JAID

Home Address: 2471 Franklin Avenue, Louisville, CO 80027
Home Phone: 303-666-5581

Employment: Full-time self-employed musician
Work Address: As above
Work Phone: As above
Email 1: david@japanshakuhachi.com
Email 2: yoko@japanesestrings.com
Website: japanesestrings.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Yoko Hiraoka is a performer of classical sankyoku ensemble music, contemporary hōgaku composition, solo biwa, and illustrated academic lectures/recitals.

Home Address: 164 Granite Road, Accord, NY 12404
Home Phone: 845-626-2445
Cell Phone: 845-750-9926

Email: ahayashi@earthlink.net
Website: www.arawanahayashi.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Do you teach? Yes        

Do you perform? Yes       

Any additional information:

Foreman studied nagauta shamisen within the Imafuji ryu, with the iemoto Imafuji Chojuro IV for nearly 3 years. She is a composer, choreographer, and dancer, and is interested in both traditional and modern compositions for the shamisen. Her interest in butoh lies with the founder, Hijikata Tatsumi, and she seeks to create butoh sound and movement that draws on his foundations.

Employment: University of Pittsburgh
Work Address: Department of Music, University of Pittsburgh, 214 Music Building, 4337 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Work Phone: 412-855-6175
Email: yue1@pitt.edu
Website: www.yukoeguchi.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Yuko Eguchi grew up in Tokyo, taking lessons in classical ballet, piano, and later nagauta shamisen. She graduated from Bates College in 2003 with a major in Music Composition and a minor in Economics. After working for Japan Cable Television in Tokyo for two years, she completed an MA at the University of Pittsburgh, writing on Hindu ritual music and diasporic culture.

She received a PhD in Ethnomusicology in 2016 from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on aesthetic concepts in geisha music and dance. In 2009-2010 she received the  Japan Iron and Steel Federation Mitsubishi Foundation Fellowship through which she conducted field research on geisha songs (kouta) and dance (kouta-buri) in Tokyo.

In addition to her studies and research on music, Yuko has also been practicing Japanese tea ceremony since 1993. She has studied under Soko Akiyama, a master of the Urasenke school of tea ceremony. In 2009, Yuko herself received the master title of tea ceremony, Sōyū (宗裕), in 2009 and the assistant professor title of tea ceremony, Jyun-Kyojyu (準教授), in 2013, certified by Soshitsu Sen XVI.

Employment: Director of East-West Chanoyu Center
Work Address: 5125 40th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98105
Work Phone: 206-328-6018
Email: mitchell@urasenkeseattle.org
Website: http://www.eastwestchanoyucenter.org/

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Bonnie Mitchell studied tea ceremony at Urasenke Konnichian in Kyoto, Japan from 1975-1981. From 1981 until 2011 she taught tea ceremony at the Urasenke Foundation Seattle and at the University of Washington. She is currently the Executive Director of the East-West Chanoyu Center (formerly Urasenke Foundation Seattle).

Employment: East-West Chanoyu Center; University of Washington
Work Address: 5125 40th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98105
Work Phone: 206-328-6018
Email: tpo@u.washington.edu
Website: http://www.eastwestchanoyucenter.org/

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Timothy Olson started teaching at the East-West Chanoyu Center (formerly the Urasenke Foundation Seattle) in 1999 after completing a master's training course at the Urasenke Konnichian in Kyoto, Japan. He is also currently the lecturer and tea instructor for the Chado course at the University of Washington.

School (流): Urasenke-ryū

Home Address: San Francisco, CA
Home Phone: 415-752-6944

Email: teatimes@chanoyu.com
Website: www.chanoyu.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? No

Additional Information:

Kimika Soko Takechi and Larry Sokyo Tiscornia are long-time instructors of traditional Japanese tea ceremony. They teach Chanoyu and its many related arts in San Francisco, CA, and travel to many places sharing their knowledge with others. They also lecture and give demonstrations at both public and private schools as well as colleges and universities. They received their professional tea names in 1985 from Sen Soshitsu XV, the now retired head tea master of the Urasenke School of Tea, in Kyoto, Japan. The name Soko translates to "fragrance" and Sokyo to "bridge" and both received the Junkyoju, associate professor, degree from the Urasenke School in 1994.

Kimika is from Iyo City, in Shikoku, Japan, and came to the U.S. in 1975 to study English at both Holy Names College and the University of San Francisco. She graduated from City College of San Francisco and has also taken classes at San Francisco State University. She worked as an artist in traditional Kimono design in Kyoto and has been studying and teaching tea for 40 years. She is also an accomplished artist specializing in watercolors.

School (流): Urasenke-ryū

Home Address: San Francisco, CA
Home Phone: 415-752-6944

Email: teatimes@chanoyu.com
Website: www.chanoyu.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? No

Additional Information:

Kimika Soko Takechi and Larry Sokyo Tiscornia are long-time instructors of traditional Japanese tea ceremony. They teach Chanoyu and its many related arts in San Francisco, CA, and travel to many places sharing their knowledge with others. They also lecture and give demonstrations at both public and private schools as well as colleges and universities. They received their professional tea names in 1985 from Sen Soshitsu XV, the now retired head tea master of the Urasenke School of Tea, in Kyoto, Japan. The name Soko translates to "fragrance" and Sokyo to "bridge" and both received the Junkyoju, associate professor, degree from the Urasenke School in 1994.

Larry, a San Francisco native, attended both City College of San Francisco and Los Angeles. He has been interested in traditional Japanese arts for many years and owned and operated one of the first sushi restaurants in San Francisco in 1974. He began his tea study in 1976 and trained for six years at the Urasenke Tea School headquarters in Kyoto from 1979 to 1985. He graduated from both the international division and the professional Japanese division of the school. He returned to San Francisco in 1985 as a tea instructor at the Urasenke Foundation of S.F. until 1988. Since then he and Kimika have been teaching Urasenke Chanoyu privately in San Francisco and share the joy of tea with many.

School (流): Urasenke-ryū
Professional Name (芸名): Soya 宗弥

Home Address: Issoan Tea Room, 17761 NW Marylhurst Court, Portland, OR 97229 
Home Phone: 503-645-7058
Cell Phone: 503-841-2068

Email 1: margie@issoantea.com
Email 2: sweetpersimmon1@gmail.com
Website: www.issoantea.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Marjorie Yap studied in Kyoto at the Urasenke headquarters and holds Jun Kyoju certification from the 16th generation Grand Tea Master. She has performed tea ceremonies at the Portland Japanese Garden and at numerous private and public events, both in the United States and Japan. She has also been a guest lecturer at Portland Community College and Sara Lawrence College.

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Eien Hunter-Ishikawa is a musician, educator, and composer specializing in taiko, shinobue, percussion, and shishimai. Recognized for his musicianship and versatility, he integrates his training in jazz, Western percussion, and traditional Japanese music to create an original, distinctive approach to instruction and performance. After receiving early training from Saburo Mochizuki of the renowned Tokyo ensemble Sukeroku Daiko, Eien earned his Bachelor of Music Education at Central Michigan University where he performed as a member of the Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble. He received his Master of Music in Percussion Performance at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. During his seven years in Honolulu, he performed extensively as a member of the Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble and taught classes at the Taiko Center of the Pacific. Eien has collaborated with many pioneers of innovative music including the Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble, Kenny Endo, On Ensemble, John Kaizan Neptune, Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos, Colleen Lanki, Bruce Huebner, Masa Ishikawa, Patrick Graham, and the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra. Eien is a passionate advocate of Edo Bayashi and Kotobuki Jishi and continues his study under Kyosuke Suzuki of Wakayama Taneo Shachu, a professional ensemble holding the distinction of Nationally Important Intangible Folk Cultural Asset. Eien is the founder of Portland Shishimai Kai, a group dedicated to the preservation and expansion of Edo Kotobuki Jishi by offering performances and workshops around North America and beyond.

Home Address: 1020 Chemin des Nations, Sainte-Anne des Lacs, Québec, Canada, J0R 1H0
Home Phone: 1-450-224-2210
Cell Phone: 1-514-971-1634

Email: micheld54@gmail.com
Facebook: Zenchiku Shakuhachi

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Michel Dubeau plays shakuhachi and shinobue with the Matsu Take Ensemble in Montreal. He also uses the shakuhachi in many non-Japanese settings, such as TV and movie scores, jazz ensembles (Brubeck en tête, Night Dreamer), techno-world (Apadoorai) and shows such as Cavalia2. In September, 2016, he was granted shihan by his teacher Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos, Dai shihan and head of Bamboo-In ryu.

Employment: Professor of Theatre at Hampden-Sydney College
Work Address: 113 Graham Hall, Hampden-Sydney, Virginia 23943
Work Phone: 434-223-6362
Email: mdubroff@hsc.edu

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Matthew Dubroff teaches all aspects of theatre and Asian theatre. He directs, designs, and acts in western drama and performs with Theatre Nohgaku. He has an MFA in Asian Theatre Performance from the University of Hawai’i and lived in Japan for several years.  The bulk of his noh and musical training is with master Japanese performers. He also teaches the Wu Style of Tai Ji and is a certified Alexander Technique Teacher.

School (流): Nagauta, Minyō, Gagaku
Ha/Kai (流派/会): To-onkai Nagauta, Masahiro Minyokai, Togi Suenobu Gagaku
Professional Name (芸名): Associate Professor Jay Keister

Home Address: 3120 Corona Trail #102, Boulder, CO 80301
Home Phone: 303-444-8028
Cell Phone: 303-919-7817

Employment: College of Music, University of Colorado 
Work Address: College of Music, Campus Box 301 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 
Work Phone: 303-492-5496
Email: keister@colorado.edu

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Jay Keister currently teaches Japanese Ensemble at the University of Colorado, Boulder with a focus on minyō folk songs and dances, nagauta with nihon buyō dance, and occasionally gagaku. He also teaches shamisen privately, both minyō and nagauta styles. He performs with his ensemble and does lecture demonstrations on Japanese music and dance.

One of his main goals as an educator is to teach about traditional Japanese culture through an understanding of music, dance, and expressive language.

Marshal artistic movement with mental training in Japanese and English

Work Phone: 602-412-7781
Email: info@kenkoshio.com
Website: www.kenkoshio.com

Do you perform? Yes

School (流): Kinko-ryū (shakuhachi)
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Ex-Ondekoza member
Professional Name (芸名): Marco Lienhard

Home Address: 55 Park Terrace East Apt. B63, New York, NY 10034
Home Phone: 646-418-8808

Employment: Director of Taikoza and East Winds
Work Address: As above
Email 1: shaku8@aol.com
Email 2: taikoza@gmail.com
Website 1: www.marcolienhard.com
Website 2: www.taikoza.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information: lecture, demonstration

Marco Lienhard: Taikoza and East Winds Ensemble Director (1995-Present). Marco Lienhard lived and performed in Japan for 18 years (1981-1998) as amember of the legendary Taiko group Ondekoza under director Tagayasu Den (who instigated the renaissance of Taiko). In Ondekoza, he mastered the Taiko, the Shinobue, the Noh flute and the Shakuhachi under Katsuya Yokoyama. He ran the 9000 miles of the perimeter of the US from 1990-1993 while performing along the way. In 1995, Marco Lienhard was the Shakuhachi soloist for the NYC Opera’s premiere of the Opera ''Kinkakuji'' and was a soloist with the Juilliard New Music Ensemble. He performs and teaches internationally (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Italy, Switzerland and Canada, etc.). He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, Madison Square Garden, Tchaikovsky Hall and International Performing Center in Moscow among others. Marco Lienhard has composed and recorded more than 15 CD for Shakuhachi, Taiko and Fue. His music can be heard on iTunes and the Nintendo Wii games: Red Steel. In 2015, he released two CD of his compositions with Taikoza: Voice of the Earth and Tree Spirit that can be found on iTunes and MarcoLienhard.com and Taikoza.com for more information and CD.
 

Tozan Matsuri  composed by Marco Lienhard from Tree Spirit( 2016) has been nominated best Asian Song in 2017 Just Plain Folks Awards

Professional Name (芸名): Eileen Morgan

Home Address: 2125 West Augusta Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85021
Home Phone: 602-995-4533
Cell Phone: 602-350-0343

Employment: Taiko teacher and performer 
Work Address: As above 
Email: eileenmorgantaiko@yahoo.com
Website: www.morgantaiko.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Eileen Morgan has been studying taiko for 19 years and has been to Japan four times to study and perform. She holds a bachelor of science degree in music education and a master's degree in deaf education. She currently runs after school programs for grades 2-8, teaches classes in beginner to advanced levels for adults, and performs at school assemblies, library literacy programs, festivals, and corporate functions.

School (流): Isso-ryū (nohkan); Kita-ryū (noh)
Ha/Kai（流派/会): Theatre Nohgaku

Employment: Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Work Address: 403 S. 11th Street, Indiana, PA 15705
Website: www.theatrenohgaku.org

Do you teach? No                                 

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

David Surtasky has participated in the U.S. Noh Training Project since 2006 and has been a member of Theatre Nohgaku since 2007. He has also been a participant in Noh Writer’s Workshop since 2006.

School (流): Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center (Brooklyn) and Wesleyan University
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Kodo (former member and artistic director)

Home Address: 673 Classon Avenue #2L, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Cell Phone: 646-624-9405

Employment: Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center (Brooklyn) and Wesleyan University
Email: kaoru@watanabekaoru.com
Website 1: www.watanabekaoru.com
Website 2: taikonyc.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Kaoru Watanabe has collaborated in performances with Kenny Endo, Semba Kiyohiko, Bando Tamasaburo, members of Kodo, jazz musician Jason Moran, and various other musicians, dancers, and artists. He teaches weekly classes in Brooklyn and at Wesleyan University, and master classes and workshops throughout the US, Canada, and Japan.  Watanabe has given guest lectures at various institutions such as Princeton University and Colby College. He has a BA in jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music and spent two years as an apprentice for Kodo in Sado Island, Japan. From 2000 to 2007 he toured and directed Kodo, performing on taiko, fue, and voice, as well as performing various folk dances.  Watanabe has taken intermittent lessons and done some performances with such artists as Tosha Meisho, Isso Yukihiro, Yagi Michiyo, Ishigure Masayo, Maruta Miki, Sakata Akira, Matsuda Hiroyuki, and Suzuki Kyosuke. His flute teachers include Robert Dick and Jan Smith.

Professional Name (芸名): The Columbia Early Modern Japanese Chamber Music Ensemble

Work Address: Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies 
1140 Amsterdam Ave, Kent HallRm 509, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
Work Phone: 212-854-7403
Website: medievaljapanesestudies.org

Do you teach? 
Students are taught to play the 3 main woodwinds (shō, ryūteki, and hichiriki) as well as the biwa, gaku-sō, and percussion.

Do you perform? 
Students give semester end recitals and present a concert given yearly together with visiting Japanese Masters.

Additional information:

The Columbia Gagaku Instrumental Ensemble is a joint initiative of the Department of Music, the Music Performance Program, the Center for Ethnomusicology, and the Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies at Columbia University. It is open to all students of Columbia, Barnard, and the Columbia-Juilliard Program. The group gives instrumental workshops at Juilliard yearly as well as workshops for composers employing Japanese instruments. There is a six-week summer Mentor-Protégé Program in Tokyo for outstanding players.

School (流): Nagauta, Minyō, Gagaku
Ha/Kai (流派/会): To-onkai Nagauta, Masahiro Minyokai, Togi Suenobu Gagaku
Professional Name (芸名): Associate Professor Jay Keister

Home Address: 3120 Corona Trail #102, Boulder, CO 80301
Home Phone: 303-444-8028
Cell Phone: 303-919-7817

Employment: College of Music, University of Colorado 
Work Address: College of Music, Campus Box 301 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 
Work Phone: 303-492-5496
Email: keister@colorado.edu

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Jay Keister currently teaches Japanese Ensemble at the University of Colorado, Boulder with a focus on minyō folk songs and dances, nagauta with nihon buyō dance, and occasionally gagaku. He also teaches shamisen privately, both minyō and nagauta styles. He performs with his ensemble and does lecture demonstrations on Japanese music and dance.

One of his main goals as an educator is to teach about traditional Japanese culture through an understanding of music, dance, and expressive language.

Home Address: 95 Reade Street, New York, NY 10013
Home Phone: 212-732-4948
Cell Phone: 646-384-0204

Work Address: As above
Work Phone: 212-732-4948
Email 1: tomoko@kugoharp.com
Email 2: s.tomokony@gmail.com
Website: www.kugoharp.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Tomoko Sugawara teaches kugo, concert harp and Irish harp and gives workshops in kugo and Irish harp. In addition to solo performances, she performs in an ensemble that includes shakuhachi, oud, and percussion. She also gives lecture recitals on the history of kugo.

About the kugo: The kugo first appeared in western Asia (Mesopotamian) around 1900 BC. Its use spread along the Silk Road to eastern Asia, but died out around 1100 AD.  The kugo was brought to Japan in the eighth century, and two examples survive in the Shosoin Treasure House in Nara, Japan.  Tomoko Sugawara made a replica of the kugo and plays pieces from the time it flourished in Asia (800-1300 AD).  In addition, many modern composers have written pieces for her to play on the kugo.

School (流): Sōgetsu-ryū

Home Address: Portland, OR
Email: lesliedolin@comcast.net

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? No

Additional information:

Leslie Dolin has been teaching ikebana for over 25 years. Although she does not perform, she occasionally does demonstrations.

School (流): Sogetsu
Professional Name (芸名): Rensei

Home Address: PO Box 1098, Manchester Village, Vermont 05254
Cell Phone: 802 681 6313

Email: katsukolord@yahoo.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Since 2012 I have conducted Ikebana workshops at Southern Vermont Arts Center. Also I have held workshops at garden clubs and private schools in Vermont, and the Albany/Saratoga, NY, areas.

I have contributed Ikebana floral arrangements for the Manchester Music Festival stage performances. In addition, I give floral demonstrations/performances at Marble House, Dorset, Vermont, and SVAC, accompanied by a musician.

School (流): Ohara School of Ikebana
Professional Name (芸名): Hoko

Home Address: 6 Whisperwood Lane, Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44022
Home Phone: 440-247-5834
Cell Phone: 216-403-7025

Employment: Ikebana Teacher
Work Address: As above
Email: ludersi@attglobal.net

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

School (流): Kado Sangetsu-ryū

Home Address: 652 Walnut Brook Drive, Murray City, UT 84107
Home Phone: 801-969-3907

Do you teach? Whenever possible.

Do you perform? No

School (流):Sōgetsu-ryū

Home Address: 110 Pickwick Road, West Newton, MA 02465
Home Phone: 617-916-1944
Cell Phone: 617-529-9030
Email: vosburghk@aol.com
Email: ekayebana@aol.com
Website: www.createwithflowers.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

I have studied withSōgetsu teachers here in the U.S. and travelled to Japan for workshops several times. I am certified for issuing certificates. I am also a judge in the National Garden Clubs, Inc and can explain arrangements using the vocabulary of the principles of design. I have about 50 current students. I run the classes at home and at churches, except Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA which hires me to teach. I do ikebana demonstrations for groups of 15-250. I make 7-9 arrangements explaining theSōgetsu School way of arranging. I do 2 or 3 traditional ikebana and more free style arrangements.

School (流): Ichiyo School（一葉式生け花）
Ha/Kai (流派・会): Ichiyo Style（一葉式生け花）
Professional Name (芸名): Yoshida Ikusshu 吉田郁舟

Home Address: 73 Wilder Avenue, Hoosick Falls, NY 12090
Home Phone: (518) 686-4232
Cell Phone: (518) 588-5069 

Work address: Bennington College, 1 College Drive, Bennington, Vermont 05201

Email: iyoshida@bennington.edu
Website: http://www.bennington.edu/academics/faculty/ikuko-yoshida

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

I was a recipient of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship by Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont. Through this program, I worked with an Ikebana teacher, Ms. Keiko Van Guilder, for ten years. Now I am a certified Ikebana teacher and have given Ikebana workshops at Bennington College and Union College. 

