<Begin Segment 19>

TI: Your role, in terms of, when you think of your role in the evolution and development of San Jose Taiko, how, how would you describe it?

PJH: Cheerleader, mom. [Laughs] I mean, that's just kind of like on the side. Again, probably the spirit, emotion... movement.

Tom Izu: The happy taiko part, do you, did that really resonate with you?

PJH: Oh, yes.

Tom Izu: The impact it has on people?

PJH: I think so, yeah. I don't think so; I believe so. [Laughs]

Tom Izu: You, you added a lot, do you think? In terms of movement and present, presentation, that's what I'm trying to say.

PJH: Yes. I --

TI: The choreography is almost, when I think of San Jose Taiko...

PJH: Yeah, I definitely that that has been kind of one of my focuses, because I just don't want to be static drummer, and it's not just like being in a symphony orchestra, playing your music statically. Yeah. Your body, my realization is like your body is an instrument as well, and it's not the person and the taiko instrument, but this is the taiko instrument, your body and the drum is taiko. So how to optimize the possibilities of, and potential of, like, expression through understanding the body was, has been kind of like my focus. Introduction of dance has definitely been something that I've been advocating. Creating a dance almost to reflect that feeling of Chris and Joanne, back in the mid '90s I created a dance called Eijinaika and it included drumming and a dance. Over time I've increased more through collaborating and networking out to expand the possibility of, like, this dance becoming more embodied, not only for repertoire for San Jose Taiko, but how to use it for other taiko goups. We were the first taiko group to create public domain material and Eijinaika was the first one to be shared with any group that wanted to learn it and play.

Also, I wanted to layer it, but it was, like, a matter of years later, I had another collaboration with Joanne Miyamoto who's now Nobuko and another friend from Kodo, Yoko Fujimoto, and we created a collaboration called the Triangle Project back in 2000. And it's kind of on hiatus now, but our last program or performances ended in 2006, but when we got together we wanted to create more dance, like for the community. I wanted Yoko to create a song to accompany, to accompany my dance, so she created Eijinaika song. And then from about 2004, '05, Reiko Iwanaga, the dance teacher for San Jose Obon, just asked out of the clear blue, "Does San Jose Taiko have anything you might want to dance?" And I showed her a couple dances. "I want that one." So Eijinaika has been danced for the last six years or so, and it's just amazing to see how, because I love chidoriban, but chidoriban, there's no taiko presence. Taiko for Eijinaika, that's all there is, and song, singing. So seeing people just dance and seeing little kids just really get into, I mean everybody, it's just, like, really overpowering. I go, now this is community building, and that's what I feel that is kind of like my, my mission, my personal mission, and San Jose Taiko mission too, like how to create a sense of community and building community, how to extend through the ripple effect through music, through the taiko. And I think this is just one way to do it.

Tom Izu: Through your, the song that you put together with the dance part is now an official Obon dance, right?

PJH: Yes, and now it's like about five other temples.

Tom Izu: Spreading all over.

PJH: Yeah, it's starting, too.

TI: Well, and this, and this concept for taiko of sunshine and movement, I see this in the other taiko groups in the United States, in how it's evolved over time. I think it does come from you and San Jose Taiko. I mean, it's a very powerful, again, the sense of community is so powerful, so, so one, thank you for that. That's, it's pretty amazing. And what about the impact in Japan? Do you see some of this sunshine and movement happening --

PJH: Absolutely. It's crazy. Yeah, kind of like this parallel evolution and thinking that it's, everything's coming from Japan for inspiration, so wow, they're making drums now, you know. It's very interesting. 1999, at the Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Professor Tanada who actually is a ethnomusicologist, he got his degree -- oh, do, do you know him? He was living in Seattle.

TI: No, I...

PJH: Yeah, and anyway, he is a curator at the, at the museum and he was the first to curate a North American taiko exhibit. And actually I was able to see that in 1999 and Yumi Ishihara, another member, and I went there and we did a presentation in English and terrible Japanese and a little performance with the opening of the exhibit. But then the exhibit here at JANM in 2005 is kind of like now starting to grow, that... really interesting. From that, even in '99 there was some small groups that wanted to make their own drum. We gave them, like the recipe of how to make our wine barrel taiko.

TI: So that must be really rewarding to, I mean, I know we talked about the early days you felt like maybe you were just taking and maybe even was that even appropriate, to the point where you're helping to evolve the whole art on, on both sides of the Pacific. And so, I'm not sure if that was an original plan or vision, but it must be really rewarding.

PJH: It's rewarding in that coming as a community organizer, builder, there's kind of a sense of recognition that it's not just about one aspect moving forward. It's just the dynamics of how things come together to make things happen, and yeah, it, but my ego would say, yeah, that's San Jose Taiko right there. Or to see humor in, in a performance, it's like, wow, you never would've seen that before.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.