Grand Hama practice in Yokohama

The city of Yokohama, in the Kanagawa Prefecture lies south of Tokyo, and is the second largest and most populous municipality in Japan. Yesterday I took the subway from my temporary home in downtown Tokyo—staying in Ikebukuro—to Kanazawa-ku, one of Yokohama’s 18 wards, to attend a practice of Grand Hama Morris. This was my second time meeting the members of Grand Hama Morris, and my first time in Yokohama.

Grand Hama Morris rehearse once a month at the Kanazawa Chiku Centre. Practices take place over a whole afternoon, from 1pm to 6pm—so there is plenty of time to try out some new dances and cement knowledge of existing ones in the repertoire. Yesterday’s practice was actually more of a morris dancing exchange, however, with Grand Hama taking me through the paces of some of their favourite dances (‘Valentine’ and ‘Upton-upon-Severn’) before I attempted to return the favour, teaching ‘Signposts’ and ‘Balance the Straw’ from the Waters Green Morris repertoire.

 

 

There is no question that Grand Hama morris practices function as an excellent work-out! The weather in Yokohama was unseasonally warm and sunny yesterday, so the practice space quickly became something of a heat trap (think, ‘hot yoga’ but for morris dancing…now there’s an idea!). Still, I’m not sure I’ve been too warm in the UK since about last August, so I’m not complaining!

An excellent initiative that I would like to start implementing back home with my own morris side, Waters Green Morris, is the mid-practice snack break. At about 3pm, everyone in attendance produced a selection of foods and treats, pulled up a table and shared them with the group. In particular, I loved these fluffy dorayaki pancakes, filled with matcha custard. Although it looks huge, the batter was so light it was still possible to jump high in the air during the remainder of the practice... Well, as high as I can ever jump, anyway!

One of the highlights of my day was meeting and dancing with Tomo Koizumi, who had been too unwell to attend the beer festival last weekend, but was back on top form for yesterday’s event, and is a truly excellent dancer! 

 

The observant amongst you might notice that Tomo is wearing her Hammersmith Morris Men ‘Smiffs’ t-shirt, bought from Sidmouth Folk Week in 2015. The Koizumi family are super-fans of Hammersmith Morris Men, having met them several times in the UK. Indeed the name ‘Grand Hama’ is a blend of Yokohama and Hammersmith! Aha!

A lovely moment for me was dancing a two-man jig with Tomo, ‘Old Molly Oxford’. Tomo picked this dance up almost instantly, and is now considering entering the John Gasson Jig Competition in Sidmouth, when she visits the festival later in the summer. This would be fantastic — and she will certainly be a force to be reckoned with!

After the practice, we went for a well-earned slap-up meal at the nearby Denny’s restaurant, where I ate delicious ramen, and then fell into a near-comatose state for the journey back to Tokyo!

 

I was thoroughly spoiled by the members of Grand Hama Morris, with so many beautiful gifts, including a vintage kimono, handmade bag made from Japanese silks, handmade armlets (to protect sleeves while doing the washing up) and of course, my kawaii little kewpie doll! 

I had such a wonderful time in Yokohama with Grand Hama and can’t wait for an opportunity to meet and dance with them again in the future! Look out for my ‘Meet Grand Hama Morris’ blog post coming soon!