Development of City of Music” policies. It is the only public museum of this kind in Japan. The museum has a collection of about 1500 items from all over the world. As I had nothing to do last Sunday, I spent some time there in the afternoon. 

As I entered the museum, I saw a gorgeous musical instrument from Myanmar. It was a hsaing waing used for Buddhist rituals, dance, and drama. 

On the right of the floor, there is a set of gamelan from Java. I think it is one of the most well-known and eye-catching musical instruments in the museum. Though musical instruments in the exhibition rooms are untouchable, you can hear the sound of many items from videos or headphones. As with the hsaing waing, I could see how it was played.

There were also some musical instruments from Korea. These are a kayagum and other similar musical instruments. They reminded me of Korean historical dramas I like. In one of such dramas, I have heard a famous folksong “Arirang” played with a kayagum. It was very impressive.

I like also some Chinese songs. Every time I visit this museum, I hear a part of “Zai Na Yaoyuan De Difang (草原情歌)” played with an erhu from the headphone. This song is widely known in Japan. While listening to the music, I took a picture of an erhu hung on the wall with its bow.

  

According to their website, this museum exhibits almost all kinds of Japanese musical instruments. These are used for gagaku or ancient court music.  

In a corner, you can try to play a Japanese song “Sakura Sakura (cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms)” with a koto, a stringed instrument. I saw some children playing it with their parents.

In addition to exhibition, the museum has often events such as concerts and workshops. Last Sunday, they had a workshop for children to make a little shakuhachi or Japanese flute. I’m not a child, but it may have been interesting to join it. 

DONQ - Big fresh baguette just out of oven

In the evening, after I had gelato in the basement of Entetsu Department Store, I went to the old building of the department store to buy something for dinner. In front of the shop of DONQ, a chain bakery, one of the staff members started shouting to announce what they would offer at 17:00. Two big fresh baguettes would be cut in slices in front of the customers who wanted them! It was 16:50, and I stood in a queue at once. 

The queue became longer and longer. Each customer could buy up to two slices and got one or two plastic cards according to the number of slices. All the cards seemed to be given out by 17:00, and the first baguette was carried in front of us. It was big indeed! But I was more surprised to see steam coming up from the baguette when it was cut. 

It went very rapidly. As I was the second in the queue, I could get my slice soon. After paying at the cash register, I hurried home. When I took out the baguette out of the paper bag, I noticed that the bag became wet because of the fresh bread. I measured the width of the slice with a measuring tape. It was about 24 cm.

Since I was so attracted to its freshness, I ate the baguette as it was without putting anything on it. The crust was as crisp as those of ordinary baguettes of DONQ. But the inside was very spongy and reminded me of Chinese steamed buns. 

It was an interesting kind of baguette, and I enjoyed eating it. The only disadvantage was that it was too big to eat at a time, so I left the half of it and put in the refrigerator. I have to warm it up when I eat it next time.

Every day, this big baguette is sold in the same way in DONQ in Entetsu Department Store. Generally, I don’t like to stand in a queue, but I think it was worth to do it this time.

Vegan gelato in SAN FELICE EXPRESS

If you try to be a vegan, it is extremely difficult to go out and have ice cream. I had thought like this for a long time and just passed by SAN FELICE EXPERSS until a few days ago. It is a confectionary shop located between the old building and the new building of Entetsu Department Store and sells waffles, Italian chocolate, candies, gelato, etc. I had never thought before that they had vegan gelato, but they did! Today I tried all the three kinds for the first time. They were kiwi, strawberry, and mango gelato.

I ordered gelato in a cup to take a picture easily. It looked beautiful with three colors. Each gelato has a simple taste of each fruit and was moderately sweet. I thought they were good especially when I was thirsty like today.

On the counter, I found tea bags on sale. As I have already several kinds of tea bags of other brands at home, I didn’t buy any of them today though I got interested in them.

Like other ice cream shops, you can choose between a cup and a cone when you order gelato. I think I’ll have a cone next time. SAN FELICE EXPRESS in the department store is a confectionary shop, SAN FELICE is originally an Italian restaurant near Act City. According to their website, the restaurant also seems to have some vegan-friendly dishes. I learned also that gelato in SAN FELICE EXPRESS is from an Italian company CremAmore. So, I had genuine Italian gelato today!

