Echoes of the Earth
The finale of the Gendai Reiki International Conference 2012 in Kyoto, was a musical performance by Hiroki Okano. This was a wonderful experience for us all, but for me in particular.
We had only lived in Scotland for a couple of years when I first learned Reiki, and I had a particularly moving experience whilst receiving a distance treatment from the other student in my Second Degree class. I was relaxing on the Reiki table, receiving the treatment, when I was most vividly transported back to Devon by a CD that was quietly playing in the background. I was instantly in our Devon home, listening to the sound of the waves on the shore and the wind through the trees. The music was hauntingly beautiful, but also supported me as Reiki took me through a deep healing process in my grief over a close friend who had died shortly beforehand.
After the class, I picked up the CD and was absolutely astounded to notice that it had been recorded very close to our home in Devon. Golly, that made me sit up and take notice.
The CD was Seventh Wave, recorded by Nigel Shaw, and that began my passion for the Native American flute. Some years later, Claire and I treated Dennis, Sam and Mark to a workshop with Nigel Shaw in Devon, making flutes and drums. The flutes are so resonant and rich, and make beautiful music.
So, after that aside, back to Kyoto. The stage was set in darkness, apart from a couple of spotlights, from which we could see a circle of instruments at centre stage. The sound of wind chimes greeted our ears, and very gently brought our attention to a black clad figure seated at the heart of the circle of instruments. Very slowly he lifted a Native American flute to his lips and played the most piercingly beautiful opening notes. Every hair on my arms stood on end!
Hiroki Okano’s performance was breath-taking. Every member of the audience was spellbound. And somehow the message in the music linked so perfectly with the essence of ki, and the lectures on Reiki, Aikido and Zen that we had listened to earlier in the afternoon.
Echoes of the Earth performed by Hiroki Okano, at the Gendai Reiki Network International Conference 2012 in Kyoto
After the performance, Hiroki Okano joined us for dinner, and I had the chance to talk with him a little. I learned that he is a pioneer in music and video, and has a passion to express the life of the natural world, Japan’s tribal, ambient music. Hiroki has performed in many concerts, including Europe and the USA, and has performed at the Glastonbury Festival for over 10 years. Resonance with the earth continues to inspire Hiroki Okano’s music, and he has performed in many temples and shrines across Japan, and further afield in many of the holy places of the world.
My first words to Hiroki were ‘You have to know a chap in the UK called Nigel Shaw’, which was greeted with a beaming smile and incredulity, as he and Nigel have been close friends for 15 years. Together with Guillermo Martinez from the USA, Nigel and Okano recorded a CD called ‘Bamboo, Cedar, Oak’, which I had bought from Nigel whilst down at the flute workshop. However, the name Hiroki Okano had not stayed in my memory, and so I had been totally unprepared for the incredible surprise that awaited me as I took my seat for the grand finale of what turned out to be an incredible Reiki Party – Yiu ‘Spirit of Japan’.
Celebration dinner after the performance, with Hiroki Okano, Pablo Asensio (Brazil), Jimbo Taylor (New Zealand), Fumi Koji (Japan), Lisa Larsson (Denmark) and Jean Jones (UK)
If you would like to hear some of Hiroki Okano’s music, please follow one of the following links: http://www.tenkoo.com/hirokiokano/ will take you to a site where you can hear the sound of the wind through a thousand wind chimes. You will find a list of his CDs, plus a clip of a performance which is on sale to raise funds for the people affected by the earthquake in Japan last year.
Some of Hiroki’s earlier music is available through iTunes, and Bamboo, Cedar, Oak is available through Nigel Shaw at: http://www.seventhwavemusic.co.uk/albumbamboo.html.
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