We would like to announce that three of our 2016 Junior Members, Issei Kohira , Masayasu Maeda , and Kodai Yoshida , have recently become fully-fledged Kodo Members.
Furthermore, five recent Kodo Apprentice Centre graduates have been selected to become Kodo Junior Members from Feb. 1, 2017. They are Yuta Kimura, Seita Saegusa, Yuki Hirata, Chie Yamawaki, and Chihiro Watanabe.
(Photo [from left]: Yuta Kimura, Seita Saegusa, Chihiro Watanabe Chie Yamawaki, and Yuki Hirata)
We hope you will join us in welcoming them to the Kodo stage.
In other news, Kodo Junior Member Koharu Ido will part ways with Kodo in Jan. 2017 to set off on a new path. At the end of Mar. 2017, we will also bid farewell to three members of the Kodo Group: Kodo Performer Masaya Koike , Kodo Cultural Foundation and Kodo Apprentice Centre staff member Michiko Chida, and merchandise manager and former tour manager Yuko Shingai. Lastly, Kodo Performer Akiko Ando will leave Kodo at the end of August this year. She looks forward to seeing everyone at her scheduled performances with Kodo until then.
As we farewell these members, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to you all for your support of their activities to date.