School (流): Katada 
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Katada-kai
Professional Name (芸名): Katada Kikusa 堅田喜久佐

Home Address: 221 Via Los Miradores, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Home Phone: 310-378-3550
Cell Phone: 310-308-5291

Email 1: mikko.henson@gmail.com
Email 2: mhaggott@jtpao.org
Website: www.jtpao.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mikko Arimoto Henson first studied Kabuki-style percussion at UCLA Fine Arts Department’s Japanese Classical Performing Arts Summer Session in 1981 with Grand Master Katada Kisaku from Japan. Subsequently, she organized a group to invite the Master to LA for a special intensive workshop twice a year. She also studied hayashi in Tokyo. After five years of training she was granted a teaching credential and the name Katada Kikusa from the Grand Master. The Grand Master Katada Kisaku is the most honored classical percussion musician in Japan today and is designated as a National Living Treasure.

School (流): Yamada-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Yamase Shoin School
Professional Name (芸名): Tsutsumi Takase (堤　貴勢)

Home Address: 811 East Central Rd. Apt. 340, Arlington Hts., IL 60005
Home Phone: 224-778-3493

Email: ltbassett@aol.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Takako Bassett is a native of Tokyo and earned her koto teaching certificate from Yamase Shoin School in Tokyo in her youth. 

Since the establishment of the The Spring Valley Koto Ensemble in 1999 in Long Grove, IL, Takako and the ensemble have been introducing classic to contemporary koto music, performing at various venues in greater Chicago area. The venues where they have performed include: 

• The Chicago Symphony Center (Day of Music-Silk Road Celebration);
• Harper College Performing Arts Center as a guest artist;
• The Chicago Daley Center for the 150th anniversary of US-Japan relations;
• Music Institute of Chicago as a guest performer for their chorus group;
• Merit School of Music, Chicago;
• various educational institutions, museums, Japanese gardens, and libraries in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago. 

Ms. Bassett is a graduate of Loyola University, Chicago (Mundelein College).

School (流): Ikuta-ryū 生田流
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Chikushikai 筑紫会
Professional Name (芸名): Linda Kakō Caplan カプラン歌香

Home Address: Toronto, Canada
Home Phone: 416-485-0061

Employment: Japanese Music Course Director, York University (Toronto, Canada)
Work Phone: 416-242-4967
Email 1: koto@lindacaplan.com
Email 2: linda@chordscanada.com
Website: http://www.lindacaplan.com 

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Linda Caplan’s repertoire includes both traditional and contemporary works for koto and shamisen. As soloist and ensemble member, she frequently performs at private, public, and diplomatic functions. Caplan welcomes students of all ages and levels to her studio in Toronto, and she also teaches students around the world on the internet.

School (流): Ikuta-ryū
Professional Name (芸名): Yoshiko Carlton

Home Address: 4815 NW 2nd Place, Plantation, FL 33317
Home Phone: 954-583-4698
Cell Phone: 954-610-6920

Email 1: yoshikocarlton@gmail.com
Email 2: ycarlt@aol.com
Website 1: www.yoshikocarlton.com
Website 2: fushudaiko.org

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Yoshiko Tokuda Carlton performs solo and with members of the Washington Toho Koto Society. In addition to playing for weddings and parties, she often gives koto lectures and demonstrations at schools and local companies, including an annual lecture and demonstration at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida.

Ha/Kai (流派/会): To-onkai Nagauta, Masahiro Minyokai, Togi Suenobu Gagaku
Professional Name (芸名): The Columbia Early Modern Japanese Chamber Music Ensemble

Work Address: Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies
1140 Amsterdam Ave, Kent Hall Rm 509, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
Work Phone: 212-854-7403
Email: medievaljapanesestudies.org

Do you teach? 
Students are taught to play the shakuhachi and koto currently with plans to add shamisen in the future.

Do you perform? 
Students give semester end recitals with the possibility of additional performances as the class develops.

Additional information:

Columbia Hōgaku Instrumental Ensemble is a joint initiative of the Department of Music, the Music Performance Program, the Center for Ethnomusicology, and the Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies at Columbia University. It is open to all students of Columbia, Barnard, and the Columbia-Juilliard Program. There is a six-week summer Mentor-Protégé Program in Tokyo for outstanding players.

School (流): Ikuta-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Sawai Koto Academy (Japan)/ Sawai Koto Institute (International)
Professional Name (芸名): Mitsuki Dazai

Home Address: 702 Kings Row, Creswell, OR 97426
Cell Phone: 541-513-6417

Email 1: kotomelodies@gmail.com
Email 2: dazai.mitsuki@gmail.com
Website: www.kotomelodies.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mitsuki Dazai teaches in the Portland area and at her home in Creswell (Eugene area). She graduated from Japan’s renowned Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, Japan and she is a certified koto instructor of the Sawai Koto Academy.

Work Address: New York City
Email: shaku8@aol.com
Website: marcolienhard.com/bio

Do you teach? Yes, individual artists teach.

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information: lecture, lessons, workshops available

The East Winds Ensemble was formed in 1999 in New York City. The purpose of the group is to present concerts of traditional and modern music performed on Japanese traditional instruments, the shakuhachi and the koto. The members of the group are Masayo Ishigure, Yuki Yasuda, Charles Tang and Marco Lienhard. Performances have taken the group to Japan, Mexico, Europe and around the US, and members have performed in some of the world’s most renowned halls, such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and Osaka Festival Hall.

Past concerts also include, Symphony Space in New York, Salamanca Hall in Gifu, Japan, concert in Tokyo, Museum of Art of Gifu, Concert for World Music Institute in New York, U of Maryland, Gettysburg College, Wesleyan University, University of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and University of Missouri, St. Louis. EWE recently toured Brazil for the Japan Foundation, and they regularly perform in NYC. Members also have recorded for Nintendo's game: “Red Steel” 1 and 2, and for movies, including Memoirs of a Geisha. They released a best selling CD of the Music of Miyazaki Hayao, arranged for koto and shakuhachi. Marco Lienhard and Charles Tang on piano have released two CDs, and the group is releasing a new CD in Spring 2018. Lienhard was an invited guest performer at many International Shakuhachi Festival s around the world. Lienhard gives master classes and concerts internationally – he was recently in Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Switzerland, France and Russia.

for more info and CD: Marcolienhard.com Taikoza.com

School (流): Ikuta-ryū 生田流
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Seiha  正派
Professional Name (芸名): Utashika Ford フォード雅楽之加

Phone: 801-673-6105

Email 1: kanaford@gmail.com
Email 2: kanaford@hotmail.com
Website: wasatchkoto.blogspot.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Kanako Konari Ford is a Seiha Ikuta-ryū Shihan. She teaches a variety of koto music, from classic to contemporary. She also composes songs for koto and enjoys collaborating with performers of other instruments such as shinobue, taiko, piano, and guitar.

School (流): Ikuta-ryū, koto; Nogawa-ryū, shamisen 野川流三味線
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Todo-Ongakukai, Koji Kikuhara  当道音楽会　菊原光治門下
Professional Name (芸名): Naoko  尚子

Home Address: 650 Lessley Place, Davis, CA 95616
Home Phone: 530-297-1069

Work Phone: 530-753-1100
Email 1: kotoharp@yahoo.com
Email 2: sumiyomaru@hotmail.com
Website: www.naokokoto.web.fc2.com/

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Sumiyo Guerena trained in classical singing with Ichijuro Kiyomoto, dance with Monjyro Fujima, tea ceremony with Soko Suzuki, and tsuzumi with Jukei Nakamura.  She trained as a maiko at Gion-Higashi-Kabukai in Kyoto, Japan from 1979 to 1981. She is also studying biwa with Molly Kyokuto Kimura in Sacramento, CA.

School (流): Ikuta-ryū

Home Address: 2471 Franklin Avenue, Louisville, CO 80027
Home Phone: 303-666-5581

Employment: Full-time self-employed musician
Work Address: As above
Work Phone: As above
Email 1: david@japanshakuhachi.com
Email 2: yoko@japanesestrings.com
Website: japanesestrings.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Yoko Hiraoka is a performer of classical sankyoku ensemble music, contemporary hōgaku composition, solo biwa, and illustrated academic lectures/recitals.

Ha/Kai (流派/会): Ikuta-ryū
Professional Name (芸名): Masayo Ishigure

Home Address: 601 10th Avenue, Apt 5B, New York, NY 10036
Home Phone: 212-481-4886
Cell Phone: 646-418-7098

Email: masayokoto@gmail.com
Website: www.letsplaykoto.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional Information:

Masayo Ishigure, from Gifu, Japan, began playing the koto and jiuta shamisen at the age of five. After initial studies with Tadao and Kazue Sawai she became a special research student in 1986 at the Sawai Koto Academy of Music. The aim of the academy was to shed new light on koto music by incorporating everything from Bach to jazz and thus change the koto from being thought of only as a traditional Japanese instrument into an instrument of universal expressiveness. Later, Ms. Ishigure became one of a small group of virtuoso disciples of the Sawais and successfully completed the 33rd Ikusei-kai program sponsored by NHK to foster and train aspiring artists in Japanese music. Since arriving in New York City in 1992, Ms. Ishigure has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, many prestigious colleges and universities, and in festivals around the world. She recorded music for the soundtrack of Memoirs of a Geisha by John Williams along with Yitzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, and others. She has 2 CDs: her solo CD Grace, and another with East Wind Ensemble featuring Hayao Miyazaki's animation songs arranged for koto and shakuhachi. 

School (流): Yamada-ryū 山田流, Kato style shamisen 河東節三味線
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Nakanoshima-kai, Yamada-ryu Sokyoku Association, Japan Sankyoku Association 中能島会・山田流筝曲協会・日本三曲協会
Professional Name (芸名):Yoko Reikano Kimura 木村伶香能; Reiko Yamabiko 山彦伶子

Home Address: Queens, NY 
Home Phone: 718-673-1118

Employment: The Institute of Traditional Japanese Music, and affiliate of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Japan/ 洗足学園音楽大学・現代邦楽研究所
Email: kreikano@hotmail.com
Website: duoyumeno.com Duo YUMENO夢乃URL

Do you teach? Yes: Koto, Shamisen, Voice

Do you perform? Yes: Koto, Shamisen, Voice

Additional information:

YOKO REIKANO KIMURA, koto/shamisen performer and singer, has concertized around the world based in New York and Japan. Following her studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts and the NHK School of Traditional Japanese Music, she studied at Institute of Traditional Japanese Music, an affiliate of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Japan, where she currently holds a teaching position. Yoko was awarded a scholarship from the Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan. Her teachers include Kono Kameyama, Akiko Nishigata and Senko Yamabiko, a Living National Treasure. In 2000 she received her stage name “Reikano” from Hiroko Nakanoshima VI, daughter of the legendary koto and shamisen performer/ composer Kin’ichi Nakanoshima. Awards include the First prize at the prestigious 10^th Kenjun Memorial National Koto Competition, the First prize at the 4^th Great Wall International Music Competition and the Osaka Chinese Counsel Award. Yoko performed at the Kabuki-za in Tokyo, accompanying Danjuro Ichikawa XII and recorded classical shamisen works for the online music archive, Traditional Music Digital Library. Her performances have been broadcasted on NHK-FM, NPR’s Performance Today and WQXR.

As an enthusiastic supporter of contemporary music, Yoko has premiered new works at the Japan Society for Contemporary Music and in 2009, founded Duo YUMENO with cellist Hikaru Tamaki. In 2014, they were awarded the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program grant, and in 2015, received the Aoyama Baroque Saal Award. The duo was featured at Chamber Music America’s 2016 National Conference and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center in 2017. Currently, the duo is working on a commissioning project, suite of pieces based on The Tale of Heike, with Daron Hagen. As a koto soloist, Yoko has performed Hagen’s Koto Concerto: Genji with the Euclid Quartet, Ciompi Quartet, Freimann Quartet and the Prairie Ensemble Orchestra. Yoko premiered Kaito Nakahori’s Japanese Footbridge with Hai-Dao Ensemble at Jordan Hall in Boston, and performed James Nyoraku Schlefer’s Concertante with Texas Festival Orchestra. As a shamisen soloist, she performed Kin’ichi Nakanoshima’s Shamisen Concerto at the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center and was a guest performer with ensemble Aperio at Asia Society Texas Center. In 2016, she performed with American Symphony Orchestra in Pietro Mascagni's Iris. In 2017, Yoko commissioned and gave a world premiere performance of Marty Regan’s Shamisen Concerto. She has worked with Heiner Goebbels, the Wien Solisten Trio, Kyo-Shin-An Arts, along with many other artists. Yoko has toured and performed in Poland, Switzerland, France, Lithuania, Korea, China, Israel, Qatar, Italy, Turkey, England and multiple countries in South America.

For more information, please visit Yoko’s website, reikano.yamadaryu.com

School (流): Ikuta-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Tōdō-kai 当道会
Professional Name (芸名): Tamie Kooyenga-Koutou

Home Address: 546 Heather Grove Court, Walnut Creek, CA 94598
Home Phone: 925-932-0530
Cell Phone: 925-212-1575

Email 1: tamiesky@sbcglobal.net
Email 2: tamiesky@hotmail.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Tamie Kooyenga is a classically-trained and innovative kotoist who has studied various styles of koto music. She was inspired by her teacher, koto master Sumiko Goto (Seiha) who taught at the prestigious Tokyo Art University. She enjoys collaborations and has performed with the late Hanzan Shimabara (shakuhachi master and human treasure of Japan), koto master Kazue Sawai, jazz flutist Jeremy Steig (grammy award nominated), and Lee Sai Jun (Chinese gwuzhong). She currently teaches in Walnut Creek, San Francisco, and San Jose and performs at numerous venues including international music festivals, Asian music festivals, universities, and on television and radio.

School (流): Ikuta-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Seiha

Employment: Bernstein Artists, Inc  Attn: Sue Bernstein
Work Address: 282 Flatbush Avenue, Suite 101, Brooklyn, NY 11217, USA
Work Phone: 718-623-1214
Email 1: sue@bernsarts.com
Email 2: roarke@bernsarts.com
Website: www.bernsarts.com  www.yumikuro.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

An award-winning koto star from a young age, Yumi Kurosawa is one of today's most exciting soloists on Japan's national instrument. Her solo repertoire includes classical Japanese compositions, as well as her own innovative and enchanting original works. Born in Morioka, Japan, Kurosawa began her koto studies when she was three, going on to win first prize at the National Japanese Koto Competition for students in 1989 and 1992. Since relocating to the US, she has played on such stages as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Apollo Theater, and the Blue Note. Kurosawa has been a principal soloist with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Swan in the UK, and the Houston Grand Opera, and in 2015, she was commissioned to write an original score for the Houston Ballet. Her many collaborations have included pairings of koto with tabla, with oud, with string quartet, and with dance, including a piece with the Beyonce-affiliated dance duo Les Twins. Kurosawa is currently working on a collaborative program with tabla player Anubrata Chatterjee, son of the world-renowned tabla master Anindo Chatterjee. She has two solo albums out to date: 2015's Looking up at the Sky, and 2009's Beginning of a Journey.

Ha/Kai (流派/会): Ikuta-ryū, Chikushi Katsuko So-kyoku

Work Address: P.O. Box 1093, Claremont, CA 91711-1093 
Work Phone: 760-576-KOTO

Email: info@YukikoMatsuyama.com
Website: www.YukikoMatsuyama.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

International recording artist Yukiko Matsuyama bridges eras and cultures. Her compositions for koto and western instruments blend the sounds of the ancient 7th century instrument with elements of jazz, pop, new age, and world music.

Born in Osaka Japan, Matsuyama was classically trained at the Ikuta School of Koto from age 9. She received her professional certification and teaching credential in 1986. In 1993 she moved to Los Angeles and began composing original music.

Her best selling CD, Crème Brulée, mixes the koto sound with rhythms from around the world and features Greg Vail on saxophone. Her 2011 recording, Beyond the Space, is a collaboration with Hirotaka Ogawa and was recently released exclusively in Japan with concerts in Osaka and Tokyo.

Matsuyama recorded in Japan with the Paul Winter Consort and is featured on Paul Winter's latest CD, Miho: Journey to the Mountain (Grammy Winner - Best New Age Album, 2011). She also performed with Shakira at the Latin Grammys in November 2011.

Other notable musicians with whom Ms. Matsuyama has performed include Munyungo Jackson, John York, Rei Aoo Dance Planet, Eugene Friesen, Paul McCandless, Tadashi Namba, James Gadson, Diana Dentino, Koji Nakamura, Austin Peralta, Hiroyuki Hayashida, Reed Gratz, Tom Kurai and Mike Bennett. She has performed at The Japan America Theatre, Grand Canyon National Park, Kokusai Forum Tokyo, The Miho Museum Shiga, and cultural events throughout the United States and Japan.

Recent film work includes From the Shadows, directed by Matt Antell, soundtrack composed by Stephen Gutheinz, Turning Japanese by Paul Bickel, and a music video with jazz pianist Billy Mitchell.

School (流): Ikuta-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Todo-Ongakukai 

Employment: Music teacher, Fortuna High School
Work Address: 379 Twelfth Street, Fortuna, CA 95540
Work Phone: (707) 725-4461 x 3087

Email: smcclimon@fuhsdistrict.net    

Website: https://sites.google.com/site/silkroadjunction101/ 

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Sarah McClimon earned an MA in ethnomusicology from the University of Hawaii in 2006. The title of her thesis was The Relationship of Poetry and Music in Kyoto-style Tegotomono: A Melopoetic Analysis of Japanese Traditional Song. She has studied with Masateru Ando, Tamaki Ando, Monami Shishikura, and Tatsumi Hamanaka. She has a license from Ikuta-ryū Todo Ongaku-kai.

McClimon studied at Tokyo University of the Arts in the departments of Traditional Japanese Music and Musicology with scholarships from the Ministry of Education (2004-06) and the Japan Foundation (2009-2010).

She has performed in Japan, Hawaii, and California. In 2011 she earned her PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Hawaii. She has recently been performing Asian-American musical fusion with tabla artist Rahman Abdur as Silk Road Junction 101. 

School (流): Ikuta-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Chikushi-kai
Professional Name (芸名): Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto

Home Address: Oakland, CA 94602
Home Phone: 510-482-1640


Email: skm@skmkoto.com
Website 1: www.skmkoto.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Shirley Muramoto Wong’s mentor koto masters are Chikushi Katsuko, Sawai Kazue, Kudo Kazue, and June Kuramoto. She teaches and performs traditional, modern and jazz koto music, and writes some of her own music.

School (流): Ikuta-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Seiha Conservatory of Japanese Music
Professional Name (芸名): Masamizu Obata

Home Address: San Diego, CA
Home Phone: 858-525-1570

Work Address: San Diego, CA
Work Phone: 858-525-1570
Email 1: reiko@reikoobata.com
Email 2: obata@kotoschool.com
Website 1: www.reikoobata.com
Website 2: www.kotoschool.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Reiko Obata is a performing and recording artist of traditional and contemporary koto music.

