All the songs are Chinese-style melodies, composed by Taiwanese group 采風楽坊 (cai fong yue fang), which is currently affiliated to Mugwort Music Inc., hence the 'mgwrt' bit in the SongID for each of the group's songs in Taiko games. For more information on the group, you can visit this website.
Kikyoku songs are on the higher end of the difficulty scale on Oni, and is one of the only Namco Original song series to consistently have Ura charts for all of its songs.
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 -Kikyoku series- | ||
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Kikyoku ~Seasons of Asia~ (季曲 ～Seasons of Asia～)| Version |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All arcade, Taiko Wii 1, 2, 4, Taiko iOS | x3 (155) | x5 (240) | x5 (343) | x7 (536) |
| Taiko PSP 2 | x3 (155) | x5 (240) | x5 (343) | x8 (536) |
Taiko 11, Taiko 0, Taiko Wii 1, 2, 4, Taiko PSP 2, Taiko iOS, CD 2008
150
none
mgwrtThe first in the series, debuted on Taiko 11, then ported to both Taiko Wii 1 and 2, and was part of the special commemorative download packs for Taiko Portable 2. A beautiful flute melody with elements of rock music in it (as with the rest of the series). The Chinese letters mean 'Song of Seasons'. Rather surprisingly, when everyone had thought this song was wiped out for good after being in just one arcade, it shows up again in the new HD machine, with no difficulty revisions made to it.
The chart is typical 7* fare with 1/16 notes almost everywhere, and much potential to contain many more notes, hence the Ura.
Kikyoku ~Seasons of Asia~ (季曲 ～Seasons of Asia～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All arcade, Taiko iOS | x8 (763) | |||
| All console | x5 (240,211,182) | x7 (347,307,276) | x8 (536,461,394) | x8 (763) |
Taiko 11, Taiko 0, Taiko Wii 2, 4, Taiko iOS 150 none exmgwrThis Ura difficulty wasn't in Taiko Wii 1 nor available for PSP2 download. It's a slightly harder version of regular Oni, and as with most other Ura difficulties, Kantan, Futsuu and Muzukashii were created by taking the notes from a higher difficulty level and shoving them into the lower one, in Master Notes (with the remaining two paths being slightly simpler versions of those charts). You can't help but feel that regular Oni becomes really simple after playing through this, it's a lot more fitting for the song's rhythm, but stops two notes short from having a Nam-combo.
The offset (the point in time to start counting beats) is a bit late in Taiko Wii 2, making all the notes off-beat by a little. It's strange because the regular Kikyoku had perfect timing, while the Ura Oni didn't, even though they both use the same music. Ura Kikyoku doesn't have bad timing anywhere else.
Chikuzei~ GEAR UP~ (蓄勢～GEAR UP～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 12, 12.5, Taiko Wii 2, Taiko iOS | x4 (154) | x6 (278) | x7 (515) | x8 (654) |
| Taiko 0 Mu | x3 (154) | x5 (278) | x6 (515) | x7 (654) |
Taiko 12, 12.5, Taiko 0 Mu, Taiko Wii 2, Taiko iOS, CD Donderful 146 none mgwrt2First released on Taiko 12 alongside its Ura counterpart, then later ported to 12.5 and Taiko Wii 2. Much louder and energetic than Kikyoku, but utilizing the same type of flute/rock melody. The Chinese letters mean 'Storage/Accumulation of power'.
The chart is once again unremarkable, with 3-note clusters typical of an 8* Oni chart.
Chikuzei~ GEAR UP~ (蓄勢～GEAR UP～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 12, 12.5, Taiko 0 Mu Taiko iOS | x8 (765) | |||
| Taiko Wii 2 | x5 (266,197,154) | x7 (498,370,278) | x8 (644,570,515) | x8 (765) |
Taiko 12, 12.5, Taiko 0 Mu, Taiko Wii 2, Taiko iOS 146 none exmgw2More note-intensive than regular Oni, but not much has changed here, Chikuzei Ura is still an 8* Oni. One of the few songs in the series with the Nam-Combo (765). Neither Chikuzei nor its Ura difficulty was seen outside of the Taiko 12 generation games, consoles included.
