Joe Small @all - Can anybody clarify the history of the term 'kumidaiko'?

My impression is that it comes out of 'ensemble drumming' of O-Suwa and/or possibly Sukeroku lineage or history, but I'm not completely sure. I'm curious because it's a term we use a lot in North America, but I haven't heard too often elsewhere in Japan Wadaiko seems to be used a lot more (as well as with groups outside of North America and Japan), although if I recall some Kansai-area artists used the term 'kumidaiko' only to refer to a set of taiko drums aligned for a person or two to play 'kumi' referring to the 'grouping' of drums as opposed to 'ensemble'. Happy Thanksgiving! November 25, 2010 at 6:14am Like Comment Unsubscribe J.D. Andrade "kumi" means group (people or items) in Japanese, so the term could refer to either "a set of drums" or "an ensemble," although I'm pretty sure the majority of people use it for the latter meaning. the "wa" in Wadaiko refers to Japanese drums (after all, taiko just means drum), so it serves an entirely different purpose: to distinguish between "taiko" and other drums. I don't know much about the history of the terms, but that is what one year of Japanese allows me to hypothesize... haha, anyone else know a bit more? I am interested as well... November 25, 2010 at 6:36am Like Joe Small Er ... I should explain that I do speak Japanese. While I do know the meaning of the terms and am familiar with their usage, my interest was in clarity regarding the history of the usage of the word 'kumidaiko', particularly in the North American taiko community. November 25, 2010 at 6:43am Like Chat (5)

Chikako Saito Hi ! Joe-kun, long time no see you. It's interesting subject. I think mostly Japanese people who doesn't play Taiko, they don't know the word " KUMIDAIKO". This word is new Japanese word from late 1950th Japan. Daihachi Oguchi got inuenced from western drum, assemble some different taiko, then play. November 25, 2010 at 9:27am Like Chikako Saito I got new ASANO TAIKO CATALOGUE this summer, Akitoshi Asano explain about some history of Taiko in there. You have interest in that article ? November 25, 2010 at 9:34am Like Miriam Solon I think it was meant to stand in contrast to matsuri taiko, more as a performance art than as a part of ritual. November 25, 2010 at 12:25pm via Facebook Mobile Like Benjamin Pachter Thanks for asking this question, Joe. I've actually been thinking about it for a while now, and have tried to track down a denitive answer, but have fell short thus far. A few books I have listed different morphological categories that emerged in the 60s & 70s, but kumidaiko is never listed among them. November 25, 2010 at 12:46pm Like Chie Otsuka As far as I understand, the term Kumidaiko was a created word by Prof. Masahiro Nishitsunoi who organized annual taiko concert series at National Theater of Japan from 1970's. He categorized style of Japanese drumming in several categories and "Kumidaiko" was one of them. Most of Japanese drumming he referred was folk/traditional/classic style, while Osuwa Daiko was, I think, the only one referred to Kumidaiko. Because back then in the late 60's or early 70's, there are not many taiko groups just like in the US. So... originally Kumidaiko was an academic term to refer the style of new taiko performance based playing which is now called as Wadaiko colloquially. Kumidaiko is not a colloquial term. November 25, 2010 at 1:29pm Like 2 people Chie Otsuka And I think Ensemble Drumming is a very good translation of Kumidaiko. November 25, 2010 at 1:32pm Like Joe Small Ah, thank you, Chie! November 25, 2010 at 4:19pm Like Shoji Kameda @Chie did Nishitsunoi san come to the rst NATC? December 5, 2010 at 12:32am Like Chie Otsuka Shoji -- yes, I think so. 1997. He must be about 80 years now. December 5, 2010 at 12:38am Like Shoji Kameda @Chie I think I took him to Disneyland with some members of KETE back in 97. I have a very distinct memory of him with a HUGE smile on his face ying down Matterhorn. For some reason that memory has really stuck with me. I think I was really touched to see someone so accomplished and distinguished and seasoned in years be able to have fun like an 8 year old. December 5, 2010 at 12:47am Like Shoji Kameda @Joe this might be the reason why the term Kumidaiko rather than Wadaiko gets used so much in the NA taiko community. At that very rst conference Nishitsunoi san gave a very interesting keynote presentation and if memory serves me right Chie translated for him. December 5, 2010 at 12:51am Like Chie Otsuka Yes, that had to be him. I think you're right about the reason why the term is used much more in NA. Nishitsunoi sensei is such a wonderful lovely person! I can totally imagine him with a HUGE smile. When I was in Tokyo, I used to hang out with him often and went to see lots of taiko concerts. I need to nd out how he is doing... Yoshi must know him very well, too. By the way... I don't remember if I did translation. At the 1997 conference, I was with the taikology editor and we did a lot of interviews on pioneer NA taiko groups. December 5, 2010 at 1:23am Like Shoji Kameda Yeah it seems very likely that the widespread use of the term "kumidaiko" as opposed to "wadaiko" can be traced back to Nishitsunoi sensei's involvement at the rst North American Taiko Conference. I think another factor has to be Steve Sano and Linda Uyechi's class on North American taiko which also uses the more academic "kumidaiko" term. I might be making up the bit of you translating could be confusing that with any number of other memories of you translating for me:) December 5, 2010 at 2:21am Like Joe Small Thanks, guys - that explains a lot. It had been on my mind for some time - I was wondering why any number of groups in Japan title themselves as 'Wadaiko ____', yet I had never encountered any 'Kumidako ____'. :P

Chat (5)

December 5, 2010 at 6:25am Like

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Mj McKenty A recent article by Jane Alaszewska in Musike, "Two Different Beats to a Single Drum," analyzing old vs. new style Hachijo-daiko, mentions an elder player referring to his rst taiko-gumi - or "taiko partnership" - with another more experienced player. December 8, 2010 at 10:03pm Like Mj McKenty I guess what I was getting at with that last post is, I can't tell from the article whether Kumao-san (Kumaoji...who was born in 1916) actually used the term "taiko-gumi", or whether that was the author's term. But if it was Kumaoji's word choice, that probably pre-dates Nishitsunoi-sensei's use of "kumidaiko". December 8, 2010 at 10:13pm Like Write a comment...

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