Illusion of Knowledge.

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”  - Stephen Hawking.

There's a program called Brain Games on TV that talks about...well, the brain.  One segment focused on how the brain fills in the blanks of all the things we don't know about, called the Illusion of Knowledge.  It's a coping mechanism, a way for us to not feel inadequate about all the things we don't know.  When you really think about it, there's a ton of things each of us doesn't know.  How does this work?  What keeps that together?  Where do those things come from?

They used the example of drawing a bicycle, or explaining how a zipper works.  I'll bet you know what a bicycle looks like, but drawing one?  And I'd bet you've all used a zipper, but can you describe exactly how it works?

So let's look at taiko with this in mind...

How do you raise your arm for a strike?  How do you initiate a strike?  Where are you striking on the drum?  How do you let the bachi move in your hand on impact?  What are your fingers doing at that moment?  Where is your center of balance?  What are your feet doing?

Those who teach the most often tend to have thought about this stuff the most, but not always.  Sometimes it's the students who are putting more thought into things!

It's one thing to not know how to do something, but it's another thing to assume you know how it's done.  How much of your art do you really know?