​In the fall of my sophomore year at Swarthmore College, I took a Taiko class for the first time and was immediately hooked. The following semester, I went on to join Swarthmore’s Taiko troupe. In Taiko, both the auditory and visual aspects of the performance are important, meaning that it makes physical as well as mental demands upon the body. I found that this combination energized me and heightened my concentration—something which I very much appreciated and that I was loath to give up upon deciding to study abroad. Luckily, KCJS has a long-standing relationship with a Taiko Association sponsored by Kitano Tenmangu (a large shrine not too far away from Doshisha University). When it came time for us to choose our Community Involvement Project (CIP) placements, I knew immediately that I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to continue practicing Taiko and hopefully improve my skill level.

​The first time I went to Kitano Tenmangu for Taiko practice, the other KCJS students and I were very nervous. We arrived half an hour early and ended up sitting awkwardly in the practice room and making stilted conversation with the Taiko Association teacher. Later, I found out that he was quite personable and relatively approachable, but at the time he seemed very intimidating to talk to. I think a lot of that had to do with our own nervousness. Nervousness is probably unavoidable in those sorts of situations, but I would just recommend trying to interact with the people at your CIP as much as possible. Hopefully interacting with them and gaining a sense of familiarity will help ease that nervousness as fast as possible.Now, as I approach the end of my time as a member of the Taiko Association, I do feel as though I have developed a rapport with some of the Japanese members. The children, in particular, are happy to talk and joke around (especially if the topic in question is Pokemon) now that they have gotten used to me. The adults, while always incredibly welcoming, are more difficult to get to know, but taking advantage of the relaxed atmosphere of group dinners is a good way to do so. I would recommend always taking part in group dinners if you at all have the time.

Having been involved in Taiko groups both in my home institution and in Japan, I have noticed several differences in the ways in which they run. That is not to say that American Taiko groups function in a certain way and Japanese Taiko groups function in some other way. Rather, Swarthmore’s Taiko troupe functions in a very different way than Kitano Tenmangu’s Taiko Association and, as it is possible that future students may be coming from a Taiko group similar to Swarthmore’s, I feel that it may be of some value to share the differences I have noted. First, the Taiko Association here is significantly larger than the troupe I was a part of back home. During the semester I was involved in Swarthmore’s Taiko troupe, there were seven members (including the teacher) and only five of the seven were full-time members. However, Kitano Tenmangu’s Taiko Association has forty members on paper and about twenty-five or so will show up to a given practice or performance. In addition, unlike a college troupe, the Taiko Association includes members as young as eight and as old as around forty-five. By far the most difficult aspect of the Taiko Association to get used to was the fact that there are very few practices compared to performances. Swarthmore’s Taiko troupe practices for three hours a week every week throughout the semester and then performs once or twice. In contrast, during the semester I participated in the Taiko Association, there were only two practices. On the other hand, there were performances almost every week. While this made for many opportunities to perform, I was a bit frustrated by the lack of opportunities to learn the songs so that we could perform. However, despite the lack of formal practice sessions, we did manage to learn one of the songs well enough to perform during the shrine’s annual foliage season. One the other hand, precisely because there were few practices, I fear it would have been next to impossible for someone without any Taiko experience to both learn the basics of Taiko and pick up the rhythms of one or two songs on the fly. Two KCJS students who did not have Taiko experience participated in one or two of the Taiko Association events before deciding to switch CIP placements. To be honest, I would have done the same in their position. For any beginners who are interested in pursuing Taiko with the Kitano Tenmangu Taiko Association, I would recommend figuring out how frequently they plan to hold practices as early as possible and making your final decision based on this information. In the end, joining the Kitano Tenmangu Taiko association has been a very fruitful experience for me, both in terms of Taiko practice and in terms of the inter-personal relationships built. Nevertheless, I think that CIP experiences vary greatly depending on the individual person, their interests, and their personality. As such, while hearing about others’ experiences is always helpful, I would recommend allowing what you know about yourself to lead you in making your CIP decision.

私は和太鼓が好きで少し経験があるので、地域参加型プロジェクトのために、北野天満宮太鼓会に入らせてもらいました。北野天満宮というのは、京都にある大きくて割と有名な神社です。北野天満宮太鼓会は基本的に市民の太鼓会で、年齢や経験にかかわらず、だれでも入れるグループです。神社が太鼓会を支えていますが、太鼓会は神社以外にも色々なところで演奏します。太鼓会はもちろん演奏ばかりではありません。演奏できるようになるために、練習がとても大事なのです。あいにく、私が太鼓会に参加し始めた時期は演奏がたくさんあって非常に忙しいです。だから、月に一回しか練習がなくて、少し残念です。その上、練習があまりないため、曲をまだ上手に叩けなくて、演奏の時は見学しかできません。しかし、決して無駄な経験ではありません。見学だけでも組太鼓について色々分かってきている気がします。そして、太鼓会の皆さん、特に太鼓の先生は私たち留学生をよく励ましたり、応援したりします。アメリカに帰る前に絶対に一緒に演奏しようと言ってくれて、私も皆さんの期待や信頼に応えたい。二ヶ月くらいしか残っていませんが、一生懸命頑張りたいと思っています。

ほぼ毎週土曜日に、同志社の西にある北野天満宮（きたのてんまんぐう）で太鼓の練習があります。みんなは着くとすぐに準備をして、三つのチームになってから、曲をたたき始めます。練習会は三時間ぐらいで、終った後で時々みんなで晩御飯を食べに行きます。

太鼓をする人は全員二十五人ぐらいです。ほとんどの人は大学生やあるいは社会人ですが、二人の小学生もいます。僕以外に、KCJSの留学生が四人います。三つのチームの中で、先学期はじめた留学生は二番目のチームで、僕と他の今学期始めた二人は三番目のチームで叩きます。

そして、太鼓の練習がない週は、他の二人の留学生と一緒に京大の囲碁部に「ご」をしに行きます。まだ二回しか言っていませんが、その二回でたくさん習いました。それに、とても楽しかったです。京大は今春休みだから、人は少なかったけど、京大生に色んなことを教えてもらいました。