I just finished this illustration! =D It took 3 days...
This pic is a gift for my friend.
The characters depicted are from my manga. Left to right: Yuudai, Junichi & Kagekiri.

Taiko is Japanese for "big drum", they are traditionally made out of stretched horse or cow hide & the drum is a hollowed out Zelcova tree. Now taiko is made out of wine barrrels instead to keep the cost down, but still produces a deep thunderous roar. The sticks used to strike taiko are called Bachi & are made out of Oak usually. Bachi, unlike Western drumsticks, do not tapper at the end but are strait.

I love playing taiko! It's very fun ^_^ Here are some videos I was hired to film for Stony Brook's Sakura Matsuri 2009 HERE.