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Taiki Makino

Tsugaru shamisen player

Graduated from Keio University.

He started playing the Tsugaru shamisen at the age of four, and from the age of ten he studied under Kinoshita Shinichi, a player said to be a once-in-a-century genius.

He won the Junior Division of the Tsugaru Shamisen National Championship four times, and won the Grand Prize Division, the highest division for adults, when he was a high school freshman. At the World Championship, he won the Junior Division of the 33rd World Championship, and was the runner-up in the A class the following year.

In his hometown of Fuji City, Shizuoka Prefecture, he received the Education, Culture and Sports Encouragement Award and serves as a hometown public relations officer. He is active both domestically and internationally, performing at Nikko Toshogu Shrine, schools, and other venues across the country, and will perform in the United States in August 2024. Recently, he was awarded the ENCOURAGEMENT PUBLIC (an order officially recognized by the French government), becoming the youngest person to receive the award.

Taiki Makino
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