Kamaishi’s last remaining geisha came to Hachioji: Part2

On the 28th, the last day  of her stay, we were to record Tsuyako’s dance performance.
She had to leave Hachioji in the afternoon, so it was held in the morning.

Before the recording of Tsuyako’s dance performance, we all dressed into our yukata, casual summer kimonos, at our okiya and then moved to our geisha mother’s traditional Japanese restaurant which is located near our okiya.

On that day, my geisha sister and I were to play the shamisen for Tsuyako’s dance performance, so we took our shamisens.

I got tense, because if I made a mistake, Tsuyako would have to dance again. I thought that it would be hard for her.
My geisha mother didn’t play the shamisen together with us, instead she sung to our shamisen playing.
Despite being careful not to make any mistakes, I did make one mistake.

Tsuyako danced 3 songs. When Tsuyako was dancing, she looked very beautiful. I could imagine her as a beautiful young geisha.

After we finished the recording, Tsuyako taught us a new song “Sutakora-ondo”, based on the song “Kamaishi-ondo”, which she wrote by herself.

The lyrics of “Sutakora-ondo” were based on her experience of the M9 Tohoku earthquake.
The song talks about how we should run to save our lives when a Tsunami hits but the main message of the song is the hope of rebuilding  Kamaishi.
The mood of the song was light, and I felt Tsuyako has strong mental power.

After several days of recording, my geisha mother wrote the shamisen score for “Sutakora-ondo”, and some of my geisha sisters and I recorded it at our okiya.
Tsuyako said to my geisha mother that she wanted a recording of the music of “Sutakora-ondo” so that she could use it for dancing to the song.
When I heard about that I felt admiration for Tsuyako again.
I remember how I just felt sad after the M9 Tohoku earthquake happened, because almost all ozashiki parties were cancelled.
However at the same time, Tsuyako, who lost everything except her life, remained hopeful.