Extasia 2009 - Taiko of Japan, Taiko of Tomorrow

Today is the big day: Exstasia 2009. I will leave for the concert hall in about an hour, there will be a dress rehearsal in the morning, eat lunch, and then the concert starts at 2:00 PM. When concert-goers enter the lobby when we open up the doors at 1:00, they will be greeted by the large, foam-board Odaiko cut-out you see in the picture above. It has been signed by all of the performers... well, most of them, and the rest will probably sign it this morning. Concert-goers will also be invited to leave a message on the board.

This year's Exstasia will be held indoors, unlike last year's which was held outdoors. It's a good thing, though, because the chance of rain is 80 or 90% all day. Although it is not raining yet. In fact, I was thinking of riding my bike to the concert venue until I checked the weather forecast.

Having the concert inside not only reduces the worries about bad weather, but it also means a lot less work in preparing the venue. Last year we had to spend several days putting up a temporary fence surrounding the whole amphitheater so that people couldn't watch the program without paying and there were many other jobs that had to be done. We were working every day for a week before the concert. This year, most of us only were asked to come the day before the concert (yesterday). I had to work in the morning, so I couldn't make it there until lunchtime. When I arrived, they told me that they'd finished work until 7:00 pm and I could go home until then if I wanted.

I stuck around for a little bit to watch some of the rehearsal because I won't get to see much of the performance today. I got to see about six of the 14 groups performing. Hopefully I'll get to see a few more today. Out of the groups I saw yesterday, the group that left the most lasting impression was Shiobara Ryo and Gokasen (塩原 良 ＆ 御花泉). Gokasen is the name of the team, which is produced by Shiobara san. They feature four women playing Katsugi Taiko. If you can read the Kanji for the name, you'll know that it means "Flower Fountain". After watching their rehearsal yesterday, I think it is an appropriate name. Their playing (the women katsugi players) was very feminine, but in a powerful sort of way. There movement was graceful and smooth, especially their arms. Their name is "Flower Fountain" but think more of a fountain of flowers made of fireworks and perhaps you'll get a bit of an idea of what they are like.

Well, it's time that I get ready to go. I'm sure I'll have more to share after the concert.

What Did We Buy at the Asano Taiko Sale?

Unfortunately, we didn't have any luck in the Asano Taiko drawings this weekend. We got about 10 raffle tickets, but we didn't win anything. A couple people I know did win 10,000 yen gift certificates, though.

We might not have had any luck in the drawings, but in another sense, we did have some luck. We had a certain budget for the drums we could purchase and it so happened, that there was an Ohirado Taiko that didn't go over our budget too much. For the Odaiko of our group, we had decided on getting a large Oke daiko. It is the type that is tightened with ropes and is much lighter, compared to an Ohirado Taiko. There were two reasons we had made that decision. One was price and the other convenience. The price was half of what a Keyaki Ohirado would cost, and since there are only two of us at the moment, we thought it would be easier to move it around. But when we saw this Ohirado on sale for just a little bit more than the same size Oke daiko, we couldn't pass it up. Here it is. Our very own Ohirado Taiko.

It's 3.5 Shaku. 1 shaku is about 30 cm, or 1 foot, so that makes this drum 105 cm, or about 3 1/2 feet in diameter. It's just the size I wanted. Of course, it looks cool to have an even bigger one, but anything much bigger than this starts to get impractical. It's too heavy to move around, you need a bigger truck to transport it and sometimes it won't fit through doorways. So this is just right for us.

One reason it was so much less than we had expected is because it is not made of keyaki (Zelkova), the preferred wood for taiko drums. Most Odaiko, or Ohirado Taiko are made out of either Keyaki or Bubinga (from Africa). The one we are buying happens to be made of Bubinga. Actually, it is hard to even find Keyaki trees large enough to make the really big Odaiko. Besides, I honestly like the grain of Bubinga wood a little better than the Keyaki for this type of drum. Just look at the beautiful patterns:

Right now we don't have any place to store it so Asano is holding it for us until we can clean out our closet. (Oh yes, and until we pay for it, also). So I guess we were lucky enough this weekend. I'm sure I'll write more about the various events and workshops in the days to come. (but first I have to finish my taxes.)

