Tetsu Taiko performance with sisters Jillian Masuhara, Nicole Masuhara and cousin Stacey Chan (from left to right). Photo by Doug Masuhara.

For Doug Masuhara, growing up as a third-generation Japanese Canadian in East Vancouver didn’t provide much opportunity to experience traditional Japanese culture. Western culture dominated his upbringing, and contact with other Japanese families was limited.

But since discovering Taiko drumming at the Steveston Buddhist Temple 13 years ago, Masuhara and his family have reconnected with their Japanese roots. He has given hundreds of performances, practiced with several instructors and helped found three Taiko drumming groups in Greater Vancouver all with his daughters.

“Through Taiko I am learning more about Japanese culture. I am really glad that at a young age my own children started learning about their culture and heritage that way,” says Masuhara.

Taiko drumming originated in Japan centuries ago, and gave rise to the Canadian Taiko drumming scene in Vancouver in the early 70’s, he explains. Taiko has gained popularity in Vancouver due to groups such as Katari, Tetsu and Uzume Taiko. Other large cities across Canada, such as Toronto and Edmonton, have also echoed Vancouver’s interest in these powerful Japanese rhythms by forming their own Taiko groups.

All in the family

As a father, Masuhara knew he wanted to learn more about his culture and share this with his daughters.

“Whatever I can provide to enhance their knowledge of Japanese culture without pushing it on them, I try,” he says.

So in 2000, when he heard that the Steveston Buddhist Temple was holding an open workshop for children, he decided to enroll his daughters Jillian, Kelly and Nicole.

“I used to wait around to take them home, so one day I asked the instructor if I could start drumming too,” says Masuhara.

The passion for Taiko was infectious.

Doug Masuhara performing taiko alongside his family. Photo courtesy of Doug Masuhara.

“For over two years, we learned by playing on tires,” he says. When they outgrew the rubber rhythms, the group contacted a local Taiko group that created drums with leather skins for the heads and a plastic sewer pipe body.

Drumming at the temple quickly became a community effort, and with the help of other parents they started to build drums from refurbished old wine barrels, adds Masuhara. The group started with 13 members and called themselves the Steveston Buddhist Temple Taiko Group.

Nicole Masuhara, the youngest of the three daughters in the family Taiko group, acknowledges the impact Taiko has had in her life.

“Taiko has given me a chance to travel to Japan, to attend workshops and learn more about Japanese language and lifestyle,” she says.

She says the group has also been a part of many Japanese cultural events in Vancouver that have allowed them to connect with other members of the Japanese community.

Growth and transitions

Nine years later, members grew and so did their responsibilities. The original 13 members slowly dwindled as drummers entered high school and moved away for university. Her dad explains, they faced a choice to either stop or try to rebuild. They chose to continue. By holding public workshops, the group focussed on inspiring Taiko in the local community and encouraging new drummers to join.

The Richmond community started to ask for Taiko performances at community centres and festivals. The group, which became known as Steveston Tera Taiko in 2009, progressed from 12-minute performances to 45-minute shows.

Even though Nicole has been drumming since childhood, she still feels the thrill of performing, and even still feels nervous right before a performance.

“But then once you’re out there it all goes so fast, and there’s this awesome energy coming from everyone,” she says.

Beats forge tight bonds

For the past five years, Masuhara and his family have embraced their new name Tetsu Taiko, the Japanese word for iron-like strength. It is not just the rhythms that are strong, Taiko has brought the Masuhara family closer.

Out of six members of the group, five are related.

“I don’t think any of us would see each other or hang out as much if we weren’t a part of Taiko,” says Nicole.

Masuhara believes his grandparents would have been thrilled to see their grandchildren involved in Japanese culture. “There was no tie culturally for me. I think they would have been happy to see the culture extending into the next generation,” he says.

Today Tetsu Taiko integrates traditional Japanese rhythms with Western movements. Through an art form rooted in tradition, the Masuhara family shares passionate performances and promotes Japanese culture at multicultural events across the Lower Mainland.