Taiko Miracles
Linda Tan

Linda Tan at the Washington Memorial, Washington DC.

Linda Tan has been an active Shumei youth member since she was five years old. She is now 24. Linda has served on the New York Center Advisory Board, also as a youth group coordinator, and currently coordinates Shumei America's New York City Taiko group.
If you ever attended a Japanese taiko drum performance, do you still remember how you felt the first time you heard the music? I will never forget the first time I saw my fellow Shumei youth members from California performing taiko on Kishima Island in the inland sea of Japan during our Shumei International Youth Camp.
The following originally appeared in the May/June 2008 issue of Shumei Magazine (#275).

I do not know where to begin describing how I felt about my experience, because this performance was special in so many ways. First, it was so beautiful. They were playing taiko in the open, fresh air with the ocean's waves as a backdrop. Kishima Island is one of Shumei's three sacred sites. It is my understanding that much of taiko's repertoire, its songs and music, were inspired by men playing drums on Japanese Islands, so the performance on Kishima Island seemed to take everyone back to one of taiko's origins.

At the same time, their performance had a particularly unconventional aspect. This had to do with the taiko players themselves. They were young, and at least half of them, if not the majority, were female. Since each youth group from all the different countries that participated in the International Youth Camp had to perform, I felt that this was a great representation of Shumei America. In Japan, females are not commonly encouraged to play taiko because it might be viewed as an un–ladylike activity. On the contrary, I felt that these young women players from America kept their femininity in their elegant body movements and form, while still exhibiting strength when they beat the drums. However, the beauty of it all is that no matter what the gender of the person playing taiko, I felt that every drumbeat was at one with nature. The taiko vibrations not only moved my heart, but allowed me to feel nature's heartbeat at the same time.

So you can imagine the sense of pride and honor that I felt to be affiliated with Shumei America and to be friends with these amazing taiko players from California. However, I never imagined that youth members from New York City, including myself, would have the opportunity to play taiko regularly. First of all, it is so difficult to find a place to play taiko where neighbors would not complain, and space is so expensive in New York City that we probably would not be able to afford a studio.

But I thank God that there were people who dared to dream great things and make it happen. Just to name a few, there was Peter Finn, Sensei Eugene Imai, Sensei Steven Tokunaga, Kenji Ban, Assistant Sensei Marina Tam, and many more.

So how did it all come together? Among our dedicated members, George and Maria Cho generously built an outdoor sound–reducing tent where we could practice taiko inside their Brooklyn garage. With monetary donations from Shumei New York members and the Shumei Arts Council of America, we were able to eventually purchase drums of our own (at a discount because members from Shumei's Crestone, Colorado Center personally made them). Before we had our own drums, Shumei Members from the Catskills graciously lent their drums for us to practice on. We were also fortunate to have the passionate master taiko artist, Koji Nakamura, as our teacher. He would fly all the way from Los Angeles to New York City for a weekend almost every month to hold workshops with us. And, of course, I cannot thank enough all of our parents for supporting us on a spiritual level and for just getting us to the taiko practice site.

Since our beginnings in late 2006, the New York City taiko players have performed at the annual New York Center Shumei Anniversary Celebration, the Catskill Festival, the Pennsylvania Energy Festival, and at the Washington D.C. Prayer Vigil. After each performance, someone would come up to us to express their gratitude for sharing the taiko experience with them. Some of their gratitude was overwhelming and unexpected. Once, a pregnant lady came up to us crying after a performance in Washington D.C. She told us that she could feel the energy and vibrations created from our bodies and our drums moving down and healing the earth, and then rising up into her body to heal her soul. At that moment, I suddenly realized that playing taiko meant something so much more than I had thought. Initially, I joined the group simply because it looked like it would be fun to play taiko, to support my fellow New York players, and to be part of the Shumei America taiko players, whom I very much admired. But now I realize what a powerful impact taiko can have on others, and understand the greater purpose of Shumei taiko, which is to cleanse, move, and heal the people who encounter the fundamental and pure drum beat of taiko and the energy created by the players through their drums.

As I will never forget the first time I saw a taiko performance, I will never forget the first time I played taiko for someone who was experiencing this music for the very first time.