Born in Tokyo in 1964, Ryutaro become a member of Kodo in 1987.

Since that time, he has been one of Kodo's featured performers and has performed with the group in twenty-four different countries. In addition to performing, Ryutaro has composed and arranged songs for the group, conducted workshops, and served as artistic director for the Earth Celebration International Arts Festival in 1994, 1996, 1997, and 1998.



In 1991 he toured around Africa with "San-nin Gurui," a small percussion group made up of Ryu and two other Kodo players. Since 1996, he has started to do more solo projects in addition to his normal performance schedule with Kodo.



In the past he has done impromptu sessions with Toru Iwashita (dance) and Aja Addy (African Drum). He also has conducted workshops for musicians, dancers and music students at the University of Michigan and UCLA in the United States, Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, and Osaka's Kawauchi Nagano Lovely Hall.