 Taiko (太鼓, Taiko)
- Means simply "drum" in Japanese
(etymologically "great" or "wide drum"). Outside Japan, the
word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese
drums (和太鼓, 'wa-daiko', "Japanese drum", in Japanese) and to
the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming
(sometimes called more specifically, "kumi-daiko" (組太鼓).
Japanese taiko drums, while having antecedents in Chinese
and Korean Janggu drums, have been developed into a wide
range of percussion instruments that are used in both
Japanese folk and classical musical traditions.
Taiko, in general, are stick percussion instruments. With
the exception of the kotsuzumi and ootsuzumi, all taiko are
struck with bachi. They have heads on both sides of the drum
body, and a sealed resonating cavity. Taiko are also
characterized by a high amount of tension on the drums
heads, with a correspondingly high pitch relative to body
size. This high tension likely developed in response to
Japan's wet and humid summers when most festivals take
place. Many taiko are not tunable, and a drum with high head
tension would counteract the slacking effects of humidity.
Taiko are categorized into two types of construction.
Byou-uchi daiko (鋲撃ち太鼓) taiko have heads nailed to the body.
Tsukushime-daiko (付締め太鼓) have heads sewn onto iron rings,
which are then laced to each other around the drum body.
Byou-uchi daiko are typically hollowed out of a single piece
of wood. The preferred wood is keyaki (欅) due to its density
and beautiful grain, but a number of other woods are used,
grouped under the generic term meari (目有). Byou-uchi daiko
cannot be tuned, and their sizes are limited by the diameter
of the tree they are made from.
The typical byou-uchi daiko is the nagado-daiko (長胴太鼓,
long-body taiko). The nagado-daiko is an elongated drum,
roughly shaped like a wine barrel, that can be shifted in
many different ways that affect the sound of the instrument.
The drum can also be played by more than one performer at
the same time. This style of drum also signifies the family
of drums that are made from a single piece of wood.
Nakado-daiko are available in a variety of sizes, from 1.0
shaku (12" in head diameter), to 3.0 shaku in 1 sun
increments. The chu-daiko is a medium sized nakado-daiko.
Nagado-daiko over 3.0 shaku are also available, but they are
referred to as ōdaiko (大太鼓 great drum). Smaller byou-uchi
daiko such as the sumo-daiko and hayashi-daiko also exist.
 One of the most defining drums of any Taiko ensemble would
be the ōdaiko. The ōdaiko is the biggest drum in all of
Taiko if not the entire world. Some of the drums are so
large that they cannot even be moved so they’ve taken up
residence inside of a temple or shrine. Made from a single
piece of wood, some ōdaiko can come from trees that are
hundreds of years old.
Tsukeshime-daiko (付締め太鼓) are available in a wide variety of
styles, and are tunable. This style of taiko is typically
tensioned before each performance. The tensioning system is
usually rope, but bolt systems and turnbuckles have been
used as well. Tsukeshime-daiko can either have stitched
heads placed on bodies carved from single piece of wood,
such as the shime-daiko and tsuzumi, or stitched heads
placed on a stave-construction body such as the okedo-daiko.
The shime-daiko is roughly snare-drum sized, and is
generally available in five sizes - Namizuke, or number 1
size, is the lightest and is used in classical theater such
as noh and kabuki. Nichougakke, or number 2, are usually
used by amateur players for its light and yet sturdy frame.
sanchou - gochou; number 3 to number 5 are used by
semi-professional to world class performance groups.
Not all of the drums in Taiko come from a single piece of
wood. The materials to make such drums can be overly
expensive or hard to find all together. So many Taiko
players have created drums out of barrels or a variety of
other cylindrical objects. The practice of making Taiko
drums from barrels is especially more wide spread in North
America, where Taiko is increasing in popularity. Most of
the barrel made drums comes from one of two categories:
okedo-daiko (桶胴太鼓, barrel-body taiko, often shortened to "okedo"
or "oke") and taru.
Oke is used to describe the typical Japanese barrel drum.
The drum is constructed from narrow staves and has roughly a
cylindrical shape. It is available in the same size ranges
as the nagado-daiko, and a taiko of okedo style is currently
Japan's largest taiko. Depending on size, they can be set on
a stand and played like other taiko, but they are also
strapped to the body so the drummer can move and play at the
same time. The taru, on the other hand, has a slightly
different shape that the oke. It has a more tapered body,
and is constructed with much wider staves than the oke. They
come typically from wine and whiskey barrels.
Other Japanese taiko include the uchiwa-daiko (団扇太鼓、fan
taiko), hira-daiko (平太鼓, flat taiko), o-daiko (大太鼓, big
taiko), and a host of percussion instruments used in Japan's
traditional noh, gagaku, and kabuki ensembles.
The Aomori region is famous for the Nebuta festival where
huge okedo are played by many people while carted through
the streets. The Okedo has its own upright stand which was
invented by Asano Taiko Drum Company.
Again, like the nagado-daiko, the okedo has a rim sound,
called "ka." When playing the rim of an okedo, however, it
is important to only hit the outermost metal ring and not
the actual rim of the drum body. The thin, light wood of the
okedo is particularly susceptible to denting and will
quickly deteriorate if hit.
Information source: “Taiko.” wikipedia.org. Article date: 24
Jan. 2008. Retrieved: Wikipedia. 2 Feb. 2008 <Taiko>.
Video - The following is a taiko
performance by TAO Live (Wadaiko/和太鼓) - Taisai/大祭. |
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