Ha/Kai (流派/会): Yoko Hiraoka, Miyagi School

Work Address: 6713 W. 53rd Avenue, Arvada, CO 80002
Email: info@miraidaiko.com

School(流): Ikuta-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Miyagi-kai

Employment: Five College Center for East Asian Studies
Work Address: Smith College, 18 Henshaw Ave B1-202, Northampton, MA 01063
Work Phone: 413-585-3754
E-mail: aprescott@fivecolleges.edu

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

School (流): Yamada-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派／会): Nakanoshima shachu
Professional Name (芸名): Ayakano 

Home Address: 19 Sagamore Avenue, Medford, MA 02155
Home Phone: 781-483-3820

Employment: Tufts University, Music Department instructor
Email: cathleenread@gmail.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Cathleen Read holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and a PhD in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University. Her dissertation is entitled Yamada-ryū Sōkyoku and Its Repertoire. She also holds the Yamada-ryū certificates of urayurushi, nakayurushi, okuyurushi, and natori.

School (流): Matsutoyo-kai
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Matsutoyo-kai

Work Address: 16925 S. Denker Avenue, Gardena, CA 90247
Work Phone: Japanese: 310-800-0334; English: 310-400-4707
Email: marisakosugi@hotmail.com
Website: www.matsutoyo-kai.org

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Matsutoyo Kai was established in Northern California by Matsutoyo 
Sato in 1966 shortly after she arrived from Japan. For ten years Matsutoyo Kai 
was based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1976 Matsutoyo Sato moved to the 
Los Angeles area, extending the reach of Matsutoyo Kai to the Southern California
area, where it is now based. In 2006 Matsutoyo Kai became a nonprofit 
organization. The primary objective and purpose of Matsutoyo Kai is to pass
on the traditional music of Japan and to create and leave a Japanese music legacy. 
Part of that purpose is to provide instruction in singing, shamisen, taiko, and kane
(bell) and to give public performances in Japanese folk and classical music. With
Matsutoyo Sato as Artistic Director we will continue to expand Matsutoyo Kai, 
keeping this rare "Art" of Japanese history alive.

School (流): Ikuta-ryū

Home Address: 1508 Haywards Heath Lane, Apex, NC 27502
Cell Phone: 919-800-1171

Employment: Self-employed
Email: fromtomomisan@aol.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Tomomi Thorbjornsen teaches students from beginner to advanced levels. She also gives solo performances and sometimes collaborates with viola and flute.

School (流): Sawai Koto Academy

Home Address: 3556 West Belden Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647
Cell Phone: 773.593.2181

Email 1: jeff@jeffwichmann.com
Email 2: jeffwichmann@mac.com
Website: www.jeffwichmann.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Jeff Wichmann, a native of Chicago, has been playing koto for nearly 25 years, exploring traditional and contemporary Japanese music.  He holds an Advanced Koto License from the Sawai Koto Academy in Tokyo, Japan, where he studied under koto master Kazue Sawai. He has been a performing member of Koto Phase, Spring Valley Koto Ensemble, Group Otoko, and The Chusei Koto Society Players. In 2005-2007 he was the featured koto player in Chicago-based Steppenwolf Theatre's production of Haruki Murakami'sAfter The Quake. The play ran for over 350 performances in Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego and New Haven.  The music won critics choice awards for Best Original Score in the first three cities. Jeff has also transposed and adapted various western works to be performed on koto including a new rendition of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Sondheim's Pacific Overtures, and arrangements by Bach, Schubert, Beatles, Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. He is a graduate of Augustana College where he majored in Asian Studies and Theater and was first introduced to the koto by Dr. Jesse Evans. He currently lives in Chicago performing, composing and teaching.

School (流): Sawai Sokyokuin, Chikushi Koto

Home Address: 4026 Woodruff Avenue, Oakland, CA 94602 
Home Phone: 510-482-1640
Cell Phone: 510-520-9554
Email: bmw2332@gmail.com
Website: bmwkoto.com

Do you teach? Yes                                      

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Brian Wong began koto studies with his mother and grandmother at age four. He earned his Koshi instructors license in Sawai Koto School in Tokyo with Gran Prix honors in 2006.  He also earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in Music Composition in 2008 at California State University, East Bay.

Home Address: 43 Parsons Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
Home Phone: 415-221-0601

Employment: First Voice
Work Address: As above
Email 1: wongaoki@aol.com
Email 2: aokizu@firstvoice.org
Website: Aokizu.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Brenda Wong Aoki creates monodramas. Her work synthesizes Japanese Noh and Kyōgen theater, Commedia Dell’arte, modern dance and everyday experience. She is acclaimed as one of America’s foremost soloists, performing in such venues as the Kennedy Center, New Victory Theater on Broadway, Hong Kong Performing Arts Center, the Adelaide Festival in Australia, the Esplanade in Singapore, the Graz Festival Austria and the Apollo. Of Japanese, Chinese, Spanish and Scottish descent, Aoki’s bloodlines inspire her work, which include Obake: Tales of Spirits Past and Present, The Queen’s Garden, Random Acts, Mermaid Meat, Tales of the Pacific Rim, Skin Privilege, Kuan Yin: Our Lady of Compassion, and Uncle Gunjiro’s Girlfriend.

Employment: Kyogen Outreach Coordinator at Theatre of Yugen
Work Address: 2840 Mariposa Street, San Francisco, CA  94110
Work Phone: 415-621-0507
Email: Sheila@theatreofyugen.org
Website: www.theatreofyugen.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Sheila Berotti teaches Noh and Kyōgen. She also performs songs and dances from the Noh and Kyōgen repertoires (in Japanese) and many roles (in English) from classic Kyōgen plays. She has been training with Theatre of Yugen for over 15 years. Theatre of Yugen has performed all over the country as well as internationally for people of all ages - their Kyōgen in English repertoire is especially entertaining for kids!  All lessons are in English, with songs in the traditional Japanese language.

Home Address: 899 S. Plymouth Court, #1106, Chicago, IL 60605
Cell Phone: 602-432-1680

Employment: College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University
Work Address: 430 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605
Work Phone: 312-341-2161
Email 1: jcompton@roosevelt.edu
Email 2: junecompton@rcn.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

I lived in Japan for six years, studying and performing Kyōgen. I now teach Asian Theatre at the Theatre Conservatory of Roosevelt University in Chicago. Each summer I return to Japan to continue my studies and perform and lecture on Kyōgen. During the school year, in addition to my classes at Roosevelt, I perform, lecture and lead workshops on Kyōgen for groups in the U.S.

School (流): Kita (noh); Izumi (kyōgen); Ko (kotsuzumi)

Home Address: San Francisco, CA 94116
Cell Phone: 415-902-5631

Email: jmoore@gmail.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

I have studied noh and kyōgen since 1993. I was the Artistic Director of Theatre of Yugen from 2001-2014 where we maintained an active kyōgen repertoire in English. I'm also a founding member of Theatre Nohgaku, a company dedicated to exploring noh in English.

School (流): Kyudo-Zen Nippon Kyuko Renmei
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Bi Toku Kyudo Kai, Inc.

Home Address: 3965 Briarcliff Road, Atlanta, GA 30345
Home Phone: 404-320-1012
Cell Phone: 404-932-1165

Employment: Chief Instructor Bi Toku Kyudo Kai, Inc.
Email: ecsymmes@aol.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Edwin Symmes has presented kyūdō to groups from 1st graders to business executives. He does kyūdō presentations at a variety of venues including Japan Festivals, Cherry Blossom Festivals, and corporate events. In his presentations, he demonstrates either short-range (6') or standard range (92') archery and discusses the equipment used, as well as the benefits of doing kyūdō. In 2010, he wrote an article which appeared in the Journal of Asian Martial Arts concerning the Budo Charter and an ethical way of living.

Edwin Symmes is the author of Netsuke: Japanese Life and Legend in Miniature, the forward of which was written by the late HIH Takamado. He is knowledgable about both netsuke (miniature carvings) and the traditional tales that they illustrate. For presentations on netsuke, he dresses in kimono and hakama to show the function netsuke served in securing small pouches or bags to the obi. 

Ha/Kai (流派/会): Bando-ryū
Professional Name (芸名): BANDO Miko

Home Address: 3120 Corona Trail #102, Boulder, CO 80301
Home Phone: 303-444-8028
Cell Phone: 303-919-7817

Employment: Instructor, University of Colorado, Boulder
Work Address: Campus Box 301, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309
Work Phone: 303-492-5496
Email 1: itasaka@colorado.edu
Email 2: yumenofanfan@yahoo.co.jp

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mami Itasaka-Keister teaches nihon buyō and minyō shamisen and singing. She performs both nihon buyō and minyō, and plays shamisen and taiko. She trained in minyō with Takeda Masahiro and Takeda Hiroko in Tokyo.

School(流): Fujimoto-ryū 富士本流
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Reichiku-kai 鈴竹会
Professional Name (芸名): Chikuhai 竹唄

Home Address: 4308 East Cambridge Drive, Bloomington, IN 47408
Home Phone: 812-360-9299

Employment: Bloomington High School North
Work Address: 3901 North Kinser Pike, Bloomington, IN 47404
Work Phone: 812-330-7724 
Email 1: mjsensei@gmail.com
Email 2: mjeon@mccsc.edu

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information: 

Molly Adkins Jeon conducts workshops regarding traditional Japanese music in general and folk songs in particular. She has also been a consultant for the Indiana University International Vocal Ensemble. In addition she teaches Japanese language.

She gives solo performances for educational institutions such as elementary, junior and senior high schools, libraries, and university-level Japanese or music classes. She has also performed at the Indiana State Fair.  In addition to her solo appearances, she performs with artists from Japan.

Molly Adkins Jeon is the only non-Japanese who performs Japanese folk songs professionally. She spent eleven years in Japan studying minyō, and has received several regional awards. She completed a Master’s degree in ethnomusicology at Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku.

Professional Name (芸名): Sakura Minyo Doo Koo Kai

Home Address: 732 7th Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95818
Home Phone: 916-476-6624

Employment: Retired
Email: toshiyek@comcast.net

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Toshiye Kawamura’s main teachers in the United States are Irene Hisako Hoshiko (dance), Tomiyo Nojiri (dance), Shizue Morita (dance), Mitsuye Muranaga (dance), Nobuo Hiramoto (singing), and Hisako Ikeda (shamisen). Her dance teacher from Japan is Ryohei Oikawa. She is presently with the Sakura Minyo Doo Koo Kai and in the past she has danced with Hokka Minyo Tanoshimi Kai, Onomai Kai, and World Dance Group.

School (流): Nagauta, Minyō, Gagaku
Ha/Kai (流派/会): To-onkai Nagauta, Masahiro Minyokai, Togi Suenobu Gagaku
Professional Name (芸名): Associate Professor Jay Keister

Home Address: 3120 Corona Trail #102, Boulder, CO 80301
Home Phone: 303-444-8028
Cell Phone: 303-919-7817

Employment: College of Music, University of Colorado 
Work Address: College of Music, Campus Box 301 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 
Work Phone: 303-492-5496
Email: keister@colorado.edu

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Jay Keister currently teaches Japanese Ensemble at the University of Colorado, Boulder with a focus on minyō folk songs and dances, nagauta with nihon buyō dance, and occasionally gagaku. He also teaches shamisen privately, both minyō and nagauta styles. He performs with his ensemble and does lecture demonstrations on Japanese music and dance.

One of his main goals as an educator is to teach about traditional Japanese culture through an understanding of music, dance, and expressive language.

School (流): Matsutoyo-kai
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Matsutoyo-kai

Work Address: 16925 S. Denker Avenue, Gardena, CA 90247
Work Phone: Japanese: 310-800-0334; English: 310-400-4707
Email: marisakosugi@hotmail.com
Website: www.matsutoyo-kai.org

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Matsutoyo Kai was established in Northern California by Matsutoyo 
Sato in 1966 shortly after she arrived from Japan. For ten years Matsutoyo Kai 
was based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1976 Matsutoyo Sato moved to the 
Los Angeles area, extending the reach of Matsutoyo Kai to the Southern California
area, where it is now based. In 2006 Matsutoyo Kai became a nonprofit 
organization. The primary objective and purpose of Matsutoyo Kai is to pass
on the traditional music of Japan and to create and leave a Japanese music legacy. 
Part of that purpose is to provide instruction in singing, shamisen, taiko, and kane
(bell) and to give public performances in Japanese folk and classical music. With
Matsutoyo Sato as Artistic Director we will continue to expand Matsutoyo Kai, 
keeping this rare "Art" of Japanese history alive.

School (流): Manyo-shu, Mr. Shohei Kikuchi

Home Address: 329 St-Ferdinand, Montréal, Canada
Cell Phone: 514-886-8129
Email: komachi21@gmail.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Kayo Yasuhara studied with Kikuchi Shohei in Japan as well as Misako Yuki. In 2007 she formed the group Komachi Montréal, a student group that performs Japanese folk dance.

(Photo: Gilles Rey)

Ha/Kai (流派/会): Nishikawa-ryū California 西川流カリフォルニア扇会
Professional Name (芸名): NISHIKAWA, Senkin-yei 師範　西川　扇均永-

Home Address: 1179 Fernwood Drive, Millbrae, CA 94030
Home Phone: 650-975-9391
Cell Phone: 650-207-1285

Email: maiohgi@hotmail.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Chieko Abe performs every four years at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco. The performances are given for the head of the school and other teachers and use costumes, wigs sized for performers, and props all ordered from Japan. Additionally, she has performed in San Francisco at Bukkyokai, the Cherry Blossom Festival, the First International Dance Festival, and for Education Week at the Malcolm X Plaza at San Francisco State University. In 2006 she performed at San Francisco City Hall to mark the 100th anniversary of Japan Town.

School (流): Kinko-ryū (shakuhachi) and Tachibana (nihon buyō)
Professional Name (芸名): Tomie Hahn (shakuhachi), Samie Tachibana (nihon buyō)

Employment: Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Work Address: Rensselaer, Arts Dept, West Hall, 110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180
Work Phone: 518-276-4778
Email: hahnt@rpi.edu
Website: www.arts.rpi.edu/tomie

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

In addition to shakuhachi perfomances, Tomie Hahn facilitates meditation through playing. She also specializes in the pedagogy and teaching practices of nihon buyō.

School (流): Nishikawa-ryū (西川流)
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Soke Nishikawa-ryū (宗家　西川流)
Professional Name (芸名): Nishikawa Senkin-oh (西川扇均桜)

Home Address: 5820 Constitution Ave., Fairfield, CA 94533
Home Phone: 707-419-4273
Cell Phone: 916-539-1859
Email: Susan_hashimoto@comcast.net

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Susan Hashimoto teaches locally. She also teaches in San Francisco as a substitute for Minosuke Nishikawa V of Japan.

Ha/Kai (流派/会): Bando-ryū
Professional Name (芸名): BANDO Miko

Home Address: 3120 Corona Trail #102, Boulder, CO 80301
Home Phone: 303-444-8028
Cell Phone: 303-919-7817

Employment: Instructor, University of Colorado, Boulder
Work Address: Campus Box 301, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309
Work Phone: 303-492-5496
Email 1: itasaka@colorado.edu
Email 2: yumenofanfan@yahoo.co.jp

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mami Itasaka-Keister teaches nihon buyō and minyō shamisen and singing. She performs both nihon buyō and minyō, and plays shamisen and taiko. She trained in minyō with Takeda Masahiro and Takeda Hiroko in Tokyo.

Professional name (芸名): Ajna  

Cell Phone: 415-712-9261

E-mail: ajna.kenning@gmail.com
Website: www.japanesedancesf.com

Do you teach?             Yes      

Do you perform?         Yes      

Additional information:

Ajna Kenning offers a large variety of Japanese performing Arts, including solo dance, dance to live music, kimono fashion shows and presentations, costume design or choreographing, and more.

School (流): Fujima-ryū 藤間流
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Kanemon-ha 勘右衛門派
Professional Name (芸名): Sachiyo Ito and Company 伊藤さちよ

Home Address: 405 West 23rd Street Apt. 4G, New York, NY 10011
Home Phone: 212-627-0265

Employment: Artistic Directory of Sachiyo Ito and Company
Work Address: As above 
Email: sachiyoito@verizon.net
Website: www.dancejapan.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information: 

Sachiyo Ito is Artistic Director of Sachiyo Ito and Company, established as a not-for-profit educational and performing arts organization in 1981. For the last 45 years she has taught and performed Japanese classical dance in the USA. In 2008 she received a Foreign Minister’s Award from the Japanese Foreign Ministry in recognition of her work in cultural exchange, and in 2011 she received a proclamation from the Mayor of New York City commemorating 30 years of the founding of her company.

School (流): Kine-ie School 杵家派 and Hanayagi School 花柳流
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Kabuki Academy 歌舞伎アカデミー
Professional Name (芸名): Kine-ie Yanacho 杵家弥七蝶, Hanayagi Fumiryu 花柳芙美龍

Home Address: 4806 86th Avenue Ct. W., Tacoma, WA 98467
Home Phone: 253-564-6081
Cell Phone: 253-441-1078

Employment: Seattle Central Community College
Work Address: 1701 Broadway, Seattle, WA 98122
Work Phone: 206-587-5448
Website: www.kabukiacademy.org/intro.html

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mary Mariko Ohno teaches Japanese culture and traditional performing arts - naga-uta style shamisen and nihon buyō - to many enthusiasts, both Japanese and non-Japanese. 

She teaches private and group lessons in both English and Japanese. For beginners, rental instruments and kimono are available. Students learn not only shamisen or dance skills but also 日本の心 (Nihon no kokoro) Japanese etiquette, manners and culture, which are more important than mastering technique. Her students have performed at the National Theater in Tokyo, Japan, several times. Mary Mariko Ohno’s Kabuki Academy performs 20~30 times a year in the Seattle/Tacoma vicinity as well as in other states.

School (流): Nishikawa-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Nishikawa
Professional Name (芸名): Emari-oh Nishikawa

Home Address: 2837 Buena Knoll Court, San Jose, CA 95121
Home Phone: 408-528-8023
Cell Phone: 408-313-1528

Work Address: 1915 Yellowstone Avenue, Milpitas, CA 95035
Work Phone: 408-635-2656 x 3134
Email 1: Emarioh2003@yahoo.com
Email 2: Klkst61@yahoo.com
Website: Facebook.com – Nishikawa School of Japanese Classical Dance

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

School (流):Hanayagi

Home Address: 8½ Sherry Road, South Burlington, VT 05403
Home Phone: 775-830-2616

Work Address: UHC Campus Rm#1415, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401
Work Phone: 802-656-9712
Email 1: yukikowashio@gmail.com
Email 2: ywashio@uvm.edu

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Yukiko Washio is allowed to teach only within the range that is permitted by her sensei. She is part of a kabuki performing art group called TOYO, which consists of shamisen, nagauta singers, and dancers.

Ha/Kai (流派/会):  Issō-ryū, Kō-ryū, Takayasu-ryū, Komparu-ryū, Kita-ryū 

Home Address:  Wilmette, IL 60091

Employment: Lake Forest College
Work Address:  555 N. Sheridan Road, Lake Forest, IL 60045
Work Phone: 847-735-5131  
Email 1: annomariko@gmail.com
Email 2: anno@mx.lakeforest.edu  
Website:  http://annomariko.wordpress.com/

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mariko Anno is a bilingual, bicultural Japanese American from Chicago. She holds a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku) and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Flute Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research explores the musical aspects of traditional and contemporary noh. 

On scholarships from Monbukagakushô and Rotary Yoneyama Memorial Foundation, Anno spent seven years researching noh in Tokyo. She is a specialist in the noh flute and well versed in the musical aspects of noh including ko-tsuzumi, ō-tsuzumi, taiko, shimai, and utai. She is a member of the English noh troupe, Theatre Nohgaku, and has performed with them in Japan, China, Hong Kong, and the U.S. In addition, Anno teaches noh flute at Bloomsburg University’s summer program, The Noh Training Project, in Pennsylvania. She is a certified American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) teacher.  