Zeihen ~transformation~ (蛻変~transformation~)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13, 14, Wii 3 | x3 (142) | x4 (224) | x6 (357) | x7 (471) |
| 0 Mu | x3 (142) | x5 (224) | x6 (357) | x7 (471) |
Taiko 13, 14, Taiko 0 Mu, Taiko Wii 3, CD Full Combo 120 none mgwrt3Third song in the Kikyoku series, Zeihen is slower and more graceful than the first two. Is also the first Kikyoku series song to be hidden away in the arcade until a secret unlock code was given out (which was given much, much later after Taiko 13's launch). The letter '蛻' in Japanese is pronounced 'monuke', but not in this phrase. It means to come out of a closed space (like a cocoon) and transform. So basically the title refers to 'metamorphosis'.
An average 7* Oni chart, and the first Kikyoku song to have extensive 2-note clusters and handswitch patterns in its chart.
Zeihen ~transformation~ (蛻変~transformation~)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All arcade | x8 (579) | |||
| All console | x5 (227) | x6 (306) | x7 (423) | x8 (579) |
Taiko 13, 14, Taiko 0 Mu, Taiko Wii 3 120 none exmgw3More note-intensive and replaces all of the short, large drumrolls in regular Oni. Ura makes Zeihen a lot harder, with many changing clusters that may confuse the average player.
Shunyuu ~happy excursion~ (春遊 ～happy excursion～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 14, 0 | x4 (180) | x5 (213) | x7 (437) | x8 (572) |
| Taiko 0.5 onwards | x4 (180) | x5 (213) | x7 (437) | x7 (572) |
| Taiko Wii 3 | x4 (180) | x5 (213) | x6 (437) | x8 (572) |
Taiko 14, Taiko 0, Taiko Wii 3, CD Donderful 140 none mgwrt4A joyful entry in the Kikyoku series for the 14th Taiko arcade game. The graceful rhythm of the song is well covered with intuitive beat patterns and simple beat streams. The Chinese letters of the title mean 'Spring Outing'. Harder than Zeihen, and closer to the difficulty level of Chikuzei, the 2nd song in the series.
Shunyuu ~happy excursion~ (春遊 ～happy excursion～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiko 14 | x9 (700) | |||
| Taiko 0 onwards | x8 (700) | |||
| Taiko Wii 3 | x4 (221) | x6 (276) | x8 (407) | x9 (700) |
| Taiko 14, 0 (2P) | x9 (393 / 377) (video) | |||
| Taiko Wii 3 (2P) | x4 (221 / 209) | x6 (276 / 264) | x8 (312 / 304) | x9 (393 / 377) (video) |
Taiko 14, Taiko 0, Taiko Wii 3 140 none exmgw4Shunyuu's Ura Oni sets a precedent for the series. Not only is it the first Ura Oni in this series to be introduced to a console Taiko first, it also breaks free from the difficulty range of 7*-8*. At 9*, Shunyuu Ura is the hardest song in the Kikyoku series, with lots of unending note streams not usually seen in a song like this and lots of big notes. Until Taiko 0 rolled by to set it straight back down.
It has a duet notechart when played with 2 players, the first in the Kikyoku series, on all versions involved. However, this duet chart was handled quite peculiarly in Taiko Wii 3, where Players 1 and 3 used the P1 chart while Players 2 and 4 handled the P2 chart. This is also seen in the Haunted House and Pirate Don-chan minigames.
Tanhou ～Blooming～ (綻放 ～Blooming～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x3 (136) | x5 (205) | x6 (361) | x7 (445) |
Taiko 0, Taiko Wii 5, CD Full Combo 172 none mgwrt5The title can be pronounced two ways, 'tanhou' or 'tanpou' because as said before on the top, this is not a common phrase in Japanese and is more of a Chinese title, however it has recently been confirmed to be pronounced 'tanhou'. Musical styles from both Kikyoku and Zeihen are mixed to create the fastest Kikyoku song.
The note clusters in Tanhou are quite scarcely placed because of the BPM, and it has the lowest note count in the series, with the longest break time in between the chart.
Tanhou ～Blooming～ (綻放 ～Blooming～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x8 (585) |
Taiko Wii 5, Taiko 0 S 172 none exmgw5For more than a year, Tanhou was known as the easiest Kikyoku song and also the only one with no Ura. However the tradition is not ready to be broken! Taiko Wii 5 finally introduced a Ura Oni to this song as well as roping in its other sibling, Kayou, to the console Taiko scene. The improved 8* notechart offers quite a decent challenge to the song, but the notecount is still smaller than the other Ura Oni charts in this series simply because of the long breaks taken in the middle of Tanhou.
