2023 April : Yamatogaku school of Tokyo awards three Americans with Natori - accredited master’s degrees

Yamatogaku” is a contemporary genre of Japanese traditional music that combines both Western and Japanese aesthetics. The style was developed from the ideas and efforts of Baron Kishichiro Okura to make Japanese traditional music more accessible to a rapidly-modernizing Japanese audience. This style of music, which was founded 90 years ago, pairs traditional instruments and female voices with Western vocal aesthetics and harmony to create a unique sound world which stands out among the traditional arts of Japan.

Kyosho Yamato (AKA Mariko Watabe), is a resident of California since 2012 and currently resides in Gardena. Kyosho is also a dancer, Nagauta, and Hayashi musician who has been introducing Japanese traditional performing arts to different parts of the United States such as Chicago and New York for several decades.

Kyosho Yamato’s major activities after moving to California:

In July 2017, Mr. Shinjuro Katada was invited to perform a hayashi concert at the George Nakano Theater in Torrance.
In February 2019, Yamatogaku no Kai was held at the Ken Miller Recreation Center in Torrance with the third iemoto of Yamatogaku, Mme. O-sho Yamato and Hayashi musician Mr. Shinjuro Katada.

Watabe uploaded 100 YouTube videos from 2020 to 2022 titled “Ohayashi Juku", which served to introduce people to the art of Japanese hayashi during the pandemic.

Three students of Kyosho Yamato were awarded Natori – accredited master’s degrees which bestow the surname of the headmaster of the school and stage names which take a character from their teacher’s name.

The Natori ceremony took place at the Hie Shrine in Tokyo, Japan on April 7, 2023 in the presence of Mme. O-sho Yamato, the third-generation headmaster of Yamatogaku.

Their debut took place on April 16, 2023 at the National Theater in Tokyo as part of a performance commemorating the 90th anniversary of the founding of Yamatogaku and the 10th anniversary of Mme. O-sho Yamato’s direction as headmaster.

The three new Natori of Kyosho performed "Sunabikiso no Hana" on the shamisen.

In addition to this, Kyosho also performed an additional solo number of her own, titled "Tsukijido."

The concert concluded with three recital pieces by the headmaster, Mme. O-sho Yamato with guest artists.

The three natori are as follows:

Josho Yamato (AKA: Joseph Monticello) is 30 years old.
Flutist, currently based in Miami, Florida.
Watabe has been his shamisen instructor since 2009, when she lived in New Jersey.

He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, Oberlin College and Conservatory, and Interlochen Arts Academy High School.
While continuing with his career in music, he hopes to promote Yamatogaku shamisen in the US.

 

 

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Kyoichiro Yamato (AKA Carlos Coronado) is 30 years old.

Resident of Oxnard, California.

In 2012, Coronado was introduced to Madame Mariko Watabe, from whom he began learning shamisen, hayashi, and dance.

Soon after, he debuted as part of Watabe's troupe in performances across Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Los Angeles, and New York.

In 2017, alongside hayashi master, Shinjuro Katada, Coronado both sang and performed as one of the main hayashi, percussion players for a special hayashi concert in Torrance, marking the completion of a year-long intensive hayashi apprenticeship program.

The fact that Coronado, who often performs hayashi accompaniment due to local demand, has gained a Natori for playing Yamatogaku style shamisen, exemplifies his versatility and willingness to adapt in order to work with others to promote Japanese music.

Thus forward, Coronado aims to promote Yamatogaku shamisen in the Santa Barbara area and will continue to bolster performances under Watabe, in Los Angeles.

Kyoto Yamato (AKA Travis Suzaka) is 35 years old.

Originally from Seattle, he now resides in New York City.
After graduating from the University of Washington, he studied at Aoyama Gakuin University.

He currently works at the Ronin Gallery in Manhattan, which handles Japanese woodblock prints by artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige.

He studied Minyo shamisen in Japan and Nagauta shamisen in Seattle before joining Watabe’s New York class in 2017.
In addition to shamisen, Suzaka plays the Japanese flute at festivals in New York and elsewhere.

From now on, he will promote Yamatogaku shamisen in New York.