Zunbara Zuihitsu Chapter 11 "Woodwinds Behind Tsudanuma"

It all started with a phone call from Mr. Takagi at the Ishibashi Music Ochanomizu branch, "Mr. Yamamoto, I'll be transferring to Tsudanuma branch effective November 1st."

From this point, he had been promoted as a store manager. I could either say, "Would you rather have some tea?" or on the contrary, I would also say, "Let's go grab a bite", or would I rather also say "Then I'll thrown in 10 picks and an extra harmonica"? Instead I'd say, "Alrighty, I'll take back Y10,000"; I doubt I would surely do it, but more importantly, I could have a leisurely conversation with Mr. Takagi. With the material sources for the guitar I'm aiming for, and the differences in how sound resonates on the edge and inbetween the floors, I could occasionally enjoy glancing at Takagi's grandmother, without relying on the time, because he's the store manager after all!

The Ochanomizu branch is a lean, narrow and old building, a little dark with, yes, cramped aisles.

One warm, early winter afternoon, I, Masayuki Yamamoto, went all the way to Tsudanuma! After hopping off at the JR Sobu station line, where was that and what am I doing again? In any case, it is not a town, but probably someone who have worked in the fields since yesterday. Somehow, with those newly packed buildings, I heard there is a Yuzawaya [department store & online shop]? Woah~!! I thought Yuzawaya was only in Kichijoji ("no doubt" in Mikawa dialect). There's a Lotteria and a Royal Host [fast food and gourmet restaurant respectively] between the traffic lights, where the store guard hollers out "It's gonna turn red soon". Right after passing by the crosswalk, there it was, right there! The Ishibashi Music Tsudanuma branch! It's only one floor. What the? This place is spacious!

You can play bowling, you can play catch, you can also play soccer even if you don't want to! As I excitedly explored inside the store, I spotted him! There he is! Hey, manager Takagi!

"Oh, Yamamoto!"

"A heh heh heh, here I am," I smugly grinned.

"Say, how embarrassing. Welcome to the countryside. Please come in."

"Oh, not at all. First off, lemme see the guitar."

"Sure, right this way please."

This story goes back a week ago. On my way back from buying saikyo-zuke [pickled fish on miso] marinated in sablefish, my natural walking habit came in as I strolled down through a street in Shinjuku. I went to a showroom that usually sells a viridian-colored study desk that is unavailable in Tokyo, a snack bar that handed out singles of 50s jazz singer Misao Nakahara, and a Bar Brown where I spent every evening with Yuichiro Enoki during the Garakuta Theater Troupe days. The Garakuta theater troupe office sits at a mansion on a big crossing below the frustratingly bitter Sun Music, close to the resiliently sturdy Susquehanna Record, at the corner of Alpha Eihan, from the old cafe where I had coffee with Yuko Mizutani after recording Hurry Up Taxi/Isoge Taxi, to the rear-end of 2nd district at the site of Okapi, where we celebrate the launch party of Shachihoko Stardust. The soramane [broad bean] izakaya where I gave a toast with Visual Space president Oyama the other day is right across Sekaido at another big crossing, and to the left is...well...Ishibashi Music at Shinjuku.

The next time I sing an enka, I'll be playing on a classical guitar. I wonder if it had [Matteo] Carcassi for around Y20,000?? I came to browse them before the October concert, but they only had a kid-sized three quarter scale model, so I wasn't expecting that much, but since I was just going for a walk, I only took a quick look.

What's that?!? What's with those strings!?! One, two, three, four, now that's a great stock! So I might've missed something before-- Huh? What'd it say? MADE IN SPAIN?!

"Excuse me, please lemme see!"

I played one Spanish guitar after another in a lined-up stock.

Masayuki Yamamoto had test-played from the rose scene in the hissatsu series,  Teruhiko Saigo's Starry Flamenco/Hoshi no Flamenco, to The Couple's Bar/Meoto Sakaba and The Glorious World of Entertainment/Hana no Geinoukai. 30 minutes later, the employee clicked behind me.

"Hey, I'd recommend this if in case you'll keep on playing as a customer." It was a yellow unlabeled flamenco guitar that came with a hard case costing Y70,000. Yeah, it really does sound great. The fact it IS unlabeled...drew me in.

"Y'know what, I've now decided to with a Y30,000 Almansa....uhmm....Y70,000, huh?"

