The North American Taiko Taikai will be held on Saturday, May 20, at Terasaki Budokan, 249 S. Los Angeles St. in Little Tokyo.
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.
Registration will open at 10:00 a.m. Taikai will take place at 11:00 a.am., 2:30 p.m. and results will be announced at 4:00 p.m. Evening concert will begin at 6:00 p.m.
For tickets and more information: www.taikotaikai.com
The event is hosted by the J-Town Taiko Club and presented by Bachido in partnership with Terasaki Budokan.
The theme is “Odaiko.” Participants will play “Narukami,” composed by Yoshikazu Fujimoto of Kodo, for five judges with awards given to the top three finalists.
The judges are Isaku Kageyama, Joe Small, Karen Falkenstrom, Ringtaro Tateishi and Tiffany Tamaribuchi.
Scheduled competitors are: Thomas Murray, Alaina Villanueva, Jason Seymore, Gregory Wada, Kohtaro Yamakawa, Lauren lee, Cameron Blakemore, Michael Gonhata, Patrick James Cruz, Raymond Ricafort, Sarah Gilbert, Kota Mizutani, Mayuko Yamamoto, Erika Ninoyu, Mei-Ling Laures, Lee Cabacungan, Cody Yoshida, Blaine O’Brien, Tyler Devlin and Nao Nunogawa.
The concert will feature many local taiko groups.
A free livestream is available for those unable to attend in person. www.taikotaikai.com