I Wonder How Lucky I Am?

Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow morning at 9 AM Asano Taiko will kick off their 400th anniversary celebration. It is three days of taiko workshops, live performances, and a huge sale, 400 years in the making! Well, maybe not 400 years in the making, but it's a pretty big deal, especially because sales at Asano are pretty rare.

It was 400 years ago, back in 1609, that the Kaga clan, invited taiko maker, Saemongoro from Harima (Hyogo Prefecture) to found Asano Taiko in Fukutomi, Ishikawa Village, which is now called Fukudome Town in Hakusan City. Since then, Asano has been producing top quality, hand-crafted taiko drums and other traditional products. (Read a short history of Asano Taiko)

What else was going on in the world in 1609? Well, not a whole lot of significant events. But the children's rhyme, "Three Blind Mice" was published in London. That's worth something.

Anyhow, we have been looking forward to this event for quite some time. It couldn't have come at a better time for us. We will start by attending the concert tomorrow evening, which is full of world-renowned taiko performers and tickets were only 1000 yen (about 10 USD). It's an amazing deal! Saturday we will continue with workshops in Katsugi Oke Taiko, Hachijo Taiko and a chappa workshop. There will be several 30 minute mini-live concerts interspersed during the day. Sunday, we'll continue our workshops with Miyake Taiko, taught by the original creators of Miyake, Mr. Tsumura and his sons, more Katsugi Oke and finish off by learning the song, "Kiyari", which is often sung before playing Miyake Taiko. Sunday will also feature short live performances throughout the day. The workshops are also an amazing deal. Almost all of them are only 1000 yen. So I will get three workshops which would normally cost 3000 - 4000 yen each, for only 3000 yen (about 30 USD).

But it's the sale that is the most timely for us. Regular readers of our blog know our plans to start up a taiko group in Michigan sometime in the beginning of next year. Of course, you can't have a taiko group without taiko and if you're going to buy Asano drums, there probably will be no better time to buy them than this weekend for the next 400 years. Several hundred taiko drums will be on sale for 10%, 20%, 30% even 35% off the normal prices. When you're talking about drums that are at least 1 or 2,000 USD for even the cheapest ones, even 10% or 20% off is saving a huge amount of money.

Today I learned another juicy tidbit, though. It's not just going to be a weekend of live performances, workshops and a sale. There will be drawings too. Each day, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, anyone who bought something will be entered into a drawing at 3 PM of that day. Apparently, there are some pretty nice prizes. There will be two drawings a day: one for people who spent less than 50,000 yen, and one for people who spent over 50,000 (about 500 USD) There is even the possibility of a prize of a ....are you ready? ... 3.5 shaku Ohiradaiko!!!! That's a 105 cm "flat" Odaiko! Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:

These things are not cheap. We originally were thinking of buying one, but they are extremely heavy. It takes at least 3, preferably 4 people, to move one around. And they are extremely expensive. Just for a 3.5 shaku drum, costs around 35,000 USD!!! Add in the stand and case and it could be another 7 or 8,000! The combination of the weight and the cost convinced us to wait on purchasing one of these. Although a few weeks ago, I had a chance to play on an extremely nice one, and I again toyed with the idea of getting one anyways, but in the end, the cost was just too much.

BUT ...

Now there is a chance that I could win one. We'll definitely be spending more than 50,000 yen this weekend, so we ought to have at least a chance to win it. And that is why I wondered in today's title, "How Lucky I Am?" Obviously, it's not the kind of luck, like having a loving family, having a job, enough to eat, being healthy, etc. I know that I am "lucky" in those respects. I am talking about pure luck, pure chance. It is a raffle and the next guy who spends 50,000 yen at Asano will have just the same chance that I have to win that beautiful drum. I sure hope it's me, though. Oh, I would so much love a drum like that!

