TAIKO - WADAIKO DRUMMING JAPANESE DRUM DISPLAY

Traditional Japanese drums are known as taiko or wadaiko drums. The original concept for the large drums came from China over 1,000 years ago.

These first drums were made of slats of wood, but produced an inferior sound because of the secondary vibrations and loss of energy through the joins in the slats. The Japanese then developed a new manufacturing method to improve the sound.

The improved manufacturing method involved the use of a single piece of wood from the trunk of a very large zelkova tree.

The larger drums normally use cow hide for the "heads" of the drums.

There are around 10,000 wadaiko performance groups in Japan. At the festival there were performances by two groups; Waverley Meadows Primary School (left) and the Wadaiko Rindo group (left below).

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