Toshiyuki Shimada was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1974. He attended Kobe University where he studied Architectural Acoustics. In 1987 he joined Shinji Shumeikai and his instruments are the o-daiko, chu-daiko, and flute. Next to his wife's fine cooking, he enjoys nothing more than reading a good book.

"All my skills abandoned me. In a way, I felt that I was not prepared, that I must experience much more hard practice before I could be ready to go on the stage. At last, Tosha Sensei, our Music Director, gave me some very good advice. 'You still have fear', he said. 'Let go of that fear by beating the drum.'"

Toshiyuki Shimada

For the full text of Toshiyuki Shimada ’s thoughts on the art of taiko, click here.