San Francisco Taiko Dojo and Kinnara Taiko Reluctantly share the Stage and Bury the Hachet A Continuation of the Taiko Series From April 2008

Seiji Tanaka, fresh off a year of studying Taiko with Osuwa Taiko’s Oguchi Sensei, arrived in San Francisco in 1968. His goal was to reunite the Japanese community with their roots through Taiko. It was a community anxious to make some noise. The late ‘60’s in America was a time of racial and ethnic awareness. Ushered by African American demands for equal rights, other ethnic communities in the U.S. were feeling increasingly empowered to express their identities. The Japanese American community was still recovering from internment less than 25 years prior. The hysteria and yellow peril that permeated America during wartime still affected what had become known as the “model minority”. It was time to make noise.

San Francisco Taiko Dojo grew quickly and soon gave birth to Taiko groups throughout the Wet Coast and the nation. Tanaka brought his Martial Arts background to the form and began teaching young Japanese Americans not only how to make noise, but how to make the correct noise. His teaching was infamously strict and based on the philosophies he’d learned in the Martial Arts. His focus was to teach Taiko as though it were a traditional art form, and to experience within it the spirit of being Japanese.

Meanwhile a few hours drive to the south another Taiko was being born. In 1971 after Senshin Buddhist temple in Los Angeles celebrated Obon, The Reverend Mas Kodani and George Abe didn’t put away the Taiko. In fact they played the Taiko all night, and when they were done they realized they had just begun. “Buddhist Taiko” began that night, and with that was born the first American Taiko philosophy. True it’s odd to say that Buddhist Taiko is an American philosophy. After all Buddhism, as practiced by Senshin Temple, comes from Japan, and so do those giant drums. But, the fact that there is no such thing as Buddhist Taiko in Japan, along with the application of Kodani’s modern Buddhist ideals makes Kinnara Taiko 100% American.

But it was the issue of purveying Taikos for the members of Kinnara that really began to make Taiko possible in America. Drums are expensive – even in Japan. The cost of importing them was absolutely prohibitive for small community and Buddhist groups. So the members of Kinnara Taiko invented a way to make a “Taiko” out of an oak wine barrel. There were problems along the way. Most notable how to stretch the skin tightly over the mouth of the barrel. How to effectively stretch a skin is still a well guarded secret of Asano and Miyamoto Taiko in Japan. But gradually, through trial and error, Kinnara and others came up with ways to get close enough. In ddition to the problem of the skins, Kinnara faced a serious problem with the bodies of these Taiko. Wine barrels are made of wood slats held together by two metal rings. Metal tends to rattle and vibrate when hit. So Kinnara needed to hold these barrels together some other way. Wood glue! Each barrel had to be disassembled and each slat individually glued together. The whole process was labour intensive, but the cost was a fraction of the cost of importing. Now, with a little elbow grease, anyone could be a Taiko drummer. Or at least that was what Tanaka Sensei was afraid of.

So what is the difference between the Martial Art influenced Japanese Heart Samurai Taiko of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo, and the Everyman’s come if you want, play if you want, leave when your satisfied Taiko of Kinnara? Well, enough to set these two pioneers at odds with each other for decades. Enough to spur Tanaka Sensei to ask the Rev. Kodani not to call what Kinnara does “Taiko”. If you play Taiko in the U.S. you probably are aware of the feud and you’ve probably made up you mind as to what exactly it is that separates the two philosophies, but here is a brief comparison:

SFTJ believes in the hierarchy of the Sensei, the Sempai and the kohai. At the beginning and end of class all members line up in order of “rank” and bow toward the sensei and those of higher rank.

Kinnara has no sensei. No one is considered sempai. Kodani sensei says since we all starte together no one is above anyone else. He believes that in Buddhism social hierarchy does not exist. Therefore at the beginning and end of class everyone bows to each other in a circle.

SFTJ believes in the strict training of a Taiko player. Taiko drumming is seen as a traditional art form with a prescribed “way”. The successful player subjugates self will to adhere to the way of playing. Deviations from the way are only acceptable after the way is mastered. In this manner the art form can grow.

Kinnara believes that hitting the drum is more less an expression of individuality within a group. While certain techniques and styles can be transmitted, there is not specific “way” of Taiko. Not playing Taiko is as acceptable as playing Taiko.

SFTJ has a strict code of laws by which all members must conform. The laws are for the benefit of the group and the form and do not encourage individualism. However, within these laws one can find ones true self.

Kinnara has no rules. While members may be compelled to act based on obligations, there are no strict outlines as to how one should behave within the group. The hope is that all will behave fairly as equals

There are no doubt many other differences but there is also one distinct similarity:

Both groups believe that through Taiko one can enrich oneself.

In my opinion, these two styles are hardly opposites. In fact these differences have existed in Japanese and Western cultures since the very earliest times. They groups imply reflect the societal differences between the ancient lords and the peasants. Tanaka’s group attempts to recapture the strict code of behaviour expected of the ancient Samurai class, while Kodani’s group embraces the cooperative group structure of the townspeople. Both are capable of enabling self-enrichment. Both are rich with wisdom and depth. Both are essential for society.

So why fight? Maybe that’s how Kodani and Tanaka feel too. The fact is that while the feud was strong through the 80’s and 90’s, it seems to have nearly disappeared in recent years. Both men give each other just recognition in developing and enhancing Taiko in America. Both men accept members from each others groups and styles and there has been great mutual development among the youngest generation of Taiko players. But has the hatchet really been buried? Not likely. The feud between expression through form and form through expression has existed as long as man has formed societies. I guess our little Taiko world is really just another reflection of the society in which we live.

Labels: Kinnara Taiko, Mas Kodani, San Francisco Taiko Dojo, Seiji Tanaka, Senshin Buddhist Temple, Taiko

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