A History of Taiko
Mostly anecdotal and subject to little serious scrutiny, the history of taiko is frustratingly difficult to pin down. Taiko in general is plagued by vagary and contention about even the most basic questions; 'what is taiko?', for example, will get five different answers from five different people. There are, however, some points of agreement as to where taiko came from, and where it is going.
The following is a collection of details about taiko and its history, gathered by members of the Bowdoin Taiko club. Sources are sited where possible. If you have any questions or corrections, please email me (Daniel Bensen, compiler of this information) at dbensen@bowdoin.edu
Table of Contents:
Definitions: What (exactly) is taiko?
"Taiko" in America
"Taiko" in Japan
"Kumi-Daiko"
Ancient Origins: Percussion in old Japan
The First Drums
The Haniwa Drummer
Uzume, the Heavenly Alarming Drummer
A Word on Tsuzumi
Matsuri
Drums of War
Modern Contributions: Jazz
Oguchi Daihachi and Osuwa Daiko
Sukeroku Daiko's Choreography
After the War
World Taiko
A Fun Quote
Seichi Tanaka
Common Opinion
Tradition
Innovation
Eitestu Hayashi's Solo Taiko
Art Lee in Japan
Appendix: Mainstream movies with featured Taiko performances
Appendix 2: Interviews about Taiko
Definitions: What (exactly) is taiko?
While the what is taiko page should give a fairly workable definition of the word "taiko" in English, there is a great deal of confusion about the exact meaning and derivation of the word. I hope the following explanation will make matters clearer.
"Taiko" in America
In American English, the term usually used to describe this form of drumming is “taiko”, but, as Rolling Thunder Taiko’s “Taiko Overview and History” page states, “ ‘Taiko’ in general is often used to mean the relatively modern art of Japanese drum ensembles (kumi-daiko), but the word actually refers to the taiko drums themselves.”
"Taiko" in Japan
In Japanese, the word “taiko”(??-kanji meaning 'fat' or 'wide' and 'drum') is composed of the Chinese characters ? (fat or wide) and ? (drum), pronounced in Mandarin tàigu and in Korean changgo (also spelled chyanggo, janggu, chango, etc.) (?[tai]”and “?[ko]”. Kanjikai Zeneki [Chinese Diction-Sea All Translations]. Kaorou Togawa Ed. Sanseido, 2000)
In Japanese, the word "taiko" means “A membranophone (????). A percussion instrument with the body made from worked wood, metals, gourd, etc., an instrument hit by the mallet or hand in general. drum.” (“Taiko” Nihon Kokugo Daijiten [Great Dictionary of the Japanese National Language]. 2nd ed. Tokyo: Sougakukan, 2001). In Japanese, therefore, snare-drums, Indian tablas, and the drums used in Shinto prayers are all called “taiko”.
The term used to describe the last of these instruments, as well as the practice of kumi-daiko that is the focus of the site is often “Japan-drums” or “wa-daiko” (???). The word “wa-daiko” has strong traditional and nationalistic implications, and people often link this music with “Ancient culture” and “Samurai and that sort of old Japanese style” (Hiraki, interview). This word also describes, however, the practice of using such Japanese drums in a performance, and so the meaning and connotations of “wa-daiko” are not as clear as might be expected from such a simple term as “Japan-drums”.
"Kumi-Daiko"
To avoid the confusion arising between the various meanings of ‘taiko’ and ‘wa-daiko’, those who study Japanese percussion have coined the term kumi-daiko (???) or ‘ensemble drumming’ as a form of music that uses drums as the main thrust of a performance, rather than accompaniment. While the groups that perform this sort of music usually refer to it as either “wa-daiko” in Japan or “taiko” in America, it is as kumi-daiko, ensemble drumming, that this form of percussion has distinguished itself from other forms of traditional Japanese music.
Ancient Origins: Percussion in Old Japan:
As with the traditions of any country, even the most ancient of Japan’s arts have their roots elsewhere, and Japanese percussion is no exception to this pattern. The roots of kumi-daiko stretch back farther than the Japanese state itself, as this form of percussion began as a succession of waves of influence from mainland Asia in the first millennium.
