Heart of the 4 Principles
BY PJ HIRABAYASHI
First of all, I’m so humbled and grateful that the 4 Principles of taiko drumming have been adopted so far and wide around the world.
For those of you new to the principles, let me briefly explain what they are and how they came to be. The 4 principles are Ki—energy, Kata—movements, Attitude, and Musical Technique. They represent a structure for approaching the taiko art form broken down into key elements. You’ll notice two of the principles are in English and two in Japanese, this is by design. When these principles were created, there was purposeful intention around paying respect to both the Japanese and Japanese-American origins of taiko.
In our first year of San Jose Taiko (SJT), we were a batch of curious and passionate individuals coming together to jam on our home-made wine-barrel taiko. In our second year, nine core members were invited to learn taiko fundamentals from Seiichi Tanaka, sensei of San Francisco Taiko Dojo. His martial teaching style was to just play/no talk and be disciplined with a physical rebuff. After one year studying with him, he graciously let us go to focus on our own development in San Jose.
Since Tanaka-sensei had no written philosophy for us to refer to; we had to figure out how to articulate what we experientially learned from him. From our blood, sweat, and tears, the 4 Principles were born with the focused direction and drive to create something simple and relatable. And because we had no SJT sensei or leader, we worked together as a collective and rotated leadership to follow the 4 Principles.
It was equally important to build our 4 Principles around an organizational structure that was equitable, efficient, and sustainable—where every member was empowered to work and play cooperatively with each other. The 4 Principles became the guideposts for all SJT performing members.
When SJT evolved to have an Artistic Director, the group-collective underpinnings were still intact, but it was my responsibility to put the necessary practice and performance structures in place. I could never envision what the impact of the 4 Principles would be all these years later.
For 38 years with SJT and even now, I have dedicated myself to embodying each of those 4 principles. You might say I’ve walked my talk. If you’ve heard that the 4 Principles are from Japan, then I hope my summary has clarified the correct US origin for you. You might ask - how can I fully embrace the 4 Principles? And my answer is, with joy, with rigor, with courage, and with dedication. And don’t forget to have fun in the process!
If you or your group practices the 4 Principles of taiko drumming, please do so with respect, with reverence, and Ganbatte (perseverance)!
San Jose Taiko will always be the home of the 4 Principles and you can visit their website for more information.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PJ Hirabayashi is the Artistic Director Emeritus of San Jose Taiko and founder of TaikoPeace.
