Hannah-Jasmine (HJ) is the founder and artistic director of Taiko Journey – an organisation with the mission to inspire, nurture, and sustain individual and community well-being through taiko drumming. HJ started with Kagemusha Taiko 2009 - 2013, and has been performing and teaching taiko ever since. While honouring the tradition of Japanese taiko, she celebrates the interconnectivity of other movement and music practices evident in her work. She creates performances anchored in taiko whilst seeking out collaborations that encourage diversity and show connection to ourselves, each other, and drumming being a part of positive social change. Learning from the cultural leaders who’ve defined the art of taiko has been undeniably influential in shaping HJ’s own approach to taiko, made possible by the Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship – a grant enabling her to trace the route of taiko from Japan, to Hawaii, California, New York and back to Europe over 14 weeks. In particular the support of PJ Hirabayashi has been formative - becoming an Ei Ja Nai Ka ambassador, and later a TaikoPeace activator has been integral to her work in the community.

HJ has an ongoing commitment to engaging with young people from diverse backgrounds – she works with early years settings, Primary & Secondary schools in Devon, including SEND schools, and youth classes in Exeter. From 2013-2016 she taught in the Performing Arts department at Plymouth University with a focus on physical training, and embodying music.

Connecting with local businesses is also important to her work, using taiko as a tool to reach out to the corporate sector.

She works with adults running regular taiko classes, workshops and retreats, most recently leaning into working with taiko and mothers, exploring the power of movement, voice and drumming with this demographic. Currently her focus has been how our relationship with land and place weaves us together, bringing a sense of belonging and authenticity to playing drums as a community.