Editing Taiko (section)

===Origin===
[[File:ThreeHaniwa.jpg|thumb|right|[[Haniwa]] figures, dated to the 6th century CE. The left and right depict two drum performers. The statue on the left, depicted using a stick on a barrel-shaped drum, represents the earliest evidence of {{transliteration|ja|taiko}} usage in Japan.|alt=Three plain clay figures, featuring long, skirt-like columnar bases. The outer two figures are depicted playing drums. Only one figure, in the middle, has a head.]]
The origin of the {{transliteration|ja|taiko}} and its variants is unclear, though there have been many suggestions. Historical accounts, of which the earliest date from 588&nbsp;CE, note that young Japanese men traveled to Korea to study the {{transliteration|ja|[[Kakko (instrument)|kakko]]}}, a drum that originated in [[South China]]. This study and appropriation of Chinese instruments may have influenced the emergence of {{transliteration|ja|taiko}}.{{sfn|Blades|1992|pp=122–123}} Certain court music styles, especially {{transliteration|ja|[[gigaku]]}} and {{transliteration|ja|[[gagaku]]}}, arrived in Japan through both China and Korea.{{sfn|Nelson|2007|pp=36, 39}}{{sfn|Schuller|1989|p=202}} In both traditions, dancers were accompanied by several instruments that included drums similar to {{transliteration|ja|taiko}}.{{sfn|Schuller|1989|p=202}}{{sfn|Cossío|2001|p=179}} Certain percussive patterns and terminology in {{transliteration|ja|[[togaku]]}}, an early dance and music style in Japan, in addition to physical features of the {{transliteration|ja|kakko}}, also reflect influence from both China and India on drum use in {{transliteration|ja|gagaku}} performance.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=26}}{{sfn|Harich-Schneider|1973|pp=108, 110}}

Archaeological evidence shows that {{transliteration|ja|taiko}} were used in Japan as early as the 6th century CE,<ref name=TNM>{{cite web|title=Music Festival at the Museum|url=http://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=684|publisher=Tokyo National Museum|access-date=24 August 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054639/http://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_free_page/index.php?id=684|archive-date=21 September 2013}}</ref> during the latter part of the [[Kofun period]], and were likely used for communication, in festivals, and in other rituals.{{sfn|Dean|2012|p=122}} This evidence was substantiated by the discovery of [[haniwa]] statues in the [[Sawa District, Gunma|Sawa District]] of [[Gunma Prefecture]]. Two of these figures are depicted playing drums;{{sfn|Dean|2012|p=122}} one of them, wearing skins, is equipped with a barrel-shaped drum hung from his shoulder and uses a stick to play the drum at hip height.{{sfnm|Dean|2012|1p=122|Varian|2013|2p=21}}<ref name=Ochi>{{cite web|last1=Ochi|first1=Megumi|title=What The Haniwa Have to Say About Taiko's Roots: The History of Taiko|url=http://www.taiko.com/taiko_resource/history/haniwa_ochi.html|publisher=Rolling Thunder|access-date=27 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202185535/http://www.taiko.com/taiko_resource/history/haniwa_ochi.html|archive-date=2 February 2015}}</ref> This statue is titled "Man Beating the {{transliteration|ja|Taiko}}" and is considered the oldest evidence of {{transliteration|ja|taiko}} performance in Japan.<ref name=Ochi />{{sfn|Varian|2013|p=21}} Similarities between the playing style demonstrated by this {{transliteration|ja|haniwa}} and known music traditions in China and Korea further suggest influences from these regions.{{sfn|Varian|2013|p=21}}

The {{transliteration|ja|[[Nihon Shoki]]}}, the second-oldest book of Japanese classical history, contains a mythological story describing the origin of {{transliteration|ja|taiko}}. The myth tells how [[Amaterasu]], who had sealed herself inside a cave in anger, was beckoned out by an elder goddess [[Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto|Ame-no-Uzume]] when others had failed. Ame-no-Uzume accomplished this by emptying out a barrel of [[sake]] and dancing furiously on top of it. Historians regard her performance as the mythological creation of {{transliteration|ja|taiko}} music.{{sfnm|Minor|2003|1pp=37–39|Izumi|2001|2pp=37–39|Raz|1983|3p=19}}