“O-daiko Ura-uchi” by Jun Jidai

“Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Legend” O-daiko Ura-uchi

In the second act of the performance, there are three O-daiko soloists who perform one after the other, and the third one is Yosuke Oda.

Wild, free, like he is beating the drum instinctively: he plays that kind of “O-daiko.” On this tour, I am playing the back of the drum, which is the bass rhythm part called “ura-uchi.”*

There is something great about standing on either side of the odaiko, the atmosphere and the air of tension. At first, the harder I tried, the more I’d lose the plot, or collide, or get ahead of where I was meant to be, and I couldn’t get my energy to accompany Yosuke’s energy properly. It was frustrating and it troubled me for ages.

n Milan, I was rehearsing with Yosuke before the performance and he said, “Relax, and be calm.” So I made a clean break and tried to play really calmly.

And when I did that, Yosuke said “Yes, that’s the way! When you play calmly, you could see all kinds of things, right? You need to face me with the exact opposite to my energy. Then our energy will meet in just the right spot.”

I felt like new things had popped up in my senses for sure. “So that’s what he meant!,” I thought to myself. I learned how good it feels when the two of us are in sync.

Playing the back of the odaiko teaches you a lot.

I’ll do my best behind the big drum again today!

*”Ura-uchi” is the person who plays the bass rhythm on the back of the odaiko (big drum), with their body and soul in unity with the soloist on the front of the drum.