"Yep. The lower strings are pretty good that's something musicians really wanted, but there's a little scratch right there." I didn't see some sort of a scratch.

So, did I end up buying that guitar? Starting price was Y20,000.

Without haste, I wanted to hear what the Almansa sounded. Even if it costed Y20,000 - or rather - Y10,000, it really does sound great. The first time I saw an Almansa at a Japanese music store, I carefully gave it a try, then I went to Tsudanuma.

A customer took a seat at the guitar section of Ishibashi Tsudanuma branch. It was a woman in her mid-twenties. "I'd like to give that a try."

The employee politely explained, "If so, here's a folk guitar." Eh? Folk?? Isn't that my specialty???

"Lemme see," I wanna speak myself up, but, knowing Yamamoto-sensei, I killed some time by wandering around the other sections. Now, here's where this subject of today's Zunbara Zuihitsu gets going.

The woodwinds section! Speaking of, the woodwinds include the saxes and clarinets to bassoons, oboes and flutes. Although saxes and flutes are now made of metal, they used to be made out of wood. I therefore still play woodwinds.

There's an elegant saleswoman with her black hair tied up and wears little make-up. Her blended family consisted of her parents, an elder sister who's in junior high and a younger sister in grade school. The younger sister pointed to the alto sax in a showcase; the elder sister pointed to it too. Her parents watched them with a grin. The saleswoman took out the alto, pressed the keys, and played calmly, carefully, and impressively in front of her younger sister as she watched her. The saleswoman began moving (to my surprise) and taught her sister to finger the sax.

"That's a C; that's an A. To play a semitone, play it like this, and if you finger it like that, you form an octave."

With her beautiful profile and her archaic smile, she then explained to the primary schoolmates.

A few minutes later, I asked Mr. Takagi, "So about the sales lady..."

Even Mr. Takagi understood, "That lady began working part-time at the Shibuya branch. She really loves woodwinds; even for one day-- no, even for one month, she could take the woodwinds back to her own room and hoped to enjoy the sounds. Even if she's away from her Chiba home and further away from Shibuya, she would come to the newly opened Tsudanuma branch. The manager called and told her to come right away as somebody revealed the pipe section."

I used to play clarinet back in middle school. "Whenever I hear the sounds of the pipe, you actually feel like you're in the music store, don't you?"

Mr. Takagi choked, "Things have been going swell lately whenever you come to this branch."

A moment of silence...

A new customer arrived, and manager Takagi approached to greet him. I had fun playing the synths, clavinova, bongos, maracas and the suzu as I please. The lady at the guitar counter a while ago seemed to made up her mind. The salesman then headed to the warehouse. Naturally curious, I couldn't help but spit it out to Mr. Takagi. "I wonder if he bought the folk [guitar], or perhaps the strings..."

Mr. Takagi ran to the warehouse. "It is a folk guitar apparently. You have to purchase any of the store's original guitars."

I got a huge, cosmically stoic imagination. "I hope he keeps it, so I could hopefully come back and find my next guitar."

Mr. Ito, the archival director of the Masayuki Yamamoto Office, owns a clarinet made in Germany. When the lady was a cheapskate, she would ask which store offered a reasonable price, but I held my tongue back and said to Ito, "You went through the trouble of buying an instrument?"

The clarinet still resides in Ito's room, admiring her boundless reputation. Whether it is from the synthesizer I gave to Fujiwara, or the JUNO-60 that Kameyama sold at the pawnshop, somewhere it enjoys the rich melody to its fullest.

The woodwinds I'd play as a teenager are probably played by the teens of today. Nowadays, even with the guitar held close to his heart, and with the saxophone that the child took, they're bound to play wonderful, joyous music. People who have been rejoicing at music stores are thrilled and thumping with discoveries.

In the end, after getting some spaghetti from a voucher at the Ishibashi Music Tsudanuma branch, I headed back inside and thoroughly test-played a Yamaha, an Aria, etc., then bought a light beige Spanish Almansa for Y28,000. This has been my absolute favorite. Mr. Takagi inputted on his calculator and lowered down for Y26,000. Since I had a loyalty card, the total came a little over Y25,000. That's quite a difference.

Then I strummed away on my guitar throughout the night.

Original Japanese: http://bellabeaux.co.jp/yamamoto/zunbara/zun011.html