Message from Yuichiro Funabashi
Kodo Ensemble Leader, Kodo Cultural Foundation Board Member. Kodo Apprentice Centre Director

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for your ongoing support of the Kodo Group.
I continue to serve as Kodo Ensemble Leader and a director of Kodo Cultural Foundation. From April 1 this year, I have also taken on the role of Kodo Apprentice Centre Director. I kindly ask for your continued encouragement and guidance.

Today, I would like to announce some changes on the horizon in regards to our apprentice programme.

Apprentice Intake Pause

Since 1985, Kodo has welcomed young hopefuls who dream of joining the ensemble on stage, accepting them as apprentices and offering them tailored training. This year marks the 40th anniversary of our apprentice system, which has been based at a schoolhouse in Kakinoura—formerly Iwakubi Junior High School—since 1996. That’s a considerable part of Kodo’s history: four decades of training apprentices and almost three decades of renting our current training facility.

Kodo performs at a ceremony celebrating the launch of Kodo Cultural Foundation in 1997. (Kodo Apprentice Centre Rehearsal Hall, Kakinoura) Photo: Masateru Sakaguchi

Kodo apprentices live immersed in rich culture and nature on Sado Island, learning and honing their skills while leading a structured communal lifestyle with their peers. We believe this experience will be truly valuable for them and society in the future.
Every year in June, Kodo Cultural Foundation announces the Kodo Apprentice Centre application guidelines for the following year. However, we have deemed it necessary to take time to improve the environment where our apprentices live and learn so the programme can continue into the future. As a result, we have decided not to carry out our usual annual apprentice intake in 2026.

It is not easy for Kodo to suspend this intake process for the first time in forty years, but we know it is necessary. The Apprentice Centre’s buildings are over 70 years old and we need to address their deterioration, and make improvements to cope with rising summer temperatures. The Centre has supported our group for many years from the ground up. We will pause, review, and improve this place of learning so that it can keep underpinning Kodo’s activities in the decades ahead. I want to use this time to re-examine the apprentice curriculum, maintain and repair the facilities and instruments, and make the apprentices’ environment better than ever before.
I kindly ask for your understanding and support of this decision.

Kodo members, staff, and apprentices during a working bee to repair the floorboards at Kodo Apprentice Centre in March 2025.

Reform Plans and Call for Support

In 2026, we will only have 2nd-year apprentices—the current first-year cohort. As we continue their training, we will involve them in discussions to improve the curriculum as we prepare to re-open applications for the 2027 intake.

Kodo apprentices live on Sado Island, learn through a range of new encounters, and nurture their creativity surrounded by lush nature. This experience of personal cultivation is essential for them, laying the groundwork for their expression to blossom on the Kodo stage.

We introduced our current two-year apprentice programme in 1997 when Kodo Cultural Foundation was established. Ever since, we have been collaborating with residents of the neighbouring villages and invited instructors from Sado Island and further afield to develop a truly diverse curriculum. Every aspect of the apprentice course is important, but as the curriculum has evolved, we have reached a point where there is not sufficient time to study everything during the limited apprenticeship timeframe.

I am currently in the process of taking over the role of Centre Director from my predecessor, Yasuhiko Ishihara. I’ve also started discussing our plans and the future with the locals in the nearby villages and the Apprentice Centre instructors based on Sado. As I listen to them share their feelings, thoughts, and expectations of Kodo and our Apprentice Centre, I am reaffirming the value of this unique place of learning.

The Apprentice Centre curriculum isn’t solely focused on honing the taiko playing skills and expressiveness required to perform on the Kodo stage. The course gives the apprentices solid foundations, developing their physical strength, spirit, sensibilities, understanding of culture, etiquette, and more. We are proud of the capable individuals who emerge from this programme.

As you might expect, some have returned to their hometowns and launched taiko groups, gone on to become solo taiko performers and instructors, or shinobue [bamboo flute] or other Japanese instrument performers. We also see many of our graduates draw on their experience to enter new fields, such as learning and upholding folk performing arts and working in theaters, on productions, and in the food, agriculture, forestry, and service sectors.

During the months ahead, we will do our best to share updates with you on our current apprentices and our Apprentice Centre and curriculum reform efforts. The Centre nurtures Kodo’s next generation of performers and staff, that goes without saying. But for us, it serves the world beyond our group by helping people unlock their potential for other unique paths here on Sado Island, in Japan, and around the world. I sincerely hope you will support our decision and mission to improve Kodo Apprentice Centre through this upcoming reform.

Proposed Plan

Kodo Apprentice Centre to Date

Yuichiro Funabashi
Kodo Ensemble Leader,
Kodo Cultural Foundation Director
Kodo Apprentice Centre Director

Kodo Apprentice Centre 2025 Report

2025 was a major period of transition for Kodo Apprentice Centre. We set out to thoroughly reconsider and improve our curriculum, facilities, and staffing structure, keeping social and environmental changes and staffing needs in mind. Consequently, we made the difficult decision to suspend our annual apprentice intake for the first time in forty years.

“Why do people study here?”
“What do we foster here?”
We spent the year asking ourselves these questions and more, over and over again. Along with practical skills like playing taiko and flutes, singing, dancing, physical movement fundamentals, and voice training, Kodo apprentices learn through communal living and agricultural work. They also grow through their regular interactions with the local community. We are still searching for the best way to capture Kodo’s core ethos of living, learning, and creating as one holistic training experience.