Vegan sweets in February

On February 3, I introduced natamochi in this blog. It is a vegan sweet, and I found it very good. Though it is eaten just for Setsubun or the day before the first day of spring, the shop Mataichian in Entetsu Department Store has some other winter sweets available for a longer period. One of them is a relatively new kind of sweet called ichigo daifuku. Daifuku is a rice cake stuffed with adzuki bean paste. It is a popular sweet, and ichigo daifuku is a kind of daifuku with a strawberry (ichigo) in it or put on the top. Since it is rather unusual to use fresh fruits for Japanese traditional sweets as they are, I think that this is a great invention. Mataichian has two kinds of ichigo daifuku, and I bought one of each. As I took them out from small plastic packs, I felt the sweet aroma of strawberries.

Under the strawberries, they looked like this.

The left one is stuffed with white bean paste. Generally, white bean paste has a light taste, so I ate this first. I found the bean paste very sweet. The strawberry was fresh but tasted a little bit bitter.

The right one is stuffed with semi-crushed adzuki bean paste. Though it was also sweet, it had the original flavor of adzuki beans similar to that in the rice ball I had the other day. Before I bought these ichigo daifuku, I talked with another customer who chose this kind of ichigo daifuku. She praised Mataichian’s good adzuki bean paste, saying that ichigo daifuku would surely taste good.
I’m not used to eating ichigo daifuku and the combination of bean paste and strawberries, but the two kinds of bean paste, especially adzuki bean paste, were really good.

The strawberries were local products. From January to May, you can enjoy strawberry picking in many farms in Shizuoka Prefecture, including those located near Lake Hamana in Hamamatsu. Ichigo daifuku are also sold in this period.

Mataichian has also a traditional sweet called uguisumochi. It is a famous sweet sold in many Japanese style confectionary stores in February. “Uguisu” means a Japanese bush warbler, which is also called “spring-announcing bird”, and uguisumochi takes after it. The sweet was named by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a feudal lord and chief imperial minister in the 16th century. Uguisumochi is coated with uguisuko or flour made of roasted green soybeans.

In many cases, the surface of uguisumochi looks green. Though the coating of Mataichian’s uguisumochi wasn’t green, but the skin under it was green and stuffed with adzuki bean paste. It was softer than ichigo daifuku I ate before, and the paste was smooth. Personally, I like ichigo daifuku better, but uguisumochi also seemed to be selling well.

Mataichian (又一庵) has many delicious sweets, but its specialty is kintsuba. Maybe I’ll introduce it next month.

Setsubun - Bean-throwing festival

Today is Setsubun, the day before Risshun or the first day of spring. Japanese people have a bean-throwing festival at home, shrines, and temples. We throw roasted soybeans, shouting “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” to drive away evil spirits and bring in good luck. Beans for Setsubun are often sold in packages with oni or evil spirit printed. There are even packages with a mask of oni. The bean-throwing festival is a lot of fun for children. When I was little, we threw also in-shell peanuts in my family. Though soy beans became dirty and uneatable after they were thrown (so we ate other beans), but in-shell peanuts were still eatable. In some regions in Japan, they throw peanuts at home instead of soy beans for this practical reason.

I bought a pack of beans from Kyoto. According to the bag, a prayer was made in Nison-in Temple for these beans. But it is not so important for me because I just like the taste of good soybeans. I buy the same product every year.

According to the tradition, we eat as many beans as our age after throwing beans. I didn’t throw beans and ate them without counting. They were not only good but also nutritious. Unfortunately, roasted soybeans are only available at stores only at this time of the year. I hope I can get some more at a discount price tomorrow.

In addition to bean throwing, we have another tradition for Setsubun in Enshu or western part of Shizuoka Prefecture. In Japan, some ages are considered unlucky and called yakudoshi. They are 25, 42, and 61 for men, and 19, 33, and 37 for women. In Enshu, people in these ages used to put sweets called natamochi on crossroads and let children pick them up and eat them. In this way, they drove away bad luck. Though I grew up here, I had never heard of it before. When I walked around in the basement of Entetsu Department Store, I saw natamochi in Mataichian. It is a popular Japanese confectionary store in Iwata, a town to the east of Hamamatsu. There I heard about natamochi. As they looked delicious, I bought one of them.

The main ingredients are glutinous rice and adzuki beans, and the surface was coated with roasted soybean flour. According to the shop, the original natamochi doesn’t have any filling. The outside of it was so elastic that it was difficult to cut with a little Japanese-style fork. As it looked, it was delicious indeed!