Kodo 45th Anniversary Tour Series—Part I
Kodo December Concerts 2025

Kodo will celebrate its 45th anniversary in 2026.
The ensemble will present a commemorative tour series to mark this auspicious milestone, which begins this year-end with “Kodo December Concerts 2025.”
Based around its recent compositions, this new work brings the essence of Kodo today to the forefront in an invigorating performance with a classic feel.
Come and experience the energy and resonance as the cast give their all, jumpstarting a year of festivities in true Kodo style.

Director: Ryoma Tsurumi

Music Director: Yuta Sumiyoshi

Featuring: Kodo (Kenta Nakagome, Shogo Komatsuzaki, Reo Kitabayashi, Issei Kohira, Kodai Yoshida, Yuta Kimura, Seita Saegusa, Kei Sadanari, Moe Niiyama, Jumpei Nonaka, Shizuku Katsube [Junior Member], Kiseki Takagi [Junior Member], Toji Harada [Junior Member])
※Cast was partially changed on Nov. 14 and may be subject to further change. For this tour, Yuta Sumiyoshi has been replaced by Kiseki Takagi.

Promotional Artwork: Rie Kanamori, Satoshi Ando (signal inc.) | Photo: Takashi Okamoto

Kodo will celebrate its 45th anniversary in 2026.
We are presenting a commemorative tour series to mark this auspicious milestone, beginning with the “Kodo December Concerts 2025” in Japan. In May 2026, we will present a further six performances of this dynamic production in the Kanto and Tohoku regions, this time under our “One Earth Tour” banner.
Based around our recent compositions, this work brings the essence of Kodo today to the forefront in an invigorating performance with a classic feel.
Come and experience the energy and resonance firsthand in the theater as the cast gives their all to deliver a truly memorable, moving performance.

Director: Ryoma Tsurumi

Music Director: Yuta Sumiyoshi

Featuring: Kodo | Kenta Nakagome, Shogo Komatsuzaki, Ryoma Tsurumi, Reo Kitabayashi, Kodai Yoshida, Yuta Kimura, Seita Saegusa, Kei Sadanari, Moe Niiyama, Jumpei Nonaka, Shizuku Katsube, Yuzuki Kimura (Junior Member), Kiseki Takagi (Junior Member)
*Cast may be subject to change.

Promotional Artwork: Rie Kanamori, Satoshi Ando (signal inc.) | Photo: Takashi Okamoto

Let Joy Ring Out

Elysian, the latest work directed by Yuki Hirata, unveils a bright, hopeful world where happiness radiates outward.
Marking its 45th year, Kodo presents a joyous celebration of its journey — past, present, and future — and the resonant sound of taiko. It promises to be an unforgettable, euphoric performance.
After premiering in Tokyo’s Asakusa, the production will embark on a nationwide Japan tour from summer to fall. Join Kodo at the theater to experience these good vibrations firsthand.

Director: Yuki Hirata (Kodo)
Featuring: Kodo
July Cast: Shogo Komatsuzaki, Jun Jidai, Koki Miura, Reo Kitabayashi, Issei Kohira, Kodai Yoshida, Shun Takuma, Kei Sadanari, Jumpei Nonaka, Kazuma Hirosaki, Hana Ogawa, Yuzuki Kimura (Junior Member), Ruki Funakura (Junior Member) / Yuichiro Funabashi (Kyoto performances only), Yuki Hirata (Kagoshima performance only), Taisei Tanaka (Junior Member) (Uwajima performance only)
*Cast may be subject to change.

Performance Length: Approx. 90 mins. (including an intermission)

Promotional Artwork: Rie Kanamori, Satoshi Ando (signal inc.)
Photos: Takashi Okamoto, Kodai Yoshida

Soulful Sound that Dances and Delights

To mark the grand finale of our 45th anniversary year, our “Kodo December Concerts 2026” tour will visit just three exclusive locations. Join us on Sado Island, in Niigata, and in Tokyo for a special programme centered around the core Kodo classics that have shaped our journey. Performed by a multi-generational cast, it promises to be an unforgettable, uplifting celebration.

