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TENDING TO TAIKO

 

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.

“We are thankful for all that taiko has taught us and for the opportunity to give back what we’ve learned.”

As third-generation Japanese Americans… 

 “We were youths in the 60s and 70s struggling to find our identity as Japanese Americans amidst the barriers of racism and other boiling human rights issues. Taiko gave us a tool to be loud. We used taiko in the spirit of being activists for our liberation and expression.”

As 50-year culture bearers and historians of taiko… 

 “Practicing mutual respect and support for each other develops a level of comfort and intuition, a sixth sense that expresses itself through wordless interactions. This is the heart of taiko—to unlock our individual and collective potential.”

“Our biggest accomplishment is community.”

As former performing taiko ensemble performers… 

 “Blurring the lines between the artist and audience became a part of our aesthetic. To be accessible to the audience before and after a performance was key to our taiko experience, making us better performers and better community connectors.”

As instructors and mentors of taiko… 

 “We’ve seen countless players transform through taiko and oftentimes it’s simply when they play authentically and freely. They give themselves permission to take risks to explore and create.”

As committed community stakeholders and proud residents of San José…