The Adventure of Momotaro: The Peach Boy

The Ki clappers sound thunderously loud in the auditorium as the main drape pulls back to reveal a scene of rolling mountains in the distance, puffy clouds, a cherry blossom tree branch spilling delicately over the roof of a small hut with a magnificent evergreen pine tree gracing the landscape. Such a scene might be typical of a Japanese Kabuki theater performance in Japan. However, this was a production of the Japanese fairy tale Momotaro: The Peach Boy presented in the Kabuki style by core group of eighty-four students from Wildwood and Mark’s Meadow elementary schools in Amherst under the direction of the visiting artist–in-residence Mary Mariko Ohno, a Japanese dancer and musician from Seattle and Tacoma in Washington state.

The story of Momotaro: The Peach Boy dates back to the late 1600 and remains one of Japan’s most popular fairy tales for children. It is included in the elementary school textbooks in Japan because the story gives moral instruction for children. Wisdom, Benevolence, Courage, Health and Wealth are considered the five elements for people to live in peace and happiness and in this story these five treasures are stolen by the wicked Oni (devils) who live on Oni-ga Shima Island. Two old people, Ojji-san and Obaa-san, who have long wanted a son were one day rewarded by the gift of a boy, emerging from a giant peach. The magical Peach Boy Momotaro restores these five treasures to the Japanese people with the help of Dog, Monkey and Pheasant, and wins the appreciation of his grandparents. Thus all ends happily.

The Amherst schools performance of Momotaro exhibited the talent of fourth graders at Wildwood school and sixth graders at Mark’s Meadow. Watching the show, one realized with wonder at the nuances and details of Japanese arts, culture and language the students had absorbed in this three-week study. From song lyrics to rhythmic pauses, from memorizing the words in the script to understanding the delicacy of dance movement, from learning to be still to paying respect to the teacher, this extreme exposure to another culture was at the same time an immense undertaking for the artist herself while it was a tremendous learning opportunity for the students and the teachers to have Mary Ohno teach in the traditional Japanese style.

The residency culminated in the two performances of Momotaro by the students who performed with credit. Jamie Sharken looking elegant and composed as a young Japanese lady in a turquoise kimono with white cherry blossoms with a golden obi sash opened the play as the narrator setting the scene for the story to follow. Springtime was represented by the Sakura dancers Brittany, Avery, Forbasaw and Marsha dressed in coral colored kimonos each holding a cherry blossom branch as they danced to a lilting melody. Ojji-San and Obaa-san (grandfather and grandmother) in both sets acted remarkably well, speaking expressively and looking as their role required them to do so. Young Momotaro was lovable and older Momotaro played by Spencer Brown was well done. A costume truly resplendent for a hero, he looked strong and swashbuckling with a sword in his hand as his role demanded. Momotaro and his companions the Dog, Monkey and Pheasant were well cast and each played their parts with distinction. The dancers representing the waves and river had wonderful props to give effect of surf and waves and moved well together. The Oni (devil) masks were a spectacle to see, vibrant in reds and blues with horns. They were definitely a devilish sight and acted their parts accordingly. One of the most beautiful images in the play was the performance of the dancers with the parasols. Violet, Felicia, Araba and Chaya danced beautifully, twirling and rolling their parasols with ease and expertise. Drummer Simon Moushabeck kept the sound effects timed perfectly.

The staging of this play brought the staff and students of the two schools to work together in a one-of-its-kind cooperation involving everyone in the two schools in one way or another. Under the able direction of arts teachers Diane Travis (Mark’s Meadow) and Julie Riviera (Wildwood) the students made the majestic Pine tree and the devil masks. Mary Ohno made the costumes with the help of Akiko Michikawa and Deb Bix (parents at Wildwood). The two music teachers, Sandy Albano and Mary May taught and rehearsed the Japanese songs with the children, fourth grade teachers helped Mary Ohno to coach the students in the roles. Elizabeth O’Brien and Martha Edwards, Physical Education teachers, helped with rehearsing the dances and Kathryn Runyan, Computer specialist at Wildwood and part of the art team created invitation and signage. Carolyn Kilmer at Asian Arts & Culture Program coordinated the office work for the entire residency project, Maren Brown, Director of Education & Access at Fine Arts Center designed the evaluation and assessment process and Ranjanaa Devi, Asian Arts & Culture Program provided complete oversight and coordination for the artist within the two schools. It was a commendable effort on the part of everyone and it helped to make this project a great success!

