Much like composers draw from Japanese aesthetics, composers likewise orchestrate works for saxophone with traditional Japanese instruments. Dai Fuijikura’s (b.1977) piece Bueno Ueno for soprano saxophone and taiko is an example of this practice. Written for saxophonist Kohei Ueno and taiko player Eitetsu Hayashi, Bueno Ueno evokes an imagined ritual space for
the saxophone and the taiko drum. In the performance notes, Fujikura explains that he wished to combine the ancient, symbolized by the taiko drums, and the new, symbolized by the soprano saxophone. 

In Canada, the performance of taiko is heavily related to the expression of Japanese Canadian identity and resistance to assimilation. Thus, Bueno Ueno, performed in this context, is an imagination of a ceremonial space that reflects the multiplicity of my Japanese Canadian