CSUN’ s Jishin Taiko Ensemble is born of an interest in not only Japanese taiko drumming and Japanese culture, but it is also born of a desire to form an interpersonal social connection with the Japanese-American community at Cal State Northridge. To that end, Jishin Taiko’ s goal as a performing ensemble is to perform not only at CSUN, but also in the surrounding community, serving both to entertain, enrich, and to educate about Japanese culture and the Japanese traditional arts.
Past activities include collaborations with the CSUN Opera, educational programs with the CSUN Youth Symphony, intercollegiate activities with other taiko groups, as well as numerous performances and schools assemblies both on the CSUN campus and for community gatherings. Jishin Taiko also had an informal overseas exchange with Yansa Daiko, a taiko group near Tokiwa college, CSUN’ s international exchange partner school in Ibaraki prefecture. “Jishin” in Japanese means an earthquake, as well as self-confidence. Originally started as part of the Nikkei Student Association in 1995 after the earthquake, Jishin Taiko began anew in 2002, and was chartered as an official CSUN club in 2005.
