The Globalization of Taiko : How Japanese-Style Drumming to North America Connecting a Diverse Global Community

Abstract

The author discusses the popularity and history of Japanese Taiko drumming and asks why this Japanese form has taken hold in the West instead of traditional forms of drumming from China or Korea. She points out that the development of performance Taiko called Kumidaiko is a relatively new form, developed in the late 1940s through the early 1950s as a fusion of traditional Taiko and western ensemble music. Taiko has been played in Japan for centuries, but it was not until after World War II that ensemble taiko was played as a performance art.