“Ikusa: The Battle” is an original composition by taiko artist Walter Nishinaka. Conjuring the power and strengths of the warriors during the Genpei Wari (1180-1185), calligrapher artist Kuniharu Yoshida moves with the taiko beats to paint the character for “battle”, or ikusa 戦. The Genpei War was a civil war between the ruling warrior clan, the Heike, and their rivals, the Genji clan. This civil war is immortalized within the oral traditions passed through generations and later recorded as written texts known as The Tale of Heike, recalling the rise and fall of the Heike clan. Ikusa was presented in Shinseikai (2018), a production by Kabuki actor Nakamura Gankyo