A legendary Taiko group is facing closure after its landlord nearly tripled its rent, reports NBC Bay Area.
Grandmaster Seiichi Tanaka founded San Francisco’s Taiko Dojo in 1968, bringing a 2,000-year-old Japanese tradition to the United States.
“When the new owners came in, they pretty much said, this is the market rate, and you have 30 days, either you pay the market rate or you get out,” said Ryuma Tanaka, the grandmaster’s son.
The group currently pays $2700 per month.
“At first I thought they we were crazy, they were playing games on us, they were just trying to scare us, this big number,” Ryuma Tanaka told ABC7 News.
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The group has been given until the end of this month to get out. It’s holding a fundraiser in hopes of keeping the group together.
So far its raised $46,000 in just three days.
According to SFist, SF Taiko Dojo is not only the first Taiko group in the United States, its also the first to allow women and non-Asians to join the group.
Last weekend’s performance could have been the group’s last.
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Can we get the name of the new building owner?