Director: Yuichiro Funabashi (Kodo Ensemble Leader)
Featuring: Kodo

Sado Cast: Yuichiro Funabashi, Yoshie Abe, Tomohiro Mitome, Masami Miyazaki, Yuta Sumiyoshi, Jun Jidai, Koki Miura, Ryoma Tsurumi, Reo Kitabayashi, Tomoe Homma, Issei Kohira, Kodai Yoshida, Yuta Kimura, Yuki Hirata, Moe Niiyama, Jumpei Nonaka, Hana Ogawa, Toji Harada, Taisei Tanaka (Junior Member), Ruki Funakura (Junior Member)
*Cast may be subject to change.

Niigata & Tokyo Cast: Yuichiro Funabashi, Chieko Kojima, Eiichi Saito, Kenta Nakagome, Yuta Sumiyoshi, Koki Miura, Ryoma Tsurumi, Reo Kitabayashi, Issei Kohira, Kodai Yoshida, Yuta Kimura, Yuki Hirata, Moe Niiyama, Jumpei Nonaka, Hana Ogawa, Toji Harada, Taisei Tanaka (Junior Member) / Ruki Funakura (Junior Member) [Niigata performance only]
*Cast may be subject to change.

Performance Length: Approx. 1 hour 45 mins. (including an intermission)

Promotional Artwork: Rie Kanamori, Satoshi Ando
Photo: Takashi Okamoto

In January 1984, Kodo began touring under the banner “One Earth Tour,” hoping to remind people of the common bonds with share as human beings through the resonant sound of taiko.
In 2024, Kodo will celebrate 40 years of its “One Earth Tour” by taking a look back to the future the ensemble envisioned when it raised that banner, striving to capture the original vision in a commemorative touring concert. It promises to be a performance that connects the ambition underpinning Kodo’s mission to the present and future.
Here and now, beyond and always.

Kodo One Earth Tour 2024 will tour nationwide in Japan.

● Director: Yuki Hirata
● Production Advisor: Yuichiro Funabashi

Cast

September
Kodo (Eiichi Saito, Shogo Komatsuzaki, Reo Kitabayashi, Kodai Yoshida, Yuta Kimura, Seita Saegusa, Chihiro Watanabe, Shun Takuma, Sho Nakatani, Moe Niiyama, Kazuma Hirosaki, Shizuku Katsube [Junior Member])

Promotional Artwork: Rie Kanamori (signal inc.) | Photos: Takashi Okamoto

Feel the beat resonate, every step of the way

This winter, Kodo is excited to present a brand new collaborative work with Korean drum (Janggu) performer Choi Jaechol: Mountains. Following its premiere in late November, this production will tour in Japan through until late December. We hope you’ll come and experience it firsthand at the theater.

● Director: Yuta Sumiyoshi
● Featuring: Kodo (Kenta Nakagome, Shogo Komatsuzaki, Yuta Sumiyoshi, Jun Jidai, Ryoma Tsurumi, Reo Kitabayashi, Yuta Kimura, Yuki Hirata, Kei Sadanari, Sho Nakatani, Moe Niiyama, Jumpei Nonaka) and Choi Jaechol
*Cast may be subject to change.

According to Korean drum performer Choi Jaechol,
“Journeys create rhythms.”
I wanted to work with Choi and explore this idea together.
Folk music around the world goes hand in hand with movement.
You can see it in the nature of music and dance.
Moving your center of gravity up and down, gently and suddenly, tensing and relaxing your muscles.
Back and forth in loops of opposites.
Taiko is an instrument that works really well with a physical approach.
Kodo has three pillars that support its performances: physicality, musicality and spirituality.
Through this collaboration, I want to create a new, profound production from the ground up that deepens our roots and further cements these pillars.

