Patti Jo "PJ" Hirabayashi is one of the pioneers of the North American Taiko movement.
11 Facts About PJ Hirabayashi
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PJ Hirabayashi is the founder of TaikoPeace, President of Kodo Arts Sphere America, and co-founder of Creatives for Compassionate Communities-a grassroots art-ivist group originating in San Jose, California.
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PJ Hirabayashi is the Artistic Director Emeritus and charter member of San Jose Taiko, the third taiko group to form in the United States.
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PJ Hirabayashi's signature composition, "Ei Ja Nai Ka", is a celebration of immigrant life expressed in taiko drumming, dance, and voice that continues to be performed around the world.
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PJ Hirabayashi was born on May 18,1950, in San Rafael, California.
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PJ Hirabayashi is a third-generation Japanese and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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PJ Hirabayashi attended Irvington High School where she would study piano and guitar in addition to dance.
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PJ Hirabayashi then transferred to University of California, Berkeley with a Social Science major where she focused on Asian-American studies.
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PJ Hirabayashi began to get involved in the early formations of San Jose Taiko in 1973 through Roy Hirabayashi whom she met in 1969 during her years at CSU Hayward.
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When she returned to San Jose State in 1973 she was able to get involved with taiko because Roy PJ Hirabayashi had just started San Jose Taiko.
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PJ Hirabayashi holds other various awards pertaining to her artistry and her preservation work in San Jose Japantown, including the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.