TENDING TO TAIKO
By Pear Urushima
As artists, musicians, collaborators, and spouses who’ve achieved a rare milestone of tending to a unique genre of music, taiko, for the past 50 years, PJ and Roy Hirabayashi will say they’re on a continuum, still learning and growing together.
This year marks their anniversary of five decades of playing taiko (the Japanese drum) and using it as a platform for social change and building community. Their collective energy is genuinely engraved in San Jose, being residents of the San Jose Japantown area since the 1970s and leading the consummate San Jose Taiko performing arts group for 38 years starting in 1973.
They share a few words of wisdom and what they’ve learned over the years.