Employment: Kyogen Outreach Coordinator at Theatre of Yugen
Work Address: 2840 Mariposa Street, San Francisco, CA  94110
Work Phone: 415-621-0507
Email: Sheila@theatreofyugen.org
Website: www.theatreofyugen.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Sheila Berotti teaches Noh and Kyōgen. She also performs songs and dances from the Noh and Kyōgen repertoires (in Japanese) and many roles (in English) from classic Kyōgen plays. She has been training with Theatre of Yugen for over 15 years. Theatre of Yugen has performed all over the country as well as internationally for people of all ages - their Kyōgen in English repertoire is especially entertaining for kids!  All lessons are in English, with songs in the traditional Japanese language.

School (流): Kita
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Theatre Nohgaku

Home Address: 736 East Third Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815
Home Phone: 570-784-8016
Cell Phone: 570-594-0408

Employment: Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble
Work Address: 226 Center Street, Bloomsburg, PA
Work Phone: 570-784-5530
Email 1: ntp@uplink.net
Email 2: edowd@bte.org
Website: www.nohtrainingproject.org

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Elizabeth Dowd has trained under Noh expert Richard Emmert, and Noh actors Sadamu Omura, Akira Matsui and Kinue Oshima. She is a founding member of Theatre Nohgaku and has performed with them in At The Hawk’s Well, Pine Barrens, Crazy Jane, andPagoda. She has toured with Theatre Nohgaku and the Oshima Family Noh Theatre in Janette Cheong’s production of Pagoda, an English Noh play which toured to London, Dublin, Oxford, Paris, Japan, and China.

Dowd teaches Intro to Noh workshops during the fall, winter and spring by invitation at various colleges, universities, and performing arts high schools each year. The Noh Training Project at the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble offers in-depth study of Noh with a larger faculty for three weeks every summer- usually mid July-first week of August.

Elizabeth Dowd's lecture/demo includes performances of short dances and chants from Noh plays.

Employment: Professor of Theatre at Hampden-Sydney College
Work Address: 113 Graham Hall, Hampden-Sydney, Virginia 23943
Work Phone: 434-223-6362
Email: mdubroff@hsc.edu

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Matthew Dubroff teaches all aspects of theatre and Asian theatre. He directs, designs, and acts in western drama and performs with Theatre Nohgaku. He has an MFA in Asian Theatre Performance from the University of Hawai’i and lived in Japan for several years.  The bulk of his noh and musical training is with master Japanese performers. He also teaches the Wu Style of Tai Ji and is a certified Alexander Technique Teacher.

School (流): Kita-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Theatre Nohgaku

Home Address: 2132 S. Beechwood Street, Philadelphia, PA 19145
Cell Phone: 267-408-0024

Email: O_nezumi_ya@yahoo.com
Website: www.greggiovanni.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Greg Giovanni has trained in noh since 1997 with Richard Emmert and other master teachers. He has been a professional actor, writer, and director of western theater for 25 years. He gives guest-artist lectures and demonstrations. Information for his workshops and demonstrations/lectures is available through his website. 

School (流): Kita (noh); Izumi (kyōgen); Ko (kotsuzumi)

Home Address: San Francisco, CA 94116
Cell Phone: 415-902-5631

Email: jmoore@gmail.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

I have studied noh and kyōgen since 1993. I was the Artistic Director of Theatre of Yugen from 2001-2014 where we maintained an active kyōgen repertoire in English. I'm also a founding member of Theatre Nohgaku, a company dedicated to exploring noh in English.

School (流): Kita-ryū
Professional Name (芸名): Tom O’Connor

Home Address: 1107 N. Hoosac Road, Williamstown, MA 01267
Home Phone: 413-458-4182
Cell Phone: 413-207-1433

Employment: Managing director, Theatre Nohgaku
Email 1: toconnor@theatrenohgaku.org
Email 2: tko@psdream.org
Website: www.theatrenohgaku.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Theatre Nohgaku (TN) is a touring company, whose mission is to develop and perform Japanese noh in non-Japanese contexts and/or in English. In 2011 we performed the shinsakunô play PAGODA in tandem with a han-nô of a traditional play, TAKASAGO, on an Asian tour that included The National Noh Theatre (Tokyo), the Kongo Noh Theatre (Kyoto), NCPA and Contemporary Arts Center (Beijing), and the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts. More information about repertory is
available at: www.theatrenohgaku.org

School (流): Isso-ryū (nohkan); Kita-ryū (noh)
Ha/Kai（流派/会): Theatre Nohgaku

Employment: Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Work Address: 403 S. 11th Street, Indiana, PA 15705
Website: www.theatrenohgaku.org

Do you teach? No                                 

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

David Surtasky has participated in the U.S. Noh Training Project since 2006 and has been a member of Theatre Nohgaku since 2007. He has also been a participant in Noh Writer’s Workshop since 2006.

School (流): Madison West High School, Wisconsin
Professional Name (芸名): Okinawan Taiko Drummers of Wisconsin

Email: knowpeace.nowar@gmail.com
Website: www.otdw.com

Do you teach? Yes

Additional information:

Okinawan Taiko Drummers of Wisconsin is a group of students from West High School in Madison, Wisconsin. They perform a variety of traditional and modern folk dances from Okinawa, Japan and are partners with the Nakijin, Okinawa-based Imajin Taiko. They teach anyone interested in learning Eisa (Okinawan Taiko Drumming), generally high school students in Madison and the surrounding area, after school. They perform at various events in the Madison area and annually at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C.

School (流): Ryūkyū shima uta 琉球島唄
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Ryūkyū shima uta kai 琉球島唄会

Home Address: Las Vegas, NV
Cell Phone: 702-499-3662

Email: info@shimatime.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

School (流): Kinko-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Araki-ha • Kodō-kai

Professional name: Kodō VI

Address: 16603 W Kamb Rd Mount Vernon WA 98273

Home telephone: +1 (206) 399-1524

Email 1:hanzaraki@gmail.com
Website: https://www.arakikodo.com/home

Do you teach?: Yes

Do you perform?: Yes

Additional information:

Hanzaburō Kodō Araki, professionally known as Kodō VI, was named after his great-great-grandfather, Kodō II/Chikuō I and studied in Japan with his father, Araki Kodō V. He was named Baikyoku in 1988 and became Kodō VI upon his father’s retirement in 2009.

School (流): Kinko-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): 鈴慕会 Reibo-kai
大師範 Grand Master

Address: Boston area

Employment: Tufts University WEFT (World, Ethnic, Folk and Traditional) Program
Email 1:elizabethreian@hotmail.com (venues and presenters)
Email 2:reianfans@yahoo.com (prospective students, fans, and others)
Website: www.elizabethreianbennett.wordpress.com 

Additional information:

Elizabeth Reian Bennett is the first woman to play professionally as a Grand Master of the shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute, and stands out as one of only a handful of western players trained in traditional Japanese music. She has studied and performed with Living National Treasure Aoki Reibo, recognized as one of Japan's foremost shakuhachi instrumentalists, for over 30 years.

Since her debut recital in Tokyo in 1984, Reian Bennett has performed frequently in Japan and worldwide, from Australia and Europe to Mexico, Afghanistan and the United States. Tokyo performances are planned every two years. Notable venues have included Tokyo National Theater and NHK (Japan National TV); her most recent Tokyo recital was in June of 2014. She as been interviewed on radio by Faith Middleton of Fresh Air, Robert J. Lurtsema of Morning Pro Musica and Richard Knisley of Classical Performances.

Her CD entitled Song of the True Hand, was nominated 'Instrumental Album of the Year' by Jon Sobel at Blogcritics Magazine. In describing it, Sobel wrote, “(it exemplifies)… the way a single individual with a musical instrument can wordlessly conjure the human spirit out of thin air.” Hartford Advocate critic Dan Barry compares her musical vocabulary to “…Coltrane in his prime”. Jay Keister, critic for The Journal of the Society for Asian Music, praises “Bennett’s impressive technique…Her skill with the instrument is clearly world-class.”

Reian Bennett’s next CD is a set of compositions for the shakuhachi written for her by Tufts composer John McDonald. She teaches privately in the Boston area and through the world music program at Tufts University For more information, see www.elizabethreianbennett.wordpress.com

Shakuhachi
　
School流
Kinko Style, Myōan Style 琴古流, 明暗流

Ha/Kai流派・会
Chikumei-sha 竹盟社

Professional Name　芸名
Christopher Yohmei クリストファー遙盟

Home Address
400 Keawe St. No. 214, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
808-840-0123

Employment
University of Hawai’i Manōa Music Department (part time)
2411 Dole St. Honolulu, HI. 96822
808-956-7756

E-mail 1
yohmei@gol.com
Email 2
cblasdel@hawaii.edu

Website
www.yohmei.com

Do you teach? Yes
Do you perform? Yes

Christopher Yohmei is an established senior shakuhachi performer and researcher and one of the few shakuhachi specialists known and highly regarded throughout Japan, the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia. He resided in Japan for 45 years and presently lives in Honolulu, Hawai’i.

Upon arrival in Japan as an undergraduate in 1972, Christopher Yohmei began studies of shakuhachi with Goro Yamaguchi, who was one of Japan’s highly revered Living National Treasures. He became the first of only two non-Japanese accredited by Yamaguchi with a shihan license and performing name (1984). Yohmei studied with Yamaguchi until the master’s death in 1999, and now he is one of the few performers in the shakuhachi world capable of transmitting the elegant, highly refined Kinko honkyoku techniques perfected by Yamaguchi. Under Yamaguchi’s tutelage, Yohmei also had access to the best traditional string players in Japan, with whom he perfected his sankyoku ensemble techniques. In order to better understand ensemble techniques, Christopher also studied koto, shamisen and gagaku while at Tokyo University of the Fine Arts, where he received his MFA in ethnomusicology (1982).

In addition to having a strong command of the classical shakuhachi repertory, Yohmei also performs and teaches contemporary and improvisational music. He has taught courses on the performing arts of Japan at Earlham College (Indiana), International Christian University (Tokyo), Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok), Temple University (Tokyo), University of Hawai’i, and he has been guest lecturer at Seijo Gakuen University, Charles University (Prague), Texas A&M University and many others.

Yohmei is the author of The Shakuhachi－A Manual for Learning, the foremost book on learning the shakuhachi, and also the author of The Single Tone, A Personal Journey into Shakuhachi Music, an autobiographical account of his early years in Japan studying and performing the shakuhachi. The original Japanese version of this book, Shakuhachi Odessei, Ten no iro ni Miserarete, 「尺八オデッセイ、天の音色に魅せられて」was awarded the prestigious Rennyo Award for non-fiction in 2000.

Yohmei has been instrumental in organizing and running the various Shakuhachi Festivals of the last two decades, beginning as co-director of the legendary Boulder World Shakuhachi Festival in 1998. From 2006 to 2016 he helped organize and direct the Prague shakuhachi summer festivals, and presently he is senior advisor to the World Shakuhachi Festival, scheduled for Chaozhou, China in 2022.

Christopher has also released numerous CDs of contemporary and classical shakuhachi works, a list of which can be found on his website. His most recent CD is Striking Light, Striking Dark, a collaboration with vocalist Sasha Bogdonowitsch, consisting of original music set to the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, Pablo Neruda, John Logan, Sam Hamill and the Tang Period Zen poet Fuke Zen-ji.

Christopher Yohmei’s other love is Aikido. He began training in Tokyo in 1976 under Yasuo Kobayashi. Presently a 4th dan, he continues practice and occasionally teaches Aikido in Hawai’i. Recently he conducts workshops applying the basic philosophy of Aikido movement to shakuhachi learning, especially in how it enables a fluid execution of bodily movement and relaxation.

School(流): Kinko-ryū

Home Address: Brooklyn, NY
Email: elibrooklyn@yahoo.com
Website: www.ElizabethBrownComposer.com

Do you teach? Yes                                      

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Elizabeth Brown performs both traditional and contemporary music, and her own compositions.

Ha/Kai (流派/会): To-onkai Nagauta, Masahiro Minyokai, Togi Suenobu Gagaku
Professional Name (芸名): The Columbia Early Modern Japanese Chamber Music Ensemble

Work Address: Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies
1140 Amsterdam Ave, Kent Hall Rm 509, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
Work Phone: 212-854-7403
Email: medievaljapanesestudies.org

Do you teach? 
Students are taught to play the shakuhachi and koto currently with plans to add shamisen in the future.

Do you perform? 
Students give semester end recitals with the possibility of additional performances as the class develops.

Additional information:

Columbia Hōgaku Instrumental Ensemble is a joint initiative of the Department of Music, the Music Performance Program, the Center for Ethnomusicology, and the Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies at Columbia University. It is open to all students of Columbia, Barnard, and the Columbia-Juilliard Program. There is a six-week summer Mentor-Protégé Program in Tokyo for outstanding players.

School (流): Dōkyoku, Kinko-ryū
Professional Name (芸名):  Bruno Chikushin Deschênes.

Home Address: 50 Hudson Ave., apt. 102, Mont-Royal, QC H3R 1S6 
Home Phone: 514-277-4665

Email: bruno@musis.ca
Website: www.musis.ca

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Deschênes’ shakuhachi sensei are Alcvin Takegawa Ramos from dōkyoku-ryū and Yoshio Kurahashi from kinko-ryū. He received his shihan from Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos in 2016. He performs with The Matsu Take Ensemble and gives concerts for solo and duo shakuhachi. He also gives regular lectures on the shakuhachi and Japanese traditional music. In January 2017, he published the first book entirely dedicated to the shakuhachi in French: Le shakuhachi japonais, Une tradition réinventée, Paris: L’Harmattan, 2017

School (流): Dokyoku/ Ryuzen school / Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos sensei
Japanese artist name: Zenchiku

Home Address: 1020 Chemin des Nations, Sainte-Anne des Lacs, Québec, Canada, J0R 1H0
Home Phone: 1-450-224-2210
Cell Phone: 1-514-971-1634

Email: micheld54@gmail.com
Facebook: Zenchiku Shakuhachi

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Michel Dubeau plays shakuhachi and shinobue with the Matsu Take Ensemble in Montreal. He also uses the shakuhachi in many non-Japanese settings, such as TV and movie scores, jazz ensembles (Brubeck en tête, Night Dreamer), techno-world (Apadoorai) and shows such as Cavalia2. In September, 2016, he was granted shihan by his teacher Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos, Dai shihan and head of Bamboo-In ryu.

Work Address: New York City
Email: shaku8@aol.com
Website: marcolienhard.com/bio

Do you teach? Yes, individual artists teach.

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information: lecture, lessons, workshops available

The East Winds Ensemble was formed in 1999 in New York City. The purpose of the group is to present concerts of traditional and modern music performed on Japanese traditional instruments, the shakuhachi and the koto. The members of the group are Masayo Ishigure, Yuki Yasuda, Charles Tang and Marco Lienhard. Performances have taken the group to Japan, Mexico, Europe and around the US, and members have performed in some of the world’s most renowned halls, such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and Osaka Festival Hall.

Past concerts also include, Symphony Space in New York, Salamanca Hall in Gifu, Japan, concert in Tokyo, Museum of Art of Gifu, Concert for World Music Institute in New York, U of Maryland, Gettysburg College, Wesleyan University, University of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and University of Missouri, St. Louis. EWE recently toured Brazil for the Japan Foundation, and they regularly perform in NYC. Members also have recorded for Nintendo's game: “Red Steel” 1 and 2, and for movies, including Memoirs of a Geisha. They released a best selling CD of the Music of Miyazaki Hayao, arranged for koto and shakuhachi. Marco Lienhard and Charles Tang on piano have released two CDs, and the group is releasing a new CD in Spring 2018. Lienhard was an invited guest performer at many International Shakuhachi Festival s around the world. Lienhard gives master classes and concerts internationally – he was recently in Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Switzerland, France and Russia.

for more info and CD: Marcolienhard.com Taikoza.com

School (流): Mujuan, based in Kyoto

Home Address: 610 W. Kings Highway, San Antonio, TX 78212
Home Phone: 210-734-0903
Cell Phone: 210-885-1626

Employment: Our Lady of the Lake University
Work Address: 411 S.W. 24th Street, San Antonio, TX 78207
Work Phone: 210-434-6711 x 8137
Email 1: mhfabrique@lake.ollusa.edu
Email 2: flute@grandecom.net

Do you teach? No

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Dr. Fabrique has been an active performer and scholar of the Japanese shakuhachi (bamboo flute) for over 20 years. She gave performances at the World Shakuhachi Festival 2008 in Sydney, Australia and presented the lecture New Horizons: Japanese Women and the Shakuhachi which she is preparing to publish. Dr. Fabrique is featured as a soloist in performances at the San Antonio Museum of Art, for the Japan America Society of San Antonio, at regional universities and in solo recitals.  Her doctoral thesis is titled Crosswinds: Interpreting Flute Literature Influenced by the Japanese Shakuhachi and she has lectured on this subject at the National Flute Convention, the World Shakuhachi Festival and the International Conference of the College Music Society in Kyoto, Japan. Her teachers include master shakuhachi players Yodo Kurahashi (Kyoto, Japan), Stan Kakudo Richardson (Dallas, TX), and David Wheeler (Boulder, CO). 

School (流): Kinko-ryū (shakuhachi) and Tachibana (nihon buyō)
Professional Name (芸名): Tomie Hahn (shakuhachi), Samie Tachibana (nihon buyō)

Employment: Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Work Address: Rensselaer, Arts Dept, West Hall, 110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180
Work Phone: 518-276-4778
Email: hahnt@rpi.edu
Website: www.arts.rpi.edu/tomie

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

In addition to shakuhachi perfomances, Tomie Hahn facilitates meditation through playing. She also specializes in the pedagogy and teaching practices of nihon buyō.

School: Kinko-ryu, Nezasa-ryu, and Minyo (folk music) 

Ha/Kai: Kinko and Watazumi

Cell Phone: 414-248-7559 

Employment: Private music instructor and soloist 

Email: Shawnheadmusic@gmail.com 

Website: shawnheadmusic.com 
youtube.com/user/violaXplayer

facebook.com/shawnheadmusicpage

Do you teach: Yes 

Do you perform: Yes 

Additional Information:

Shawn Renzoh Head, Composer, Shakuhachi Performer, and Lecturer 

ショーン・蓮蔵・ヘッド：作曲家・尺八演奏者・講師

Houston, TX

ヒューストン、テキサス

Internationally performed composer, master shakuhachi performer, and lecturer Shawn Renzoh Head continues to transcend boarders through his music; mixing Japanese traditional music with a distinct western compositional style. Having studied with some of the world’s foremost shakuhachi masters, Michael Chikuzen Gould and Kaoru Kakizakai, Shawn has become the youngest non-Japanese to receive a Shihan (Master’s Certification) in shakuhachi. In addition to his studies in traditional Japanese music, Shawn earned his undergraduate degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with composers Keith Fitch and Steven Kohn.

Shawn's music is primarily focused on chamber and solo repertoire and are influenced by Japanese traditional music. Shawn is of the mind that in order to gain a fuller understanding of another culture's aesthetic traditions and histories, you must be able to understand the language of the people who liven that culture. He believes that his fluency in Japanese helps him to respectfully employ elements of Japanese music, such as Hogaku (邦楽), Zen Music (禅音楽) , and Gagaku (雅楽). Musicians refer to Shawn's music as "A deeply felt Japanese sentiment structured with a virtuosic western filigree." -Mikhail Vayman. Performers have said, "When playing Shawn's music, I feel that I need to open my musical perspective to colors, techniques, and tonalities I don't get to use often while playing western repertoire."-Leah Stevens. Shawn has recently been commissioned to compose a work shakuhachi (尺八) and String Quartet with the goal of fusing western classicism and Japanese aesthetics and sensibility. Shawn's music has been performed by members of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Institute of Music faculty and staff, as well as Ball State University faculty. Most recently, Mary Kay Fink of the Cleveland Orchestra commissioned Shawn to compose a work for PAND (performers and artist for nuclear disarmament) for the 70th anniversary of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings in Japan.