The First Drums
While percussion of some sort likely existed on the Japanese islands since the beginning of their human settlement, the forms and instruments usually associated with Japanese drumming, even the words to describe them, are of continental Asian origin. These drums came to Japan during the Nara Period, between 538 and 794CE, along with a range of musical traditions from mainland Asia (Tsubanouyoshi, Musamuko. Wagakki ni Charenji! 1 Wadaiko wo Uttemyou [Japanese Instrument Challenge! 1Let’s Try Playing Japanese Drums]. Tokyo: Kabushiki Kaisha, Shio Bunsha, 2002. Page 18). The drums probably first appeared in Japan as accompaniment to gagaku, the music adopted by the Imperial Court. The drums soon found use in Buddhist and Shinto chants, and are still used in this context today. (“Taiko Overview and History”).
Above is a photo I took at a shrine at the foot of mount Moriyama in Shiga prefecture (which apparently grows the rice used in imperial coronations). On the day I visited, several families had brought their children for their 3, 5, 7 name-day ceremonies, part of which included a Shinto priest reading the children's names in a chant and then hitting a taiko (as shown above). I don't know how far back this particular custom extends, but in any case this is proof of the drums' current use outside of the context of entertainment.
Matsuri
More than religious, court, or dramatic music, matsuri (folk festivals) are responsible for many of the themes in modern Kumi-daiko.
Hakodate, Hokkaido: People play odaiko like this one and the one below during the Minato Matsuri, the festival (end of July) celebrating the opening of Japan's ports to the rest of the world in 1854. Most of the drums I saw were used to accompany the ika odori (squid dance).
The Haniwa Drummer
The oldest evidence of Japanese drums (Tsubanouyoshi, 18) takes the form of a drum-playing clay haniwa figure from the sixth or seventh century. The figure’s drum is similar to the “hip hand drums” of northeastern China, still used today in folk-dances, while the way in which the figure is holding the drum is reminiscent of Korean drumming (Ochi)(“Sculpture: Haniwa”) . Although the haniwa drummer is using its hands (rather than bachi) to beat the drum, the 'over-the-shoulder' method of holding the drum against the hip is still used today both in Korean (see above) and Japanese contexts.
Uzume, the Heavenly Alarming Drummer
The earliest written record of Japanese percussion lies in the earliest written document of any kind in Japanese. Finished in 712 AD (the Nara period), this 'Chronicle of Past Times', the Kojiki, describes the goddess Uzume luring the Sun goddess, Amaterasu out of her hiding place by dancing and stamping out a beat on a 'sounding board' ('tsuzumi' in Japanese).
"...[Uzume] banging round her the heavenly clubmoss the Heavenly -Mount Kagu as a sash, and making the heavenly spindle-tree her head-dress and binding the leaves of the bamboo-grass of the Heavenly -Mount-Kagu in a posy for her hands, and laying a sounding-board [tsuzumi] before the door of the Heavenly Rock-Dwelling and stamping, till she made it resound and doing as if possessed by a deity, and pulling out the nipples of her breasts, pushing down her skirt-string "usque ad privates partes"[sic]. Then the Plain of High Heaven shook, and the eight hundred myriad deities laughed together."
[see The Kojiki, translated by B.H. Chamberlain in 1882]
A Word on Tsuzumi
Interestingly, the current usage of the word tsuzumi, rather than the general “drum” described in the Kojiki, refers in particular to an “Instrument with a wooden, hourglass-shaped body and skin stretched over both ends” (“Tsuzumi”. Nihon Kokugo Daijiten [Great Dictionary of the Japanese National Language]. 2nd ed. Tokyo: Sougakukan, 2001).
This design is rare in kumi-daiko, but one can find the instruments in Japanese festivals, religious ceremonies, and as accompaniment in dramas (such as Noh). Tsuzumi are also very similar to the “hourglass drums” used today in Korean in folk-dances (“P’ungmul/Samulnori”) (movie taken at a madang festival in Kyoto, 2004).