The Japanese Arts Project was the conceived by Ranjanaa Devi, Director of Asian Arts & Culture Program at the Fine Arts Center at UMASS to provide resources for in-depth study of Asian arts and humanities for elementary school students. With an enthusiastic response to the idea from Wildwood school arts coordinator Elizabeth O’Brien, music teacher Sandy Albano and Mark’s Meadow music teacher and arts coordinator Mary May, this project became a reality for the two schools. The coordinators in both schools took the responsibility to create a liaison between the teachers, school administrators, the visiting artist and the Asian Arts and Culture Program office and maintained this critical role throughout the three-week period of the artist residency. The notion of this Project began a year ago with the selection of Mary Mariko Ohno as the visiting artist whose credentials showed her to be versatile not only in Japanese arts and culture but also as a language teacher. Since Amherst elementary schools have a commitment to studying world cultures two grade levels were chosen in each school to become part of the group. At Wildwood school, fourth grade was the targeted core group of sixty-one students and Mark’s Meadow twenty-three students from the sixth grade made the core singers, narrators and technical crew.

Some of the major challenges in this Project that were also the goals:

1. A successful transmission of cultural knowledge stemming from obvious differences in American and Japanese culture and language for 1st, 4th-6th graders.

2. Adapting the Japanese traditional and different teaching methods and pedagogy to current American style of teaching in schools.

3. Examining the process of student learning.

4.Preparing the students to perform.

In all these goals/challenges, the first important item to notice was the competency of the teacher. Mary Ohno knew what she wanted from the students and what she had to do to make the children learn the materials and perform well. Her own fluency in English helped her go back and forth teaching Japanese words and phrases, saying the words frequently and having the students repeat them so often that after the first week of classes the words were no barrier for students to overcome.

Traditional Japanese method of teaching requires a student’s total attention, respect for the teacher and a desire to learn. This was perhaps, the greatest challenge to overcome. In observing Mary Ohno teach I saw that she always began at the beginning to inform the student of the entire story and then their role in it. With a shrinking attention span and distractions around them, several students in the group would not pay attention. So, intervention by teachers to make the groups smaller and force the students to concentrate helped the class learning become much more effective. The students playing the character roles in the story were the most focused group. Incidentally, this group also had to do the most learning by memorizing their parts of the script, acting and speaking throughout the play. They also tended to be the most observant ones, often sitting in the sides watching Mary Ohno teach the others. The dancers were also very interested in learning. Watching them learn the dances and then gather to practice by themselves in the corners of the Wildwood Gym often checking on each other was indicative of their desire to know it. They would be the first group to show up for after school practice everyday. The most unfocussed of all the groups were the eleven students in the role as Oni (devils). The role demanded a great deal of energy and movement but in a restrained manner typical of Samurai style. That was hard for the children as they had abundant unchecked energy that had to be constantly controlled and directed. Again, working in small groups with teachers supporting and maintaining discipline in the classes helped the learning process. It is no doubt, that a small class size helps to keep the student and teacher connected in the learning process. Where ever a large group congregates without enough supervision then mayhem occurs and this is exhausting and frustrating for both the teachers and students especially those students who want to learn but succumb to distractions by their peers. It can be a very hard situation for a visiting artist/teacher to find herself in.

Lastly, our expectation from the students was to present the learned knowledge through a performance. In this residency, we had already included a performance as one of the goals so we made sure that we encouraged the students to learn with attention reminding them frequently about the excitement of a performance and the satisfaction of doing your best. We made them aware that we expected them to do well and would in return support them in every way to make their performance successful. We also reiterated that it was a team effort so everybody had to support each other by working hard. The students rose to the occasion and carried their performance off creditably.

The residency has ended but the evaluative process with the teachers and students is just beginning. However, if we take the video documentation of the production as a representation of the work Mary Mariko Ohno did with eighty-four students in the two elementary schools, then we can be proud that we are making every effort to bring world cultures to our students and succeeding in that effort.