Foreign Minister’s Award Ceremony for taiko group Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers (29th November 2024)
2024/12/9




On Friday November 29th, Scotland-based taiko group “Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers” received the Foreign Minister’s Award at the Consul General’s official residence.
To begin, Consul General Tadashi Fujiwara introduced Mugenkyo Taiko Drummer’s achievements thus far. Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers was formed in 1994 and opened the UK’s first taiko dojo “MUGEN TAIKO DOJO” in 2002. The dojo holds workshops for the general public with the goal of educating people of all age groups about the history of taiko as well as traditional techniques. This year is the 30th year since the group’s founding, and to date they have performed over 1000 shows in not only the UK and Japan, but various countries in Europe. In recent years, they have performed on the BBC’s broadcast of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Opening Ceremony, as well as collaborated with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. For their active contributions in helping preserve traditional Japanese culture, they were awarded the Foreign Minister’s Award.
Founder Neil Mackie expressed gratitude for the commendation and gave a speech about his hopes for continued development of the relationship between the UK and Japan.
Other Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers members were in attendance, and there was a friendly atmosphere throughout.
More information about Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers:
https://www.taiko.co.uk/mugenkyo
To begin, Consul General Tadashi Fujiwara introduced Mugenkyo Taiko Drummer’s achievements thus far. Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers was formed in 1994 and opened the UK’s first taiko dojo “MUGEN TAIKO DOJO” in 2002. The dojo holds workshops for the general public with the goal of educating people of all age groups about the history of taiko as well as traditional techniques. This year is the 30th year since the group’s founding, and to date they have performed over 1000 shows in not only the UK and Japan, but various countries in Europe. In recent years, they have performed on the BBC’s broadcast of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Opening Ceremony, as well as collaborated with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. For their active contributions in helping preserve traditional Japanese culture, they were awarded the Foreign Minister’s Award.
Founder Neil Mackie expressed gratitude for the commendation and gave a speech about his hopes for continued development of the relationship between the UK and Japan.
Other Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers members were in attendance, and there was a friendly atmosphere throughout.
More information about Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers:
https://www.taiko.co.uk/mugenkyo