As a performer, Shawn has made it his goal to popularize the shakuhachi both in its traditional form and a modern western. Over the past two years, he has performed on over 200 concerts featuring the shakuhachi as well as doing outreach to all parts of the community and collage lectures. "Shawn Head's performance of shakuhachi music during our recent Classical Revolution Cleveland show was truly stunning. His technical and musical command of the instrument were stunning, and the repertoire performed was captivating. It was the first time CRC has incorporated music from that genre in our shows, and it was eye-opening…."– Ariel Clayton Karas.

Since the beginning of 2015 Shawn has been appearing as a guest lecturer for Japanese music, culture, aesthetic, and religion, along with western composition, and improvisation. He has presented at Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, OTAJ (Ohio Teachers'Association of Japanese), Cleveland One World Festival, Ball State University, and was appointed as faculty at the Benefic Chamber Music Camp by artistic director Anna Vayman. 

Shawn is currently based in Houston, Texas where he is actively serving his community as a performer.

School (流): Muju-an dojo

Home Address: 83 Bancroft Road, Northampton, MA  01060
Home Phone: 413-584-1730
Cell Phone: 413-695-7634

Email: rbtjonas@aol.com
Website: www.emptybell.org

Do you teach? Occasionally

Do you perform? Occasionally

Additional information:

Robert Jonas has played shakuhachi since 1991 and has three CDs of shakuhachi music on iTunes. His teachers have included Yodo Kurahashi II, David Duncavage, Ronnie Seldin, Riley Lee, and Marco Lienhard. Jonas leads spiritual retreats (Buddhist-Christian) and sometimes plays at concerts with other musicians and in schools.

School (流): Kinko-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Chikuyu-sha

Home Address: 2151 Riesling Way, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Home Phone: 707-528-2216
Cell Phone: 707-575-8626

Employment: Kanshin Dojo
Work Address: 2151 Riesling Way, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Work Phone: 707-575-8626
Email: elliot@japanflute.com
Website: www.japanflute.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Elliot Kanshin Kallen performs and teaches traditional Kinko-ryū shakuhachi repertoire, including solo pieces (honkyoku), ensemble works (sankyoku), and non-traditional contemporary compositions. He received his Shihan (Master Teaching license) and performance name in 2018.

Professional Name (芸名): KaFu

Home Address: 1 Livery Lane, St. George, SC 29477
Phone: 843-810-1341

Email 1: scott@firewindflutes.com
Website: firewindflutes.com

Do you teach? No

Do you perform? Yes

Professional Name (å|ņš): Tai Hei Shakuhachi (Hanko: Ku Setsu)

Home Address: PO Box 294, Willits, CA 95490

Home Phone: 707-459-3402

Email: monty@shakuhachi.com

Websites:

http://shakuhachi.com

http://shakuhachi.jp

http://shakulute.jp

Do you teach? No

Do you perform? No

Additional information:

Monty H. Levenson makes shakuhachi (Tai Hei Shakuhachi) and maintains workshops at his home in the hills of Mendocino County, California as well as in Japan in the small farming village of Kitagawa (Tokushima Prefecture) on Shikoku Island. Monty has been making shakuhachi continuously since 1970.

In 1984, Monty developed the precision cast bore technology which enabled him to create affordable, high-quality shakuhachi made of bamboo. Tai Hei Shakuhachi are now being used by traditional teachers in Japan for their students and professional musicians worldwide as their personal instruments. Monty Levenson has collaborated extensively with many prominent players and craftsmen in Japan.

In 2001, Monty developed the Shakulute, a completely new concept in woodwinds instruments. It replaces the side-blown headjoint of the western transverse flute with that of an end-blown shakuhachi headjoint to create an innovative new sound and style of music. This hybrid instrument allows the player to employ blowing styles and techniques distinctive to the traditional Japanese shakuhachi while using fingerings common to the western classical Boehm flute. The resulting sound is a unique blend of East and West that can be achieved on no other instrument. The Shakulute has gained enormous popularity amongst flute players around the world since its inception. Annual gatherings of Shakulute players have convened in Japan for the last eight years.

In 2004, Tai Hei Shakuhachi Publishing was officially launched with the aim of preserving and expanding access to information outside of Japan on shakuhachi craft work and the honkyoku tradition. Several playing guides, flute craft manuals, books on the origins and history of shakuhachi, as well as traditional and contemporary sheet music, CDs and DVDs are currently available.

School (流): Kinko-ryū (shakuhachi)
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Ex-Ondekoza member
Professional Name (芸名): Marco Lienhard

Home Address: 55 Park Terrace East Apt. B63, New York, NY 10034
Home Phone: 646-418-8808

Employment: Director of Taikoza and East Winds
Work Address: As above
Email 1: shaku8@aol.com
Email 2: taikoza@gmail.com
Website 1: www.marcolienhard.com
Website 2: www.taikoza.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information: lecture, demonstration

Marco Lienhard: Taikoza and East Winds Ensemble Director (1995-Present). Marco Lienhard lived and performed in Japan for 18 years (1981-1998) as amember of the legendary Taiko group Ondekoza under director Tagayasu Den (who instigated the renaissance of Taiko). In Ondekoza, he mastered the Taiko, the Shinobue, the Noh flute and the Shakuhachi under Katsuya Yokoyama. He ran the 9000 miles of the perimeter of the US from 1990-1993 while performing along the way. In 1995, Marco Lienhard was the Shakuhachi soloist for the NYC Opera’s premiere of the Opera ''Kinkakuji'' and was a soloist with the Juilliard New Music Ensemble. He performs and teaches internationally (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Italy, Switzerland and Canada, etc.). He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, Madison Square Garden, Tchaikovsky Hall and International Performing Center in Moscow among others. Marco Lienhard has composed and recorded more than 15 CD for Shakuhachi, Taiko and Fue. His music can be heard on iTunes and the Nintendo Wii games: Red Steel. In 2015, he released two CD of his compositions with Taikoza: Voice of the Earth and Tree Spirit that can be found on iTunes and MarcoLienhard.com and Taikoza.com for more information and CD.
 

Tozan Matsuri  composed by Marco Lienhard from Tree Spirit( 2016) has been nominated best Asian Song in 2017 Just Plain Folks Awards

Home Address: 3218 W. Glass Avenue, Spokane, WA 99205
Home Phone: 509-325-5215

Email 1: spokanetaiko@live.com
Email 2: chrisandaaron@netzero.com
Website: www.facebook.com/spokanetaiko

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

School (流): Tozan-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): The Shakuhachi Society of the Long River
Professional Name (芸名): Seimei

Home Address: P.O. Box 644, Belchertown, MA 01007
Home Phone: 413-323-4793

Employment: Community Music School of Springfield; Smith College Campus School; Northampton Community Music Center
Work Address: 127 State St., Springfield, MA 01103; 139 South St., Northampton, MA 01060; Gill Hall, Prospect St., Smith College, Northampton, MA 01060
Work Phone: 413-732-8428; 413-585-0001
Email: maryellenmiller@verizon.net

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Cell Phone: 617-301-1449
Email: chmolina@umich.edu

Do you teach? No

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Chris Molina is a doctoral student and graduate instructor in composition at University of Hawaii, Mānoa and a Graduate Fellow at the East-West Center. A native of Boston and graduate of the University of Michigan and Middlebury College, his work combines world instruments with classical — celebrating acoustic music, jazz and folk influences, as well as aesthetics relating to nature. Recent and ongoing collaborations include works for Chinese guzheng and erhu, Korean gayageum and ajaeng, and Japanese koto, shamisen and shakuhachi. His work Xiao Baicai, Big City for Chinese dizi and Western orchestra was premiered by the Shanghai Philharmonic in November 2016. Chris is currently pursuing a performer’s license in shakuhachi as a student of Matama Kazushi and the Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshūkan, and is part of the organizing team for Shakuhachi Festival of the Pacific in Honolulu, December 2017.

Professional Name (芸名): Eileen Morgan

Home Address: 2125 West Augusta Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85021
Home Phone: 602-995-4533
Cell Phone: 602-350-0343

Employment: Taiko teacher and performer 
Work Address: As above 
Email: eileenmorgantaiko@yahoo.com
Website: www.morgantaiko.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Eileen Morgan has been studying taiko for 19 years and has been to Japan four times to study and perform. She holds a bachelor of science degree in music education and a master's degree in deaf education. She currently runs after school programs for grades 2-8, teaches classes in beginner to advanced levels for adults, and performs at school assemblies, library literacy programs, festivals, and corporate functions.

School (流): Kinko-ryū
Professional Name (芸名): Marty Regan

Home Address: 2016 Kimmy Drive, Bryan, TX 77807
Cell Phone: 979-402-9307

Employment: Texas A&M University
Work Address: 104 Academic Building, MS 4240, College Station, TX 77843-4240
Work Phone: 979-458-0939
Email 1: reganm@tamu.edu
Email 2: mregan1972@gmail.com
Website: www.martyregan.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Marty Regan (b. 1972) has composed over 50 works for traditional Japanese instruments and since 2002 has been affiliated with AURA-J, one of Japan's premiere performance ensembles of contemporary-traditional Japanese music. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1995 with a B.M. in Composition and a B.A. in English and East Asian Studies. From 2000 to 2002 he studied composition and took applied lessons on traditional Japanese instruments as a Japanese government-sponsored research student at Tokyo College of Music. In 2002, his composition Song-Poem of the Eastern Clouds (2001) for shakuhachi and 21-string koto was premiered at the 5th Annual Composition Competition for Traditional Japanese Instruments at the National Theatre of Japan. He completed his Ph.D. in Music with an emphasis in Composition at the University of Hawai‘i, Manoa in 2006. His English translation of Minoru Miki’s orchestration manual, Composing for Japanese Instruments was published in 2008 by the University of Rochester Press. He is an Assistant Professor of Music at Texas A&M University. In 2010, Navona Records released a compact disc of his works entitledMarty Regan's Selected Works for Japanese Instruments Vol. 1: Forest Whispers... In 2011 he was affiliated as a research scholar at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he took applied lessons on traditional Chinese instruments. 

School (流): Kinko-ryū
Professional Name (芸名): Ralph Samuelson

Home Address: 73 Ridgewood Terrace, Chappaqua, NY 10514
Home Phone: 914-238-8679
Cell Phone: 914-953-1088

Email: samuelson.ralph@gmail.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Ralph Samuelson trained in the classical tradition of Kinko-ryū shakuhachi with Goro Yamaguchi, Shudo Yamato, and other distinguished musicians in Japan. He began studying the shakuhachi in 1969.

School (流): Kyo-Shin-An 
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Kinko, Jin Nyodo lineage

Home Address: 44 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Home Phone: 718-832-5435
Cell Phone: 917-359-6714

Employment: Adjunct Lecturer at Columbia & City University of New York; Self-employed
Work Address: 44 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Work Phone: 718-832-5435
Email: james@nyoraku.com
Website 1: www.nyoraku.com
Website 2: www.kyoshinan.org

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

James Nyoraku Schlefer has taught and performed for the past 20 years. He teaches private lessons at his dojo, and at Columbia University’s Hōgaku-Gagaku program. He performs traditional shakuhachi honkyoku and classic sankyoku repertoire, contemporary music for Japanese instruments, and contemporary music for shakuhachi and Western instruments.

School (流): Kinko-ryū; 2 dai shihan menjo. One from Kirahashi Yodo I. One at the 9 dan level from Ningen Kokuho - Aoki Reibo.
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Nezasa-ha, Fuke Meian
Professional Name (芸名): Nyogetsu Reishin

Home Address: P.O. Box 81, Narrowsburg, NY 12764
Home Phone: 845-588-2023
Cell Phone: 917-207-6724

Employment: Adjunct faculty at Queens College and CUNY Graduate School
Work Address: 120 Riverside Drive, #3W, New York, NY 10024
Work Phone: 917-207-6724
Email: nyogetsu@gmail.com
Website: www.nyogetsu.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

I have been teaching shakuhachi full-time for 38 years.  I am the head of KiSuiAn Shakuhachi Dojo.  It is the largest and most active shakuhachi school in the world outside of Japan, and has been so for the past 30 years.  I teach in Philadelphia, Rochester, Syracuse, and Washington, D.C./Baltimore, in addition to my main teaching location in New York City.  I have also been teaching lessons via internet (formerly cassette lessons) for over 30 years, and have students in 26 states and six foreign countries.

I have been performing in the United States (extensively up and down the East Coast) for the past 35 years.  In addition, I have performed in Mexico, Argentina, Scotland, Canada, and annually in Japan.

I have licensed many others to teach, and they are teaching in many locations throughout the USA.  I have also co-composed a GRAMMY nominated CD, and an OSCAR nominated Documentary.

I have been Artist-in-Residence at New York University, and at the College of William and Mary. I was the producer of the World Shakuhachi Festival at NYU in 2004.

School (流): Kinko-ryū (school) Chikumesha

Home Address: 587 Santa Barbara Road, Berkeley, CA 94707
Cell Phone: 510-409-3773

Email: johnsinger56@gmail.com
Website: zenflute.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

John Singer has a shihan (master teaching license) from the late National Living Treasure, Yamaguchi Goro. He teaches and performs traditional ensemble music and Zen music. Please refer to the website listed above for his complete bio.

Professional Name (芸名): Nyoshin

Employment: Teacher, Performer, Grandmaster
Email: Reibo1@cs.com

Do you teach? Yes

Additional information:

Allen Steir has taught music in the New York City school system for thirty-seven years. He graduated from Manhattan School of Music in 1965 with BM and MM degrees in clarinet performance.

Address: 2985 Fairfield Drive, Allentown, PA 18103

Home telephone: 610-435-6036

Cell phone: 610-390-9309

E-mail 1: nas0719@yahoo.com
E-mail 2: nasuggs@gmail.com
Website: www.nohrakumusic.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

NORA NOHRAKU SUGGS plays both Western flute and shakuhachi, and is a graduate
of Houston’s Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine, with extensive private
education in music and degrees in biology, English literature, medicine, and surgery. She
is based in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where she is the flutist and Artistic Director of
the chamber music ensemble SATORI, and performs and records with Two Part
Invention, a flute and classical guitar ensemble. She has taught on the music faculty at
Bethlehem’s Moravian College and the Community Music School of the Lehigh Valley,
and currently teaches privately. 

Dr. Suggs studied shakuhachi with Dai-Shihan James Nyoraku Schlefer, and received her
Jun Shihan and Shihan shakuhachi accreditations from his New York City Kyo-Shin-An dojo, endorsed by Dai-Shihan Kurahashi Yoshio II of Kyoto, Japan. She continues her studies currently with Australia’s Dr. Riley Kôho Lee. In addition to solo performances, workshops, and lecture-demonstrations, her shakuhachi projects have included two CD recordings; multiple performances with shakuhachi and classical guitar or cello,WorldWinds, a duo of shakuhachi and clarinet; Shadows of the Samurai, a multidisciplinary family program blending Japanese ghost stories, shakuhachi music and simultaneous projected art; traditional sankyoku trio performances; and multiple performances with Western chamber ensemble.

School (流): Kinko-ryū 
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Chikuyusha
Professional Name (芸名): Shōyū 笙友

Home Address: Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Home Phone: 609-883-7165

Email 1: caine2323@yahoo.com
Email 2: chikukai2323@yahoo.co.jp
Website: www.facebook.com/glennswannshakuhachi

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Glenn Swann began studying shakuhachi in 1994. His teachers have included Tomie Hahn, Steven Rowland, and David Wheeler. He currently studies with Kawase Junsuke III, Iemoto of Kinko-ryū Chikuyusha. He received Shihan certification in August 2011, along with the name Shōyū 笙友. In performances, he has collaborated with a variety of instruments, including piano, voice, koto, guqin, and percussion. In addition to shakuhachi, he teaches taijiquan and pursues studies in chado, haiku, and Chinese calligraphy. 

Employment: University of California, Irvine
Work Address: Irvine, CA
Website: www.kojiroumezaki.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Kojiro Umezaki grew up in Tokyo, Japan where he began studying Western flute and the shakuhachi. His career encompasses both traditional and technology-based music and a range of electronic media. “My mother is from Denmark and my father is Japanese. My multinational background may be one of the reasons why I don’t limit myself to the traditional repertoire. In all my work, I try to put the shakuhachi in a more contemporary, musically diverse context. Hopefully this work can become part of the evolutionary process of the instrument.”

Ko is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of California, Irvine where he is affiliated with the Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology group (ICIT) and holds a degree in Electro-acoustic Music from Dartmouth College. Recent commissioned works and producer credits include those for Brooklyn Rider (2009), Joseph Gramley (2009, 2010), Huun Huur Tu (2010), and the Silk Road Ensemble (2012). He performs regularly with the Grammy-nominated Silk Road Ensemble and has recorded on the Sony BMG, World Village, and Smithsonian Folkways labels.

School (流): Sawai Sokyokuin, Chikushi Koto

Home Address: 4026 Woodruff Avenue, Oakland, CA 94602 
Home Phone: 510-482-1640
Cell Phone: 510-520-9554
Email: bmw2332@gmail.com
Website: bmwkoto.com

Do you teach? Yes                                      

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Brian Wong began koto studies with his mother and grandmother at age four. He earned his Koshi instructors license in Sawai Koto School in Tokyo with Gran Prix honors in 2006.  He also earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in Music Composition in 2008 at California State University, East Bay.

School (流): Dokyoku Shakuhachi School 

Home Address: 172 Parker Ave. #303, San Francisco, CA  94118
Home Phone: 415-750-9463 
Cell Phone: 415-683-8849 

Email 1:  karlshak@sonic.net
Email 2:  karlshak@karlshak.com
Website:  www.karlshak.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

I studied primarily with Kaoru Kakizakai and Riley Lee, both students of Katsuya Yokoyama.

School (流): Toyoaki Moto 豊秋本
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Toyoaki Shamisen 豊秋三味線
Professional Name (芸名): Toyoaki Sanjuro 豊秋三寿路

Home Address: PO Box 1069, Oak Park, IL 60304
Home Phone: 708-386-9349

Employment: Asian Improv aRts Midwest / Tsukasa Taiko 
Work Address: c/o JASC, 4427 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60640
Work Phone: 312-209-7178 
Email 1: tatsu@airmw.org
Email 2: ozashiki@gmail.com
Website 1: www.taikolegacy.com
Website 2: www.tatsuaoki.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Tatsu Aoki performs strictly Tokyo-style traditional shamisen and taiko music.

School (流): Kineyakatsu
Professional Name (芸名): Kineya Katsukoujyu

Home Address: Torrance, CA
Cell Phone: 310-350-8825 

Work Address: Los Angeles, CA
Work Phone: 310-350-8825
Email: kris@taiko.la
Website: http://k--b.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

School (流): Ikuta-ryū 生田流
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Chikushikai 筑紫会
Professional Name (芸名): Linda Kakō Caplan カプラン歌香

Home Address: Toronto, Canada
Home Phone: 416-485-0061

Employment: Japanese Music Course Director, York University (Toronto, Canada)
Work Phone: 416-242-4967
Email 1: koto@lindacaplan.com
Email 2: linda@chordscanada.com
Website: http://www.lindacaplan.com 

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Linda Caplan’s repertoire includes both traditional and contemporary works for koto and shamisen. As soloist and ensemble member, she frequently performs at private, public, and diplomatic functions. Caplan welcomes students of all ages and levels to her studio in Toronto, and she also teaches students around the world on the internet.

