The Fourth String: A Memoir of Sensei and Me

by Janet Pocorobba

The word sensei in Japanese literally means “one who came before,” but that’s not what Janet Pocorobba’s teacher wanted to be called. She used her first name, Western-style. She wore a velour Beatles cap and leather jacket, and she taught foreigners, in English, the three-stringed shamisen, an instrument that fell out of tune as soon as you started to play it. Vexed by the music and Sensei’s mission to upend an elite musical system, Pocorobba, on the cusp of thirty, gives up her return ticket home to become a lifelong student of her teacher. She is eventually featured in Japan Cosmo as one of the most accomplished gaijin, “outside people,” to play the instrument.

Part memoir, part biography of her Sensei, The Fourth String looks back on the initial few years of that apprenticeship, one that Janet’s own female English students advised her was “wife training,” steeped in obedience, loyalty, and duty. Even with her maverick teacher, Janet is challenged by group hierarchies, obscure traditions, and the tricky spaces of silence in Japanese life.

Anmoku ryokai , Sensei says to explain: “We have to understand without saying.”

By the time Janet finds out this life might not be for her, she is more at home in the music than the Japanese will allow.

For anyone who has had a special teacher, or has lost themselves in another world, Janet Pocorobba asks questions about culture, learning, tradition, and self. As Gish Jen has said of The Fourth String, “What does it mean to be taught? To be transformed?”

Genres: Japan, Music, Nonfiction, Memoir

256 pages, Paperback

Published March 12, 2019

About the author

I'm thrilled to release the tale of my teacher in THE FOURTH STRING: A MEMOIR OF SENSEI AND ME. I've been involved with Japan for over twenty years, and have lectured on Japanese music and performed in concert halls, schools, museums, culture fairs, and backyards. I love immersing myself in extraordinary worlds and writing about them. Memoir isn't only about me! I'm now working on a book about the co-op in my tiny town in Vermont, where there is a black fly festival, a floating potluck, and some extraordinary women (and men) who run the store. Find out more at www.janetpocorobba.com

Reviews

[Anya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir spoke to me on so many levels. This us simply a hidden gem that I discovered on Netgalley by accident.
As a music lover and Japan fan, I had to get my hands on this.
Janet, the author, studies shamisen and other traditional Japanese instruments like the drums under her sensei in Tokyo.
We follow her on her journey to find herself and how she lives as gaijin in Japan.
I had to look her up on YouTube and found this fantastic video about her talking about her novel and playing the shamisen.
I love this book so much.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

[Melita Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

My copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

I've been interested in Japan for a long time. Certainly since early high school and I think even before that. Although I've studied Japanese off and on, I've only traveled there twice for a total of 5 weeks. I'm particularly intrigued by the geisha and maiko culture who learn classical dance, singing, and music. In this book, the author comes to Japan to teach English and ends up finding a woman who's teaching the shamisen to westerners (any non-Japanese). It becomes clear that "sensei", as Pocorobba calls her teacher in the book, is in some ways, a ground-breaking nonconformist, but in other ways still bound to Japan and the Japanese way of learning. Sensei won't take Japanese students but continually accepts non-Japanese students who often take lessons for only a few days or weeks.

It's worthwhile to see how the training is often very rote. You learn whole songs right from the beginning by imitating the teacher. On the other hand, Sensei tells her students not to bother memorizing the songs--not worth it--even though Japanese students who are learning traditionally must do so.

Ms. Pocorobba uses some allusions and makes philosophical statements that I sometimes found odd or that I didn't agree with. I think part of it is due to my STEM background. I did go to a liberal arts university, but didn't study philosophy or sociology beyond the required courses. One part that I remember was about how Japanese students are frightened to death before they ever perform for the first time...but that, to me, sounds much more like how an adult (of any culture) feels. Kids, to me, particularly prodigies, are fearless. They haven't realized how easy it is to mess up, to be injured, and so on. It's when they get a little older that you see them begin to struggle. Maybe she's right and the training is different leading to different outcomes there.

Overall, I still enjoyed the book and read it cover-to-cover which is unusual for me and a nonfiction book. Read it to learn more about the shamisen and drums and how the expat community mingles and interacts with the arts in Japan.

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a unique memoir--one that was part memoir and part biography. An American woman goes to Japan and becomes fascinated with the shamisen. She begins lessons with "sensei" and thereafter becomes enchanted by sensei. There was a wonderful juxtaposition in showing the teacher's story alongside that of the author's--and I found myself becoming more and more intrigued by the teacher who did not want an ordinary life. She worked in a job she did not like, was a divorcee and had no children-and yet she crafted a life of great purpose in her commitment to teach foreign residents the music of shamisen--and she taught free of charge! She was a fascinating character.

Pocorobba would have benefitted by learning the instrument in a Japanese language environment since the arts are embedded in the language. She also seemed to love Japan so much but remained over many years in an English environment with fellow English teachers. But because of this resistance in adapting, she was able to keep a kind of critical distance from the culture, traditions and music that enabled her to write this incredible story and portrait of her teacher. I guess what I am saying or wondering is that if it didn't help her story to remain distant from the place in the way she did since she kept the wonder of the traveler.

There were a few glitches that could be because of editing--like repeatedly describing sensei and other Japanese people's eyes as inky. This occurred 13 times. She also had a love affair with a man that was barely described and happened very fast, at the same time she was engaged with another man, an American, who also is hard to picture. Pocorobba is really good at character so this was odd that it felt brushed over too quickly.

That said, it was an unforgettable story. It reminded me a bit of one of my favorites from last year. Why Fish Don't Exist.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

WoW...........This Book was Just amazing and so beautifully written. The Fourth String by Janet Pocorobba it was a great find and I am so glad I found a quiet corner of my farmhouse to sit and read it. I read this book in two sittings and just sat back and was just amazed.

Big 5 stars for this amazing Book.

Big Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

[Sarah Faichney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely memoir and interesting insight into Japanese culture, with a particular emphasis on the performing arts. "The Fourth String" is informative and a fitting tribute to what seems to be a very private and complex woman who has made an impact on the lives of her students in the pursuit of her own contentment.