Japanese Drumming

This video shows Japanese drumming. Wadaiko Drumming is a very impressive event and can be seen at festivals throughout Japan, especially the Japan Festival. The large drums originally came from China and are known as Taiko drums as well. These drums are made from a single piece of wood carved out from a zelkova tree. Cow hide is used for the heads of the larger drums. In Japan there more about 10,000 drumming groups.

The Nebuta Festival is held in the Aomori region in Japan. Huge drums are played by many people while the drums are being dragged through the streets during the festival. The Nebuta Festival is held in August and fireworks and drumming are held on boats in the sea. The Japanese light a candle inside the drum and put it out to sea or the river to float. The idea behind it is to purify or cleanse the evil spirits from the land and send them out to sea. The Japanese love to make costumes and prepare dances for the Nebuta Festival. The dancers join hand in hand and frolic through the streets of Aomori.

The drums were used in feudal Japan to motivate troops and help set a marching pace.

Japan Resources

A Year in Japan - This delicately crafted artist's journal offers colorful impressions of a young woman's extended visit in Kyoto, Japan. Williamson's watercolors are playful, bright and spare, and each section illustrates a theme or topic that has inspired the artist/author over her travels to a country devoted to attention to detail. For example, Williamson explores numerous rituals of dining, such as offering a guest green tea accompanied by a piece of wagashi, or bean paste confection, and illustrates over two pages the elegant lunch she ordered at a temple serving shojin ryori, the vegetarian cuisine of Zen Buddhist monks.

Japan (Eyewitness Travel Guides) - This is a Japan guide, full of eye-popping graphics and catchy facts. It is a very fun guide, and does a great job of engaging enthusiasm for Japan and its wonders. The makers definitely know their Japanese culture , and all of the weird and wild parts of the country and its culture are captured.

.