Tōsha Roei

Who is Tōsha Roei?

Tōsha Roei is a Japanese percussionist in the tradition of traditional Japanese drama and dance. A member of the Tōsha school or lineage of musicians, he is classically trained in performing percussion for the Noh theatre, but performs in a wider variety of contexts. He is a founding member of the Tricycle, a group which brings together musicians and performers from a variety of traditional Japanese forms.

Roei studied under Tōsha Seiko and Tōsha Rosen VI, sixth iemoto of the school. He was formally accepted into the school and took on the name Tōsha Roei after graduating from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1989. He now heads the hayashi at the National Theater in Tokyo, a position he has held since 1995. Though his particular specialty is the tsuzumi, in this role he must show his superior ability in ōtsuzumi, taiko and other drums, along with flutes and all the myriad whistles, bells, and other instruments used by the hayashi. Roei also plays a number of other instruments, including biwa, koto, and piano.

He was presented with the Award of the Foundation for the Development of Traditional Japanese Culture in 2006.