Banging the Taiko drum in a class with Taiko-Lab, Tokyo

Taiko drums come in many different shapes and sizes and are embedded deeply in Japanese culture going right back as early as the 6th century. They have been used in warfare and are an important part of religious ceremonies in both Buddhist and Shinto temples in Japan to this day. Much more recently in the 1950’s groups of players came together to create thunderous performances called kumi-daiko. With taiko drums being so important to Japanese society, the pressure was on us to do justice to this tradition during our own drumming lesson. Banging two sticks on a drum – how hard could it be?

We certainly tested the limits of that proposition during a taiko drumming lesson at the Taiko-Lab in Aoyama, a neighbourhood of Tokyo. Our instructor was Yu. He was incredibly friendly, funny and patient with us as we started out with a basic rhythm and built up to a short performance by the end of the session.

Everyone really got into it and had a fantastic time. Odessa’s enthusiastic style and propensity to dance whilst drumming caused much hilarity for Yu, and Jim’s inability to deal with the mid-tune rhythm change never failed to amuse. But we found the great thing about this form of drumming is that it is very accessible for beginners.

Despite less than an hour of training we were able to perform something resembling a tune and have a fantastic time along the way.

It would be hard to imagine an instructor better suited to leading a novice family through this experience.

At the end of the session we were in for a real treat. The big drum came out and Yu showed us how it is really done. We were blown away, literally as well as figuratively. Alongside the stunning display of thunderous sound and power, the drum sent waves of air pressure reverberating back off the studio walls and over us. We were in awe as we realised quite how far we still have to go in our drumming journey.

It was at this point learnt that our instructor Yu’s full name is Yuichiro Furusato and he is one third of the professional kumi-daiko trio Mugen. Not only that, he played with Avril Lavigne on stage when she specifically requested the group join her in Tokyo. Odessa was beside herself at this as Sk8ter Boi is on permanent repeat in her headphones.