Drums of War
From the end of Nara period onward, these drums began to evolve in isolation in Japan, and insinuated themselves onto many levels of Japanese society. One of the uses these instruments found was as a means of communication of the field of battle.
The Former Nine Years War of 1051-1062 (Heian period) took place in the frontier province of Mutsu (an area encompassing the north-eastern portions of Honshu, now divided into the prefectures Aomori, Iwate, and Miyagi ), where the local lord Abe Yoritoki barricaded his own estate and attempted to secede from the authority of the Imperial Court. The Court sent a warrior, Minamoto Yoriyoshi, to quell the rebellion, and the tale of the war that followed may be found in the Mutsu Waki (a short blurb is available at Gotterdamerung.org). This war tale was written as an illustrated scroll, a descendant of which survives today in the form of the Zoku Nihon Emaki.
A picture from the Zoku Nihon no Emaki Vol. 17 This painting shows two men (one of whom is cut off by the end of the page) beating a drum with round-headed mallets. The caption in the annotated Emaki says that these men were commanding the movements of a horseman riding from Yoriyoshi's side to scout out the land. [picture used with the permission of Bowdoin College, thanks to Professor Thomas Conlan for the translation]
[click on the picture for a larger view] Another picture from the same scroll, showing a taiko held by two porters being struck by a single player. The caption for this picture says that this player is coordinating the movements of Yoriyoshi's defensive line.
According at least to the artist who illustrated the Mutsu Waki, taiko were used in battles during the Heian era. Probably, these drums functioned like bugles in the armies of feudal Europe, used to issue commands to far-flung cavalry and foot soldiers during a battle. This method of command may have been widespread, as at least Scotland and China have put drums to similar use.
Drums continued to be used in war through the 14th century, the warlord Ashikaga Takauji having used them in his army during his struggle to take take control of Japan after having destroyed the Kamakura Bakufu. The Baishouron (the Of Pines and Plums), the chronicle of Takauji's rise to power centering around his victory against the Court in 1338, states:
"The imperial banner on Takauji's ship bore a gold figure of the sun and the names of the Sun Goddess and the God of War in gold characters, and it glittered in the sun. The banner was unfurled and fluttered in the breeze, and they beat the drum as was custom when Takauji's ship set sail, and the thousands of ships spread their sails at the same time. " [Uyenaka, Shuzo trans. Baishoron. The University of Toronto, 1978. p. 222]
Some sources say that taiko were later banned from use in war, but I have yet to find corroboration for this statement.
The current nature of Japanese percussion draws influence from a huge variety of sources, native, continental, and some from even farther field. Though there has been some collaboration between drumming groups in Japan and other Asian countries, the greatest influences upon Japanese percussion in the last century have been European and American. Of these new influences, the earliest and most fundamental to the structure of modern kumi-daiko was itself a synthesis of many musical traditions. This music, “the first indigenous American style to affect music in the rest of the World” (Morgan) was jazz.
Oguchi Daihachi and Osuwa Daiko
As stated on the Rolling Thunder Taiko webpage, the modern kumi-daiko movement owes at least half of its initial development to Daihachi Oguchi (family name given first), a jazz drummer who created many of the standards still used in kumi-daiko groups both in Japan and out.
“Daihachi Oguchi, who created the kumi-daiko style, is given much of the credit for the current taiko boom. Oguchi was a jazz drummer, who happened upon a old piece of taiko music…Coming from a jazz background, he wondered why taiko were never played together, and broke with tradition by assembling a taiko drum ensemble " (“Taiko Overview and History”).
Daihachi Oguchi was the first person to create a kumi-taiko ensemble, Osuwa Daiko, and in a style found no where in the drums’ Chinese or Korean roots, broke the music up into several, individually simply rhythmic lines, sat each player behind a drum-set-like collection of variously-sized drums, and established the use of smaller, higher pitched shime-daiko (bound-drums) as the music’s backbeat and the larger nagadou taiko (long-bodied drums) for the main rhythm (Takata).
