Kioto ​Aoki is the 5th generation of the Toyoakimoto house, an okiya (geisha house) performing arts family from Tokyo with roots dating back to the Edo period. Standing on the professional stage from the age of 7, and studying under father Tatsu Aoki (Toyoaki Sanjuro), she continues the family legacy as musician on taiko and tsuzumi, and using her stage name Toyoaki Chitose (豊秋千東勢) when on shamisen. Working within traditional and experimental contexts as a second generation Japanese American, Aoki sustains this traditional music lineage traversing geographical and cultural boundaries.

Aoki's playing is informed by the Japanese aesthetics of ma and emphasizes the melodic phrasing of space and choreography to reorient the notion of percussion as mere rhythm. Her stoic, durational explorations elicit soundscapes that oscillate between the organic textures of live performance and sonic nuances of cyclical, droning sustain. Aoki maintains a balance of retaining the artistic and aesthetic integrity of traditional Japanese music with a contemporary sensibility that extends beyond the measures of cultural preservation bringing taiko to the contemporary artistic ecologies of music, sound and performance.

Musical projects and performances include Experimental Sound Studio’s Sonic Pavilion Festival at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion, the Soundtrack series at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Tatsu Aoki’s The MIYUMI Project, Yoko Ono’s SKYLANDING, 24 Hour Drone Festival '24, The Reduction Ensemble, the Taiko Legacy / Reduction series, solo and collaborative album recordings. Aoki also leads Tsukasa Taiko, the Japanese drumming program at Asian Improv aRts Midwest and is active within the experimental and creative music communities in Chicago and the Bay Area.