A taiko drum is a traditional Japanese instrument as well as the name of the performance using said drum. The drums come in countless shapes and sizes and are used in various performances, predominantly during Japanese cultural festivals. Performers will play the drums in rhythm using drum sticks called bachi which likewise come in a variety of shapes and sizes based on the drum. It is common for taiko drummers to yell to keep themselves and each other in time, indicate a change in tempo, or simple encouragement. When practicing, taiko players can use onomatopoeia to indicate when and where to hit the drum, since traditional sheet music isn't really used in Taiko. For example, the onomatopoeia "don" indicates hitting the center of the drum while "ka" indicates hitting the side of the drum, among other chants.
Taiko has been a notable part of Japan's storied history for many many many years and as such there are tons of different variations of both the drums and the performances depending on the region. The drums have been in Japan's history dating back to 588 CE and were even used as war drums to motivate troops and send marching orders. Taiko is truly a cornerstone of Japanese culture and is quite fascinating to read about!
Below is an example of a taiko performance!
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Now lets talk about the game series this whole damn page is dedicated to! ;DDDD
Taiko no Tatsujin is a Japanese arcade rhythm game published by Namco initially released in 2001. The game is extremely popular in Japanese arcades and gameplay consists of hitting a giant taiko drum the the rhythm of a song with drumsticks. The game is known for its quirky Japanese festival theming, drum controller and its wide range of musical genres to play to! There are only two note types, red notes (don) which you need to hit the center of the drum to input, and blue notes (ka) which are input when you hit the side of the drum. There are various ports of the games to home consoles. If you can think of one released past 2001 there is likely a taiko game on the system.
Each release had a different tracklist but generally there are a few consistent genres such as Pop, Classical, Variety, Game Music, Anime, and Namco Originals. Within these catigorizations tracks will range from a wide variety of Japanese and more recently American pop songs, to the Lucky Star OP, to the borderline experimental original 2000 series of songs, to the fucking ABCs. xD I believe that the wide variety of songs, overwhelmingly Japanese theming, simple yet hard to master gameplay and unique art makes Taiko no Tatsujin such a great rhythm game!
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which you need to hit the center of the drum to input, and blue notes (ka) 
which are input when you hit the side of the drum. There are various ports of the games to home consoles. If you can think of one released past 2001 there is likely a taiko game on the system.
