Jan. 1, 2025

New Year’s Greeting from Kodo Ensemble Leader Yuichiro Funabashi

I wish you all a very happy new year.

On behalf of Kodo, I would first of all like to offer our sincere condolences to everyone who was affected by the Noto Peninsula Earthquake one year ago today. Please know you are in our thoughts as you continue to deal with its after-effects.

Looking back over the past year, we were fortunate to be able to have a wide range of performances throughout Japan, overseas, and here on Sado Island. These concerts included collaborations with guest artists NAKIBEMBE EMBAIRE GROUP from Uganda who joined us at our summer festival Earth Celebration, and Korean drum (Janggu) performer Choi Jaechol who joined us for our year-end touring production, “Mountains.” When we travel, connect with people, get together, eat and play music together, we feel joy and reaffirm what’s important to us. I really felt that firsthand throughout 2024.

In the past few years, Kodo’s solo projects have been on the rise. I can see our members broadening their expressive range through these opportunities. Collaborations and exchange in different fields, such as sports, theater, and dance to name a few, invigorate and inspire us, and teach us a lot. They sometimes make us feel uneasy or scared, and can make us feel conflicted, too. But going outside your own community and putting yourself into another one creates time for you to understand your own abilities and where you are at right now. Also, you get to experience how taiko and music connect and resonate between people, showing that genres and borders pose no obstacle. These experiences bring depth to our group. If I liken Kodo to the human form, I feel these experiences serve as leg and core training, strengthening us from the ground up.

In 2025, we look forward to bringing the sound of taiko to you all, starting in mid-January with our North America tour. In recent years, we’ve been enjoying more opportunities to perform on Sado Island, too. I hope you’ll come and spend some time on the island and immerse yourself in the lifestyle and culture that surrounds us here—the place we call home, where every Kodo performance takes shape.

I hope this year is filled with joy for all of you. We will do our very best to cheer you on throughout the year with the resonant sound of our taiko.
I kindly ask for your continued guidance and encouragement.

Yuichiro Funabashi
Leader
Kodo Taiko Performing Arts Ensemble

Jan. 1, 2026

New Year’s Greeting from Kodo Ensemble Leader Yuichiro Funabashi

I wish you all a very happy New Year.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the many people in Japan and around the world who supported the Kodo group’s activities throughout last year. Thanks to all of you, we were able to share a wide range of performances throughout 2025, including our One Earth Tour, School Workshop Performance tour, and Earth Celebration concerts. It was truly encouraging for us to share Kodo today with audiences far and wide.

Meanwhile, we are keenly aware that we are touring while serious problems intensify around us. The world is in a state of instability due to climate change, conflicts, and disasters. In Japan, people are grappling with the declining birth rate and aging population, a lack of workers in certain industries, and questions about how to sustain regional events as populations decline. Our home, Sado Island, is one of the many areas facing these challenges. Amidst these global and local situations, this past year has led me to deeply reconsider what it means to be a taiko player, and how Kodo should stand alongside society and engage with it.

You could liken Kodo Apprentice Centre to Kodo’s origins—it’s a place where people study not only taiko technique but also learn important lessons from their daily life, nature, and connections with others. Cleaning, cooking, doing farm work, and working with people in the local village may, at first glance, seem far removed from taiko, but they cultivate the very foundation of our sound. Kodo’s journey since its inception has taught us this, and we are committed to carefully passing these learnings on to the next generation.

Furthermore, I hope that Kodo can harness the unique physicality of taiko players—suppleness, a strong and centered core, and senses finely attuned to others—to create performances while also developing our organization. I want Kodo to be open, working to transcend regions, generations, and cultures. Little by little, I aim to move Kodo away from the image of doing something extraordinary to doing something relatable, so more people can connect with our work and group more easily.

Kodo celebrates its 45th year in 2026. I see this milestone as a new point of departure as Kodo steps into its next 45 years. We are planning a year of commemorative performances, domestic and international tours, projects and workshops on Sado Island, and enhancements that help Kodo Apprentice Centre offer an even more enriching experience.

We will keep striving to make the sound of our taiko envelop you and give you strength. I am personally looking forward to a wide range of new challenges this year as we walk the road ahead together.

I kindly ask for your continued guidance and encouragement in the year to come.

Yuichiro Funabashi
Leader
Kodo Taiko Performing Arts Ensemble