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Etymological Description of TAIKOMOCHI

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Although a Japanese traditional performing art handed down from generation to generation, “TAIKOMOCHI”, to my great regret, has now been such a rarely used or heard word even in Japan that I have seen very few people understand me readily after my mere introduction “I am a Taikomochi”, which just mean a “drum (taiko) holder (mochi)” when literally translated into Japanese, leading most people, to whom I introduce myself in such a way, to mistake me for a drum player. Regrettably enough, even some of people who work with Japanese traditional restaurants, to which I am invited as a male “Geisha” to entertain guests at banquets, tend to receive me, asking if “my drum sounds too loud for a banquet” or “my drum is small enough to be carried into a banquet room”, although my traditional performing art is not associated with “taiko (drum)” itself.

TAIKOMOCHI ARAI enjoys shopping at Kyoto’s “Gion” Festival in summer ­ photo taken in 2000.

Then, you should reasonably ask why this Japanese traditional profession as a male entertainer, the role of whom is to entertain guests at banquets together with his female counterpart “Geisha” (Geiko), is called “Taikomochi”, although he does not hold or play any drum as means of entertaining the guests.

Originally, “Taikomochi” is a generic name used in place of its formal name “Houkan”, which consists of two Japanese words “Hou” and “Kan”. The former has a meaning of “to help” or “to assist”, while the latter contains a meaning of “between or among people”, suggesting its association with human relationship. “Houkan” created by the combination of these two words therefore implies “to help or assist with human relationship”.

Accordingly, the role of “Houkan” or “Taikomochi” is to entertain guests at banquets together with “Geisha” (Geiko), while serving as an intermediary between the guests and between the guests and “Geisha” to allow the merry atmosphere of the banquet to continue without interruption.

Then, you may question why “Houkan” has come to be also referred to as “Taikomochi”, which literally means “drum holder” in Japanese.

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Behind this are several reasons; one has been alleged to be associated with TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi (1536 to 1598), a warlord known to have completed reunification of Japan after its long warring-state period from the middle of 15th century to the latter half of the 16th century, who, in 1585, was appointed “Kanpaku”, imperial regent or the chief advisor to the Emperor, which he transferred to his adopted son Hidetsugu in 1591, when he was given honorific title “Taiko”, the pronunciation of which is almost similar to “drum” in Japanese. Thereafter, he was called “Taiko” by his aides, who were always required to curry favor with him by flattering (“mochi-ageru” in Japanese, which literally means “to hold up”) him. The combination of “Taiko” and “Mochi-ageru” has allegedly come to mean “to flatter someone” with the combined words having corrupted into “Taiko-mochi”.

The second reason has allegedly originated in a story about a master of drum (“taiko”) performance, who had one of his apprentices hold his drum when performing on it to facilitate his performance on it, leading his other apprentices to envy their drum-holding (“taiko-mochi”) rival, while calling him “taikomochi” as a mere drum holder to make them feel easy and happy.

The third reason may be found in “Shikido Okagami”, a guide to the pleasure districts of Japan in the Edo period (1600-1868), published in 1678, which was the first literature to describe “Taikomochi”, although seemingly for fun, introducing “boisterous merrymaking” as “Don-chan-sawagi” in Japanese ­ “sawagi” (merrymaking) represented as “don” (the sound of a drum “taiko”) and “chan” (the sound of a bell “kane”, the pronunciation of which is the same as money in Japanese), suggesting the presence of two parties in the merrymaking ­ one who are rich, spending money for entertainment and the other who have no money to spend for such purposes, instead holding a drum (taiko-mochi) and beating it loudly with the sound of “don-don” to entertain the rich side.

DENGAJKU dance

The fourth reason has been allegedly traced to the traditional performing art handed down in Japan (a country whose economy had been based on agriculture focusing on rice farming from ancient times) ­ DENGAKU (which literally means “rice-field music”) which dates back to the Heian period (794 ­ 1185) when people engaged in rice farming carried out their very hard work of transplanting rice seedlings from the nursery into the main rice fields as an event of their village community, on which occasion its other male people danced and sang to the accompaniment of the musical instruments including drums (“taiko”) to help the rice seedlings transplanting workers cooperate in harmony and progress their hard tasks smoothly in what was the origin of “Dengaku”, leading the people merrily accompanying the dance and song to be called “Taiko-mochi”.

The above-mentioned major reasons are considered to have been combined with other various interesting accounts to cause “Houkan” to have come to be referred to as “Taikomochi”.

“Taikomochi” is a term rarely used at the present time, having lost its original meaning of serving as an intermediary between or among people to help develop an atmosphere for their better relations, except that it is occasionally used to express insultingly such a person that follows a person’s opinion in a servile manner without rebutting it at all.

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