Canadian World Traveller Winter 2019-20 Issue

10
The Heartbeat of Sado Island, Niigata, Japan
Article and photography by Steve Gillick
Masami “Sami” Miyazaki greeted
us at the Tatakokan, the Sado
Island Taiko Center. While ‘Taiko’
refers to any type of drum, the word is often
associated with the famed Kodo drummers
who perform around the world and in fact,
Kodo Village lies next to Tatakokan.
On the way there, we drove on some fairly
isolated roads, past orchards bursting with
brilliant orange persimmons and glimpses
of autumn colors emerging on the treelined
slopes of the Kosado Mountains.
Sami explained that Kodo means “heart-
beat” and mirrors the power of nature in
the trees, mountains and wind. She noted
that historically, drumming established an
auditory connection between the gods and
the local people.
And to prove the point she produced thunder
from “Yama imo Kun”, one of the two
huge drums made from a 600 year old
Zelcova tree, and named for its resemblance
to a sticky mountain potato. Trying
my own hand on percussion only made me
appreciate the skill and hours of practice it
took Sami to produce the Kodo heartbeat
of nature that was in fact all around us.
In the past, Sado Island was known for its
isolation. Beginning in the early 8th century
it was regarded as a place of exile for
court nobles who criticized the government
and dissidents such as Zeami who popularized
Noh theatre and Nichirin Shionen, the
founder of the Nichirin School of
Buddhism.
However today, traveling voluntarily to
Sado Island is relatively easy. It’s roughly a
2 ½ hour train ride from Tokyo Station to
Niigata on the north coast of Honshu
(Japan’s main island), and from there it’s a
short bus or taxi ride to the Sado Island