San Jose Taiko was the third-ever taiko-drumming group to form in North America, preceded only by San Francisco Taiko Dojo and Kinnara Taiko of Senshin Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, San Jose Taiko takes the stage with these two other seminal groups, marking the first time ever all three companies have performed together (not including one informal jam session in the 1970s). The concert takes place Oct. 4 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts.

"It's definitely a milestone. For us to be able to celebrate 30 years is something that we would never have considered when we first started," says PJ Hirabayashi, creative director of San Jose Taiko and a founding member. "We've come a long way. Compared to the first three groups that originated as group ensemble performing groups, now there are over 160 in North America alone, groups that have popped up and flourished. So we have definitely seen an evolution, in a much broader public awareness of taiko and most definitely in the creative aspect of San Jose Taiko, in really exploring different realms of expression."

San Jose Taiko has proven groundbreaking not only in its founding as one of the first taiko ensembles in North America, but in its nontraditional approach to how the company is structured. As a sort of collective, members don't devote themselves to one aspect of the company, but everyone shares in everything, from administrative work, to building drums to composing. "The founding members of San Jose Taiko, we were very much into social, political work, in the communities, in the '60s and '70s, where we really wanted to empower people, and to do that, we had to create a system in which people had to work together by pulling our skills together," says Hirabayashi. "Even though we do have titles as managing director, creative director, we do work very much as a team."

The group has also made its mark with a distinctive sound that incorporates influences from around the world. "The music is not being generated by only a few people or a few sources, but it's open to the general membership of our group, in which it very much becomes the personality of the individuals that are in the group," Hirabayashi says. "Most of our work is original work that is composed by our performing members and that really adds variety and diversity to our repertoire."

The group's communal spirit seems evident even in its inspiration for its 30th anniversary concert. "Going into 30 years, we wanted to make it special, but also we realized that we couldn't have done it alone," says Hirabayashi. "As we were going through, thinking about how can we make this particular concert and celebration special, it came into our minds: 'You know, it would be great if we could work with the original pioneers of taiko here in North America.' And then things just started to pop."

The concert will feature each group performing individually, which Hirabayashi promises will showcase "the very distinct personalities" of each group. The three ensembles will perform together for the finale piece, "Ichigo Ichie," composed by Hirabayashi, Nobuko Miyamoto of the group Great Leap and Yoko Fujimoto of Kodo, one of Japan's prominent taiko groups. "Ichigo Ichie actually means 'a meeting, but once in a lifetime.' And supposedly, that is when all outside forces are just in one alignment that something happens, and it really is that unique time and never can happen again and it's that type of concept that we're bringing into this picture," says Hirabayashi. "It's about interconnection, let's say the theme is actually taking a festival that is very much a part of our Japanese American community, and that's Obon, and using Obon as kind of the interlinking of celebration. Here it comes together in taiko fashion onstage."

"Ichigo Ichie" celebrates the groups' shared heritage as founding members of what has developed into a unique Japanese American art form, as well as a celebration of their communities, in particular, the last three remaining Japantowns in the United States, in San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

San Jose Taiko presents its 30th anniversary concert on Oct. 4, 8 p.m., at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd, San Jose. Tickets are $30­$40. For more information, call 408.293.9344 or see www.taiko.org.