Daihachi’s musical contributions are nearly universal in all kumi-daiko groups. Kumi-daiko pieces often include simple lines played by different drummers simultaneously to produce a more complex rhythm, and the use of a constant backbeat, played by smaller, higher-pitched drums, is nearly universal in kumi-daiko music. Even more interestingly, while instructors generally teach music verbally through the onomatopoeia system used in older Japanese percussive traditions, the use of western musical notation to write out kumi-daiko pieces is extremely prevalent, especially in Japan. This musical style, with no precedent in the traditions of Japanese drumming, is an integral part of modern kumi-daiko to the same extent as this drumming style’s choreography.
As an interesting aside, the piece of music that Daihachi arranged in this new style (arguably the first kumi-daiko piece) is a piece of Shinto music called Hiryu Sandan Gaishi, played today by many kumi-daiko groups in America, including Bowdoin Taiko.
Sukeroku Daiko's Choreography
Osuwa Daiko’s drum-set style is now rather uncommon, as the “choreography and flashy solos” of another early group, Yushima Tenjin Sukeroku Daiko, extended its influence over kumi-daiko (“Taiko Overview and History”). Today, most groups prefer to move freely around single drums, often setting their drums on the slant-stands invented by Sukeroku (“Taiko Around the World”).
After the War
As a native Japanese art, kumi-daiko benefited from Japanese government grants in the 1970s, designed to prevent the erosion of Japanese traditions in the wake of World War II (“Taiko Overview and History”). At the same time, Osuwa-Daiko and its jazz influences found a global stage at a festival of the arts held during the Tokyo Olympic games of 1964, establishing the groups version of taiko as the standard (Takata). The result was a bloom of local kumi-daiko groups across Japan, with Osuwa Daiko and Sukeroku Daiko as the foundation of which the developing taiko community elaborated.
Kumi-daiko also became something of a symbol for those “disaffected with modern big city life”, leading to the creation of convent-like communities whose soul aim is drumming (“Taiko Overview and History”). Kodo, having given more than 2,500 performances in the 23 years since its founding (“Taiko Around the World”) is the most famous example of this musical movement, and of all kumi-daiko in general.
Shiga-chou, Shiga-ken: Local kumi-daiko groups often play at official events
World Taiko
As groups like Kodo raised the world awareness of kumi-daiko as a Japanese art form, emigrants carried the process even farther, establishing independent kumi-daiko groups across the Americas, Europe, Continental Asia, and Australia. The United States is the most remarkable example of this kumi-daiko movement outside Japan, home to some 500 groups and second only to Japan itself in the size of its kumi-taiko community (Tsubanouyoshi, 38). There are also percussion groups of varying connection to kumi-daiko in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, England, Germany, Holland, and Taiwan. This wild expansion of kumi-daiko outside of Japan has created a musical community larger than any single country or culture, and though most of kumi-daiko groups perform this percussion as Japanese traditional music, the exact way in which it is traditional is often vague.
Bowdoin Taiko in performance at a Japan Fair at Dartmouth College, NH
A fun quote
"Taiko groups are not just in Japan, but all over the world. Especially in America, which has over 500! Every day, there is a concert going on somewhere, and once every two years they have a symposium [this may actually refer to the bianuall North American Taiko Conference]. There are also people who make taiko, and they are doing so well that big drum companies have started to produce taiko too."
Tsubanouyoshi, Musamuko. Wagakki ni Charenji! 1 Wadaiko wo Uttemyou. Page 18 Daniel Bensen translation.
Seichi Tanaka
In America, pre-Daihachi taiko established itself with the first Japanese immigrants as early as the late 19th century. It was not until 1968, however, when Seichi Tanaka established the San Francisco Taiko Dojo, that people played the drums outside temples or Obon dances. Within a year, three groups, following the ensemble taiko model created by Oguchi Daihachi, were up and running: San Francisco Taiko Dojo, Kinnara Taiko in Los Angeles, and the San Jose Taiko in San Jose. These three groups are the wellspring of most (if not all) of North America's taiko groups.
By far the majority of non-professional drummers, both Japanese and America, operate under the assumption that kumi-daiko is an ‘ancient’ Japanese art, but the details on the matter become quite difficult to pin down if one inquires further.
