A Nationwide Tour of 25 Venues Kicks Off on May 10!
"Kodo One Earth Tour 2014: Mystery"

Photo: Takashi Okamoto

In November and December of 2013, Kodo One Earth Tour: Mystery, the second Kodo program directed by artistic director Tamasaburo Bando, saw its debut performance on Kodo's home of Sado Island before embarking on limited run of nine cities throughout Japan. 2014 will see the first major tour of this groundbreaking performance in 25 venues across the nation.

Kodo describes this pioneering program as follows: Amidst reverberations like rumbles in the earth, large serpents coil, demons and lions move wildly. They surface from the gloomy dark, eerie at times, and in some respects, even nostalgic… This work fuses Kodo's real worth, the dynamism of taiko expression, with the wondrous beauty and true charm that lie within rituals expressing the worship of myriad gods and reverence for nature that have been traditions in Japan since ancient times. This performance takes you on a voyage to the extraordinary, to a mysterious realm that lies in the beyond.

"It's hard to put into words, but I'm aiming to create a world of mystery," says artistic director Bando. "Across Japan, the folk arts have been handed down for countless generations. There's a sacredness there, an air of mystery within each prayer. The drums express this, and I would like for the audience to feel it, too. I hope theatergoers will experience the same sort of otherworldly splendor that they sense in temples, shrines, and moments of discovery in the forest."

Kodo has seen a departure from its traditional costume styles and musical direction since Tamasaburo Bando took the helm as full-time artistic director in 2012. Mystery represents a further evolution of the group's new expressions and promises to transport both seasoned fans and first-time viewers alike to uncharted artistic territory.