Taiko drumming is a centuries old sacred practice in Japan. Seiichi Tanaka, who founded the first American Taiko Dojo in 1968, states that the essence of taiko is based on the disciplines of spirit, action, body, and etiquette. We first experienced it in the film Rising Sun, and what an exciting impression it had on us
This beautifully designed paperback, which features 35 luscious photographs, is the first book on the subject to appear in English. It is written by Heidi Varian, a longtime student of taiko and a taiko event producer from San Francisco.
Varian presents a succinct overview of taiko, and how it has evolved into a form of mental, physical, and martial arts training that generates rhythm, harmony, and movement. Today its uses are many: it is performed in traditional venues, religious ceremonies, festivals, classical theatre, and ancestor worship.
Varian also goes into detail on the instruments themselves and the movement style required to play them. She concludes with a discussion of training in the Way, where taiko becomes a spiritual discipline that draws out self-control, acting from the heart, strength, endurance, and courtesy.
Taiko has grown in popularity over the years; there are now over 200 groups in North America alone. In Japan, it is estimated that the number of taiko groups is more than 5,000.