Asano Taiko Golden Week Day of Taiko

I didn't think yesterday was all that strenuous. We didn't have to show up at Asano until noon, we toned down our outfits to black t-shirts and pants and we only had one quick performance (about 5 min) and then we could enjoy the other events going on in the afternoon. But for some reason, I felt so tired when my alarm went off this morning. I don't know why. I'm awake now, though, and ready to go back to work (not ready, actually, but I have no choice).

Yesterday (May 6) was a half-day taiko event at Asano Taiko. They named it the G.W. (Golden Week) Day of Taiko and it was billed as a "Pre-Event" for the upcoming 400th anniversary celebration June 5, 6 and 7. The day featured two short taiko performances by different Asano groups. The first one at the start and the second one to close things up. The Asano Kids classes , Jige san's (Hono Taiko) parent-child group, Kojira, JIGEN (my wife and I are in this group) Sasuke, jr, Sasuke and Hono Taiko all played at least one song. In between the performances there was a basic taiko workshop (pictured above), a "Make Your Own Teeny Tiny Taiko Key chain" workshop, which both my kids did. Here's a picture of that:

Then there was the Odaiko Volume Contest in which about 15 children and 15 adults competed to see who could get the loudest sound out of the "Yamato" Odaiko (6 shaku? about 180 cm diameter) housed in Asano's taiko museum.

Both my son and I entered this contest (my son with "Yamato" in the picture above). Each entrant waited his or her chance for one hit to the drum with a "bat" bachi (a sort of large, heavy, bat shaped stick). No warm ups and no do-overs. The sound was measured with a decibel meter so there would be no question about who had produced the loudest sound. The contest was divided between adults and children and there were around 15 to 20 participants each. My son was part of the children's competition. He was by far the youngest (at nearly 3 years old) and fittingly produced the quietest sound in the group. It was around 83 dB, if I recall correctly. Of course, being his dad, I was proud of him for just getting up in front of so many people and giving it a try. He, on the other hand, probably had no idea what the contest was about and was probably just motivated out of getting a lollipop for trying.

Anyhow, my turn came along. I stepped up on the small platform in front of the drum, which was a little unstable and I didn't really need the extra height. It was also small and too close to the drum for me. I checked behind me to make sure that I would not hit Takebe kun, who was holding the decibel meter, extended my arm and swung it forward. "DON" The sound echoed through the museum and slowly faded away. "123.5 decibels," Takebe kun announced. Not a bad hit, but I knew I could have got in a better one, no that I had my bearings. Unfortunately, one person = one try. Here is the video of my attempt.



It is rather hard to get a feel for the loudness on a YouTube video. Besides that, the video was recorded on my digicam, which probably only has a simple recording mic. As simple as this video is, I actually was able to learn something from watching it. In the past, I have written about the benefits of video taping yourself as you play and this is why. I noticed from this video that annoying habit I have of tilting my head to one side when I play. Do you notice that as I hit the drum, my head tilts to the left? I've been "warned" about this several times from Yamada sensei, my wife and most recently by Kinoshita sensei, but apparently I haven't fixed it yet. Seeing it on video and how "silly" it looks may be just enough to remind me not to do it. At any rate, it didn't seem to effect how loud I played the drum because when all the contestants had finished, I had the top score! I was hoping that the prize for winning was the "Yamato" Odaiko, but everyone laughed when I asked if that was the prize. I got something almost as good, though. I got my very own Asano Taiko towel and a keyaki (zelkova) massage tool.

Asano Taiko - 400th Anniversary Celebration

This June (2009), Asano Taiko is turning 400 years old. To celebrate their birthday, Asano Taiko is putting on three days of taiko workshops and concerts (a rare sale as well) on June 5th, 6th and 7th. I realize that most of my readers do not live in Japan, and posting the great taiko opportunities available in June may just make some of you envious (sorry) but then again, it is in June, which is summer, and there is a chance that some of you might be visiting Japan at that time and may want to plan a visit to Asano into your travels. If you can read Japanese, here is a link to Asano's 400th Anniversary Activities. If not, here is a brief overview of the three days:

Most workshops cost 1000 yen (a great deal) The Mini Taiko workshop is 2009 yen and the outdoor workshops are free.

