Time and time again, one of the most impressive displays of the Japanese soul comes to the fore during the taiko street performances. I used to witness them during their famous festivals, matsuri.
These shows are very dynamic and every time you get immersed in the experience, you become overwhelmed by the energy and spontaneity of the drummers.
The term “taiko” refers to various types of Japanese drums.
I have selected to share with you together with the above images three representative videos (not made by me):
1.The first one captures the drums manufacturing process. It features the process in a traditional Japanese drums factory Asano Taiko with a millennial tradition from 1609:
2.The second one is an authentic performance of taiko, just like the ones I attended back in 2002-2004 on the Kyoto streets, during Gion Matsuri. The video was made in 2010, by people from MatsuriTime. But the show is the same and even some of the drummers seem to be the same as the ones I saw back then.
3.The last one is a professional presentation of a famous taiko band named Kodo and located in Sado Island, off Japan’s west coast:
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