Wadaiko in Japan and the United States: The Intercultural History of a Musical Genre by Benjamin Jefferson Pachter Bachelors of Music, Duquesne University, 2002 Master of Music, Southern Methodist University, 2004 Master of Arts, University of Pittsburgh, 2010 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2013 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences This dissertation was presented by Benjamin Pachter It was defended on April 8, 2013 and approved by Adriana Helbig Brenda Jordan Andrew Weintraub Deborah Wong Dissertation Advisor: Bell Yung ii Copyright © by Benjamin Pachter 2013 iii Wadaiko in Japan and the United States: The Intercultural History of a Musical Genre Benjamin Pachter, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2013 This dissertation is a musical history of wadaiko, a genre that emerged in the mid-1950s featuring Japanese taiko drums as the main instruments. Through the analysis of compositions and performances by artists in Japan and the United States, I reveal how Japanese musical forms like hōgaku and matsuri-bayashi have been melded with non-Japanese styles such as jazz. I also demonstrate how the art form first appeared as performed by large ensembles, but later developed into a wide variety of other modes of performance that included small ensembles and soloists. Additionally, I discuss the spread of wadaiko from Japan to the United States, examining the effect of interactions between artists in the two countries on the creation of repertoire; in this way, I reveal how a musical genre develops in an intercultural environment. Further, I explore the relationship between compositions and reoccurring themes of discussion like ‘tradition,’ thus illuminating the relationship between music making and talking about music. The majority of English-language scholastic literature about wadaiko is concerned with the social context of the genre. Similarly, most studies have dealt with groups that emerged prior to 1980, focusing upon the large ensembles that arose during this time rather than the soloists and small ensembles that have emerged in recent decades. With my focus on repertoire, and the construction of a history from the beginning of the genre to the present, I look to broaden the scope of academic discourse about wadaiko. iv This dissertation begins with an overview of my main research aims, prominent theoretical issues, my research scope and methodology, and a literature review. I discuss the chronological development of wadaiko in Japan and the United States in Chapters 2 through 7, focusing upon several groups and individual artists and their music, identifying how they have guided the development of the genre. Chapter 8 serves as the dissertation’s conclusion, in which I summarize the previous chapters while also examining the relationship between music making and representations of ‘tradition,’ conceptions of originality, issues of performance rights, and the transmission of wadaiko knowledge and the role of language in this process. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................................................................................. XIX 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 RESEARCH AIMS .............................................................................................. 8 1.2 THEORETICAL ISSUES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A WADAIKO HISTORY ............................................................................................................................ 10 1.2.1 Ethnomusicology & History ......................................................................... 10 1.2.2 Intercultural Music........................................................................................ 13 1.2.3 Defining ‘Wadaiko’ ........................................................................................ 18 1.2.4 Tradition ......................................................................................................... 24 1.2.4.1 Lineage ................................................................................................. 28 1.3 RESEARCH METHDOLOGY AND SCOPE ................................................ 31 1.3.1 Scope ............................................................................................................... 33 1.3.1.1 Concerning Transcriptions ................................................................ 36 1.4 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 37 1.4.1 Primary Sources ............................................................................................ 37 1.4.2 Secondary Sources – “Taiko Studies” ......................................................... 40 1.4.3 Broadening the Scope of Taiko Studies ....................................................... 46 1.4.4 Beyond Taiko Studies .................................................................................... 49 vi 1.5 CHAPTER OVERVIEW .................................................................................. 50 2.0 OSUWA DAIKO: “RESTORATION” OF A LOST DRUMMING STYLE ....... 53 2.1 FROM BAND LEADER TO WADAIKO PIONEER ..................................... 55 2.1.1 The “Kakuta Memorandum” ....................................................................... 56 2.2 “SUWA IKAZUCHI” ........................................................................................ 67 2.3 “HIRYŪ SAN-DAN GAESHI” AND THE OSUWA DAIKO STYLE......... 74 2.4 OSUWA DAIKO: THE SUCCESSORS OF TRADITION ........................... 82 3.0 SUKEROKU TAIKO: BLENDING FOLK & CLASSICAL DRUMMING FOR A PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENT .................................................................................... 91 3.1 POST-WAR BON DAIKO IN SHITAMACHI TOKYO ................................. 95 3.2 SHIN ON TAIKO AND THE BEGINNING OF PROFESSIONAL WADAIKO IN TOKYO .................................................................................................... 101 3.2.1 “Midare Uchi”.............................................................................................. 103 3.3 FROM SHIN ON TAIKO TO SUKEROKU TAIKO .................................. 105 3.4 INTEGRATING SHITAMACHI MATSURI-BAYASHI AND HŌGAKU INTO THE SUKEROKU STYLE .................................................................................. 106 3.4.1 Shitamachi matsuri-bayashi ......................................................................... 106 3.4.2 Hōgaku .......................................................................................................... 111 3.4.3 “Oroshi Daiko”-“Shiraume Daiko”-“Matsuri Daiko” ............................. 114 3.4.3.1 “Oroshi Daiko” .................................................................................. 115 3.4.3.2 “Shiraume Daiko” ............................................................................. 119 3.4.3.3 “Matsuri Daiko” ................................................................................ 121 3.5 “YODAN UCHI” ............................................................................................. 124 vii 3.6 PROFESSIONAL WADAIKO ........................................................................ 129 3.6.1 Beyond Sukeroku Taiko .............................................................................. 131 4.0 ONDEKOZA & KODO: FROM “REVITALIZING FOLK ARTS” TO WADAIKO AS ART MUSIC .................................................................................................... 134 4.1 DEN TAGAYASU & THE CREATION OF ONDEKOZA ........................ 136 4.2 “YATAI-BAYASHI” & THE ARRANGEMENT OF REGIONAL FESTIVAL DRUMMING FOR THE WORLD STAGE ............................................. 140 4.2.1 Arranging Chichibu Yatai-Bayashi for the stage ...................................... 149 4.3 “O-DAIKO”: NEW TECHNIQUES FOR WADAIKO ................................ 155 4.4 “MONOCHROME”: WADAIKO AS ART MUSIC ..................................... 167 4.5 ONDEKOZA ON THE GLOBAL STAGE ................................................... 176 4.6 KODO ............................................................................................................... 179 4.6.1 “Miyake” & Kodo’s Continued Arrangement of Regional Drumming Styles ……………………………………………………………………………… 180 4.6.2 Leonard Eto & “Irodori” ............................................................................ 183 4.7 TRANSFORMING WADAIKO PERFORMANCE ON THE GLOBAL STAGE ………………………………………………………………………………......190 5.0 WADAIKO IN THE UNITED STATES: NEW WORLD, NEW MUSIC ........... 196 5.1 TANAKA SEIICHI & THE SAN FRANCISCO TAIKO DOJO ............... 197 5.1.1 “Sokobayashi” .............................................................................................. 201 5.1.2 “Tsunami” .................................................................................................... 211 5.2 KINNARA TAIKO & ‘BUDDHIST TAIKO’ ............................................... 220 5.2.1 “Ashura”....................................................................................................... 222 viii 5.2.2 Tanaka Seiichi vs. Kinnara Taiko .............................................................. 228 5.3 SAN JOSE TAIKO: COMBINING DIVERGENT APPROACHES TO WADAIKO ........................................................................................................................