Midsummer Japan, with such a hard humidity and high temperature, needs appropriate air-conditioning – it avoids both heat illness and summer cold. Japanese dance lessons, on the other hand, require cool-enough air for good concentration.

Rainy season looks ended. Weather information said that it delayed one day compared to normal, while 16 days later than last year. Hard time started for Japanese dance lessons.

Mei-Shun learned how to dance “Echigo-Shihi” a few years ago. As a beginner, she did not understand well the way to write scores. That is why the score is tough to decode – mirror-like sketches sometimes appear. 80% is clear now, leaving sarashi part untouched.

Master Mei-Shu gave Mei-Shun a lesson. Quick steps of manly dance are so hard today, since it is torrid after the typhoon. It seems nice for diet.

It is no easy to write a dancing score. Normally, masters sit down face-to-face with their students. Many of them keep sitting, move their upper bodies only, like in the mirror. In this case, when you sketch your master, his/her right hand will be your left one, left hand right. Or you have to make the score upside-down, when you try to sketch yourself.

Master Mei-Shu gave Mei-Shun a lesson. “Echigo-Shishi” is a bit different from normal manly dance: it is for kid performers. Gorgeous performance full of scenes to watch including sarashi (=a long strip of cotton cloth) swinging, yet at the same time, it is no easy for grown-up dancers to do with lightness of steps.

Master Mei-Shu, stayed for a while in Hokkaido, has come home. She lost 8 kilograms in a year – it looks nothing but unusual. Shall I bring you to the hospital? No, it is never allowed for just one of her students to force anything. Just feeling worried is so hard. It looks like telling Mei-Shun that she is powerless.