Our History

How did Dublin get a Taiko group, and where does Eitetsu Hayashi fit into all  of this?
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The roots of Dublin Taiko Group can be traced back to Den Tagayasu. In 1970, Tagayasu gathered a group of 40 young men who were willing to devote their entire lifestyle to Taiko playing and took them to Sado Island for training. He became inspired by a drumming tradition unique to Sado called ondeko or "demon drumming". This style required considerable strength and stamina to play well. Den named his group Ondekoza and implemented a rigorous set of exercises for its members, including essentially running a marathon every morning at 4:00 AM. In 1975, Ondekoza was the first Taiko group to tour in the United States. Their first American performance occurred just after the group finished running the Boston Marathon while wearing their traditional uniforms. In 1981, some members of Ondekoza split from Den and formed another group called Kodo under the leadership of Eitetsu Hayashi. Kodo went on to popularize Taiko through frequent touring and collaborations with other musicians.

In 1982, Eitetsu left Kodo and embarked upon a solo career, which included a performance with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 1984 as the first-ever solo Taiko performer. He also performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic. He is recognized as the world’s preeminent solo Taiko performer.

In 2003, Ms. Susann Blair, band director at Davis Middle School, became aware of a Dublin Arts Council grant that would provide for a year-long residency program enabling a group of 20 middle school students and their music teacher to learn Taiko from Eitetsu Hayashi. She committed herself and her students to this one-year residency.​

The Dublin Taiko Group

After Eitetsu's residency ended, Ms. Blair continued teaching Taiko, and the Dublin Taiko Group (DTG) was created. From an initial group of 20 middle school students, DTG has grown to over 120 students in grades 6-12 and is now the largest K-12-based Taiko organization in North America. DTG alumni return to play with the group and have gone on to play with Taiko groups at Miami University of Ohio, Bowling Green State University, Columbia, Berkeley and Cornell.  Dublin Taiko Group is now in its 16th year of operation.

DTG currently consists of four levels of students: Beginners (first-year Taiko learners), Veterans (2nd year and up), DTG JV (students who have shown a desire and commitment to become members of DTG), and finally DTG, the main performance group. All groups will have multiple opportunities to perform during the course of a year.
 
The mission of Dublin Taiko Group is to develop student performers who demonstrate a passion for the artistry of Taiko and promote diversity and expansion of cultural knowledge in our community.