THE DRUM MUSEUM (TOKYO)

October 10, 2007

Today, I returned to the Miyamoto Japanese Percussion & Festival Shop to visit the Drum Museum, which is on the top floor of the shop. The museum was founded in 1988, and is financed by the store. Miyamoto Unosuke Shoten was drum crafter from Tokyo (then called Edo) in the mid-19th Century; he founded his shop in 1861. The museum itself is rather small: it is only one room that is probably about a thousand square feet. Despite its modest stature, the museum is teeming with drums from all corners of the world. On the introductory plaque at the museum, it read, “These drums were collected with the aim of fostering an appreciation for the role they have played in different cultures around the world.”

The wealth of drums is not limited to Japanese percussion: in fact, there are more international drums than Japanese drums. (Although, naturally, there are more drums from Japan than any other individual country). There is a diverse representation of drums from around the world, including, but not limited to: Zaire, Ivory Coast, Angola, Trinidad & Tobago, Iran, India, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Tibet, Ireland, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, China, Korea, Mexico, Peru, and Greenland. This list is not complete; so imagine drums from all these countries (most countries had more than one drum on display), plus several other countries, in one room. It was a pretty special sight. As I think about it now, it has to be the place in the entire world that has so many drums from so many different origins in a single room.

Some drums you can even play! Shortly after I entered the museum, the curator came in with two pairs of thick taiko sticks. She demonstrated a traditional taiko beat for me, and then had me follow her lead. Then, one of us would continue with that set beat, and the other would play an improvisation. We only played for a couple of minutes, but I am proud to say that I have played my first taiko drum! It is really wonderful that the museum is interactive: as a drummer, it would be difficult to see all of these great drums and not be able to play some of them!

Another fantastic aspect of the Drum Museum is that there is background information, in English, on almost all of the drums, detailing the crafting technique and broader cultural (or religious) implication of the said drum. Without a doubt, this made it a much richer experience.

Being that there are over three-hundred percussion instruments in the museum, there is no way I can write about everything I saw. I did, however, take notes on all of the Japanese drums on display, and also my favorite international drums.

Of the international collective, I had three definite favorite ones. First, was the senufo drum from the Ivory Coast. This drum is made from a hippopotamus’ foot, and is used for coming-of-age ceremonies. There was another variation of the senufo drum that had a wooden carving of a woman with her hands raised holding the drum, and thus acting as a stand for the drum. Second, was the tromme, a small drum from Greenland, made from driftwood and a walrus’ stomach. Shamans would play this drum in while reciting their daily prayers. Last, and most certainly not least, was the damaru rnga-chun from Tibet. Hands down, this is the strangest drum I have ever seen or heard of; and not because of its physical appearance or actual sound it makes, but rather for what is it crafted from. The damaru rnga-chun is made from a human skull and human skin. (I probably should have put a disclaimer at the start of this paragraph). Apparently, in ancient Tibet, the damaru rnga-chun was revered as a sacred object, and used in ceremonies to pray for the physical well-being of others.

Another other point of interest from the international drum collection was the African slit drum, which was almost identical to the Fijian lali: I would be very curious to find out if there is a direct connection between the two drums, or if it is just coincidental that the two drums appear the same.

There were at least eight or nine different types of drums from Morocco; but, I’ll write about those in a couple of months! Also, there were about a half-dozen different types of steel drums from Trinidad. According to the museum, “In the late 1930s, it [the steel drum] was feared that the natives of American descent were using the drums for secret messages so they were outlawed.” I’ll have to investigate that next summer.

In total, I counted twenty-four different types of Japanese drums; and for many of these unique drums, there were multiple variations, such as in size and style. As much as I would like to write about each drum (I have detailed notes on all of them), I am not sure if that would be worth it. So, instead, I will write about a handful of my favorite ones:

There is a tremendous rang of taiko drums; with differences in size, shape, type of head, and overall design. Taiko drums can have two types of heads: either tying the heads to one another with rope, or bolting the head directly onto the shell of the drum. On one plaque, it was noted that, “An aim for making the drum is to simply the tuning process.” In all honestly, I would think that pulling on a rope would be the easier tuning technique; as, I would imagine, tuning the bolts requires using a hammer. Then again, more taiko drum heads are secured with bolts than rope, so maybe the tuning is not that difficult after all.

Depending on the type of drum, the thickness of the drum skin (the head) varies: the thinnest is called namituske, and the thickest, gochogake. The drum skins always are thicker in the front than the back. The skin itself is made from either horse, ox or cow. The shell of the drum almost always is made from zelkova wood, which is a type of elm tree. There were a couple of clay drums as well.