Friday, June 5
Workshops 10:30 - 18:00
Making a mini-taiko
Outdoor Workshop 1
Shime Taiko Workshop
Odaiko Workshop
Outdoor Workshop 2
Miyake Taiko Workshop
Odaiko Workshop

Special Concert - 1000 yen
18:30 Hakusan-shi Matto Gakushu Center (白山市松任学習センター)
Guests include - Hono Taiko, Kaneko Ryutaro (former Kodo) Fujimoto Yoshikazu (Kodo), Hajijojima Taiko, Miyake Taiko, and more...

Saturday, June 6
Workshops 9:30 - 16:30
Making a mini-taiko
Hachijo Jima Taiko
Outdoor Workshop 3
Play (taiko) and dance Workshop
Shime taiko Workshop
Odaiko Workshop
Outdoor Workshop 4
Chappa Workshop
Katsugi taiko Workshop
Outdoor Workshop 5

Sunday, June 7
Workshops, 9:00 - 15:30
Katsugi Workshop
Shime taiko Workshop
Outdoor Workshop 6
Making a mini-taiko
Hajijo Jima Taiko Workshop
Miyake Taiko Workshop
Hokuriku Mitsu Uchi Workshop
Singing "Kiyari" Workshop ("Kiyari" is the song usually sung before, and during Miyake Taiko)

The workshops are all being led by well known, established, professional taiko players, from groups such as Hono Taiko, Kodo, Miyake Jima Geino Doshikai and so on.

As an added bonus, several times each day, for three days, there will be 15 - 30 minute mini-live performances in the Museum by many of the guest performers and workshop instructors. The times for the mini-live performances are:
Friday
1. 10:00
2. 13:00
3. 16:30

Saturday
1. 10:00
2. 13:00
3. 15:00
4. 16:45 (15 min performance of Gojinjo Taiko)

Sunday
1. 10:00
2. 12:30
3. 14:00 (20 min)
4. 16:00 (45 min finale)

Finally, Asano taiko will be offering 400 items at a sale price, drums, bachi, chappa, bags, etc., so if you're coming from overseas, leave some extra room in your baggage to take home that Odaiko!

If anyone would like more information about these events, needs help registering, and so on, please send me an email with your questions. I can't promise anything, but I'll do what I can to help you out. raion.taiko@gmail.com

Family Taiko

Greetings from cold and snowy Kanazawa. We finally got a significant snowfall here and the temperature has been dropping daily. Seeing as how one of the places where we practice is not heated, it makes practice very cold. I can never feel my toes by the end of the session. Still, I always feel better after playing taiko for 90 minutes. Work started back up again last week, and although I prefer time off, it is good to get back into a sort of routine.

Before I share with you the awesome experience of Yamato's New Year Concert, which we attended on Monday (Jan 11), I thought I would share one last little thing from the winter holidays.

Our children are now 2 1/2 and 5 1/2. Our daughter, the older one, has been in the Asano Kids Taiko class since Sept 2007, but our son is still a bit too young to concentrate through an hour class. He does love taiko, though (as you will see). Eventually, we hope that our two children will be able to stand on the stage with us and perform, but it will probably be a couple more years before they are ready for that.

During the holidays we got out our 1.8 shaku (ca. 54 cm/22 in) nagado taiko, which we use mainly for practicing Miyake Taiko. We put it up on the high stand and let the kids play to their heart's content. It's not really big enough to be called an Odaiko, Odaiko start at around 90 cm, or 3 ft diameter, but for a 2 and 5 year old, it is just the right size for an Odaiko.

I thought, if only for the sake of my family and friends, that I would post a few videos of our kids playing around on the taiko. I don't know that it will be enlightening or educational to any of my readers, but little kids playing the drums is always cute. So, please enjoy the improv concert by the children of Raion Taiko...









Hope you enjoyed the show. (Don't forget to rate and comment on the videos.) Next time I will write about our experience at the Yamato concert in Nara.