School (流): Kouta (小唄), Kasuga School (春日); Chanoyu (茶の湯), Urasenke (裏千家)
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Kasuga-kai (春日会)
Professional Name (芸名): Kasuga Toyoyoshiyū (春日とよ吉裕); Sōyū (宗裕)

Employment: University of Pittsburgh
Work Address: Department of Music, University of Pittsburgh, 214 Music Building, 4337 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Work Phone: 412-855-6175
Email: yue1@pitt.edu
Website: www.yukoeguchi.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Yuko Eguchi grew up in Tokyo, taking lessons in classical ballet, piano, and later nagauta shamisen. She graduated from Bates College in 2003 with a major in Music Composition and a minor in Economics. After working for Japan Cable Television in Tokyo for two years, she completed an MA at the University of Pittsburgh, writing on Hindu ritual music and diasporic culture.

She received a PhD in Ethnomusicology in 2016 from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on aesthetic concepts in geisha music and dance. In 2009-2010 she received the  Japan Iron and Steel Federation Mitsubishi Foundation Fellowship through which she conducted field research on geisha songs (kouta) and dance (kouta-buri) in Tokyo.

In addition to her studies and research on music, Yuko has also been practicing Japanese tea ceremony since 1993. She has studied under Soko Akiyama, a master of the Urasenke school of tea ceremony. In 2009, Yuko herself received the master title of tea ceremony, Sōyū (宗裕), in 2009 and the assistant professor title of tea ceremony, Jyun-Kyojyu (準教授), in 2013, certified by Soshitsu Sen XVI.

School: Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Ha/Kai (流派・会): Imafuji 

Home address: 3168 Trowbridge St., Hamtramck, MI 48212

e-mail: foremanjapan@gmail.com

Do you teach? Yes        

Do you perform? Yes       

Any additional information:

Foreman studied nagauta shamisen within the Imafuji ryu, with the iemoto Imafuji Chojuro IV for nearly 3 years. She is a composer, choreographer, and dancer, and is interested in both traditional and modern compositions for the shamisen. Her interest in butoh lies with the founder, Hijikata Tatsumi, and she seeks to create butoh sound and movement that draws on his foundations.

School (流): Nagauta
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Samonkai
Professional Name (芸名): Kichina Kineya

Cell Phone: 802-236-1721

Email 1: Masakogib@hotmail.com
Email 2: Masakogib2@gmail.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Masako Gibeault is the head of the kabuki performing art group TOYO.

School (流): Ikuta-ryū, koto; Nogawa-ryū, shamisen 野川流三味線
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Todo-Ongakukai, Koji Kikuhara  当道音楽会　菊原光治門下
Professional Name (芸名): Naoko  尚子

Home Address: 650 Lessley Place, Davis, CA 95616
Home Phone: 530-297-1069

Work Phone: 530-753-1100
Email 1: kotoharp@yahoo.com
Email 2: sumiyomaru@hotmail.com
Website: www.naokokoto.web.fc2.com/

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Sumiyo Guerena trained in classical singing with Ichijuro Kiyomoto, dance with Monjyro Fujima, tea ceremony with Soko Suzuki, and tsuzumi with Jukei Nakamura.  She trained as a maiko at Gion-Higashi-Kabukai in Kyoto, Japan from 1979 to 1981. She is also studying biwa with Molly Kyokuto Kimura in Sacramento, CA.

School (流): Ikuta-ryū

Home Address: 2471 Franklin Avenue, Louisville, CO 80027
Home Phone: 303-666-5581

Employment: Full-time self-employed musician
Work Address: As above
Work Phone: As above
Email 1: david@japanshakuhachi.com
Email 2: yoko@japanesestrings.com
Website: japanesestrings.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Yoko Hiraoka is a performer of classical sankyoku ensemble music, contemporary hōgaku composition, solo biwa, and illustrated academic lectures/recitals.

Ha/Kai (流派/会): Ikuta-ryū
Professional Name (芸名): Masayo Ishigure

Home Address: 601 10th Avenue, Apt 5B, New York, NY 10036
Home Phone: 212-481-4886
Cell Phone: 646-418-7098

Email: masayokoto@gmail.com
Website: www.letsplaykoto.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional Information:

Masayo Ishigure, from Gifu, Japan, began playing the koto and jiuta shamisen at the age of five. After initial studies with Tadao and Kazue Sawai she became a special research student in 1986 at the Sawai Koto Academy of Music. The aim of the academy was to shed new light on koto music by incorporating everything from Bach to jazz and thus change the koto from being thought of only as a traditional Japanese instrument into an instrument of universal expressiveness. Later, Ms. Ishigure became one of a small group of virtuoso disciples of the Sawais and successfully completed the 33rd Ikusei-kai program sponsored by NHK to foster and train aspiring artists in Japanese music. Since arriving in New York City in 1992, Ms. Ishigure has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, many prestigious colleges and universities, and in festivals around the world. She recorded music for the soundtrack of Memoirs of a Geisha by John Williams along with Yitzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, and others. She has 2 CDs: her solo CD Grace, and another with East Wind Ensemble featuring Hayao Miyazaki's animation songs arranged for koto and shakuhachi. 

School (流): Nagauta, Minyō, Gagaku
Ha/Kai (流派/会): To-onkai Nagauta, Masahiro Minyokai, Togi Suenobu Gagaku
Professional Name (芸名): Associate Professor Jay Keister

Home Address: 3120 Corona Trail #102, Boulder, CO 80301
Home Phone: 303-444-8028
Cell Phone: 303-919-7817

Employment: College of Music, University of Colorado 
Work Address: College of Music, Campus Box 301 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 
Work Phone: 303-492-5496
Email: keister@colorado.edu

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Jay Keister currently teaches Japanese Ensemble at the University of Colorado, Boulder with a focus on minyō folk songs and dances, nagauta with nihon buyō dance, and occasionally gagaku. He also teaches shamisen privately, both minyō and nagauta styles. He performs with his ensemble and does lecture demonstrations on Japanese music and dance.

One of his main goals as an educator is to teach about traditional Japanese culture through an understanding of music, dance, and expressive language.

School (流): Yamada-ryū 山田流, Kato style shamisen 河東節三味線
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Nakanoshima-kai, Yamada-ryu Sokyoku Association, Japan Sankyoku Association 中能島会・山田流筝曲協会・日本三曲協会
Professional Name (芸名):Yoko Reikano Kimura 木村伶香能; Reiko Yamabiko 山彦伶子

Home Address: Queens, NY 
Home Phone: 718-673-1118

Employment: The Institute of Traditional Japanese Music, and affiliate of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Japan/ 洗足学園音楽大学・現代邦楽研究所
Email: kreikano@hotmail.com
Website: duoyumeno.com Duo YUMENO夢乃URL

Do you teach? Yes: Koto, Shamisen, Voice

Do you perform? Yes: Koto, Shamisen, Voice

Additional information:

YOKO REIKANO KIMURA, koto/shamisen performer and singer, has concertized around the world based in New York and Japan. Following her studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts and the NHK School of Traditional Japanese Music, she studied at Institute of Traditional Japanese Music, an affiliate of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Japan, where she currently holds a teaching position. Yoko was awarded a scholarship from the Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan. Her teachers include Kono Kameyama, Akiko Nishigata and Senko Yamabiko, a Living National Treasure. In 2000 she received her stage name “Reikano” from Hiroko Nakanoshima VI, daughter of the legendary koto and shamisen performer/ composer Kin’ichi Nakanoshima. Awards include the First prize at the prestigious 10th Kenjun Memorial National Koto Competition, the First prize at the 4th Great Wall International Music Competition and the Osaka Chinese Counsel Award. Yoko performed at the Kabuki-za in Tokyo, accompanying Danjuro Ichikawa XII and recorded classical shamisen works for the online music archive, Traditional Music Digital Library. Her performances have been broadcasted on NHK-FM, NPR’s Performance Today and WQXR.

As an enthusiastic supporter of contemporary music, Yoko has premiered new works at the Japan Society for Contemporary Music and in 2009, founded Duo YUMENO with cellist Hikaru Tamaki. In 2014, they were awarded the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program grant, and in 2015, received the Aoyama Baroque Saal Award. The duo was featured at Chamber Music America’s 2016 National Conference and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center in 2017. Currently, the duo is working on a commissioning project, suite of pieces based on The Tale of Heike, with Daron Hagen. As a koto soloist, Yoko has performed Hagen’s Koto Concerto: Genji with the Euclid Quartet, Ciompi Quartet, Freimann Quartet and the Prairie Ensemble Orchestra. Yoko premiered Kaito Nakahori’s Japanese Footbridge with Hai-Dao Ensemble at Jordan Hall in Boston, and performed James Nyoraku Schlefer’s Concertante with Texas Festival Orchestra. As a shamisen soloist, she performed Kin’ichi Nakanoshima’s Shamisen Concerto at the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center and was a guest performer with ensemble Aperio at Asia Society Texas Center. In 2016, she performed with American Symphony Orchestra in Pietro Mascagni's Iris. In 2017, Yoko commissioned and gave a world premiere performance of Marty Regan’s Shamisen Concerto. She has worked with Heiner Goebbels, the Wien Solisten Trio, Kyo-Shin-An Arts, along with many other artists. Yoko has toured and performed in Poland, Switzerland, France, Lithuania, Korea, China, Israel, Qatar, Italy, Turkey, England and multiple countries in South America.

For more information, please visit Yoko’s website, reikano.yamadaryu.com

School (流): Ikuta-ryū
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Tōdō-kai 当道会
Professional Name (芸名): Tamie Kooyenga-Koutou

Home Address: 546 Heather Grove Court, Walnut Creek, CA 94598
Home Phone: 925-932-0530
Cell Phone: 925-212-1575

Email 1: tamiesky@sbcglobal.net
Email 2: tamiesky@hotmail.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Tamie Kooyenga is a classically-trained and innovative kotoist who has studied various styles of koto music. She was inspired by her teacher, koto master Sumiko Goto (Seiha) who taught at the prestigious Tokyo Art University. She enjoys collaborations and has performed with the late Hanzan Shimabara (shakuhachi master and human treasure of Japan), koto master Kazue Sawai, jazz flutist Jeremy Steig (grammy award nominated), and Lee Sai Jun (Chinese gwuzhong). She currently teaches in Walnut Creek, San Francisco, and San Jose and performs at numerous venues including international music festivals, Asian music festivals, universities, and on television and radio.

School (流): Kine-ie School 杵家派 and Hanayagi School 花柳流
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Kabuki Academy 歌舞伎アカデミー
Professional Name (芸名): Kine-ie Yanacho 杵家弥七蝶, Hanayagi Fumiryu 花柳芙美龍

Home Address: 4806 86th Avenue Ct. W., Tacoma, WA 98467
Home Phone: 253-564-6081
Cell Phone: 253-441-1078

Employment: Seattle Central Community College
Work Address: 1701 Broadway, Seattle, WA 98122
Work Phone: 206-587-5448
Website: www.kabukiacademy.org/intro.html

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mary Mariko Ohno teaches Japanese culture and traditional performing arts - naga-uta style shamisen and nihon buyō - to many enthusiasts, both Japanese and non-Japanese. 

She teaches private and group lessons in both English and Japanese. For beginners, rental instruments and kimono are available. Students learn not only shamisen or dance skills but also 日本の心 (Nihon no kokoro) Japanese etiquette, manners and culture, which are more important than mastering technique. Her students have performed at the National Theater in Tokyo, Japan, several times. Mary Mariko Ohno’s Kabuki Academy performs 20~30 times a year in the Seattle/Tacoma vicinity as well as in other states.

Ha/Kai (流派/会): Yoko Hiraoka, Miyagi School

Work Address: 6713 W. 53rd Avenue, Arvada, CO 80002
Email: info@miraidaiko.com

School (流): Matsutoyo-kai
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Matsutoyo-kai

Work Address: 16925 S. Denker Avenue, Gardena, CA 90247
Work Phone: Japanese: 310-800-0334; English: 310-400-4707
Email: marisakosugi@hotmail.com
Website: www.matsutoyo-kai.org

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Matsutoyo Kai was established in Northern California by Matsutoyo 
Sato in 1966 shortly after she arrived from Japan. For ten years Matsutoyo Kai 
was based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1976 Matsutoyo Sato moved to the 
Los Angeles area, extending the reach of Matsutoyo Kai to the Southern California
area, where it is now based. In 2006 Matsutoyo Kai became a nonprofit 
organization. The primary objective and purpose of Matsutoyo Kai is to pass
on the traditional music of Japan and to create and leave a Japanese music legacy. 
Part of that purpose is to provide instruction in singing, shamisen, taiko, and kane
(bell) and to give public performances in Japanese folk and classical music. With
Matsutoyo Sato as Artistic Director we will continue to expand Matsutoyo Kai, 
keeping this rare "Art" of Japanese history alive.

School (流): Sawai Sokyokuin, Chikushi Koto

Home Address: 4026 Woodruff Avenue, Oakland, CA 94602 
Home Phone: 510-482-1640
Cell Phone: 510-520-9554
Email: bmw2332@gmail.com
Website: bmwkoto.com

Do you teach? Yes                                      

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Brian Wong began koto studies with his mother and grandmother at age four. He earned his Koshi instructors license in Sawai Koto School in Tokyo with Gran Prix honors in 2006.  He also earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in Music Composition in 2008 at California State University, East Bay.

School (流): Toyoaki Moto 豊秋本
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Toyoaki Shamisen 豊秋三味線
Professional Name (芸名): Toyoaki Sanjuro 豊秋三寿路

Home Address: PO Box 1069, Oak Park, IL 60304
Home Phone: 708-386-9349

Employment: Asian Improv aRts Midwest / Tsukasa Taiko 
Work Address: c/o JASC, 4427 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60640
Work Phone: 312-209-7178 
Email 1: tatsu@airmw.org
Email 2: ozashiki@gmail.com
Website 1: www.taikolegacy.com
Website 2: www.tatsuaoki.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Tatsu Aoki performs strictly Tokyo-style traditional shamisen and taiko music.

School (流): Katada 
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Katada-kai
Professional Name (芸名): Katada Kikusa 堅田喜久佐

Home Address: 221 Via Los Miradores, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Home Phone: 310-378-3550
Cell Phone: 310-308-5291

Email 1: mikko.henson@gmail.com
Email 2: mhaggott@jtpao.org
Website: www.jtpao.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mikko Arimoto Henson first studied Kabuki-style percussion at UCLA Fine Arts Department’s Japanese Classical Performing Arts Summer Session in 1981 with Grand Master Katada Kisaku from Japan. Subsequently, she organized a group to invite the Master to LA for a special intensive workshop twice a year. She also studied hayashi in Tokyo. After five years of training she was granted a teaching credential and the name Katada Kikusa from the Grand Master. The Grand Master Katada Kisaku is the most honored classical percussion musician in Japan today and is designated as a National Living Treasure.

School (流): Kineyakatsu
Professional Name (芸名): Kineya Katsukoujyu

Home Address: Torrance, CA
Cell Phone: 310-350-8825 

Work Address: Los Angeles, CA
Work Phone: 310-350-8825
Email: kris@taiko.la
Website: http://k--b.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Professional Name (芸名): Mutsu Daiko: Japanese Taiko Drum and Culture Experience

Home Address: 27504 156th Avenue SE, Kent, WA 98042
Home Phone: 253-277-2947 (English), 253-796-9720 (Japanese)

Email: mutsudaiko@yahoo.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Alan and Nadeshko Braddock teach private, one-on-one lessons in taiko and Japanese language and culture. Their ensemble, Mutsu Daiko, performs at educational institutions and cultural events.

Professional Name (芸名): Stuart Paton, Burlington Taiko

Home Address: P.O. Box 65115, Burlington, VT  05406
Cell Phone: 802-999-4255

Employment: Educator and performer of taiko, congas, djembe
Work Address: P.O. Box 65115 Burlington, VT  05406
Work Phone: 802-999-4255
Email 1: booking@burlingtontaiko.org
Email 2: stuart@burlingtontaiko.org
Website: www.burlingtontaiko.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Stuart Paton, Founder and Artistic Director of Burlington Taiko spent most of his childhood in Japan, from age nine months through eighteen years. His earliest exposure to taiko included a first-grade fascination with the drums at an Obon celebration in Tokyo, and learning “Matsuri Daiko” from the composer of the score for his high school drama production. His formal study of taiko began in 1984 during a summer apprenticeship with Grandmaster Seiichi Tanaka, the founder of the first taiko group in North America (San Francisco Taiko Dojo). Stuart Paton founded the Burlington Taiko Group in 1986, not long after settling in Vermont. Paton is an excellent teacher for workshops, and Burlington Taiko offers thrilling performances that have been enjoyed throughout New England as well as California and Japan.

Contact Name: Helen Rindsberg, Director

Home Address: 2324 Muriel Court, Cincinnati, OH 45219
Home Phone: 513-381-0234

Email: Helen@helenrindsberg.com

Do you teach? Yes                                      

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Cincinnati Dayton Taiko has been performing since 1999. St. Louis Taiko trained our original group and we have had a number of professional taiko players teach us over the years.  Our most veteran member is a former Japanese dance teacher and others of us are just crazy about taiko.  We range in age from college students to over 80 years old. Our group is happy to teach a workshop before or after a performance.  Participants learn a simple rhythm then play it on our drums. We play at festivals and private events in the Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana area.  We play both traditional taiko rhythms and modern ensemble pieces.  Between songs, we talk to the audience about the history of taiko and the stories behind some of our songs.

Contact Name: Gregory Clark

Home Address: 1145 S. Phillips Road, Lanett, AL 36863
Home Phone: 334-498-1683

Email: gclark@taiko.us

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

I have been to Japan twice to study taiko.

Work Address: 69 West 14th Street #3, New York, NY 10011
Email: info@cobu.us
Website: www.cobu.us

Do you teach? Yes                                      

Do you perform? Yes

Home Address: PO Box 18004, Clearwater, FL 33762
Home Phone: 727-531-7999
Cell Phone: 727-531-7999

Employment: Taiko player
Work Address: As above
Email: TampaTaiko12@gmail.com
Website: www.tampataiko.com 
Website: www.Facebook.com/TampaTaiko
Website: www.Facebook.com/RonCollins

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Ron Collins trained under Sensei Asoko, a member of Soh Daiko. He performs in both concerts and workshops for children and adults. His performances include some shakuhachi and koto.

Work Address: P.O.Box 1673, Watsonville, CA 95077-1673
Work Phone: 831-435-4594
Email: kirintaiko@aol.com
Website 1: www.watsonvilletaiko.org
Website 2: www.shinshomugendaiko.net/ikuyo/
Website 3: www.shinshomugendaiko.net

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Ikuyo Conant teaches taiko, rhythm and movement. She studies tea ceremony, Nihon Buyo and martial arts.

Employment: Professor of Theatre at Hampden-Sydney College
Work Address: 113 Graham Hall, Hampden-Sydney, Virginia 23943
Work Phone: 434-223-6362
Email: mdubroff@hsc.edu

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Matthew Dubroff teaches all aspects of theatre and Asian theatre. He directs, designs, and acts in western drama and performs with Theatre Nohgaku. He has an MFA in Asian Theatre Performance from the University of Hawai’i and lived in Japan for several years.  The bulk of his noh and musical training is with master Japanese performers. He also teaches the Wu Style of Tai Ji and is a certified Alexander Technique Teacher.

