Tule Lake Taiko history as told by Stan Shikuma:

‘For the last 20 years or more, the Tule Lake Pilgrimage has presented taiko at each Culture Night program in the form of Tule Lake Taiko -- ephemeral in makeup, eternal in spirit, ecstatic in performance.

The first taiko at a Tule Lake Pilgrimage was in 1982 when Seattle Taiko Group traveled down with the first organized contingent from Seattle. ASIDE: Also on the program that year was Kokuho Rose, a blues band from Vancouver, BC featuring Linda Uyehara Hoffman and John Endo Greenaway, who happen to be founding members of Katari Taiko.

The next time we had taiko was when Portland Taiko came to play (sometime in the late 1990’s, I think) and invited Stan Shikuma from Seattle Kokon Taiko and Lois Yoshishige from Eugene Taiko to join them on stage. I would say that this performance was the precursor of Tule Lake Taiko as an ad hoc group composed of taiko players attending the pilgrimage. Stan has put out the call for Tule Lake Taiko ever since. 

 Molly Kitajima of Onami and Heiwa Taiko started coming a few years after that and was a key member of Tule Lake Taiko for many years. Russel Baba and Jeanne Mercer of Shasta Taiko also got involved and became key components as well. Other “famous” guests have included Tiffany Tamaribuchi, Kristy Oshiro, and Stuart Paton, to name a few. Other taiko groups that have participated (and performed on their own) include San Jose Taiko and The Genki Spark.’

For more information:

News Article: http://www.rafu.com/2018/07/tule-lake-2018-fight-to-preserve-camp-for-future-generations/