Yamato: The Drummers of Japan

Yamato is a Japanese Taiko drumming group based in Asuka-mura Nara Prefecture, which is well known by Japanese people as the hometown of Japan. They call themselves “Yamato, the Taiko drumming group that travels all over the world.”

Yamato’s Taiko work cannot be fully described by the word “performance.” On stage, they are standing with more than 40 Taiko drums and all of them are having different characters. Their largest drum called “Odaiko,” produced from a huge tree over 400 years old, is approximately two meters in diameter and weighs 500 kg. All other Taiko drums are different sizes and have different sounds. The members of the group have trained their bodies to the limit to beat these massive Taiko drums. This is why Yamato’s original performances are known as “physical music” and continue to receive high acclaim all over the world. Yamato is sometimes intense, sometimes sad, sometimes comforting, and in the next moment comical on stage.

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