Our beloved family ojichan, butoh master to many, Koichi Tamano, has passed on to the next realm at 4:44 PM on Nov 13th, 2025, at home in Berkeley, CA.

Let's help raise funds for Hiroko-san and the whole family in Berkeley to hold a proper celebration of life for him, honoring the legacy and transcendent artistry of Koichi Tamano, one of the first students of Hijikata Tatsumi and the first to introduce butoh dance to the United States and the West Coast.

The family is currently still processing the news, but we will keep everyone updated on the celebration of life details through this GoFundMe. (We are hoping for one in the US and one in Japan).

If anyone has suggestions or offerings of spaces that feel appropriate in either country, please send a message in the link below.

We would love to collect photos of Koichi-san performing alongside all those he has touched, and it would be very helpful in organizing the celebration. Please upload your photos and any comments in the link below:

https://forms.gle/k5Mm2Xc5ebTA3iA18

Lots of love to everyone in this butoh family and network.

Love,

The Tamano family

Koichi Tamano

Aug 27, 1946 - Nov 13, 2025

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Koichi Tamano's performance in 1976 was the first appearance of butoh in the United States. Koichi and Hiroko Tamano were among the very first to perform Ankoku Butoh, which translates literally to “the dance of darkness.” The genre emerged in the late 1950s in post-atomic bomb Japan. It was created by two dancers, Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata, who sought to create a new, uniquely Japanese form of expression that completely rebelled against the establishment, and both Eastern tradition and Western styles. Koichi joined Hijikata’s dance company in the 1960s, as did Hiroko in 1972. Hijikata encouraged the Tamanos to introduce butoh to the United States. The Tamanos' performance in the 1976 “Japan Now” exhibition at SFMOMA was the first butoh seen by an American audience and made a big sensation. The Tamanos moved their dance company Harupin-Ha from Tokyo to Berkeley, California, in 1979 with the blessings and encouragement of their teacher. For decades, the Tamanos led dance workshops in Berkeley and also operated the restaurants, Country Station and Tamasei, which served as meeting places for the dance and theater communities of the Bay Area. They are known for their holistic approach to the art of butoh. The Mayor of the City of Berkeley, California, declared March 28th, 2017, to be the “Koichi and Hiroko Tamano Day.”