Taiko Taikai: Fund Growth and Camaraderie

Hello! We the Taiko Taikai team (Arthur Mok, Adam Weiner, Emily Otoshi, and Patrick Oiye) are working to host the 3rd annual Taiko Taikai at Little Tokyo's Terasaki Budokan! All of the donations raised through this fundraiser will be put towards paying for the many expenses that are involved in putting on this event.

What is a Taikai?

Very briefly, it’s basically a Japanese tournament which encourages participants to focus on building their fundamental skills, and then join together to show their best efforts to a panel of veteran taiko players! Rather than anything with a “competitive spirit”, Taikai are incredibly motivating for players, as knowing they will be demonstrating their skills to the panel gives them an intense drive to hone their skills!

Full 2023 Taiko Taikai livestream

But really, what is a Taikai?

Taikai (tournaments) are events where players come together to demonstrate their skills to experienced judges. Such Taikai events in Japan are hosted for taiko, shamisen, folk singing, and many other art forms. They are amazing bonding experiences for all participants, due to the fact that participants aren’t competing against each other, but rather demonstrating their skills directly to the judges. Although the players with the most points do win in the tournament, participants feel camaraderie because they all are there to give their best effort, and all feel butterflies beforehand (like any performance or demonstration). This shared experience forms long term friendships. In Japan, many people of all skill levels will participate every year in order to see their friends and enjoy the shared spirit of giving their best effort.

It’s a common misunderstanding that tournament events promote an almost-hostile competitive spirit of “player-against-player”. While this might be true for certain arts/sports, it is usually not the case in the Japanese world of “Taikai” (tournaments).

What’s the purpose of Taikai?

A Taikai, regardless of the discipline, gives a player the opportunity to work towards a very achievable goal - the goal being to demonstrate one’s hard-earned abilities. In this case, we are focusing on odaiko in order for each participant to have a chance to “bring their best.” Each competitor that practices and attempts to succeed is improving their skills as both a taiko player and taiko performer. In creating this opportunity we are showing taiko players what else can be done in the realm of taiko and how individuals can come together as a community.

How can you help?

Putting on an event like this is expensive! From renting the venue, to staffing the event, and bringing in amazing judges, the list of expenses for this Taiko Taikai quickly becomes as large as the odaiko being used in the competition! As a team of volunteers putting on this event, we work purely out of our passion for taiko. The community has repeatedly come to our aid with non monetary donations such as their time or other resources and because of this, we prioritize giving back any extra money we receive to the community rather than paying ourselves. As difficult as it is to ask for help with funding, we have received an outpouring of support from the Taiko Community in the past and wish to continue providing a space where taiko players want to participate and grow. Please consider donating to our GoFundMe to help make the Taiko Taikai as spectacular an event as possible!