Email: info@mountainrivertaiko.com
Website 1: mountainrivertaiko.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mountain River Taiko is a community Japanese drumming group dedicated to sharing and promoting taiko in the western Massachusetts region and beyond. We offer performances and workshops for a variety of events and venues, as well as Intro to Taiko classes. Mountain River Taiko is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. マウンテン・リバー・太鼓はにちマサチューセッツ州を拠点とする和太鼓愛好会です。公演やワークショップ、初心者向けの和太鼓クラスも提供致します。

School (流): Fushicho Daiko Dojo, Eileen Morgan, Director, Sensei

Home Address: 2125 West Augusta Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85021
Home Phone: 602-995-4533
Cell Phone: 602-350-0343

Email: eileen@taikoaz.com
Website: www.taikoaz.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Fushicho Daiko has 10-40 performances per year for schools, community festivals, and corporate and charity functions. In addition, Fushicho Daiko Dojo offers school residencies, after school performances, and classes for children and adults from beginner to advanced levels.

Home Address: 198 South Street Apt. 3, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Cell Phone: 617-308-4900

Email: karen@thegenkispark.org
Website: www.thegenkispark.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

The Genki Spark is an Asian women's taiko-based performance group. Karen S. Young is the director of the group and also teaches basic taiko classes which are open to the general public. In addition to taiko, her performances include spoken word, obon dance, and Asian fusion (taiko/bhangra).

Professional Name (芸名): Great Lakes Taiko Center  五大湖太鼓センター
Work Address: Great Lakes Taiko Center, 43000 W. Nine Mile Road, Suite 309, Novi, MI 48375
Work Phone: 248-773-8899
Email: raion.taiko@gmail.com
Website: www.michigantaiko.net

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

The Great Lakes Taiko Center opened its doors in January of 2010 and is located in Novi, Michigan. Our mission is to share the joy and excitement of Taiko Drumming with all ages through classes, educational presentations, workshops and performances.

The Great Lakes Taiko Center sponsors two performing groups, Raion Taiko and the Godaiko Drummers. Both groups can be seen at various events throughout the year all around Michigan.

Center director and head instructor, Brian Sole, was trained in taiko drumming in Ishikawa, Japan under the instruction of the members of the world famous taiko group, Hono-O-Daiko 炎太鼓 at the Asano Foundation for Taiko Culture and Research (浅野太鼓文化研究所).

School (流): Bowling Green State University

Work Address: BGSU-Arts Village, 110 Kreischer Quad, Bowling Green, OH 43402
Work Phone: 419-372-0558

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Work Address: Kaminari Taiko Dojo, 11403 Regency Green Dr, Cypress, TX 77429
Contact: Natalie Hudson, (281) 849-1623
Email: email@ilovetaiko.org
Website: http://www.ilovetaiko.org 

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Kaminari Taiko teaches classes for adults at all levels of taiko mastery, from absolute beginners to performers. They also offer recreational classes for people interested in studying taiko on a more casual basis. Kaminari Taiko puts on 15-20 performances each year, both public and private. Approximately two-thirds of their performances are in the Houston area. 

Work Address: Arts Village, 325 N. Mercer Road, Bowling Green, OH 43403
Cell Phone: 614-352-6310
Email: kndtaiko@gmail.com
Website: www.facebook.com/Kazenodaichi

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Kazenodaichi Taiko's style of kumidaiko comes from Paul Yoon of Soh-Daiko and by extension from Seiichi Tanaka of San Francisco Taiko. Kazenodaichi teaches the fundamentals and the repertoire of traditional and modern taiko. In addition, they lead drum building workshops.

School (流): Taiko Center of the Pacific (Honolulu, HI)
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Mochizuku-ryū for classical Japanese drumming 
Professional Name (芸名): Tajiro Mochizuki (Japanese classical drumming)

Home Address: 4348 Waialae Avenue #357, Honolulu, HI 96816
Home Phone: 808-737-7236
Cell Phone: 808-772-0277

Employment: Self-employed
Work Address: As above
Work Phone: 808-737-7236
Email 1: info@kennyendo.com
Email 2: taikoarts@gmail.com
Website: www.kennyendo.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Kenny Endo teaches kumi-daiko (ensemble taiko drumming), matsuri bayashi (Japanese festival music), and hōgaku hayashi (Japanese classical drumming). He teaches at Taiko Center of the Pacific, a school of traditional and contemporary Japanese drumming, based in Honolulu, HI.  He also does residencies, master classes, workshops, private lessons, etc. In performances, he focuses on contemporary taiko ensemble, combining taiko with vibraphones, bamboo flute, koto, and world percussion. He collaborates with artists and musicians of all genres.

Kenny Endo began training in western percussion at age 9 but has focused on Japanese taiko drumming since 1975. He trained with Kinnara Taiko, San Francisco Taiko Dojo, Osuwa Taiko, Mochizuki School of Traditional Japanese Drumming, and Wakayama School of Tokyo Festival Music. He was a professional member of the famed Oedo Sukeroku Taiko of Tokyo in the 1980s, and he was the first non-Japanese national to receive a “natori” (master’s degree and stage name) in hōgaku hayashi (classical Japanese drumming). He holds a Master of Arts degree in Ethnomusicology (Japanese music) from the University of Hawaii. Kenny Endo is one of the foremost names in contemporary taiko drumming.

Professional Name (芸名): Korabo Taiko LLC

Work Address: 3400 W Desert Inn Rd, Suite 11, Las Vegas, NV 89102
Mailing address: PO Box 34961, Las Vegas, NV 89133
Work Phone: 702-482-9522
Email 1: info@korabotaiko.com
Email 2: classes@korabotaiko.com
Website: http://korabotaiko.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

The aim of Korabo Taiko is to share taiko through channels of collaboration with other performance groups.

Marshal artistic movement with mental training in Japanese and English

Work Phone: 602-412-7781
Email: info@kenkoshio.com
Website: www.kenkoshio.com

Do you perform? Yes

School (流): UCLA
Professional Name (芸名): Kyodo Taiko

Email: kyodo@ucla.edu
Website: http://kyodo.wordpress.com/

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Kyodo Taiko currently teaches a recreation class at UCLA’s John Wooden Center on Friday’s from 6:55pm-7:40pm. They perform at all types of events ranging from Festivals to Weddings. Kyodo Taiko is the first collegiate taiko group to form in North America. Kyodo has two meanings – one is “family, “ and the other, literally, “loud children.”  

Comprised entirely of college students, Kyodo Taiko is in a perpetual state of turnover and transition, with no fixed sensei. In addition, most members have no prior experience with playing taiko. To counteract the group’s inexperience and lack of a constant teaching source, it is a main priority that all members cooperatively learn the different aspects and traditions of taiko, along with those of the group, in a very short period of time. Our performances include various campus and community events, outreach programs, K-12 school presentations, and private functions.

School (流): Kinko-ryū (shakuhachi)
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Ex-Ondekoza member
Professional Name (芸名): Marco Lienhard

Home Address: 55 Park Terrace East Apt. B63, New York, NY 10034
Home Phone: 646-418-8808

Employment: Director of Taikoza and East Winds
Work Address: As above
Email 1: shaku8@aol.com
Email 2: taikoza@gmail.com
Website 1: www.marcolienhard.com
Website 2: www.taikoza.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information: lecture, demonstration

Marco Lienhard: Taikoza and East Winds Ensemble Director (1995-Present). Marco Lienhard lived and performed in Japan for 18 years (1981-1998) as amember of the legendary Taiko group Ondekoza under director Tagayasu Den (who instigated the renaissance of Taiko). In Ondekoza, he mastered the Taiko, the Shinobue, the Noh flute and the Shakuhachi under Katsuya Yokoyama. He ran the 9000 miles of the perimeter of the US from 1990-1993 while performing along the way. In 1995, Marco Lienhard was the Shakuhachi soloist for the NYC Opera’s premiere of the Opera ''Kinkakuji'' and was a soloist with the Juilliard New Music Ensemble. He performs and teaches internationally (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Italy, Switzerland and Canada, etc.). He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, Madison Square Garden, Tchaikovsky Hall and International Performing Center in Moscow among others. Marco Lienhard has composed and recorded more than 15 CD for Shakuhachi, Taiko and Fue. His music can be heard on iTunes and the Nintendo Wii games: Red Steel. In 2015, he released two CD of his compositions with Taikoza: Voice of the Earth and Tree Spirit that can be found on iTunes and MarcoLienhard.com and Taikoza.com for more information and CD.
 

Tozan Matsuri  composed by Marco Lienhard from Tree Spirit( 2016) has been nominated best Asian Song in 2017 Just Plain Folks Awards

Home Address: 3218 W. Glass Avenue, Spokane, WA 99205
Home Phone: 509-325-5215

Email 1: spokanetaiko@live.com
Email 2: chrisandaaron@netzero.com
Website: www.facebook.com/spokanetaiko

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Instrument/Discipline: Taiko (kumidaiko ensemble)
School (流): Taiko: One World Taiko, SFTJ
Professional Name (芸名): Mirai Daiko

Work Address: 6713 W. 53rd Avenue, Arvada, CO 80002
Email: info@miraidaiko.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mirai Daiko offers occasional workshops and will teach/train serious students and group members or members-in-training.

Mirai Daiko is a professional performing ensemble which has performed in the Denver Metro area, across Colorado, nationally, and internationally. The founding members of Mirai Daiko were trained by Gary Tsujimoto and Nancy Ozaki of One World Taiko, who studied and performed with San Francisco Taiko Dojo and San Jose Taiko prior to the development of OWT.

Work Address: 12405 Fishback Road, Monmouth, OR 97361
Email: twilson@greydigger.com
Website: www.monmouthtaiko.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Monmouth Taiko has been performing together since 1998. The group offers taiko workshops and travels around the state to perform at community events and school festivals.

Professional Name (芸名): Eileen Morgan

Home Address: 2125 West Augusta Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85021
Home Phone: 602-995-4533
Cell Phone: 602-350-0343

Employment: Taiko teacher and performer 
Work Address: As above 
Email: eileenmorgantaiko@yahoo.com
Website: www.morgantaiko.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Eileen Morgan has been studying taiko for 19 years and has been to Japan four times to study and perform. She holds a bachelor of science degree in music education and a master's degree in deaf education. She currently runs after school programs for grades 2-8, teaches classes in beginner to advanced levels for adults, and performs at school assemblies, library literacy programs, festivals, and corporate functions.

Teachers College Taiko Society of Columbia University)
紐育太鼓愛好会（ニューヨーク御諏訪太鼓連盟）・コロンビア大学ティーチャーズカレッジ太鼓ソサエティー

Home Address: c/o  Kyoko Toyama-Baruah, Ph.D., Director of New York Taiko Aiko Kai, バルア遠山京子
Home Phone: 212-749-2635
Cell Phone: 646-245-9481

Email 1: kmtoyama@aol.com
Email 2: kmt2006@columbia.edu
Website: nytak.blogspot.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

New York Taiko Aiko Kai is one of the taiko groups in residence as part of the Teachers College Taiko Society at Columbia University. It began in 2002 when a few families at an Upper West Side public school began practicing Taiko with the hope of passing on Japanese culture to their children. The group has always been family oriented, but many adults have also joined over the years. Hiro Kurashima, Osuwa Daiko Shihan, who was certified by the late Grandmaster Daihachi Oguchi, was the founding teacher, and he continues to teach and perform with the group regularly. NYTAK has performed at various places including the Sakura Matsuri at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Japan Heritage Day at the Staten Island Yankees, Japan Day in Central Park and at public and private schools in New York.

2002年にニューヨーク親子太鼓として発足。以来、年齢を問わず、子供からシニアまで楽しく太鼓を習うグループ。2004年に、長野県岡谷市の御諏訪太鼓宗家、故小口大八より、紐育太鼓愛好会と命名をうける。ほぼ月一回、プロのインストラクターを招き、指導を受ける。メンバーがそれぞれ役割を分担し、愛好会を支えている。主に学校（コロンビア大学などの大学、地元の小、中学校など）で、演奏を披露し、地域での日本文化の紹介に努めている。

Practice Time & Place:

Every Sunday 
11:00 to 12:00 pm Basic Skills 
12:00 to 1:30 pm Adults 
1:30 to 2:30 pm Jam session 
2:30 to 4:00 pm Youth & children above age 9 

Horace Mann Hall, Room 512 
at Teachers College, 
Columbia University

School (流): Madison West High School, Wisconsin
Professional Name (芸名): Okinawan Taiko Drummers of Wisconsin

Email: knowpeace.nowar@gmail.com
Website: www.otdw.com

Do you teach? Yes

Additional information:

Okinawan Taiko Drummers of Wisconsin is a group of students from West High School in Madison, Wisconsin. They perform a variety of traditional and modern folk dances from Okinawa, Japan and are partners with the Nakijin, Okinawa-based Imajin Taiko. They teach anyone interested in learning Eisa (Okinawan Taiko Drumming), generally high school students in Madison and the surrounding area, after school. They perform at various events in the Madison area and annually at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C.

School (流): Affiliated with Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh and the Winchester-Thurston School

Work Address: 2735 Mosside Blvd. STE 402, Monroeville PA 15146
Work Phone: 412-856-8608

Email 1: pitt.taiko@gmail.com
Email 2: jasp@us-japan.org
Website: pittsburghtaiko.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Ha/Kai (流派/会): Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko (琉球國祭り太鼓）
Professional Name (芸名): Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Texas (琉球國祭り太鼓テキサス支部）

Home Address: 33 Rippling Creek, Sugar Land, TX 77479
Home Phone: 281-636-2798 

Email 1: tomoe@rmdtexas.org
Email 2: Ryukyukoku@gmail.com
Website: www.rmdtexas.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko (RMD) literally translates to "Ryukyu Kingdom Festival Drums". Ryukyu Kingdom is the ancient name for what is presently known as Okinawa prefecture in Japan. It is located just southwest of mainland Japan and northeast of Taiwan.

RMD’s performances are modeled on the traditional drum dancing called Eisa. Unlike other forms of taiko, Okinawan Eisa taiko drummers all carry their own drums. There are three types of drums. Some drummers use the o-daiko (a large drum carried on a purple sash over the left shoulder). Others play hand drums, either the shime-daiko (a double sided, knotted or tied drum) or the paranku (a single sided drum). RMD’s choreography is a dynamic blend of traditional Eisa and Karate forms with contemporary influences, incorporating both traditional folk music and modern music.  

RMD Texas offers classes for children ages 6-11 and for students 12 years and older. They offer workshops and performances for children at public and private schools. In the workshops, they teach children Eisa dancing with paranku, the handheld drum.  Children experience and enjoy the cultural dance, while learning about the history and geography of Okinawa.

RMD also performs for corporations and public organizations. 

Email1: info@sandiegotaiko.org
Website: www.sandiegotaiko.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Established in 2004, San Diego Taiko is a group dedicated in building member skills and a diverse performance repertoire. Our mission is to share our passion for taiko with the San Diego community through performances and workshops, and to provide an opportunity for local taiko players to hone their abilities.

Professional Name (芸名): Great Lakes Taiko Center  五大湖太鼓センター
Work Address: Great Lakes Taiko Center, 43000 W. Nine Mile Road, Suite 309, Novi, MI 48375
Work Phone: 248-773-8899
Email: raion.taiko@gmail.com
Website: www.michigantaiko.net

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

The Great Lakes Taiko Center opened its doors in January of 2010 and is located in Novi, Michigan. Our mission is to share the joy and excitement of Taiko Drumming with all ages through classes, educational presentations, workshops and performances.

The Great Lakes Taiko Center sponsors two performing groups, Raion Taiko and the Godaiko Drummers. Both groups can be seen at various events throughout the year all around Michigan.

Center director and head instructor, Brian Sole, was trained in taiko drumming in Ishikawa, Japan under the instruction of the members of the world famous taiko group, Hono-O-Daiko 炎太鼓 at the Asano Foundation for Taiko Culture and Research (浅野太鼓文化研究所).

Home Address: 3218 W. Glass Avenue, Spokane, WA 99205
Home Phone: 509-325-5215

Email 1: spokanetaiko@live.com
Email 2: chrisandaaron@netzero.com
Website: www.facebook.com/spokanetaiko

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Home Address: 505 E. 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Home Phone: 213-268-4011

Email 1: taikoproject@gmail.com
Website: www.taikoproject.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

The members of TAIKOPROJECT instruct one community adult group (Bombu Taiko) and one youth group (Kitsune Taiko).  They also teach adult and youth classes several times a year. In addition to teaching, TAIKOPROJECT performs across the United States and internationally.

Work Address: New York City
Email: shaku8@aol.com

Do you teach?Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information: workshops, lecture demonstrations on Japanese flutes, Taiko,  and Japanese dance

Experience the thunderous rhythms of the ancestral Japanese Taiko drums and the magical sounds of the bamboo flutes.  This exciting group draws from Japan’s rich tradition of music and performance to create a highly visual performance. With colorful traditional costumes and dynamic motion, Taikoza’s shows are immensely popular with audiences of all ages. Drawing from Japan's rich tradition of music and performance, Taikoza has created a new sound using a variety of traditional instruments. In addition to drums of assorted sizes, Taikoza incorporates the shakuhachi and the fue (both bamboo flutes) and colorful dances. Taikoza has touched audiences worldwide with its passionate performances led by International Master of Taiko and Shakuhachi: Marco Lienhard.

Taikoza has toured internationally and has been nominated for best Asian Song (“Tozan Matsuri”from the CD  Tree Spirit) in 2017 for the Just Plain Folks Awards and has appeared on ESPN, NBC, History Channel, Russian National TV and many other programs around the world. Taikoza’s music is featured on Nintendo’s wii game: Red Steel 1 and 2. The group has performed for the SUMO tournament at Madison Square Garden and tour. Taikoza presents a very popular program for schools in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia and Virginia area for Young Audiences and Symphony Space. Taikoza programs have been funded with NEA , Rockefeller, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs grants.

Taikoza was formed in New York City by Marco Lienhard (a star member of Ondekoza -the group that started the renaissance of taiko in Japan in the 60s and introduced Taiko to the world). The members of Taikoza have performed in some of the most prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Suntory Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, Lincoln Center and many others. They have performed in Russia, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Switzerland, Germany, France, Mexico, Republic of Georgia, etc. Performances include corporate events for Merrill Lynch, Gillette, Ameritech, City of Los Angeles, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Dell Computers, PepsiCo, Bloomberg, Pfizer, Merck, Diesel, and Sony.

Group Name: Triangle Taiko of North Carolina

Home Address: 4013 George V. Strong Wynd, Raleigh, NC 27612
Home Phone: 919-787-6233

Email 1: triangletaiko@yahoo.com
Email 2: y.iwashima@hotmail.com
Website: www.triangletaiko.org

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Performs with: Michigan Hiryu Daiko (Michigan Flying Dragon Taiko)

Home Address: 2232 Parkview Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 49008
Cell Phone: 269-491-7071

Employment: Kalamazoo College
Work Address: As above
Work Phone: As above
Email 1: Esther.TaikoMI@att.net
Email 2: esther@taikoaz.com
Website: www.taikoaz.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Esther Vandecar teaches at Kalamazoo College (the first taiko team in Michigan), Western Michigan University, and does residencies in elementary schools, community college music programs, and privately. She has also taught taiko in Japan and all over the U. S., including a stint at the Tabuchi Theater in Branson, MO. She was a professional taiko performer in Japan for a year, and in Arizona and all over the southwest United States from 1992 until her retirement from professional performing in 2011.  

