A Shamisen for My Unforgettable Grandmother

Hello, I'm Yasu. I can't play the guitar, harmonica, or melodica, but I can play the sanshin.

That's right. Man, am I clumsy.


I strip screw heads when I use a screwdriver, and even with an electric one, I still strip them. I thought about using Ken Takakura as a comparison, but I'm so clumsy that I can't even use that comparison because nobody would get the reference.


The only instrument I can play is the sanshin. That thing from Okinawa. To be precise, it's the Amami sanshin, the Amami shamisen.


I learned by watching videos of people playing the shamisen on YouTube and copying them. It's self-taught. I went to an izakaya that serves Amami Oshima soul food, and the owner gave me a few pointers.


Why did a screw-stripping guy like me get drawn to the shamisen? It's my grandmother's fault.


My grandparents were from Amami Oshima in Kagoshima Prefecture. They moved to Osaka after the war. Because of that, the Yasu household was steeped in Amami culture, so Amami Oshima is my second home.


After my grandfather passed away, my grandmother, who loved him dearly, developed dementia. Well, it's painful not to have dementia. It's painful to remember my grandfather. She wanted to forget. That's how much she loved him.


At my grandfather's funeral, when the coffin was being taken out, my grandmother clung to it and wailed, 'No! Don't go! Take me with you!' My family, my relatives, and I were all sobbing. I can still cry just thinking about it.


That grandmother of mine. Due to her dementia, she eventually even forgot about her beloved grandson (me).


Ah, it's sad. She would look at me with eyes that said, 'Who are you?' But there was nothing I could do.


At that time, a relative of mine told me a story from the past.


'When everyone was young, back when Yasu was still small, whenever the relatives gathered, someone would play the shamisen, whistle, and dance. We'd drink and make such a racket. Your grandmother was good at dancing and singing, too!'


The relatives who played the shamisen have already passed away. There are no entertainers left in the Yasu clan.


……Then, shall I do it?


'Really! You're interested in the shamisen!' my relative said happily, and he went out of his way to order a shamisen from Amami Oshima and gave it to me as a gift.


From there, I practiced the shamisen on my own. Unlike the Okinawan sanshin, the Amami shamisen is minor. The way you play it is a bit different. There aren't many schools for it. So, I watched YouTube videos of people from Amami and copied their hand movements and finger placement.


Once I could play one song to a certain degree, I went to my parents' house. I showed the shamisen to my grandmother and played the song I had learned.


'……Hmm? You, no, it's not you. It's Yasu, right? How did you learn to play the shamisen? You're good!'


……Huh?


Wait.
Did she just say Yasu?


'……That's right, Grandma. I'll play the shamisen, so you sing.'


I could only play the one song I had just learned. My grandmother sang happily. Over and over, again and again, we sang and played the same song together.


'What, are you playing that song again?'


'That's right, Grandma. You can sing it, right?'


Ikyun ya kana,
Warya kuto wasuriti,
Ikyun ya kana

It was fun, Grandma.


……I'm that kind of clumsy person, but I've traded my shamisen for a pen and am now providing an article editing service for our members.


If you'd like to hear the shamisen I learned just to entertain my grandmother, please join our family!

[Image courtesy of Sachiwa]
[1079 days since the start of the After-School Writing Club]

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