Celebrating Taiko Anniversaries

This year is Nen Daiko's 25th Anniversary. It is also the 40th Anniversary of our mentor and sister taiko group, Soh Daiko. In June, Soh Daiko hosted an anniversary concert in New York City. Many Nen Daiko members were able to cheer from the audience. We gave them an engraved wooden bat that can be used to play their largest drums. 

Soh Daiko with their 40th Anniversary bat given by Nen Daiko - taken at Seabrook Obon by Nick Lehmann

We sewed them a quilted patchwork bag to store the bat.

Soh Daiko's 40th anniversary concert centered around two main themes: kizuna and okagesama de. Kizuna means "bonds" in Japanese. Soh Daiko invited their alumni to return to the group for the concert, to celebrate the bonds that unite their past and present members. 47 members traveled from near and far to be at the concert and collectively represented all four decades of Soh Daiko's existence. Nen Daiko and Seabrook Buddhist Temple's taiko group, Hoh Daiko, also traveled to the concert in recognition of our bonds with Soh Daiko. Celebrating the bonds of their previous members, sister taiko groups, and friendships within the taiko community and with their audience, also brought home Soh Daiko's other broader theme of okagesama de, which translates to "we are who we are because of you."

​Here is Nen Daiko in the audience at Soh Daiko's 40th Anniversary concert:

Photo by Brant Horio

To celebrate our own anniversary, we are inviting taiko groups from around the world to #TaikoLove 2019. Last October, we encouraged taiko performers to share photos and videos every day in October. This year, we propose 31 new themes and we are excited to see what people share!

We hope you will join in to our virtual anniversary celebrations by sharing your own taiko photos and videos. Or you can just LOVE all our posts!