It's a Beautiul Day!

It's a brisk, October morning, there's a beautiful sunrise and today is a taiko concert. There is something about performing that I really enjoy. I'll be performing with three groups today, playing Odaiko for two of them. Mayumi will be playing in two groups. Can't wait.

Taiko Practice and Sato Kensaku (佐藤健作)

Yesterday was a productive day from a taiko standpoint. I woke up early enough to go jogging. Unfortunately it's been too long since I have been running. I hope to get back into the habit of going three times a week, but we are just heading into the rainy season, which means nearly daily rain showers for a month or more. Not that a little rain will keep me from running, but if it is heavy, I likely won't go. At any rate, I pushed myself a but harder and ran all the way to the top of the "mountain" that I usually only run halfway up. (Read about my running route) It actually only added about 5 minutes onto my total time. It was good to go running, though, after not going for so long.

Yume Mitai has a small performance coming up at the start of July for Extasia promotion and for this, they added an extra rehearsal yesterday afternoon from 1 - 2:30. This was in addition to the Jigen practice we already had from 2:30 to 4. So altogether I was able to practice taiko for 3 hours yesterday. It felt good, but my fingers were starting to hurt by the time we finished. If we are lucky, we'll have an hour or so this afternoon to practice some of our own music.

On Friday evening, my wife was able to go and see a taiko concert. I was unable to go because of work. The concert was given by Kensaku Sato and Hono Taiko played one song (Mitsu Uchi) as a special guest. I had known about this concert for sometime because one of the other Odaiko players in the groups I play with is a big fan of Kensaku Sato, and he has been talking about the concert for about the last three months or so. Yesterday he was telling us a bit more about him. Apparently he had an Odaiko specially made (by Asano Taiko, of course) just for this tour, called The Fuji Tour (不二). Fuji is the name of the Odaiko. (Many particularly large Odaiko get their own names) Fuji is over 4 shaku, which means it is over 120 cm. You can get an idea of the size from the picture posted on his website. He also had Asano construct some sort of special stand for it as well. All together, it cost around $400,000. If the price was not surprising enough, we learned that once he completes this tour, he is going to "offer" the drum to Mt. Fuji. I don't know exactly what this involves, but we were relieved to hear that it would not be burned. After it is offered to Mt. Fuji, however, it will not be played again.

Hayashi Eitetsu

Sunday we saw a concert featuring Hayashi Eitetsu. If you are into taiko at all, you may recognize the name. If not, you probably won't. To be honest, I hadn't heard of him until a colleague, who learned of my taiko interest, introduced him to me. From that point, I heard quite a bit about him, and learned that he is one of the big names in taiko.

Here's a bit of background information, for those who do not know him. (I am taking this info from the Japanese program we received yesterday, so if there are inaccuracies, it is likely due to my translation mistakes, sorry.)

From what I can understand, he was one of the founding members of Kodo, and remained with them for 11 years. He made his solo debut at Carnegie Hall in 1984. Since then, he has become well known as an Odaiko soloist, and a pioneer with collaborations between taiko and many other musical genre, such as jazz and classical music.

The concert was put on by the Orchestra Ensemble of Kanazawa, and the whole program featured traditional Japanese music and instruments combined with a western orchestra. The flyer for the concert featured a large photo of Hayashi Eitetsu, so I was slightly disappointed when I opened the program and saw that he was only playing for one song out of the five that would be performed. As it turned out, though, his performance was still satisfying. It was clearly the climax of the program.

Before I talk more about his performance, let me briefly give an idea of what the other pieces were like. The first piece featured about 50 koto (Japanese harp) players, accompanied by orchestra. The front of the stage was so tightly packed with koto, I didn't think there would be any room for the performers to sit and play. As it turns out, very little space is required to play the koto, and everyone squeezed in without a problem.

