Journey`s End

November 25, 2008

I`m posting this entry at the Kansai International Airport one hour before we board our plane back to Vancouver. The Roots Pilgrimage 2008 is complete and it has been absolutely magical and amazing as was expected. I apologize for not blogging daily the events of this year`s trip, but it couldn`t be helped as many of the places we stayed had no internet access of had a limited time for using the computer. So I will have to give the details and highlights of the trip later when I return from Japan.

I am really excited about sharing this year`s journey with you with pictures from all the participants and all. I will call this year`s trip "Take (bamboo) 5" Shakuhachi Roots Pilgrimage as the total number of participants dwindled down to 5 from the original 9. At first I was disappointed at all the cancellations, but in the end I was happy as it was the perfect amount of people for this kind of journey. It also corresponded to the 5 holes of the shakuhachi and the the famous piece by Paul Desmond which is also a popular piece to play on shakuhachi!

It was the most relaxed and slowest-paced trip to date which was great as it gave me lots of time to rest and everyone could enjoy the journey more. I will used this trip as a template for future Roots Pilgrimages.

When I return home I will give you an account of the main details of the body of our Roots Pilgrimage 2008.

Roots 5 Begins

Roots 5 is half way over and I haven't posted any blogs about the trip yet which I apologize for. For some reason it's more difficult this time around to access a computer and find time to post. I'll endeavor to begin to describe this year's journey into Shakuhachi Heart Country.

All the way up to just beore leaving for Japan I was gigging intensively every day with Dharmakasa doing school shows at the Michael J.Fox Theatre. So was quite tired before the flight. The day before leaving I got a call from Chris, one of the participants on the trip saying that he will not be coming with me on the flight to Japan as his partner, Val got very sick. This put me in a somewhat cloudy mood but I prayed that she would recover and that I would see them in Japan in a week.

I met Barbara, my student at the airport at 3AM and we checked in safe and sound. I was feeling quite distant from Japan at the beginning of the trip; a lot more mellower than my usual heightened anticipation and pre-departure excitement.

To be continued....