Recent Workshop Schedule

Kristy “Aki” Oshiro (they/them) is a queer, trans and non-binary, 4th generation Japanese Okinawan-American professional taiko artist based in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area with over 30 years of experience. Founder and Artistic Director of the Tsubaki Ensemble, Queer Taiko, and SOKO Taiko, Creative Director of Placer Ume Taiko, and instructor of San Mateo Buddhist Temple Taiko. Aki also teaches taiko drumming classes in many cities from Nevada City to San Mateo and is available for group performances, touring, collaborations, school assemblies, residencies, workshops, private lessons, original compositions, corporate team building, rearrangement work, and artistic consultation.

Taiyo Onoda started playing taiko in the USA when he was eight years old. He entered the Kodo Apprentice Centre in 2016 and became a Kodo Member in 2019. On stage, Onoda is mainly featured on taiko drums. Earnest by nature, he tackles every role with determination, steadily gaining trust as he rises to each new challenge. Before moving to Japan to join Kodo, Onoda majored in Food Science and Technology and Japanese at University of California, Davis. Performing with Kodo is physically demanding, so his cooking skills and knowledge about nutrition are great assets, helping him look after himself and his colleagues. Onoda dreams of giving back to the North American taiko community through his work with Kodo, hoping his activities will invigorate and inspire the people who raised him.

Born in 1981 in Ena City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, Takumi Kato grew up practicing the violin. In 2004, he trained for two years with Kodo, a Japanese drum performing arts group based in Sado City, Niigata Prefecture.

In 2009, Takumi performed a series of concerts “connecting the bonds between people, families, the local community”. To accomplish this, Takumi went door to door in Ena City, performing for 1068 families in one year.

Takumi and his family now travel and share their unique energy with communities around the world.

A professional taiko performer in Japan for over 10 years, Eri Uchida was immediately touched by the strong connection that taiko had on the community when she watched the taiko performances at San Jose Obon in the USA. As a performing member of KODO, she was aware of the power of taiko on stage, but this experience revealed to her that taiko carried potential beyond being simply a musical instrument. Eri wanted to further explore the question of “Why does taiko make us feel so fulfilled?” With this in mind and in collaboration with Sydney Shiroyama (Occupational Therapist), Eri came up with TaikoIN’, a concept that would explore 4 intentions (interconnected, in the moment, inspiring, inclusive) to grow an accepting community rooted in the philosophy and practice of taiko.
As an instructor, Eri has broken down all she has learned as a professional taiko player into the most basic elements in order to make it more accessible and shareable for taiko learners. Her goal is to help people discover and develop the unique abilities that they already possess. Thus, many students value her teaching style because of her ability to communicate concepts in a way that is more hands-on and easy to absorb. In 2020, Eri was one of the first kaDON LIVE instructors and taught these holistic concepts entirely on-line to students from all over the globe.