Yuta Sumiyoshi, Director

Choi Jaechol | Korean Drum (Janggu) Performer
Born in Osaka in 1979 and raised in Tokyo, Choi Jaechol is a 3rd generation Zainichi Korean—Korean living in Japan. His performances are centered around Sol Janggu (solo performances of Korean drums) and span a broad range of music scenes, stretching beyond the boundaries of folk, traditional, and modern music. Along with Korean drum performances, Choi also composes music and writes lyrics. His activities to date have included producing music for a TV commercial campaign promoting Shiseido cosmetics (2008), a collaboration with Butoh dancer Min Tanaka, and more. In 2009, Choi launched Chango Walk, a journey-centered initiative that brings people closer to Japanese and Korean culture. He has walked thousands of miles, beating his drum and seeing how the journey informs his lifestyle and rhythms. Choi’s journey to date has included: the fifty-three stations from Tokyo to Kyoto along the Tokaido route (2009); Kyoto to Hakata (2010); Tokyo to Seongju in South Korea (2015); up and down Mt. Fuji (2016); along the Sanriku coast in Northern Tohoku (2018); and a lap around Sado Island (2021).
The mountains, rivers, roads, and roadsides all serve as inspiration, which Choi expresses in rhythms, dances, and songs.

Photo: Takashi Okamoto

Imagining One Earth, Right Now

Kodo One Earth Tour 2025 brings you a programme with something for everyone, from beloved classic repertoire to regional folk arts to brand new compositions. It showcases the talents of each performer as it weaves their skills into new forms of expression while drawing out their distinct characters and strengths. Come and experience it firsthand at the theater.

Promotion Artwork: Osamu Ohashi (thumb M)
Photo: Takashi Okamoto

For over four decades, Kodo has been touring under the banner “One Earth,” striving to connect people around the world through the sound of taiko.

Today, the world is rapidly becoming more diversified, and more divided.
In a world like this, can we be content with music, performing arts, and art being merely commercial—just something people consume?
Have they lost their role in serving as catalysts for communication, leading us to learn about others and, in time, to know ourselves?

I want to lean in to believing that taiko and music do create empathetic communities where humans resonate with one another, reaffirming their common bonds beyond race, nationality, language and religion.

Also, we need to remember that Earth isn’t only home to humans.
Animals and plants, their lives are also woven into the Earth’s multifaceted rhythms.
Sometimes beating in sync, always ringing out in living color.

When we imagine One Earth and the future, we can’t just focus on humans alone.
We need to consider all life here on Earth, and all of us living together.

Let’s all imagine One Earth together, here and now.
We will keep playing taiko to keep imaginations alight around the world.

 

Masayasu Maeda, Director

Director: Masayasu Maeda (Kodo)

Featuring: Kodo

Sep.–Oct. Cast: Shogo Komatsuzaki, Koki Miura, Ryoma Tsurumi, Seita Saegusa, Yuki Hirata, Chihiro Watanabe, Kei Sadanari, Moe Niiyama, Kazuma Hirosaki, Hana Ogawa, Shizuku Katsube (Junior Member), Taisei Tanaka (Junior Member)
※Cast was partially changed on July 14 and may be subject to further change.

Programme: To include Zoku, Miyake, Chonlima, Yatai-bayashi, O-daiko, and more.

In May, Kodo will travel to Austria for performances with Vienna’s Tonkünstler Symphony Orchestra and conductor Yutaka Sado. This auspicious collaboration will feature two pieces created for taiko ensemble and orchestra, Call of Sacred Drums and Inochi, performed at Vienna’s Musikverein Golden Hall and Festspielhaus St. Pölten.

Call of Sacred Drums is a work by Estonian composer Peeter Vähi, commissioned by Grafenegg Festival and Vienna Tonkünstler Symphony Orchestra. Inochi was composed by former Kodo member Ryotaro Leo Ikenaga.

Featuring: Kodo (Kenta Nakagome, Yuta Sumiyoshi, Yuta Kimura, Yuki Hirata, Shun Takuma, Sho Nakatani), Tonkünstler Symphony Orchestra

Conductor: Yutaka Sado

Programme:
Yui (Yuta Sumiyoshi)
Konzert für Taiko-Ensemble und Orchester ‘Call of Sacred Drums’ (Peeter Vähi)
Rhapsodie für Orchester (Revidierte Fassung 2001) (Yuzo Toyama)
Inochi (Ryotaro Leo Ikenaga)

※Cast is subject to change.