The second piece featured a father and son shakuhachi combination, again, accompanied by the orchestra. The shakuhachi is a flute crafted from a single piece of bamboo. There are cheaper models, which can be taken apart, and are made of wood, but the best quality shakuhachi are made from a single piece of bamboo. (Just as the best taiko are made from a single tree trunk.) It is also very difficult to play this type of flute. For some, it takes 3 months of practice before they can even get a sound out of it.

The shakuhachi piece was followed by a shamisen solo with orchestra accompaniment. Up till this point, all the performers had worn traditional Japanese clothing, such as kimono or hakama. The woman who played the shamisen wore a pure white, wispy dress, which brought to mind images of Greek goddesses. My first impression of her was that she was maybe in her early 30s, but looking in the program, she is actually in her late 50s!

Hayashi Eitetsu's piece was next, followed by a finale, including the koto players, a shakuhachi player, and a women's chorus, singing a medly of Japanese folk songs, like "Sakura". Unfortunately, the arrangement of this last song reminded me of one of those hymns arranged for church orchestras, designed mainly to evoke shallow emotions, you know, lots of brass and timpani. It is more like a cheap thrill, than a meaningful experience. I know some of you know what I'm talking about.

I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy the piece with Hayashi Eitetsu. I was skeptical at first. When people think of Odaiko, most people probably think of the famous solos that can be seen at nearly every Kodo performance. A large drum, elevated above the stage on a cart, played by an extremely healthy male, wearing very little, for maybe 15 minutes straight. It's very impressive. The first half of Sunday's piece, however, only featured minimal notes, played very slowly on the odaiko. Although the piece was interesting musically, I was hoping to see a bit more "chops" from Mr. Hayashi, some sort of cadenza, or something. In the end, I was not disappointed. The piece ended with an impressive odaiko solo lasting several minutes.

The name of the piece was Fujin, Raijin. These are the names of two gods in Japan. Fujin is the god of wind and Raijin is the god of thunder and lightning. Obviously, the taiko is meant to represent Raijin. The organ was symbolic of the wind. Were I to write a song meant to symbolize wind, I guess pipe organ is not the first instrument that would jump to mind. Perhaps I associated it too much with churches and cathedrals. After hearing the piece, and why the composer chose pipe organ to represent the wind, it makes perfect sense to me. Most of you probably know that a pipe organ requires rather a large amount of wind in order to produce sounds. This was the reason the composer gave for choosing this instrument as a symbol for the wind. Also, I guess I haven't heard many non-traditional organ pieces, for I did not realize how much an organ could imitate the sounds of wind whistling and blowing around. I would say that the overall piece was quite interesting, and enjoyable to listen to. The connections with wind and thunder were easy to see, and Hayashi Eitetsu's playing was certainly impressive.

I did enjoy the concert, but on a scale of 1 to 10, I would probably give it a 5, overall. This is in no way because of a poor performance of any of the players, but rather just because of personal music tastes. In general, I'm not a fan of "fusion" or collaborations between extremely different types of music. I honestly prefer to hear these traditional Japanese instruments, as traditional Japanese instruments, rather than hearing them trying to fit in with western instruments, or hearing a western orchestra trying easternize itself to fit with the Japanese instruments. At the same time, I suppose many genres of music we have today, likely began as collaborations or fusions of two different types of music. And of course, they were probably met with strong criticism, or little popularity when they first started out. Some of them stuck around and developed into their own genere, and others faded away, never to be heard from again. I guess only time will tell if shakuhachi or shamisen solo accompanied by western orchestra is something that will catch on, or fade away.

On a closing note, I was able to locate an interesting youtube video about a project Hayashi Eitetsu participated in with an arts school in Cleveland. If you watch it, I think you can learn a little more about Mr. Hayashi, more about taiko, and get an idea of some of things we, also, would like to accomplish in Michigan.

A quick update

My schedule is finally beginning to get a bit busier. I have been wanting to make several entries lately, but amazingly have not had the time to write all that I would like to. The schedule of working, training, and attending taiko classes three times a week, seems to be catching up with me. By the time I get home in the evenings, the first thing on my mind is usually sleeping. I am also finding it harder and harder to wake up to go jogging in the morning. But I am pleased that I have been able to keep up a regular jogging schedule for about a month now. I have tried in the past, but I think I always lost interest within a couple weeks. This time, though, I have a goal to motivate me to continue. At any rate, since my schedule is getting tighter, I may have to resign myself to making briefer entries in the journal.