Common Opinion
While the opinions of the various subjects interviewed as to the images evoked by kumi-daiko ranged widely from “floaty” to “tired” to “kick someone’s ass” (see Appendix 2), their theories pertaining to the history of kumi-daiko are unanimously ancient. When asked “What period do you think the kind of entertainment drumming around now (??????????) comes from?” the answer was always “from long ago” (???). Here the vague definition of the kumi-daiko, itself, caused some trouble, with individuals likely operating under slightly different ideas about what “the sort of entertainment drumming around now” meant, and there was some confusion about how “long ago” exactly kumi-daiko began. Interview subjects gave answers ranging from “Heian” to “Edo”, a period that includes virtually all of Japanese history except for the most recent periods of heavy European influence.
Another interview subject mentioned court music (gagaku) as the source of kumi-daiko, and marked a sharp distinction between this form of percussion and “western” drumming. These answers indicate that the true origins of kumi-daiko are largely unknown, but that most people assume such origins lie in the deep past, and most also place this origin in Japan.
Not all agreed on the Japanese aspect of this origin, however, as one kumi-daiko player stated “It’s part of the world (??????)”(Anonymous), but most people did make a connection between the kumi-daiko’s history and Japan. No-one mentioned any specific history of kumi-daiko in the past hundred years, although several people did say that Japanese drums (‘wa-daiko’) have become more popular recently.
Kumi-daiko in this way does seem to have strong historical ties to ancient Japan in the minds of most people, who view this art as a true Japanese tradition, no more foreign in origin than the koto. Since kumi-daiko does in fact have very ancient roots in Japan, the commonly-held belief in the antiquity of this form of drumming is indeed correct.
Tradition
This sense of tradition varies in strength from group to group, with many groups in America, in particular making much of the history of Japanese percussion.
"The name Uzume Taiko derives from the Japanese word for “big drum” and from the goddess of laughter, Ame No Uzume No Mikoto — the Heavenly Alarming Female who, according to legend, began taiko drumming. "
[see the biography of Uzume Taiko]
Innovation
Compared to other Japanese musical traditions, Kumi-daiko is remarkably innovative, with an ever expanding body of music. As more professional kumi-daiko groups have become established throughout the world (and especially in Japan), many have continued to integrate non-Japanese themes and instruments into their repertoires. Kumi-daiko concerts using guitars (Hinokiya), break dancers, drum sets, gongs, and synthesizers (Koshinjin), Korean changgo (“Gokuu Daigakusai Konsaato”), and many other non-Japanese instruments are standard in Japan.
Ideologically as well, most professional kumi-daiko groups, while they may acknowledge tradition, do not seem to worry much over the preservation of old styles.
Eitatsu Hayashi's Solo Taiko
Eitesu Hayashi, one of the founding members of Kodo and now a solo performer of international renown, clearly states this casual approach toward tradition.
“Occasionally we came into contact with traditional arts preservation societies, which I found interesting, though that approach didn't appeal to me. We wanted to make music that excited us. I suppose that was the rock fan in me. I used to think we [Kodo] were just as progressive as Pink Floyd!! I don't try to negate tradition, and I'm aware that what I am now depends on the whole body of history that has gone before me. I am attracted by certain aspects of that whole traditional world too, the concept of manners and all that, but on the other hand I was brought up and educated in the post-war American system, and there are times when I can't help feeling a conflict between the two. I don't really think that what I'm doing is traditional. Perhaps it has the potential to become a kind of new tradition, but only if it can be kept free from the institutionalization that would stifle its growth. What it needs is a whole load of weirdos like me!'”(“Eitetsu Styles”)
Hayashi’s views seem to be fairly universal among professional taiko groups in Japan with groups like Gocoo, of “Matrix: Revolutions” fame, working under the stated goal of recapturing “the fun and lively atmosphere of an old matsuri [festival]” by “reinventing the taiko” (“Taiko Around the World”).
