Grant will help taiko master Kenny Endo keep the beat

Like almost all other performing artists, taiko master Kenny Endo has had to shut down many of his endeavors during the pandemic. He canceled three tours and lost 85% of his students at his school, Taiko Center of the Pacific.

But now he’ll have some help getting started up again. Endo has been named one of 63 USA Fellows by United States Artists, a Chicago-­based organization that gives unrestricted $50,000 grants to artists, writers, architects and other creatives. The award was announced Wednesday.

“I was totally surprised, but it was a great honor,” said Endo, who is the only recipient from Hawaii this year.

Endo was not sure exactly how he got the award, but the organization asked recipients to write thank-you letters to the two people who donated money for it. They happen to be MacKenzie Scott, a noted author and the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Dan Jewett, a science teacher who is now her husband.

While Endo’s teaching and performing have been cut short during the pandemic, he’s stayed busy. He built a studio at his home and has been practicing taiko up to two hours a day, “just working on basics, working on new things, working on new ideas,” he said.

He’s also become more deeply involved in Zen Buddhism, practicing meditation at a temple in Kalihi. So even though taiko is one of the most physical forms of musical performance, meditation required him to stay rock-solid still for 45 minutes at a time. “You’re really able to go inward at those times,” he said.

The practice has inspired him to develop a “Way of Taiko,” similar to other areas of Asian philosophy. “I guess the concept is that all ‘ways’ are one and the same, and lead to the same thing, which is a betterment of the person and the betterment of society,” he said.

You might not recognize Endo if you see him. He’s also taken up intermittent fasting, losing 30 pounds from his athletic frame. He said he sleeps better and feels better as a result.

“I’m 68 years old, so now every little bit helps now,” he said. “In my taiko group, it’s inspiration to try to keep up with the younger people and all the energy they have.”

Now he’s planning a two-month mainland tour beginning in March, but it will be done garage-band style. He’ll tour with just four other musicians, including Hawaii-bred musician Abe Lagrimas Jr., now a resident of Los Angeles, and Endo’s wife, Chizuko, a fellow taiko drummer and teacher.

“I’m actually planning to ship my minivan to the West Coast,” Endo said. “I have a lot of my drums stored in a storage room in L.A., so from there, myself and one of my students are going to drive out to Georgia from L.A. and just do the whole tour.”

Endo has found receptive audiences all around the world, a testament to his devotion to spreading the practice of taiko. For the upcoming tour, Endo ticked off stops in about 10 different states throughout the mainland.

“There are taiko groups almost in every state now,” he said. “I’m actually very hopeful about the future generations because there are a lot of young people involved in this art form. I have no doubt that it’s going survive and thrive in the next generation.”

Endo has been performing and teaching taiko for nearly a half-century — 2020 was his school’s 45th anniversary — but he still recalls the thrill of his first experience hearing taiko as a college student.

“You not only heard it with your ears, but you felt it deep in your body, down to your bones almost,” he said. “It’s almost kind of primal. They say it’s reminiscent of being in the mother’s womb.

“As soon as I saw it, I thought ‘I gotta do that.’”