So here is my quick update:

After worrying that we might have to stop attending our Tuesday evening taiko class (Kaga style drumming) because of work. We have actually been able to attend all but one of the classes this month. Next month also looks like we will be able to attend most of the classes.

The practices for the Shin-Matto-Bayashi Hozonkai have been getting more intense every week, mainly because there are two performances approaching. One this Sunday (9/30) and another October 7^th. In fact, this week, practice was led by one of the members of Hono Taiko, Ms. Yamada (I do not know her first name). Needless to say, she made us work twice as hard as usual, which I think you notice twice as much when you are playing the Odaiko. The Odaiko is one of the more strenuous drums to play because, first of all you must use much larger and heavier sticks than the average size drums, and the stance requires your arms to always be in a raised position. An untrained person (that would be me) will likely be nearly exhausted after only a couple minutes of playing. Anyhow, here is picture of the blisters I developed at the practice:

The Hozonkai song is quite long, and I have actually only learned one section of it. When I say “learned”, I only mean the sticking and the rhythms, the technique is a completely different story. Therefore, it has not yet been decided whether or not I will be able to join the group for these next two performances or not. Either way, I will be in attendance at both concerts and if there is opportunity to take video, I will definitely post it for all of you to watch.

Asano Taiko Museum

I'm getting more and more backed up every day, and I'm don't mean that I'm having trouble adjusting to the diet here. We are involved in something taiko related practically every day, from buying bachi (sticks) to attending live performances, are schedule is full. Writing detailed accounts of every taiko event is becoming more of a challenge every day. I will try to get caught up, starting with our trip to buy bachi.

Asano Taiko
We went to Asano Taiko again last Saturday (or was it Friday?) to buy the style of bachi necessary for Kaga style taiko. I don't recall if I mentioned in the previous post about the sticks used in this style. One set is normal size, but decorated with reflective tape in one or two colors. The other set needed is for playing the ji-uchi (base rhythm). These are made of bamboo slats about 2 feet long and maybe a centimeter wide. We needed to go to the Asano store in order to buy these sticks.

After purchasing our sticks, we went over to the Museum (just on the other side of the parking lot). It is not that large so one does not need a great deal of time to visit it. It deals with more than just taiko. There are exhibits about drumming and percussion in all parts of the world. There are also several mini "theaters" set up in the museum showing different taiko videos. What captured my attention (and my daughter's) the most, however, were the two O-daiko (Large drums) in the museum. Taiko drums are measured in a unit called "shaku", which is equal to about 30 cm, or one foot.

The smaller of the two drums was a 3.3(?)shaku drum. The people working at the museum were not certain of it's exact measurement. Anyhow, that would make it somewhere around one meter wide, large enough to look impressive. What captured my interest in that drum (besides its size) was that we could play on it. I must say, when you strike a large drum like that, it sends a shiver down your spine, partly because of physics, but also because of the feeling it gives you. My daughter also played it a bit, I took a short video:


The other O-daiko was impressive because of its sheer enormity. Unfortunately, it was not available for guests to play on. Its size is 6 shaku; do the math and you get 180 cm, nearly two meters! I also have a picture of me in front of it with my daughter on my shoulders, which gives one an idea of the size.

There aren't many drums of this size around, probably for several reasons. Since this type of taiko are made from one tree trunk, a very large tree is needed. The trunk must be more than two meters diameter because the middle is wider than where the drum head is. You also need a pretty large cow for such a large skin. Finally, the cost must be fairly significant. Normal size taiko from Asano (40 - 50 cm) are probably around $3000 to $7000. A 2.5 shaku (75 cm) drum is already around $40,000 +. A 5 shaku (150 cm) drum is maybe at least $100,000. I would guess that a 6 shaku drum is at least close to $200,000, if not more.