Name:

Taiyo ONODA

Date of Birth:

Feb. 18, 1993

Birthplace:

San Francisco, California, USA

Profile

Taiyo Onoda started playing taiko in the USA when he was eight years old. He entered the Kodo Apprentice Centre in 2016 and became a Kodo Member in 2019. On stage, Onoda is mainly featured on taiko drums. Earnest by nature, he tackles every role with determination, steadily gaining trust as he rises to each new challenge. Before moving to Japan to join Kodo, Onoda majored in Food Science and Technology and Japanese at University of California, Davis. Performing with Kodo is physically demanding, so his cooking skills and knowledge about nutrition are great assets, helping him look after himself and his colleagues. Onoda dreams of giving back to the North American taiko community through his work with Kodo, hoping his activities will invigorate and inspire the people who raised him.

In recent years, he has been working on video content creation around his performance activities, editing and subtitling performance and educational videos. He has also taken on teaching and interpreting roles at Kodo Taiko School, facilitating bilingual group lessons online that bring the international taiko community together to learn the spirit, physique, and technique that Kodo has cultivated to date.

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