The Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko group is a self-taught

taiko are a broad range of Traditional Japanese musical instruments, Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese language, Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various J ...

group based in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, 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 ...

). 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, US. 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 are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they have declined in ...

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, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. 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 landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

) Taiko,

Denver Taiko Denver Taiko is the fourth taiko group founded in North America and the first taiko ensemble outside of California, United States. The group has a close partnership with the Tri-State Denver Buddhist Temple and performs throughout Colorado and nei ...

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

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

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 place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

, 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

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

s 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 Johnny Mori is a third-generation ( Sansei) Japanese American musician and arts educator/administrator from Los Angeles. He was one of the seminal members of the taiko group Kinnara Taiko and the original taiko drummer for the Grammy nominated ja ...

and George Abe of

Kinnara A kinnara (Sanskrit: Kiṃnara) is a creature from Hindu and Buddhist mythology. They are described as part human and part bird, and have a strong association with music and love. Believed to come from the Himalayas, they often watch ove ...

Taiko taught members of Midwest Buddhist Temple how to make

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

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 ...

and car jacks. For performances today, they use any combination of four odaiko (thirty-gallon), six jozuke (fifteen-gallon), four

shime-daiko The is a small Japanese drum. It has a short but wide body with animal skin drumheads on both its upper and bottom sides. The hide is first stretched on metal hops, then stretched over the body. Similar to the tsuzumi and to African talking ...

(from

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, tightened with bolts, not ropes), and a mixture of

kane Kane or KANE may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Fictional entities *Kane (comics), the main character of the eponymous comic book series by Paul Grist * Kane (''Command & Conquer''), Tiberium universe character in the ''Command & Conquer'' ...

, chappa,

binzasara is a traditional Japanese percussion instrument used in folk songs, and rural dances. It was originally used as a cleaning tool. The instrument is made up of several wooden plates strung together with a cotton cord, with handles at both ends. T ...

and two

conch Conch ( , , ) is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high Spire (mollusc), spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point on both ...

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 a ...

coats with black pants, black t-shirt,

hachimaki A (headband, "helmet-scarf") is a type of Japanese headband, usually made of red or white cloth, typically featuring a design of kanji at the front. History The origin of the ''hachimaki'' is uncertain, but the most common theory states th ...

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 re ...

. The group’s form and musicality depend on the piece, but they typically use the Kinnara stance: a 45-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 October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

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 ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to the east and

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

and

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

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 is a type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances. was developed as court music of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and its near-current form was established in the Heian period (794–1185) arou ...

performances were involved. In the early 1980s, the Midwest Buddhist Temple Taiko group helped start the Ho Daiko Group group at the

Seabrook Buddhist Temple The Seabrook Buddhist Temple is a Buddhist temple of the Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji-ha sect in the Seabrook section of Upper Deerfield Township, New Jersey. It is an affiliate of the Buddhist Churches of America. History Establishment Between ...

, 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 U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Ginza Holiday Festival

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

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

folk dance A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...

, 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 gi ...

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