The Taiko Center of the Pacific and its iconic leader, Kenny Endo, are searching for a new home where they can keep sharing the art of Japanese drumming with students of all ages from Hawaii and around the world.
The school was displaced at the end of December from the chapel at Kapiolani Community College, where it was based for 16 years, to make way for renovations. The troupe found a temporary location at the Hawaii Opera Theatre studio from February through this month but will become homeless again Sept. 1 as the theater shifts to a year-round schedule.
"I’m thinking of networking with some community organization or community center, or possibly a temple or church, where we could offer classes," said Endo, the center’s artistic director. "We would offer part of our fees or whatever we made to the organization as well as possibly volunteer a performance a year. I would want it to be a win-win situation."
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To help the Taiko Center of the Pacific find a new home or to learn more, call 737-7236 or email taikoarts@gmail.com.
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Since it was founded by Endo and his wife, Chizuko, in 1994, the center has taught thousands of students, including some who came from overseas to study. The school stands out for offering taiko instruction year-round to the general public, at all ages and skill levels. It is committed to preserving traditional drumming but also to creating new music for taiko.
"I think they need the community’s support and understanding to make sure this does not stop," said Liann Seki, who takes taiko with her 9-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son. "They have an impact locally and abroad."
The ensemble drumming appeals on many levels, Seki said. "It’s musical, it’s physical and it’s artistic," she said. "It works your brain, too. You have to memorize each piece. And everybody has to work as a team."
For many local folks, taiko is a bonding experience that reverberates for years and ripples through the community.
"It’s really a family thing," said Malia Ogoshi, who has taken taiko at the center along with her daughter. "Parents and kids play together, siblings, cousins. There are lots of retirees."
Her daughter, Jade, has been taking classes since she was 5. Now 19, she attends New York University, and "she’s playing taiko with one of Sensei’s friends in Brooklyn."
"It’s something that stays with you for life," Ogoshi said. "It ties you to other people. It’s just really a joyful thing."
The center is looking for a space on the order of 1,000 to 1,500 square feet that it could use three or four times a week, including one weekend day and weekday evenings, ideally with some storage space for its drums.
"We’re totally flexible about the times," Endo said. "We’ve been looking for quite a while now. We would probably have to do some work to dampen the sound."
He has considered commercial spaces, but so far the rent has been too high — about $3,500 a month — given its enrollment of about 100 people, from children to retirees. At Kapiolani Community College, taiko was offered through the noncredit continuing education program, with tuition fees shared between the university and the instructors.
"KCC was actually an ideal location," Endo said, adding that there were no complaints about noise. But he doesn’t know when or whether the chapel might be made available to the Taiko Center again.
"Plans for renovation have been made, but as far as start and completion date, that is unclear," said Louise Yamamoto, KCC’s director of community and college relations, on Friday. She noted that the chapel has been used for various classes, and "it’s not a dedicated building for taiko."
Endo, who started out in Western percussion, has been playing taiko since 1973. His ensemble performs throughout the country and internationally.
He studied 10 years in Japan and was the first non-Japanese national to receive a stage name in the field of "hogaku hayashi," or Japanese classical drumming.
The master drummer and composer has pioneered new approaches for the art form, collaborating with other artists from symphonic musicians to African drummers and East Indian dancers.
"Kenny Endo is a cultural icon," said Peter Leong, a retiree who has taken taiko for more than a decade with his wife. "He’s a national guy who chose to make Honolulu his base."
The Taiko Center is offering intensive classes this month in taiko, shakuhachi (flute) and slack-key guitar. The series culminates in a concert titled "Summer Breeze: Slack Key Meets Taiko and Shakuhachi" at 4 p.m. Aug. 19 in the University of Hawaii Orvis Auditorium.
Terri Asato’s son Brock has played for 10 years and is concerned about where they’ll hold weekly practices for their performances later this year.
"It’s such a big part of his life," Asato said. "I hope we can find a new home. We have some parents come from Ewa Beach, Kapolei, Mililani, Kailua and Hawaii Kai, so we’re trying to find a central location in town."
