Dondokodon, the Day the World Opens Up with a Don
My first giraffe, and a world that keeps expanding
A quiet, rhythmic thumping sound could be heard from somewhere.
As if drawn by the sound, I approached its source, and...
A chimpanzee was hitting a door with both hands.
The thumping sound that began as a simple beat gradually changed in rhythm and pitch, turning into a 'dondokodon'.
Don, doko, don... don.
Dondokodon, dondokodon, dondon.
Low, resonant sounds, and dry, high-pitched sounds.
Even the tone changed depending on where it was hit and how the hands were placed.
It was as if I were listening to a drum session.
In time with that rhythm,
another chimpanzee appeared before us, swaying its body from side to side and beginning to dance rhythmically.
The sound moved our bodies,
and our bodies in turn drew in the rhythm.
The slight pause made us wait for the next beat, and before I knew it, I found myself keeping time with my whole body to that rhythm.
My son, with his granddaughter on his shoulders, also began to gently tap the same beat.
Then, the granddaughter, too,
swaying her body on his shoulders and tapping out the beat with her small hands,
innocently joined the flow.
Even though no one had taught her,
she naturally fell into the same rhythm.
Before I knew it, the people who were there, too,
were sharing the same moment,
and the children were watching with cheers of joy and excitement.
After the sound suddenly cut off,
a brief moment of silence arrived.
Until the session ended,
everyone there had melted into that sound.
And even that silence
was filled with the lingering echoes of what had just happened.
It was as if we were all experiencing music from some foreign land together.
A mysterious and fun rhythm
that connects people and animals, crossing the boundaries between them.
And it was a moment where we bathed in that session with our whole bodies and shared it with the people around us.
In a zoo so full of greenery that you wouldn't think it was in the middle of the city...
The blue sky, the green of the trees, and the soft breeze of May brushed against our cheeks.
I took a deep breath, filling my chest with fresh air.
I gazed at the greenery.
I looked up at the blue sky and white clouds.
I watched over the happy, playful smiles of my grandchildren,
held their soft hands as we walked slowly, and then picked them up.
That day, before entering the zoo, we had a picnic in the park nearby.
Bread and pie baked the day before, and sandwiches prepared that morning.
Just spreading them out under the blue sky makes an ordinary meal feel a little special.
Everyone's smiles burst forth, and that alone is happiness.
The grandchildren stuffed their cheeks with delight, and just watching them made my heart feel warm.
'I want to see the giraffe!'
That's what my older granddaughter had said.
Once inside the park, the two grandchildren were captivated by everything they saw.
They would stop and stare intently,
or shrink back in slight surprise,
only to return to a serious expression the next moment.
Each one of those moments
was a moment of encountering a new world.
With wide eyes, they were facing
a world they were seeing for the first time.
Eventually, when they found the giraffe they had been looking forward to,
their expressions brightened instantly.
Watching that look in their eyes,
my own heart felt full.
However, perhaps the best encounter of the day was in that rhythm.
On the way home, my granddaughter had a chimpanzee stuffed animal in her arms.
She was hugging it dearly.
It seemed that more than the giraffe she had been so looking forward to,
what remained in her heart was that rhythm, that sound, and that dance.
My husband named the chimpanzee that was hitting the door
'John Bonham'.
John Bonham is the name of the drummer for Led Zeppelin.
Thinking of that powerful, dynamic rhythm, the name felt perfectly fitting.
Even after returning home, my granddaughter
is apparently chatting away earnestly
to her new friend, 'John'.
By seeing the animals,
the children's world expands
once again.
And being able to spend the same time by their side.
It may seem like something taken for granted, but it is never a given.
One year since that first festival celebration.
Those children who were so small
are now here, eyes shining, touching a new world.
A grateful, irreplaceable time that I was able to witness.
It was a day when another gentle memory was added.
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