Tokyo Drum Museum

During a trip to Japan last summer I stopped in at the Tokyo Drum Museum in the old Tokyo district of Taito-Ku. They have an awesome display of drums from Japan and around the world, and what's really cool is that you can play them! (Well, most of them . . . drums that are too rare or old to take a beating are marked with red dot that means hands off). They also have some drums for sale, and I picked up a couple of beautiful little drums traditionally used in Japan's noh, gagaku, and kabuki ensembles. I also scored a couple of CDs of Taiko (Japanese for drum) drumming, the relatively recent art form of ensemble drumming that has quickly grown in popularity and has spread far beyond Japan. Taiko drums range in size from small tom-sized to massive (6' and up in diameter.)
One of the more famous Taiko drumming ensembles is called Kodo, from Sado island, located between Japan and Korea. The Kodo community on Sado is dedicated to exploring and extending the traditional Japanese drumming arts.