School (流): Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center (Brooklyn) and Wesleyan University
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Kodo (former member and artistic director)

Home Address: 673 Classon Avenue #2L, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Cell Phone: 646-624-9405

Employment: Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center (Brooklyn) and Wesleyan University
Email: kaoru@watanabekaoru.com
Website 1: www.watanabekaoru.com
Website 2: taikonyc.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Kaoru Watanabe has collaborated in performances with Kenny Endo, Semba Kiyohiko, Bando Tamasaburo, members of Kodo, jazz musician Jason Moran, and various other musicians, dancers, and artists. He teaches weekly classes in Brooklyn and at Wesleyan University, and master classes and workshops throughout the US, Canada, and Japan.  Watanabe has given guest lectures at various institutions such as Princeton University and Colby College. He has a BA in jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music and spent two years as an apprentice for Kodo in Sado Island, Japan. From 2000 to 2007 he toured and directed Kodo, performing on taiko, fue, and voice, as well as performing various folk dances.  Watanabe has taken intermittent lessons and done some performances with such artists as Tosha Meisho, Isso Yukihiro, Yagi Michiyo, Ishigure Masayo, Maruta Miki, Sakata Akira, Matsuda Hiroyuki, and Suzuki Kyosuke. His flute teachers include Robert Dick and Jan Smith.

Home Address: 5218 West Carmen Avenue, Chicago, IL 60630
Home Phone: 773-802-0605

Employment: Rhythm Revolution
Email: drumevents@gmail.com
Website: www.drummingcircle.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

John Yost has studied with North American and Japanese wadaiko instructors.

Home Address: 198 South Street Apt. 3, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
Cell Phone: 617-308-4900

Email: karen@thegenkispark.org
Website: www.thegenkispark.org

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

The Genki Spark is an Asian women's taiko-based performance group. Karen S. Young is the director of the group and also teaches basic taiko classes which are open to the general public. In addition to taiko, her performances include spoken word, obon dance, and Asian fusion (taiko/bhangra).

Home Address: 3460 Tuscany Drive, Idaho Falls, ID 83404
Cell Phone: 516-238-0069

Employment: Retired administrator and professor
Email: Sanshi5@aol.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Janet Youngblood was the founder of Manhattan Taiko in New York. After retiring, she relocated to Idaho Falls and has been organizing a new group which she expects to be teaching and performing with regularly. She also offers private taiko lessons and provides all necessary equipment for workshops and classes.

Home Address: 43 Parsons Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
Home Phone: 415-221-0601

Employment: First Voice
Work Address: As above
Email 1: wongaoki@aol.com
Email 2: aokizu@firstvoice.org
Website: Aokizu.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Brenda Wong Aoki creates monodramas. Her work synthesizes Japanese Noh and Kyōgen theater, Commedia Dell’arte, modern dance and everyday experience. She is acclaimed as one of America’s foremost soloists, performing in such venues as the Kennedy Center, New Victory Theater on Broadway, Hong Kong Performing Arts Center, the Adelaide Festival in Australia, the Esplanade in Singapore, the Graz Festival Austria and the Apollo. Of Japanese, Chinese, Spanish and Scottish descent, Aoki’s bloodlines inspire her work, which include Obake: Tales of Spirits Past and Present, The Queen’s Garden, Random Acts, Mermaid Meat, Tales of the Pacific Rim, Skin Privilege, Kuan Yin: Our Lady of Compassion, and Uncle Gunjiro’s Girlfriend.

Employment: Self-employed artist
Work Address: Northampton, MA
Work Phone: 413-320-2954
Email: annie@anniebissett.com
Website: www.anniebissett.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

School (流): Ikuta-ryū 生田流
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Chikushikai 筑紫会
Professional Name (芸名): Linda Kakō Caplan カプラン歌香

Home Address: Toronto, Canada
Home Phone: 416-485-0061

Employment: Japanese Music Course Director, York University (Toronto, Canada)
Work Phone: 416-242-4967
Email 1: koto@lindacaplan.com
Email 2: linda@chordscanada.com
Website: http://www.lindacaplan.com 

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Linda Caplan’s repertoire includes both traditional and contemporary works for koto and shamisen. As soloist and ensemble member, she frequently performs at private, public, and diplomatic functions. Caplan welcomes students of all ages and levels to her studio in Toronto, and she also teaches students around the world on the internet.

Professional Name (芸名): Motoko

Home Address: 24 North East Street Apt 4, Amherst, MA 01002
Home Phone: 413-253-1664
Cell Phone: 413-205-6692

Email: Motoko@folktales.net
Website: www.folktales.net

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

A native of Osaka, Japan, and a graduate of International Christian University (Mitaka, Tokyo,) Motoko has made Massachusetts her home since 1986. She trained with the late master mime Tony Montanaro (1927-2002). Since 1993, Motoko has performed professionally in K-12 schools, libraries, museums, universities and festivals across the U.S. Motoko's repertoire includes Asian folktales, Zen tales, comical tales from rakugo (a Japanese traditional style of storytelling), funny mime vignettes, as well as personal stories from her childhood in Japan and her life as an immigrant in the U.S. She also offers K-12 classroom workshops and residencies on Japanese culture, Chinese culture, creative writing, and storytelling. 

Motoko has appeared on “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” and in an educational video by Harcourt, and also has been awarded numerous grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and New York State BOCES for her arts-in-education programs. In 2003, Motoko toured Miyazaki, Japan, as a part of CarnegieKids in Miyazaki Project, sponsored by Carnegie Hall.

Her debut CD, The Promise of Chrysanthemums won a 2002 Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Award, a 2003 Storytelling World Award, and a 2007 National Parenting Publications Award (NAPPA). Her third CD, Like a Lotus Flower: Girlhood Tales from Japan was released in 2009. The long-awaited 2nd edition of Motoko's book A Year in Japan: Folktales, Songs and Art for the Classroom will be available in January 2012.

In October 2011 Motoko made her third featured appearance at the prestigious National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

Motoko offers workshops and residencies on Japanese and Chinese cultures (K-5), creative writing (K-8), and storytelling (all ages.) She has age-appropriate story performances for PreK-Grade 12, families, and adults.

References will be furnished upon request. 

School (流): Kouta (小唄), Kasuga School (春日); Chanoyu (茶の湯), Urasenke (裏千家)
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Kasuga-kai (春日会)
Professional Name (芸名): Kasuga Toyoyoshiyū (春日とよ吉裕); Sōyū (宗裕)

Employment: University of Pittsburgh
Work Address: Department of Music, University of Pittsburgh, 214 Music Building, 4337 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Work Phone: 412-855-6175
Email: yue1@pitt.edu
Website: www.yukoeguchi.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Yuko Eguchi grew up in Tokyo, taking lessons in classical ballet, piano, and later nagauta shamisen. She graduated from Bates College in 2003 with a major in Music Composition and a minor in Economics. After working for Japan Cable Television in Tokyo for two years, she completed an MA at the University of Pittsburgh, writing on Hindu ritual music and diasporic culture.

She received a PhD in Ethnomusicology in 2016 from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on aesthetic concepts in geisha music and dance. In 2009-2010 she received the  Japan Iron and Steel Federation Mitsubishi Foundation Fellowship through which she conducted field research on geisha songs (kouta) and dance (kouta-buri) in Tokyo.

In addition to her studies and research on music, Yuko has also been practicing Japanese tea ceremony since 1993. She has studied under Soko Akiyama, a master of the Urasenke school of tea ceremony. In 2009, Yuko herself received the master title of tea ceremony, Sōyū (宗裕), in 2009 and the assistant professor title of tea ceremony, Jyun-Kyojyu (準教授), in 2013, certified by Soshitsu Sen XVI.

Professional Name (芸名): Junko Fujiyama

Work Phone: 919-490-0370
Email: junkobmusic@gmail.com
Website: http://www.reverbnation.com/junkomusic

Do you teach? No

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Junko Fujiyama is a singer/songwriter based in North Carolina. She is originally from Japan and sings in both Japanese and English. She performs solo as well as with her band. She has worked with several local bands as the lead singer and performed at many local clubs and cultural events. Her music can be described as J-rock and J-pop blended together. Her band also plays some covers of good old J-pop/rock. Junko hopes that people will be able to feel her passion for music through her songs. 

School (流): Ikuta-ryū

Home Address: 2471 Franklin Avenue, Louisville, CO 80027
Home Phone: 303-666-5581

Employment: Full-time self-employed musician
Work Address: As above
Work Phone: As above
Email 1: david@japanshakuhachi.com
Email 2: yoko@japanesestrings.com
Website: japanesestrings.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Yoko Hiraoka is a performer of classical sankyoku ensemble music, contemporary hōgaku composition, solo biwa, and illustrated academic lectures/recitals.

Home Address: 43 Parsons Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
Home Phone: 415-221-0601

Employment: First Voice
Work Address: 43 Parsons Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
Work Phone: 415-221-0601
Email 1: mizu@firstvoice.org
Email 2: aokizu@firstvoice.org
Website: www.aokizu.com

Do you teach? No

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Mark Izu, a third generation Japanese-American, has fused the traditional music of Asia with African-American improvisation. He plays acoustic bass as well as several traditional Asian instruments. Izu has gained international recognition for developing a new musical genre, Asian American Jazz, and his CD Threading Time received Critic’s Choice as one of the top 10 spiritual jazz releases of 2008. Izu has studied and performed with Japanese Imperial Court master musician Suenobu Togi since 1976. He was artistic director of the Asian American Jazz Festival in San Francisco from 1990-2000.  Izu has gained national and international attention for developing a new musical genre — Asian American Jazz — and has performed with jazz artists such as James Newton, Steve Lacy, Zakir Hussain, George Lewis, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Brown, Jon Jang, and Jin Hi Kim.  

School (流): Yamada-ryū 山田流, Kato style shamisen 河東節三味線
Ha/Kai (流派/会): Nakanoshima-kai, Yamada-ryu Sokyoku Association, Japan Sankyoku Association 中能島会・山田流筝曲協会・日本三曲協会
Professional Name (芸名):Yoko Reikano Kimura 木村伶香能; Reiko Yamabiko 山彦伶子

Home Address: Queens, NY 
Home Phone: 718-673-1118

Employment: The Institute of Traditional Japanese Music, and affiliate of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Japan/ 洗足学園音楽大学・現代邦楽研究所
Email: kreikano@hotmail.com
Website: duoyumeno.com Duo YUMENO夢乃URL

Do you teach? Yes: Koto, Shamisen, Voice

Do you perform? Yes: Koto, Shamisen, Voice

Additional information:

YOKO REIKANO KIMURA, koto/shamisen performer and singer, has concertized around the world based in New York and Japan. Following her studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts and the NHK School of Traditional Japanese Music, she studied at Institute of Traditional Japanese Music, an affiliate of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Japan, where she currently holds a teaching position. Yoko was awarded a scholarship from the Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan. Her teachers include Kono Kameyama, Akiko Nishigata and Senko Yamabiko, a Living National Treasure. In 2000 she received her stage name “Reikano” from Hiroko Nakanoshima VI, daughter of the legendary koto and shamisen performer/ composer Kin’ichi Nakanoshima. Awards include the First prize at the prestigious 10th Kenjun Memorial National Koto Competition, the First prize at the 4th Great Wall International Music Competition and the Osaka Chinese Counsel Award. Yoko performed at the Kabuki-za in Tokyo, accompanying Danjuro Ichikawa XII and recorded classical shamisen works for the online music archive, Traditional Music Digital Library. Her performances have been broadcasted on NHK-FM, NPR’s Performance Today and WQXR.

As an enthusiastic supporter of contemporary music, Yoko has premiered new works at the Japan Society for Contemporary Music and in 2009, founded Duo YUMENO with cellist Hikaru Tamaki. In 2014, they were awarded the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program grant, and in 2015, received the Aoyama Baroque Saal Award. The duo was featured at Chamber Music America’s 2016 National Conference and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center in 2017. Currently, the duo is working on a commissioning project, suite of pieces based on The Tale of Heike, with Daron Hagen. As a koto soloist, Yoko has performed Hagen’s Koto Concerto: Genji with the Euclid Quartet, Ciompi Quartet, Freimann Quartet and the Prairie Ensemble Orchestra. Yoko premiered Kaito Nakahori’s Japanese Footbridge with Hai-Dao Ensemble at Jordan Hall in Boston, and performed James Nyoraku Schlefer’s Concertante with Texas Festival Orchestra. As a shamisen soloist, she performed Kin’ichi Nakanoshima’s Shamisen Concerto at the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center and was a guest performer with ensemble Aperio at Asia Society Texas Center. In 2016, she performed with American Symphony Orchestra in Pietro Mascagni's Iris. In 2017, Yoko commissioned and gave a world premiere performance of Marty Regan’s Shamisen Concerto. She has worked with Heiner Goebbels, the Wien Solisten Trio, Kyo-Shin-An Arts, along with many other artists. Yoko has toured and performed in Poland, Switzerland, France, Lithuania, Korea, China, Israel, Qatar, Italy, Turkey, England and multiple countries in South America.

For more information, please visit Yoko’s website, reikano.yamadaryu.com

Marshal artistic movement with mental training in Japanese and English

Work Phone: 602-412-7781
Email: info@kenkoshio.com
Website: www.kenkoshio.com

Do you perform? Yes

Home Address: Nashville, TN
Cell Phone: 615-519-0870

Employment: Self-employed ParaPara dancer and instructor
Email 1: mi-ke@para2mahou.com
Email 2: p2m@para2mahou.com
Website: www.para2mahou.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MahouMike

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Michael "Mi~Ke" Marshall began ParaPara dancing and created the performance group Para²Mahou in the summer of 2003. The team was formed with the purpose of promoting understanding and performance of this popular Japanese dance style.

Para²Mahou is a non-profit group of ParaPara performers and enthusiasts. The team travels to conventions and events across the nation, performing and instructing others in ParaPara dance and explaining the immersive pop culture that surrounds it. It has also held ParaPara tournaments and gatherings for fellow "paralists," or ParaPara dancers. Para²Mahou welcomes all who are interested in the dance style, whether they wish to become performers or just dance for fun.

Michael's first ParaPara lesson at a major event was taught at the Middle Tennessee Anime Convention in 2004. He made his performance debut at the same convention in 2005. He was recruited to attend Anime Expo 2004 in Anaheim, CA in order to choreograph a ParaPara routine to a song by Japanese pop artist Yoko Ishida and perform the routine at her Hyper Yocomix album release concert. He was subsequently hired by Geneon Universal Entertainment to become a choreographer for Yoko Ishida's music and the "Anime Fusion Tour". He created ParaPara dance routines to several songs featured on the ParaPara MAX CD series in January of 2006. He was featured in the instructional videos "ParaPara MAX -- The Moves 101" and "Anime-Pop Star Yoko Ishida: Live In Concert". Michael's performance group has performed with Yoko Ishida several times on tour in the United States.

Michael and the Para²Mahou team have performed and hosted ParaPara workshops at the Middle Tennessee Anime convention annually since 2004 and have been invited to participate at the Atlanta JapanFest. Michael also established the ParaPara Dance Association student organization at Middle Tennessee State University.

Michael and his dance group are constantly seeking new opportunities to share the Japanese ParaPara dance style with others and spread our passion for both ParaPara dancing and Japanese culture.

Home Address: 11334 28th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98125
Home Phone: 206-367-7689
Email: yokomurao@hotmail.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

In addition to teaching privately at her studio, Yoko Murao teaches and gives public demonstrations at schools and museums. She does big-brush performances called “dancing with brush” for events and parties. She has been teaching in the Pacific Northwest for over 35 years. She also collaborates with architectural firms, design studios, and publishers.

Professional Name (芸名): Nanakusa

Home Address: 3334 Toni Drive, West Valley City, UT 84119
Home Phone: 801-969-3907

Email: efpottery2@aol.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? No

Additional information:

Etsuko Ogura Freeman is a ceramic artist. She also teaches ikebana.

Professional Name (芸名): Linda Stephen

Home Address:  P.O. Box 57234, Lincoln, NE 68505
Home Phone: 402-483-0747

Email 1: linda@solcards.com
Email 2: info@lindastephen.com
Website: www.lindastephen.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LindaStephenOrigamiArt

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Fluent in Japanese, Linda Stephen studied, lived and worked in Shiga, Japan, for six years. Her origami-e landscapes are part of public and private collections across the U.S., Europe and Japan. Commissioned projects range from an animated origami dollar bill TV commercial for Tobacco Free Nebraska to the JW Marriott Hotel’s “sister city” collection in Grand Rapids, Mich. Her award-winning artworks have been featured in more than 100 juried solo or group exhibits including the the U.S. Botanical Garden, the Museum of the Hudson Highlands, the Museum of Nebraska Art, and the Nebraska Governor’s Mansion.

Linda Stephen presents workshops on Japanese paper arts to cities, schools, universities, museums, galleries, and culture festivals across North America.  Learn more at www.LindaStephen.com or www.facebook.com/LindaStephenOrigamiArt. 

Artist Statement

I have lived and traveled around the world - from Osaka to London, Chicago to Oslo. There is beauty of place, and of spirit, all around us.

My origami-e bas relief landscapes are an extension of traditional origami – the Japanese art of paper folding. I am also influenced by the Japanese paper art chigiri-e (painting with paper).  I use a wide range of handcrafted papers, primarily washi, as my medium, from tissue-thin, hand-dyed rice papers to the vibrant patterned yuzen chiyogami fabric papers. Colors, patterns, textures and shadows are key design elements in my art. I use color to evoke feelings. Then I invent origami paper sculptures that add shadow, give depth and bring my work to life. Although sometimes a landscape will incorporate a thousand paper pieces, every item that is added must enhance the composition. 

For me, origami is a metaphor for our potential. One flat piece of paper, a seemingly simple material, through a multifaceted progression of paper-folds, can be transformed into almost anything. It is my hope that my art inspires viewers to look at life in a new way - to celebrate their world and their place in it.

Home Address: 95 Reade Street, New York, NY 10013
Home Phone: 212-732-4948
Cell Phone: 646-384-0204

Work Address: As above
Work Phone: 212-732-4948
Email 1: tomoko@kugoharp.com
Email 2: s.tomokony@gmail.com
Website: www.kugoharp.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Tomoko Sugawara teaches kugo, concert harp and Irish harp and gives workshops in kugo and Irish harp. In addition to solo performances, she performs in an ensemble that includes shakuhachi, oud, and percussion. She also gives lecture recitals on the history of kugo.

About the kugo: The kugo first appeared in western Asia (Mesopotamian) around 1900 BC. Its use spread along the Silk Road to eastern Asia, but died out around 1100 AD.  The kugo was brought to Japan in the eighth century, and two examples survive in the Shosoin Treasure House in Nara, Japan.  Tomoko Sugawara made a replica of the kugo and plays pieces from the time it flourished in Asia (800-1300 AD).  In addition, many modern composers have written pieces for her to play on the kugo.

Performs with: Michigan Hiryu Daiko (Michigan Flying Dragon Taiko)

Home Address: 2232 Parkview Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 49008
Cell Phone: 269-491-7071

Employment: Kalamazoo College
Work Address: As above
Work Phone: As above
Email 1: Esther.TaikoMI@att.net
Email 2: esther@taikoaz.com
Website: www.taikoaz.com

Do you teach? Yes                               

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Esther Vandecar teaches at Kalamazoo College (the first taiko team in Michigan), Western Michigan University, and does residencies in elementary schools, community college music programs, and privately. She has also taught taiko in Japan and all over the U. S., including a stint at the Tabuchi Theater in Branson, MO. She was a professional taiko performer in Japan for a year, and in Arizona and all over the southwest United States from 1992 until her retirement from professional performing in 2011.  

School (流): Manyo-shu, Mr. Shohei Kikuchi

Home Address: 329 St-Ferdinand, Montréal, Canada
Cell Phone: 514-886-8129
Email: komachi21@gmail.com

Do you teach? Yes

Do you perform? Yes

Additional information:

Kayo Yasuhara studied with Kikuchi Shohei in Japan as well as Misako Yuki. In 2007 she formed the group Komachi Montréal, a student group that performs Japanese folk dance.