Kohaku is a unique performance collaborative based in Sacramento that specializes in traditional and contemporary Japanese performing arts, such as Kagura dance (Sacred dance of Shinto shrines), Taiko drum and a variety of other celebrated cultural music and dance. We also perform Japanese folkloric and kids songs, music and dance of sacred rituals and contemporary dance inspired by Japanese and world fusion. Audiences will also enjoy the power and beauty of authentic Japanese instruments such as Taiko drums, Fue (flutes), Chappa (cymbals) and more.

Our passion is to share the rich Japanese cultural heritage through an artistic outreach that may bring the world a deeper appreciation for the beauty of our home country. Our creative offerings will reveal the comical, touching and sacred aspects of Japanese culture and Shinto traditions that we hope will leave you with a depth of joy and happiness.

「琥珀」は北カリフォルニアを拠点に日本伝統芸能、神楽舞、和太鼓、踊り、歌を中心に活動しているグループです。和楽器を使って民謡や子供の頃歌った懐かしい曲を演奏したり、和楽器とモダンスタイルの日本の踊りやワールドダンスを融合させたパフォーマンスなどもします。私たちの演奏を通して少しでも多くの方に日本という国を見て、聴いて、感じていただきたいと思っています。日本伝統芸能にはそれぞれ意味があります。私たちはその意味をもって皆様に幸せと喜びを運ぶことを目的として活動しています。日本の国の伝統芸能を継承し、そしてそれをアメリカで伝えていくこと、そしてそれを基本に新たな表現方法を加えていくことで、たくさんの人が日本の文化に興味を持ち、さらに深く、もしくは新たな理解を広めていけたら光栄です。

About NAOKO (三味線･琴/Shamisen & Koto)

Naoko has been playing the koto since she was six years old. She was taught by Koji Kikuhara who was a highly ranked student of National Living Treasure Hatsuko Kikuhara. In 1987, she passed a professional music examination at the Todo Music Association that proudly claims more than 100 years of history. She studied classical singing with Ichijuro Kiyomoto and Fujima style dance with Monjuro Fujima from 1979 to 1981.

Naoko has been taking biwa lesson from Hokuniu Kyokuto Kimura, aka Molly Kimura. She received a Shoden degree from Head Master Iemoto Kyokuso Tachibana with Chiluzen-biwa Nihon-Tachibana Organization on November 30, 2009.

Naoko as a performer of Nogawa Style jiuta shamisen and Ikuta style koto continues to perform at several places in the United States from 1994 .

About SHIHO (日本舞踊/Traditional Japanese Dance)

Since the age of 3, Shiho Tendou has been training within the Tendou Ryu traditional dance group that her grandmother established in 1984. Since 2006, she has been training under one of Japan's most famous Kabuki dance performers, Kikuhiro Otowa, who had taught Japanese Performing Arts at the University of Illinois as a performance trainer for a few years.

Shiho Tendou majored in Theater Arts at Nihon University of Arts. Through her Japanese dance experience and performance, she desires to show the real beauty of performing arts; that is, to invoke the beauty of spiritual energy and emotion in order to help the audience understand and feel more than they normally would from something purely visual.

Shiho Tendou would like to introduce the important meanings of performance through traditional Japanese dance. Displaying her inner spirit through dance is one of her passions as a dancer.