Model

Asano Ō-daiko

The great drum

The ō-daiko is the largest taiko in an ensemble, often several feet across, carved from a single trunk and played standing with both arms. It is the drum a taiko performance is built around, and one instrument can take years to make.

Category

  • Hand Percussion

    Congas, bongos, djembes, cajons, timbales, frame drums, and the small instruments that live on a percussion table: tambourines, cowbells, shakers, and claves.

Made by

  • Asano Taiko

    The Asano family has made taiko in Ishikawa for four hundred years, hollowing single trunks of keyaki and stretching cowhide over them by hand. The workshop supplies temples, festivals, and the touring taiko ensembles that carried the instrument out of Japan.