Who We Are

As a relatively young taiko team, Yamatai is energetically developing its individual style. Our current repertoire consists of pieces written by Bonten (a professional taiko group in Japan), traditional and community taiko pieces, as well as original compositions by Yamatai members and alumni. Through rigorous study and training, Yamatai seeks to explore musical possibilities of taiko drumming in contemporary adaptations while respecting the origins of the traditional art. We are excited to be a part of the growing international taiko community, and to share our passion for taiko with our audience!

Our History
Yamatai was founded in 2006 by Cornell undergraduates Haruki Yukawa ‘09 and Eva Kestner ’09. Eva served as Musical Director until 2009 while Haruki served as President until 2008. With the help of Masataka Kobayashi-sensei of Bonten (a professional taiko group from Japan), Yamatai was able to get started. Kobayashi-sensei brought drums from Japan, helped make sticks and stands, and held a master class for Yamatai's first generation. Yamatai has been playing Bonten pieces along with traditional taiko pieces ever since. More recently, Yamatai has incorporated original compositions into its repertoire.

Key Events in Yamatai History
  • Fall 2006 - Kobayashi-sensei visits Cornell and helps establish Yamatai
  • November 2007 - Yamatai’s debut concert, entitled Yamatai: The Debut
  • March 2009 - Bonten performs a sold-out concert in Bailey Hall, in which Eva Kestner makes her professional debut as a Bonten member
  • February 2011 - First East Coast Taiko Conference (ECTC), organized by Dan Porter ‘11
  • April 2011 - First sold-out Pulse concert in Bailey Hall
  • September 2013 - Yamatai creates a new logo
  • February 2015 - ECTC returns to Cornell for the first time since its inauguration
  • April 2015 - Bonten returns to Cornell for the first time in six years and performs alongside Yamatai in Pulse
  • April 2016 - Yamatai celebrates its 10th anniversary at Pulse with Bonten's Kobayashi-sensei and his daughter Momo

Our Name
The name “Yamatai” is a metaphor of pure, primal human energy that our ancestors possessed before civilization. It is meant to project the image of a tribe of fierce tattooed warriors, and beautiful female shamans with terrible supernatural powers. In that age, drums, music, and dance would have been a crucial part of a powerful old magic, one that would transform their men into gods of war before battle and bring about plentiful harvests. The intent is for the audience to feel, not necessarily on a conscious level, as if they had suddenly traveled two thousand years back in time, and were witnessing that magic. We hope for everyone to take home a little piece of that energy inside them, something that would change the way they lead their everyday lives in a very special way.

Our Logo

 Picture
Our logo was designed to capture the “pure, primal human energy” that Haruki had envisioned while still acknowledging that we as a team are constantly changing and moving forward. The goal was to make the logo timeless enough to follow Yamatai in whichever direction is chosen in the future, but still keep a sense of the primal energy from which we originated.
The logo was created by taking the negative space of a mitsudomoe, a Japanese symbol commonly associated with taiko that represents Man, Earth, and Sky. The mitsudomoe was arranged such that a ‘Y’ is carved into the center.
Our current logo was designed in 2013 with the help of Hiiro Tomita, brother of Eri Tomita ‘15. Hiiro is a Japanese-American artist living in California. He mainly concentrates on custom hand drawn New Era hats, but other art forms include tattoo designs, logo designs, and even architecture. Hiiro was very professional and patient throughout the logo design process.