Interviews

1. Fun at concentration camp

2. A wrong ethnic assumption

3. The performing arts not for Nisei

4. Changing the taiko rhythm from Japanese to Afro-Cuban

5. Friction between Sensei and Kinnara in defining taiko

6. American influences on Japanese taiko

7. Appreciating Kinnara Taiko's approach to taiko

8. A Japanese American gardening dance

9. Taiko is a reflection of where you live

10. Playing traditional gagaku while creating an identity

Kodani,Mas

Senshin Buddhist Temple minister and co-founder of Kinnara Taiko.

Friction between Sensei and Kinnara in defining taiko

[Tanaka] Sensei came down. He heard about us and came down to tell us what it should be. I think at first…we’re on very good terms now, but at the time, it was kind of tense. He said, “Well you shouldn’t call it taiko. You should call it drumming.” And we said, “We’ll call it whatever we want” you know. And he’s of a school of strict discipline and in this whole samurai tradition. Our temples were peasants. We’re farmers and that makes no sense. So we said, “No, we’re not going to run. We’re not going to exercise. And if you hit me with a stick, I’ll hit you with another stick” you know. So that meeting ended as separate things and then gradually, as it grew, we began to overlap and now we’re on pretty good terms with sensei.

But at first it was a very different attitude. And that attitude still shows. Buddhist temples, by and large…it’s not their religion. We’ve got a religion. It’s called Buddhism. Taiko is not my life and our point of view is if it’s your life, you need to get another life. It’s just a part of what we do at temples. It’s like pounding mochi. Some people pound mochi. Some people play taiko, that’s all. And that’s all we look at it as and because of that, we’re almost on our third generation of people who grew up with taiko and grew out of it, which is fine with us. Yeah, there was no objective, as such.

drum Kinnara Taiko taiko

Date: December 3, 2004

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Art Hansen, Sojin Kim

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Rev. Masao Kodani is a Sansei minister of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism and co-founder of Kinnara Taiko - the second taiko group established in the United States and the first Japanese American Buddhist group. Born in Glendale, California, Rev. Kodani was a young child when he and his family were incarcerated at Poston Relocation Center in Arizona during WWII. After his family's return toLos Angeles, they lived in a predominantly African American community near the neighborhood of Watts. Although they were Buddhist, his parents sent their children to Evergreen Baptist Church in East L.A. because they thought it would be easier for them to fit in. After graduating from Centennial High School, Reverend Kodani attended the University of California at Santa Barbara where he earned his degree in East Asian Studies. While at UC Santa Barbara, he became close with Reverend Art Takemoto of Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. Through Rev. Takemoto’s influence, Kodani traveled to Japanto study Buddhism at Ryukoku University. After his studies were completed, he returned to the United States and was assigned to the Senshin Buddhist Temple in South Central Los Angeles. In 1969, he established Kinnara Taiko with members of the temple as a Japanese American Buddhist ensemble with the objective of enjoying the Buddha-Dharma (Horaku)through the experience. Their composition, "Ashura" has become one of the most learned adapted pieces in the American taiko repertory. (December 3, 2004)