Art Lee in Japan
Nor is this opinion of the nature and function of kumi-daiko the sole opinion of the “whole load of weirdos” who play it, but is actually supported in its inclusive style by the Japanese government. In 2001, Art Lee, an American-born taiko player who first settled in Japan in the ubiquitous role of an English-language teacher, became the first non-Japanese person to become a government-accredited teacher of Japanese percussion with an artist's visa to teach and perform wadaiko. “Japan has enough of its own wadaiko players to be issuing visas to non-Japanese professionals. But when the immigration office in Tokyo told me, `no one has ever done this before,' I wanted to see if I could be the first” (“A musician with a heart as big as a drum”). To admit a foreigner into Japan as a teacher of a native Japanese art is virtually unheard of, but for whatever reason, an American wadaiko instructor is apparently acceptable, not only to the Japanese drumming community, but to the Japanese government.
This perspective on the traditional aspects of kumi-daiko as a Japanese are, that they inform the art but do not control it, is still rather uncommon in Japan, but the popularity of kumi-daiko on both a national and international stage has shown that this approach can be quite successful.
Appendix: Mainstream movies with featured Taiko performances (compiled by Mike Brennan)
Kumi Daiko, the ensemble drumming practiced by modern taiko groups, is a fairly recent invention and the recognition of taiko by mainstream culture has only really begun recently. In the past few years, however, taiko has expanded rapidly out of the realm of 'ethnic music', and into the wider world of 'good music' in general. The best example of this trend is the increasingly popular use of taiko in movie soundtracks. Even those who have never attended an Obon will still have heard taiko in the musical scores of these movies.
Movie; Composer; Year; Performer (if known)
'Rising Sun'; 1993
'Waterworld'; James Newton Howard ;1995
'Princess Mononoke'; Joe Hisaishi; 1997
'Mulan'; Jerry Goldsmith; 1998
'The Thin Red Line'; Hans Zimmer; 1999; Johnny Mori
'Snow Falling on Cedars'; James Newton Howard; 1999
'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'; Tan Dun; 2000; David Cossin
'Journey of Man IMAX';Cirque du Soleil; 2000; The Tribe
'Pearl Harbor'; Hans Zimmer; 2001
'The Matrix Reloaded'; Don Davis; 2003; Gocoo
'The Matrix Revolutions'; Don Davis; 2003; Gocoo
'Medal of Honor': Rising Sun; Christopher Lennertz; 2003; Steve Shaeffer & Alan Estes
'The Last Samurai';Hans Zimmer; 2003; Emil Richards(video game) 'Secret Weapons Over Normandy'; Michael Giacchino;Taiko Drum Ensemble led by Stan Shikuma.
'Rising Sun '; Toru Takemitsu
'The Passion of the Christ'; 2004;John Debney
'Blade II';Marco Beltrami
'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World'; Iva Davies and Christopher Gordon
'Battlestar Galactica' ; 2003 ; Richard Gibbs
'Final Flight of the Osiris' (from the Ainmatrix) ; 2003 ; Don Davis
'Hero';Tan Dun;2004;Kodo
(video game)'Mercenaries';Michael Giacchino; 2004; Northwest Sinfonia
Thanks to Mike Brennan for compiling this list (and he says to note that it is probably incomplete)
Appendix 2: Images and Interviews
During a series of interviews, when asked what they felt when they heard drums (“??”), some Japanese people did respond that drums made them feel “nostalgic” (Anonymous kumi-daiko player), or called up images of ” “Samurai and that sort of old Japanese style” (Hiraki). However, by far the majority’s responses were emotional, without any implication of sentiment for old Japan. Of the American and Japanese people interviewed who did not play kumi-daiko, responses include “I get tired”(Kondo), “That’s cool…I want to try” (Saito), “Not beautiful” (Hiraki) “Ultimate rave music” (Neems), and “You just want to go out and kick someone’s ass” (Forgatch).
Among those who played kumi-daiko, responses were of course more positive, but no less visceral. When asked what they felt when they heard drums, these people responded that they were “touched”, felt “Floaty (????)”, “excited”, or “relived, my heart is calm”. Several people expressed that kumi-daiko beats were “the same as a person’s heartbeat”, “I feel alive”, and “My heart dances” (Anonymous kumi-daiko players).
Copyright © 2003-2005 Daniel Bensen
Images, text, and graphic design by Daniel Bensen