Imagining One Earth, Right Now

Kodo One Earth Tour 2025 brings you a programme with something for everyone, from beloved classic repertoire to regional folk arts to brand new compositions. It showcases the talents of each performer as it weaves their skills into new forms of expression while drawing out their distinct characters and strengths. Come and experience it firsthand at the theater.

Promotion Artwork: Osamu Ohashi (thumb M)
Photo: Takashi Okamoto

For over four decades, Kodo has been touring under the banner “One Earth,” striving to connect people around the world through the sound of taiko.

Today, the world is rapidly becoming more diversified, and more divided.
In a world like this, can we be content with music, performing arts, and art being merely commercial—just something people consume?
Have they lost their role in serving as catalysts for communication, leading us to learn about others and, in time, to know ourselves?

I want to lean in to believing that taiko and music do create empathetic communities where humans resonate with one another, reaffirming their common bonds beyond race, nationality, language and religion.

Also, we need to remember that Earth isn’t only home to humans.
Animals and plants, their lives are also woven into the Earth’s multifaceted rhythms.
Sometimes beating in sync, always ringing out in living color.

When we imagine One Earth and the future, we can’t just focus on humans alone.
We need to consider all life here on Earth, and all of us living together.

Let’s all imagine One Earth together, here and now.
We will keep playing taiko to keep imaginations alight around the world.

 

Masayasu Maeda, Director

Director: Masayasu Maeda (Kodo)

Featuring: Kodo
May-June Cast: Jun Jidai, Koki Miura, Ryoma Tsurumi, Reo Kitabayashi, Seita Saegusa, Chihiro Watanabe, Kei Sadanari, Moe Niiyama, Kazuma Hirosaki, Shizuku Katsube (Junior Member), Kiseki Takagi (Junior Member), Taisei Tanaka (Junior Member) / Hana Ogawa (Oshu performance only)
※Cast was partially changed on May 10 and may be subject to further change.

Programme: To include Zoku, Miyake, Chonlima, Yatai-bayashi, O-daiko, and more.

Schedule

• • May 11 (Sun), 2025 14:00 | Komae Ecorma Hall, Komae, Tokyo [SOLD OUT]
  • May 13 (Tue), 2025 18:30 | Nerima Culture Center (Main Hall), Nerima Ward, Tokyo
  • May 17 (Sat), 2025 14:00 | Fukuyama Arts and Culture Hall Reed & Rose (Main Hall), Fukuyama, Hiroshima
  • May 18 (Sun), 2025 15:00 | Ueno Gakuen Hall (Hiroshima Prefectural Culture & Art Hall), Hiroshima City
  • May 21 (Wed), 2025 18:30 | Ritto Center for Fine Arts Sakira (Main Hall), Ritto, Shiga
  • May 24 (Sat), 2025 14:00 | Prinny no Shimin Kaikan (Kagamihara-shi Bunka Kaikan), Kakamigahara, Gifu
  • May 30 (Fri), 2025 18:30 | The Prince Chichibu Memorial Civic Hall (Main Hall Forester), Chichibu, Saitama
  • Jun 1 (Sun), 2025 14:00 | Kashiwazaki City Performing Arts Center Art-Forêt (Main Hall), Kashiwazaki, Niigata [SOLD OUT]
  • Jun 8 (Sun), 2025 16:00 | Shelter Nanyo Hall, Nanyo, Yamagata
  • Jun 14 (Sat), 2025 14:00 | Oshu City Cultural Hall Z Hall (Main Hall), Oshu, Iwate
  • Jun 15 (Sun), 2025 16:00 | Akita Arts Theatre Mille Has (Medium Hall), Akita City
  • Jun 19 (Thu), 2025 18:30 | Kenshin Cultural Center (Middle Hall), Koriyama, Fukushima
  • Jun 21 (Sat), 2025 14:00 | Hitachiomiya City Cultural Center Roze Hall, Hitachiomiya, Ibaraki
  • Jun 22 (Sun), 2025 16:00 | Tochigi Prefecture Cultural Center (Main Hall), Utsunomiya, Tochigi