Earthenware flutes include bilingual instructions, sheet music to play the My Neighbor Totoro opening theme song.
There are a lot of amazing scenes in My Neighbor Totoro, but one of the most memorable is the night when the cuddly Ghibli forest spirit comes to visit the Kusakabe family. After planting a forest’s worth of magical seeds and taking sisters Mei and Satsuki on a flight through the moonlit skies, the group ends up perched in the giant camphor tree that’s now next to the Kusakabes’ house, where they all have an ocarina jam session.
And while some of the whimsical wonder of that scene can only exist within the world of anime, the Totoro ocarina is something you can play in the real world.
Or, more accurately, sometimes you can play it. That’s because the Totoro ocarina is offered by the Ghibli Museum in Tokyo and its online shop, but as is often the case, Ghibli’s gigantic fanbase means that demand can outstrip supply. Once items sell out, it’s often up in the air as to when, or if, they’ll be restocked, and the Totoro ocarina has been unavailable for some time. If you’ve been waiting earnestly for the ocarina to return, though, you can now uncross your fingers, as they’ve been restocked and are available again as of this month.
Officially, the item is called the “Totoro Tsuchibue,” with tsuchibue meaning “earthenware flute.” The naming probably comes from the fact that while it is indeed an ocarina, it looks a little different from orthodox examples of the instrument because of its egg-like shape and semi-folded midsection.
In addition to having an illustration of Totoro on the instrument itself, it also comes with sheet music for how to play “Sanpo,” the lyrical opening theme of My Neighbor Totoro.
▼ “Sanpo,” played on the Totoro ocarina
In recognition of Totoro’s international popularity, the included directions for how to play the instrument are printed in both Japanese and English, so even if you’re a complete first-timer, you should be able to start making music in no time.
Now, if you’re wondering “Why didn’t they just fire up the factory and make a bunch more ocarinas as soon as they sold out?”, the answer is that each and every one of the instruments is hand-crafted by the artisans at Tokyo’s Otsuka Musical Instruments, a shop that specializes in ocarinas.
Not only is this in keeping with Ghibli’s well-known love of doing things the old-fashioned way, it also means that every Totoro ocarina is unique, with a shape, size, and finger hole placement that’s slightly different from others. This, in turn, means that no two Totoro ocarinas have the exact same sound, and that yours is uniquely special.
The Totoro Tsuchibue/ocarina is priced at 2,530 yen (US$17), and can be ordered through the Ghibli Museum Online Shop here.
Source: Ghibli Museum Online Shop
Top image: Studio Ghibli
Insert images: Ghibli Museum Online Shop (1, 2)
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