The shimedaiko is largest taiko drum: it is absolutely huge and indeed sounds very overpowering. You probably have all seen this drum before – it is the classic massive Japanese drum. The drum is so large it, “uses a special stand to keep it off the floor.” Perhaps like the instruments of Hindustani music, the shimedaiko has a sacred value and therefore must always be above the ground. Players use bachi sticks, which are very long and made from bamboo.

The nagado-daiko is the standard drum of traditional Japanese music. It is crafted from zelkova wood and ox hide. They are fairly large drums, somewhere in between a Western floor tom and bass drum. One interest note about the nagado-daiko is that it is tax exempt, as it is most commonly used in Buddhist temples.

Albeit it is not a drum of any real religious significance, the social implications of the ameya daiko are pretty neat. “Ameya” means candyseller, and back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, candysellers would play this drum, dance and sing to attract customers. The first seller to do so was a man named Hanzaburo Kyokueho, who would walk, play and sing all around Tokyo (Edo). The drum is rather thin, and is somewhat reminiscent of a large tambourine without the cymbals. The ox hide head is bolted onto the wooden shell. So, from this initial candyseller/drummer, an entire genre of performance was created, called, “ameyagei,” candyseller’s entertainment.

Another drum that has an interesting non-religious history is the yokyu daiko. This drum is a perfect rectangle, which, of course, is an odd shape for a drum. The yokyu daiko was used for archery; it would be placed directly behind the target, and, “If you hit the target, a clean ‘kachiri’ sound [would occur]; if you miss and hit the drum, a thudding ‘don.’” Makes me want to take up archery!
There were several drums that were instrumental to various religious services and practices – sorry for that pun, I really didn’t mean it! The uchiwa daiko is a thin drum made from ox hide that is connected to handle; so it almost looks like an oversized ping-pong paddle. (There is a picture of me holding on in an older post). According to the plaque, “Nichiren sectarians beat it when they recite their bible, since the Kamakura period.” It should be noted that Nichiren is a school of Buddhism; the term “bible” is used generally here.

The himojime nagado daiko is used for folk music from Shinshu, in central Japan. This drum drew my interest because it is remarkably similar to the Indian dholak. I am unsure of its exact roots, but I would not be surprised if it is, in fact, directly modeled after the dholak. If Buddhism, an Indian religion, made it all the way to Japan, I figure it is also possible that the dholak did as well.

The paranku, and its larger cousin the okinawa taiko, are both an intricate part of various Buddhist rituals and prayers. The drums themselves are similar to the nagado taiko, but not nearly as deep. Historically, these drums would be used to praise the spirits of deceased ancestors. Specifically, the participants would ask Amida Buddha to guide the spirits of their ancestors to heaven. (I recognize that this does not sync up with the normal tenets of Buddhism; but, as we all know, religion is never consistent anywhere).

Without a doubt, the most beautiful drum was the kaen daiko: there were three variations of this drum, and each was absolutely breathtaking. The drums are hand-painted with gold, red, blue, green and black: there are either wooden carvings or paintings of dragons on the head or the drum itself. These drums are used in various Buddhist rituals and ceremonies. The drums were actually only one-eighth of their normal size; and even so, they were good-sized drums!

There were so many other Japanese and international drums that I could write about, but I’d be surprised if anyone is still reading this right now! This post is definitely way too long, and honestly has taken me a few days to write.

My only qualm about the Drum Museum is that photography is prohibited. I recognize and respect their rules; yet, especially since the closing line of the mission statement of the museum affirms, “We hope that the Drum Museum will promote understanding, research, and love for drums,” I do not agree with that rule. I understand that flash photograph may damage the drums over time; but, I really feel that it is such a wonderful place, it should be shared. I feel bad that I have all these descriptions, but almost no pictures!

In broken English, the curator told me that she could take pictures of me in front of the drums, but I could not take any of just the drums. I guess you will all have to come to Tokyo someday to see it for yourself! It’s worth the trip, I promise!

I spent well almost three hours in this one room, to ensure that I digested everything there was to see. I will leave you with this quotation from the introductory plaque at the museum: “Between man and God, and among men, these drums of the world have served as a means of communication.” Sounds like my research in a nutshell…



Here I am sitting next to a shime daiko, a beautiful black, orange and drum used for folk music, and Nougaku, traditional performing arts. The head is made from ox hide and deer skin.
















I am standing next to a large shimedaiko (the black one) and some smaller nagado-daiko drums. It is difficult to tell how large the shimedaiko is, but it a very deep drum.














Here is my favorite, the three kaen daiko drums.