February 2026. After the cohort above them graduated in January, seven apprentices entered their second year and continued their training through the winter months.

As part of this journey, we are reshaping our staffing organization so that the entire Kodo Group helps raise our apprentices. We want to ensure that Kodo’s ensemble members—the performers themselves—are actively involved with the apprentices’ lives outside of their performance-related training, supporting them with daily tasks and the practical side of life. There has been an imbalance in that responsibility to date, and we look forward to having more Kodo members involved in the Apprentice Centre moving forward. This also gives our performers a valuable chance to reexamine their own roots, which I hope will in turn enrich their expression on stage.

Beaming smiles after harvesting and cooking the rice they grew themselves.

One impactful change we made was the introduction of a set number of consecutive days off each season for the apprentices. They used this time off to undertake independent projects. These included walking the perimeter of Sado Island, researching a festival that is no longer held, gaining work experience at their parents’ workplaces, and making a study visit to an instrument maker’s workshop or another workplace. By introducing unstructured time into their usual intensive training, the apprentices had time to act and reflect independently and to connect with the world outside. This gave them opportunities to reconsider their own artistic expression and way of life from a broader perspective—creating a virtuous cycle that elevates the quality of their everyday training. Moving forward, we will continue to build frameworks that allow the apprentices to harness societal connections that deepen their studies, such as incorporating vocational experiences.

Kodo members rolled their sleeves up to help with the apprentices needed more hands to get through their agricultural work.

We also mapped out the necessary repairs and reconfigurations at the Centre with various factors in mind. For example, we considered how the apprentices would take part in facility maintenance as well as local events and working bees. We also thought about how the Centre could serve as an evacuation shelter or a disaster prevention base. Kodo Apprentice Centre is not a closed training facility. We want it to be widely recognized as an integral part of the area, so we will work to make it more open and deeply rooted in the community.

Plans for 2026 and Beyond

2026 is the year that we will steadily drive this process forward. As we hone the apprenticeship course content, we are enhancing the instructor team structure and the facilities where we host the apprentices. We are committed to maintaining high-quality training by carefully balancing our curriculum scale with the capacity of the programme. We will also share more of our journey with the public and create opportunities for exchange outside the Centre, ensuring that each apprentice can feel their own role in society while they train here. As these initiatives take root, we believe the apprentices will grow as individuals, bringing new energy and creativity to the Kodo ensemble. At the heart of Kodo Apprentice Centre moving forward, we will balance two core actions: enriching performance-oriented training for the stage and enabling meaningful connections with the local community and society as a whole.

As for the future, that starts this year as we reopen applications to welcome new apprentices in 2027. Kodo Apprentice Centre is the foundation for every person who aspires to join Kodo on stage, and it’s where we all deepen our expression. It is a unique place that nurtures people, fosters connections, and renews culture. We will run this Centre with immense care, safeguarding its ties to the community and the world to ensure that this cycle never ends.

We cannot achieve this vision alone. With the vital help of our supporters, local authorities, and partners, we will continue to expand our activities and work to keep creating sustainable cultural offerings with roots on Sado Island. I kindly ask for your unwavering support and guidance as we take our next deliberate steps forward.

Group photo outside Kodo Apprentice Centre during Kakinoura Festival, April 2026.

Applications Now Open for Kodo Apprentice 2027 (Cohort 45) Intake

For further details about the 2027 application and admissions process, please visit the page below.
Applications close on Sep. 30 (Wed), 2026.

2027 Apprentice Applicant Information

Nov. 18 (Mon), 2024 4:00–6:00 JST

You will be able to access the form during this time, but if you try to pay by credit card, you will see an error message, and you won’t be able to proceed to the next screen.

※If you wish to pay by bank deposit or transfer, you’ll be able to use the form as usual.

We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you again for your continued support.

Body Mechanics for O-daiko Expression

with Kenta Nakagome

Online Information Sessions for this course

We will be holding free online information sessions via Zoom.

Please see here for more details.
Date & Times: Jan. 20 (Sat),2024 15:30–17:00 JST* (Each session will last approx. 30 mins.)
Registration: Please sign up via this form.

Registration Deadline: Jan. 10 (Wed), 2024 JST*
*JST: Japan Standard Time

Course Dates: Jan. 21–Mar. 11, 2023

Application Period: Oct. 1 (Sat)–Nov. 30 (Wed), 2022

Kodo’s Tomohiro Mitome will lead online O-daiko group lessons.
Mitome will share his unique theory, honed performing with Kodo for over 30 years.
Learn to play the big drum for long stretches with nothing but good sound.

Click here for more details.

For further details, please see the TCA Beyond the Drum website.
*TCA is based in the US, so the dates are local unless otherwise specified.
*Prices are in USD.

Beyond the Drum

TCA “Beyond the Drum” 2021 Sessions with Kodo Members and Staff

• Exadon – Taiko and its Limitless Possibilities
  Led by Masami Miyazaki (Kodo), interpreted and assisted by Ami Akimoto (Kodo Cultural Foundation)
• Warm-ups and Activation of Essential Muscles
  Led by Taiyo Onoda (Kodo)  SESSION FULL
• A Perspective on Staging and Production for Taiko in Japan
  Led by Yui Kamiya (Kitamaesen Co., Ltd., KASA)

Kodo Taiko School Online Orientation Sessions

Kodo Taiko School Online Orientation Sessions