In 2012 the founders of Mugenkyo, Neil Mackie & Miyuki Williams celebrated 20 years since starting on their Taiko path; a journey which began in Japan witha fateful meeting with their inspirational teacher, to establishing and developing the first professional touring taiko group in Europe, performing across the world & founding the UK's first Taiko Centre, the Mugen Taiko Dojo.
 
The year's celebrations started with a summer tour of Japan, of which two dates were recorded for this CD: a concert with their original teacher Masaaki Kurumaya Sensei and his group Hibiki Taiko at the Kazenomori Hall in Fukui, and the Extasia Festival in Matto, representing European Taiko at one of the most prestigious taiko festivals in Japan.
 
In this monumental year, Mugenkyo toured several times, including two UK tours with the New York flautist Nobuko Miyazaki, whose distinctive playing style of both the shinobue bamboo flute and western flute feature on this album.
 
The year climaxed with a concert at the King's Theatre, Glasgow with Masaaki Kurumaya Sensei invited especially from Japan. The concert recordings which have been included in this CD span from the very traditional roots to the very modern.
 
The title of the track “Kaikigenyo" celebrates the shining start of a new 20-year cycle. In Shintoism, the indigenous religion of Japan, the grand shrine of Ise Jingu is completely destroyed and rebuilt once every 20 years, in a ritual that signifies a return to the beginning and the re-invigoration of the spirit. This concept of "eternal return", the cyclical nature of time and constant spiritual renewal recurs in many cultures, from South Asian philosophy to ancient Egypt, to the alchemical symbol of Ouroboros to Nietzsche.
 
This album represents the start of a new cycle of “eternal return" for Mugenkyo, continuing
the concept behind the meaning of the group's name: "limitless reverberation".