{"id":106823,"date":"2023-03-31T09:30:12","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T00:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/?p=106823"},"modified":"2023-03-31T09:22:08","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T00:22:08","slug":"%e5%a4%a2%e3%81%af%e6%af%8d%e5%9b%bd%e3%81%ae%e6%95%99%e8%82%b2%e7%9b%b8%e3%80%80%e3%82%a4%e3%83%b3%e3%83%89%e3%83%8d%e3%82%b7%e3%82%a2%e3%81%a8%e6%97%a5%e6%9c%ac%e3%82%92%e3%81%a4%e3%81%aa%e3%81%90-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/weekly\/news-en\/2023\/03\/31\/106823\/","title":{"rendered":"A 2nd year\u2019s journey from beginner to world-class competitor in the Japanese instrument Tsugaru-shamisen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI want people to hear the powerful live sound of the Tsugaru-shamisen.\u201d<\/h3>\n

Student club \u201cTsugaru-shamisen Lovers Association Mitsudomoe\u201d
\nHayato Endo, 2nd year in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences<\/h6>\n
\"\"

In Okuma Garden<\/p><\/div>\n

Tsugaru-Shamisen Lovers Association Mitsudomoe<\/a> (hereafter \u201cMitsudomoe\u201d) was established in 2000 and works under the motto of \u201cconveying the joy of the Tsugaru-shamisen.\u201d Hayato Endo, who first came to Mitsudomoe as a beginner in musical instruments, participated in the \u201c40th Tsugaru-shamisen World Championship\u201d held in Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture in May this year as an individual youth C class and finished in 8th place. Moreover, the Mitsudomoe club won the team division and thus the world championship for the fifth time. We have taken the opportunity to ask Hayato about the appeal of the shamisen, how he came to win an award in the world championship, and his future goals.<\/p>\n

\u2015\u2015Please tell us how you started with the Tsugaru-shamisen.<\/h6>\n

I started playing the shamisen after I entered university. I had been active in track and field since middle and high school, but I felt that as I had already focused on physical activities, I wanted to do something new when I entered university. I had an image that I wanted to do music, but I wanted to try something unusual rather than playing guitar as a band member! So, when I was looking at the information on music clubs published in the information magazine Milestone<\/em>, which introduces clubs, music was categorized by genre, like \u201crock\u201d and \u201cjazz\u201d; and on the last page, I saw \u201cOther,\u201d where it said \u201cTsugaru-shamisen Lovers Association Mitsudomoe: The Most Hardcore Japanese Music Club at Waseda.\u201d My gut feeling was \u201cThis is it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Immediately, I watched a performance video and thought it\u2019s so cool! After that, when I heard the sound at a tasting session, I was overwhelmed by its power. I decided on Mitsudomoe without even hesitating to think about other clubs.<\/p>\n\n\t\t