What is Yamatai’s history?
Yamatai was founded in 2006 by Cornell undergraduate Haruki Yukawa ‘09 and Eva Kestner ’09. Eva Kestner served as the Musical Director until 2009 while Haruki served as the President until 2008.
With the help of Kobayashi-sensei of Bonten, a professional taiko drumming group based in Japan, Yamatai was able to get off the ground in 2006. Kobayashi-sensei brought drums and helped make sticks, stands, and taught a master class for the inaugural Yamatai class. Yamatai has been playing Bonten pieces along with traditional taiko pieces ever since. More recently, Yamatai has incorporated individual compositions into its repertoire.