Kayou ~Flourishing Blossoms~ (花漾~Flourishing Blossoms~)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x3 (126) | x4 (176) | x5 (276) | x7 (453) |
Taiko 0.5, Taiko PSP DX, Taiko Wii 5, CD Full Combo 140 none mgwrt7One of the few songs which was released in a soundtrack CD (the Full Combo soundtrack) before being playable, and the only one in this series to do so, Kayou ~Flourishing Blossoms~ was released as a downloadable song for Taiko PSP DX. The translation of the Chinese phrase matches the English one perfectly, similar to Tanhou.
Its jazzy vibes makes for a significant difference in music style from the earlier Kikyoku songs without straying from its origin of being traditional Chinese music, like a perfect east-west fusion song. The chart is a dense 7* Oni with clusters and streams resembling the one in Chikuzei ~GEAR UP~. Too bad the song is fairly short though.
Since this is the sixth Kikyoku song released so far, Kayou's ID code (mgwrt7) hints at the future release of another song for the series.
Kayou ~Flourishing Blossoms~ (花漾~Flourishing Blossoms~)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x9 (541) |
Taiko 0.5, Taiko Wii 5 140 none exmgw7Kayou's regular chart was introduced on a console Taiko, however its Ura did not appear until a few months later on the HD Taiko. It has the lowest notecount of all the Uras in this series because of its short length, but there is a very good variety of clusters and handswitch streams, even more than Shunyuu Ura had. The 1/24 clusters just heightens the difficulty even more.
Shokou ~Dawn~ (曙光 ～Dawn～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x4 (184) | x5 (270) | x7 (427) | x7 (527) |
Taiko 0 R, Taiko Wii U, Taiko + 130 none mgwrt6Entry No.7 for this series marks the return of a more traditional Chinese music style from the experimental instruments used in Kayou. The Chinese characters in the song represents the sunlight seen as soon as it just rises or sets, creating visible rays of red/orange light. It was released first for Taiko Wii U.
Another 7* Oni challenge is packed for this song. It's particularly dense with lots of note clusters, and there are some tough bits too, like the long note stream in the middle of the song. Overall it's still quite relaxed, given the low BPM.
Shokou ~Dawn~ (曙光 ～Dawn～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x8 (614) |
Taiko 0 R, Taiko Wii U, Taiko + 130 none exmgw6It seems like no Kikyoku song can go without a Ura chart, as this tiring unlock on Taiko Wii U (850,000 on the Taiko counter!) proves. This Ura is about the same in density as its regular chart, but with a more complex rhythm involving lots of 2-note clusters and repetitive sets of handswitch streams at the end of the song.
Chouren ~Obsession~ (蝶戀 ～Obsession～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x3 (123) | x4 (171) | x4 (283) | x7 (445) |
Taiko 0 W, Taiko Wii U 2 116 none mgwrt8The second Kikyoku song in a row to be released on a console Taiko, and also the second in a row to be exclusive to it too. The kanji chosen for the title is really complex; look at all the strokes on the second letter! That is almost less of a Japanese kanji (unlike, say, Koibumi 2000's 恋 character) and more of a Chinese character.
Rightly so, 'Chouren', literally meaning 'Butterfly Love', refers to the legendary Chinese tragic love tale of Liang Shanbo (梁山伯) and Zhu Yingtai (祝英台). Liang and Zhu first met at a school when Zhu disguised as a man to receive education. After long being in 'brotherhood', Liang has developed deep love for Zhu when she finally reveals to be a woman. Yet, the pair face great opposition from both families and nature, only reunited over death and whose spirits turn into a pair of butterflies. With that source legend, the title bears a meaning of deep love, corresponding to the English word 'obsession'.
Like a typical romantic melody, Chouren is very slow; at BPM 116, it's the slowest song in the Kikyoku series, edging out previous leader Zeihen by 4 BPM.
The 7* Oni starts out easy, but contains many 2 and 4 note clusters from the middle onwards, progressing to some simple streams in the end, including one with handswitch.
Chouren ~Obsession~ (蝶戀 ～Obsession～)| Version | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | x8 (553) |
Taiko 0 W, Taiko Wii U 2 116 none exmgw8Chouren Ura is a rather unique Ura in the series, as it is the first to have completely different beats from its regular Oni, and with extra scrolling speed too (x1.5). The 1/16 clusters are now spaced father apart, and taking its place are 1/24 clusters—lots of them. Adding to the spice are 1/48 clusters, some of the most scarcely-used spacing in Taiko history due to how dense they are; these are only seen in low-BPM charts like this and Toryu Ura. The 1/48 clusters here are the 6th densest in Taiko history, above FLOWER (Ura)!
Watch out for the crazy variety of beat spacings at the end of the song!
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