The Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko group is a self-taught

taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming ...

group based in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, at the Midwest Buddhist Temple (

Buddhist Churches of America The Buddhist Churches of America (abbreviated as BCA in English, ' or ''Beikoku Bukkyōdan'' in Japanese) is the United States branch of the Nishi Honganji subsect of Jōdo Shinshū ("True Pure Land School") Buddhism. The BCA headquarters is at 1 ...

). The group started in 1977 based upon Buddhistic principals after the model of

Kinnara Taiko ''Kinnara Taiko'' is a Japanese American drumming ensemble (playing taiko) based out of Senshin Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles, USA. They began playing taiko in 1969 when a few third-generation Japanese Americans gathered after an Obon festival ...

in Los Angeles. The Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko group performs for the temple, the Buddhist community, the Japanese American community, other communities, commercial gigs, business conferences, and different ethnic fairs. They do not consider themselves to be primarily a performing group, and they do service projects with the temple such as performing at the Midwest Buddhist Temple Ginza Holiday Festival.

History

The Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko group started in 1977 with the help of the

based out of the Senshin Buddhist Temple in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko group inherited the Kinnara Taiko Group philosophy for Japanese American Buddhist Taiko. In the 1970s, Reverend Masao Kodani of Kinnara Taiko helped groups such as San Jose Taiko, Ogden (

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

) Taiko, Denver Taiko, Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko, Orange County Taiko, and several other groups throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in their early stages of development. Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko was the first group east of Denver.

Midwest Buddhist Temple

At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Chicago attracted Japanese American workers with job opportunities. In 1944, Reverend Gyodo Kono started the Midwest Buddhist Temple as Japanese Americans were released from the World War II relocation camps. The Midwest had much less discrimination than areas in the West Coast, and jobs were available. Of about 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans that were interned, about 20,000 were present in Chicago at the end of the war. Japanese immigrants introduced

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

to the United States between the late 1890s and 1924. The Midwest Buddhist Temple was originally an ethnic

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

, but in the 1970s, it started to expand beyond just the Japanese American community. The temple tried to go beyond being an ethnic temple and increased efforts to spread Buddhism to surrounding communities. Eventually, many immigrants began to move back to the West Coast and to the suburbs as seen in temple demographics, for there was no

Japantown is a common name for Japanese communities in cities and towns outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo or , the first two being common names for Japantown, San Francisco, Japantown, San Jose and Little ...

or Little Tokyo in Chicago.

Music and rhythms

In the mid-1970s, Johnny Mori and George Abe of

Kinnara A kinnara is a celestial musician, part human and part bird, who are musically paradigmatic lovers, in Hinduism and Buddhism. In these traditions, the ''kinnaras'' (male) and ''kinnaris'' (female counterpart) are two of the most beloved mytho ...

Taiko taught members of Midwest Buddhist Temple how to make drums with

barrels A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

and car jacks. For performances today, they use any combination of four odaiko (thirty-gallon), six jozuke (fifteen-gallon), four shime-daiko (from Japan, tightened with bolts, not ropes), and a mixture of kane, chappa,

binzasara is a traditional Japanese percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by h ...

and two conch shells (a Pacific Triton and an East Coast shell), as well as a mixture of old drums used for practice and workshops. Costumes include

happi A is a traditional tube-sleeved Japanese coat, usually worn only during festivals. typically feature symbols and/or text on the lapels, with a larger design on the back of the coat, typically the name or the festival or the participating ...

coats with black pants, black t-shirt,

hachimaki A is a Japanese headband, usually made of red or white cloth, typically featuring a design of kanji at the front. It is worn as a symbol of effort or courage by the wearer, especially by those in the military, or to simply keep sweat off one' ...

and

tabi are traditional Japanese socks worn with thonged footwear such as zori, dating back to the 15th century. History Japanese are usually understood today to be a kind of split-toed sock that is not meant to be worn alone outdoors, much like r ...

. The group’s form and musicality depend on the piece, but they typically use the Kinnara stance: a forty-five degree body and legs equidistant outside of the shoulders with the left knee paramount to the stance and the back leg more straight. They also use the thrust stance that most taiko players use today. There is no master teacher, and the group describes itself as self-governed. There is usually an elected practice leader, a business manager, a treasurer, and a historian. All members have the opportunity to teach a piece if they have expertise in it, and arrangements are considered a democratic group effort. Practices include a little opening, exercises, stretching, drilling, and one or two pieces. The group usually practices for two hours each week and holds more practices closer to the Ginza Holiday Festival. Although the group once practiced all year-round, the group usually takes a break from

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

to early January to feel refreshed for the new year. The Midwest Buddhist Temple taiko group performs at commercial events, business conferences, bars, nightclubs, and different ethnic fairs. The group has traveled as far as

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

to the east and

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

and

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

to the west. The Chicago-based taiko group has its own venue to use as practice space and equipment storage, and the temple has contributed greatly to the group’s longevity.

Affiliations

In 1979, an event called Horaku invited all taiko players in the United States and brought together all of the Buddhist Taiko Groups during that time. This event was considered to be the first taiko conference, and both

Bugaku is a Japanese traditional dance that has been performed to select elites, mostly in the Japanese imperial court, for over twelve hundred years. In this way, it has been known only to the nobility, although after World War II, the dance was ope ...

and Gagaku performances were involved. In the early 1980s, the Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko group helped start the Ho Daiko Group group in Seabrook, New Jersey, the Soh Daiko Group at the New York Buddhist Church, and the Twin-Cities Taiko Group which changed their name to the Kogen Taiko Group, a part of the Twin-Cities Buddhist Association in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Ginza Holiday Festival

The Midwest Buddhist Temple Ginza Holiday Festival is a summertime festival that features classical dance, martial arts, folk dance, and

. Three taiko groups are the main attraction at the Ginza Festival, and the Festival is considered the primary cultural event for Midwest Buddhist Temple. The Midwest Buddhist Temple taiko group has been performing in the Ginza festival since the mid-1980s with one exception when Kinnara performed in place of Midwest. The Midwest Buddhist Temple taiko group is self-sustaining and uses admission revenue from the festival to support the organization

Membership

The Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko group do not consider themselves to be a professional or semi-professional group. The group currently consists of fourteen adults between the ages of twenty and sixty. For the most part, only temple members are members of the taiko group; however, non-temple members and non-Japanese people may also play in the group. There is no

audition An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performer. It typically involves the performer displaying their talent through a previously memorized and rehearsed solo piece or by performing a work or piece giv ...

process, and current members usually refer potential new members to the organization. New members attend practices during a one-year probation period. The group has also taken in members as young as the ages of thirteen and fourteen if they were siblings of existing players.

Musical works

The Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko group composes their own original music as well as plays pieces from the taiko community. They have close relationships with other groups and willingly share pieces. No published compacts discs or digital video discs exist to date.

References

External links

* {{Cite web, url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-midwest-buddhist-temple-cross-culture-20140314-column.html, title=Irish, Japanese musicians 'forge a new path', publisher=Chicago Tribune, last=Kogan, first=Rick, date=March 14, 2014, access-date=2016-06-30 Buddhist music Musical groups from Chicago Taiko groups