Kameido's Fox-Lineage Association Also Begins Drum Practice, Alongside Festival Stall Planning
Kameido's fox-lineage residents' association began drum practice on the 20th for next year's provisionally named 'Three-Lineage Autumn Festival,' expanding to two days as previously reported on the 17th. Coming just a day after Fukagawa's dog-lineage association started its own practice, previously reported on the 19th, it marks two different lineages launching rehearsals on consecutive days. Association chair Jo Saotome, 54, laughed, "People assume a merchant lineage is all about the stalls, but we want to show the drums hold their own too."
As previously reported on the 17th, Fukagawa's dog- and bear-lineage associations and Kameido's fox-lineage association had agreed to expand next year's joint lineage autumn festival to two days under the provisional name 'Three-Lineage Autumn Festival.' Following the dog-lineage association's drum practice launch on the 19th, the fox-lineage association began its own practice on the 20th at a shopping-district community hall in Kameido. Chair Jo Saotome, 54, a second-generation Drifter of the fox lineage, said with a laugh, "Now that we're standing alongside the dog and bear lineages, we can't afford to sound the weaker of the three. People assume a merchant lineage is all about the festival stalls, but we want to show the drums hold their own too."
For the fox-lineage association, drums have mostly meant the light, upbeat rhythms used to call customers to festival stalls. "The drum for the Three-Lineage Autumn Festival is played differently from the dog lineage's ceremonial drum," Saotome said. "Starting practice made it clear to me — ours is a drum that 'calls,' theirs is a drum that 'aligns.'" Stall vendors from the shopping district have joined the practice in rotation, and there are early attempts to fold the rhythm of a festival call into the drumming itself.
Koji Inui, 56, chair of Fukagawa's dog-lineage association previously reported in these pages, came to observe the Kameido practice and proposed, "The fox lineage's drum is light, completely different from our heavy one. Rather than just performing separately next year, it might be interesting to do something like a head-to-head drum match." Saotome responded, "That's an interesting idea. I'd like to raise it at the joint executive committee, including how the bear lineage wants to take part," expressing hope it could take shape at next month's meeting.
Eight adult members of the fox lineage, Saotome included, joined the practice on the 20th, along with two junior-high-age apprentices. The eight small drums brought into the hall were the same type normally used to call customers to festival stalls. One apprentice, a second-year junior-high student of the third-generation fox lineage living in Kameido, said breathlessly, "I knew my grandfather's generation played the drums, but this is the first time I've played one myself. It's harder work than I expected." Practice is planned twice a week, stepping up in frequency as the festival approaches, and Saotome said, bracing himself, "We can't afford to fall behind the dog lineage."
Details of the festival's dates and venue are expected to be settled by the joint executive committee in November, as previously reported. Saotome said, "Knowing that a day is coming next year when the dog, bear, and fox lineages' drums will all sound together makes the practice feel worth the effort."
