Editing Taiko (section)

==Related cultural and social movements==
Certain peoples have used taiko to advance social or cultural movements, both within Japan and elsewhere in the world.

===Gender conventions===
Taiko performance has frequently been viewed as an art form dominated by men.<ref>{{bulleted list|{{cite magazine|title=Hono Taiko|magazine=The New Yorker|date=11 October 1999|page=17|publisher=F-R Publishing Corporation}}|{{cite news|last=Lin|first=Angel|title=Taiko Drummers Celebrate Heritage|url=http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/2007/04/20/arts/Taiko_Drummers_Celebrate_H.html|access-date=5 January 2014|newspaper=The Oberlin Review|date=20 April 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513151253/http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/2007/04/20/arts/Taiko_Drummers_Celebrate_H.html|archive-date=13 May 2013}}}}</ref>{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=144}} Historians of taiko argue that its performance comes from masculine traditions. Those who developed ensemble-style taiko in Japan were men,{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=144}} and through the influence of Ondekoza, the ideal taiko player was epitomized in images of the masculine peasant class,{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=144}} particularly through the character Muhōmatsu in the 1958 film ''[[Rickshaw Man]]''.{{sfn|Konagaya|2005|p=150}}{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=144}} Masculine roots have also been attributed to perceived capacity for "spectacular bodily performance"{{sfn|Konagaya|2007|p=2}} where women's bodies are sometimes judged as unable to meet the physical demands of playing.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=145}}
[[File:Taiko drummers near the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Paris, France.jpg|thumb|Starting in the 1990s, there have been a greater or equal number of female performers in ''kumi-daiko'' compared to male performers.|alt=A photograph of four women in a kumi-daiko group performing in Paris, France.]]
Before the 1980s, it was uncommon for Japanese women to perform on traditional instruments, including taiko, as their participation had been systematically restricted; an exception was the San Francisco Taiko Dojo under the guidance of Grandmaster Seiichi Tanaka, who was the first to admit women to the art form.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=144}} In Ondekoza and in the early performances of Kodo, women performed only dance routines either during or between taiko performances.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=155}} Thereafter, female participation in ''kumi-daiko'' started to rise dramatically, and by the 1990s, women equaled and possibly exceeded representation by men.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=144}} While the proportion of women in taiko has become substantial, some have expressed concern that women still do not perform in the same roles as their male counterparts and that taiko performance continues to be a male-dominated profession.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=145}} For instance, a member of Kodo was informed by the director of the group's apprentice program that women were permitted to play, but could only play "as women".{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=153}} Other women in the apprentice program recognized a gender disparity in performance roles, such as what pieces they were allowed to perform, or in physical terms based on a male standard.{{sfn|Bender|2012|pp=154–155}}

Female taiko performance has also served as a response to gendered stereotypes of Japanese women as being quiet,{{sfn|Izumi|2001|pp=37–39}} subservient, or a [[femme fatale]].<ref name=Chan>{{cite news|last=Chan|first=Erin|title=They're Beating the Drum for Female Empowerment|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jul-15-me-taiko15-story.html|access-date=5 January 2014|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=15 July 2002|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20140105193428/http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jul/15/local/me-taiko15|archive-date=5 January 2014}}</ref> Through performance, some groups believe they are helping to redefine not only the role of women in taiko, but how women are perceived more generally.<ref name="Chan" />{{sfn|Wong|2000|p=74}}

===Burakumin===
{{see also|Burakumin}}
Those involved in the construction of taiko are usually considered part of the [[burakumin]], a marginalized minority class in Japanese society, particularly those working with leather or animal skins.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=36}} Prejudice against this class dates back to the [[Tokugawa period]] in terms of legal discrimination and treatment as social outcasts.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=37}} Although official discrimination ended with the Tokugawa era, the [[Burakumin#Social discrimination|burakumin have continued to face social discrimination]], such as scrutiny by employers or in marriage arrangements.<ref name=Priestly>{{cite news|last=Priestly|first=Ian|title=Breaking the silence on burakumin|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2009/01/20/issues/breaking-the-silence-on-burakumin-2/#.UnRAhhD3OwQ|access-date=2 November 2013|newspaper=[[The Japan Times]]|date=20 January 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103101606/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2009/01/20/issues/breaking-the-silence-on-burakumin-2/#.UnRAhhD3OwQ|archive-date=3 November 2013}}</ref> Drum makers have used their trade and success as a means to advocate for an end to discriminatory practices against their class.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=37}}

The {{nihongo4|Taiko Road|人権太鼓ロード|"Taiko Road of Human Rights"}}, representing the contributions of burakumin, is found in [[Naniwa-ku, Osaka|Naniwa Ward]] in [[Osaka]], home to a large proportion of burakumin.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=38}} Among other features, the road contains taiko-shaped benches representing their traditions in taiko manufacturing and leatherworking, and their influence on national culture.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=44}}<ref name="Priestly" /> The road ends at the [[Osaka Human Rights Museum]], which exhibits the history of systematic discrimination against the burakumin.<ref name=Priestly /> The road and museum were developed in part due an advocacy campaign led by the [[Buraku Liberation League]] and a taiko group of younger performers called {{nihongo4|Taiko Ikari|太鼓怒り|"taiko rage"}}.{{sfn|Bender|2012|p=38}}

===North American ''sansei''===
Taiko performance was an important part of cultural development by third-generation Japanese residents in North America, who are called ''[[sansei]]''.{{sfn|Izumi|2006|p=159}}{{sfn|Yoon|2001|p=422}} During [[World War II]], second-generation Japanese residents, called ''[[nisei]]'' faced [[Internment of Japanese Americans|internment in the United States]] and [[Japanese Canadian internment|in Canada]] on the basis of their race.{{sfn|Terada|2001|pp=40–41}}{{sfn|Izumi|2001|p=41}} During and after the war, Japanese residents were discouraged from activities such as speaking Japanese or forming ethnic communities.{{sfn|Izumi|2001|p=41}} Subsequently, sansei could not engage in Japanese culture and instead were raised to assimilate into more normative activities.{{sfn|Terada|2001|p=41}} There were also prevailing stereotypes of Japanese people, which sansei sought to escape or subvert.{{sfn|Terada|2001|p=41}} During the 1960s in the United States, the [[civil rights movement]] influenced sansei to reexamine their heritage by engaging in Japanese culture in their communities; one such approach was through taiko performance.{{sfn|Izumi|2001|p=41}}{{sfn|Terada|2001|p=41}} Groups such as [[San Jose Taiko]] were organized to fulfill a need for solidarity and to have a medium to express their experiences as Japanese-Americans.{{sfn|Yoon|2001|p=424}} Later generations have adopted taiko in programs or workshops established by sansei; social scientist Hideyo Konagaya remarks that this attraction to taiko among other Japanese art forms may be due to its accessibility and energetic nature.{{sfn|Konagaya|2001|p=117}} Konagaya has also argued that the resurgence of taiko in the United States and Japan are differently motivated: in Japan, performance was meant to represent the need to recapture sacred traditions, while in the United States it was meant to be an explicit representation of masculinity and power in Japanese-American men.{{sfn|Konagaya|2005|p=140}}