On Thursday night my sister and I went to a dinner theater in Okinawa. We got to eat little bits of really good food (small portions of a lot of dishes equal a full multi-course meal) while the performers did traditional dance to entertain us. My sister and I know very little Japanese so we couldn’t understand the singing and never did figure out what the story they performed was. However, as my sister reminded me we had learned at the kabuki play last year, the Japanese theater pays less attention to the story and more attention to the image. The imagery of the dancers in Japanese traditional outfit dancing around the stage in time with the strong or soft spots in the music, singing along occasionally, was definitely striking.
The night started out with us being late so this is what awaited us when we showed up. Most of the other patrons were already on their second helping but there were also two other sets of people that came in after us, so we didn’t feel too bad. My sister said that Okinawans are not known for being early, or even on time all the time. The dinner theater seemed to have taken that into consideration because the meal started at 6:30 while the performance started at 7:00 pm. The meal was rather good with sushi, a few different types of salads, a very good chunk of meat (in the covered bowl), and tempura fish. My sister didn’t much like the idea of eating a full fish, scales, head, fin and all. Since I ate mine (stopping at the fin) she gave me hers to eat and thought it was hilarious that I actually ate the fish. Hers was a little more salty than mine had been but otherwise it was fine, as long as I didn’t see the face as I ate it. Somethings are just better to not think about while. or after, you do them.
Not long after the fish incident, the lights dimmed and the stage lights started to dance around the stage in alternating colors. Then two ladies came out and knelt with their backs to us. As they started to dance on the darkened stage, they clicked together two wooden blocks in each hand, adding a nearly cymbal-like sound to the music playing through the hidden speakers. After they walked off stage two male eisu dancers walked on and started their dance. Eisa dancers are people, often men, who dance with drums, hitting them in tone with the music in a traditional Okinawan dance. One of the dancers broke his drumstick in half. The broken half he kicked to the back wall and the half he held, with the tassel, he used to hit the drum. It probably wasn’t as loud or perfect to hit the drum with the tassel end but it still worked for the show.
Soon the two lady dancers came out again, this time in peasant outfits and the eisa dancers went backstage. The ladies danced with flower branches and finished with scrolls that said something in Japanese. They left and the shisa dog came out to prance about the stage. It was rather impressive when you think of how perfectly in time they were to have the person at the head of the body snapping the wooden jaws shut with the dance and the two people able to coordinate enough to roll around on the ground like a real dog would. Shisa dogs are popular in Okinawa due to the belief that the mix of dog and lion creatures are protective wards that protect houses. After a little while the shisa dog turned on glowing eyes and walked down the steps to walk among the tables. Yes, it did try to eat my sister.Next the ladies came out for a brief dance before the older one left the younger one to dance alone. After a short dance with the clappers, the other lady came out to dance alone as a warrior. Soon the other girl came out in warrior outfit and they danced a short dance together. Soon they were replaced by the two male eisa dancers and a female eisa dancer. This time the men had the big drums and the girl had the small drum. They danced around the stage in their high stepping drum dance until the two men left the lady warrior to dance alone. Then the two ladies came back on to dance with her. The two lady dancers then went into the crowd and brought people on stage. My sister went up while I stayed put to take pictures. Soon others joined my sister on stage and they all danced. Then the shisa dog joined them for a minute before going out among the tables again to see what trouble it could cause. The dog went back on stage and the show was over. The cast bowed (yes, the male eisa dancers were the two parts of the dog) and we got to take pictures with the cast. After picture time, the “dog” stood up, shook itself off, and trotted off stage. Show complete.
The night was not complete for us though. On the walk back to the car we found these cuties. The baby “animals” are permanently attached to the bench while the dogs are stuffed animals advertising the doggie shirts sold at the store behind the camera. If you look closely you can see the babies are bigger versions of the old dolls that were popular in the US years ago (as in they were going out of popularity when I was a kid) but they have maintained their popularity in Japan and are a popular souvenir item in various outfits and a popular craft seems to be to create outfits for these small baby dolls.
We also passed a store that sold souvenirs and was decorated by super heroes and other popular icons. You can see Hello Kitty coming out of the roof, various superheros in the window below, and you can’t see Tweety Bird comfortable in a shark’s mouth ( or was it a whale?) in the store along with many other favorites. I’m not sure what the life size dolls had to do with the merchandise since the store seemed like it was merely a normal Okinawan souvenier store, but it was eye catching. It was later at night than I like to be out so we didn’t stop to investigate the store. We took a picture and got in her car, soon we were home and getting ready for bed. hmm, bed… A late day should mean a late morning but no such luck. High tide was 5 am and we were going snorkeling the next day so no sleeping in for us. (Okay, just a little)