and the Art of Making Shakuhachi
| Bamboo Harvesting | |||
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After beginning my studies with Okuda Atsuya in 1989, every November
for a period of some 10 years I went bamboo harvesting. Okuda's
Zensabo group would carpool to Sakakita Village in Nagano Prefecture
on a Saturday morning in November. The whole day would be devoted
to harvesting bamboo from a beautiful madake bamboo grove. Sometimes we
would be standing on a steep slope where it was hard work just to
stay upright; at other times the terrain was flat and it was like
strolling through the most beautiful green environment imaginable. I have also harvested bamboo in Kyushu, other places in Nagano and closer to Tokyo, but these trips to Sakakita mura were unforgettable. We would then return to our traditional Japanese inn, soak our muscles that ached after a day's hard work in the hot springs, eat food and drink some wonderful sake while playing for each other. There used to be a player called Oku san, who took with him the most wonderful sake from secret breweries. The evenings usually ended with some of us singing folksongs which Endo san accompanied on the shakuhachi. Next morning we would fire the newly harvested bamboo. The bamboo
stems were toasted in a bonfire while we slowly turned them and
wiped off the oil and water that emerged. The colour of the stems
would change from green to almost yellow during this process. Making your own instrument under the watchful tutelage of Murai
san is a fantastic experience. With great dedication and skill,
he shows you how to make the best out of the bamboo you have. I
have learnt a lot from him, often visiting his home, where he lives
with his wife and son, to work further on my shakuhachi. |
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Ji-nashi Shakuhachi Makers |
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Here I shall first present the two jinashi-shakuhachi makers closest to my heart: Murai Eigorô and Kodama Hiroyuki, respectively. Both men mean a lot to me, as shakuhachi makers and as persons, and Kodama is a wonderful player as well. Furthermore, they both make the type of ji-nashi shakuhachi I play. Made from nice thick-walled madake, it possesses a shallow utaguchi (mouth piece), which to me is essential in the ji-nashi shakuhachi. This type of utaguchi allows more movement than that of the modern shakuhachi, and has more room for bending. Playing these ji-nashi shakuhachi thus permits a different and more relaxed embouchure. Due to the natural state of their bores, these instruments give rise to wonderfully complex sounds. Murai Eigorô, Tokyo, Japan. Murai Eigorô has been making shakuhachi for more than 40 years. His main concern has been to produce ji-ari shakuhachi that sound as natural as possible, but today he is primarily interested in making ji-nashi shakuhachi. Murai has collaborated intensively with Okuda Atsuya and has made most of the latters early flutes. Murai teaches shakuhachi making for Zensabô, and yearly accompanies Okuda's group of students to Sakakita Mura in Nagano Prefecture to harvest bamboo. Twice a year the Zensabô group also holds shakuhachi making workshops with Murai as teacher. I have been fortunate enough to know Murai both as shakuhachi maker, who freely passes on his amazing knowledge of bamboo and the making of shakuhachi, and as a friend with whom I share music. He is interested in all kinds of music from classical, jazz to traditional music of the world. He is the kindest person on earth. He has greatly aided me in my musical studies and my playing career by kindly making shakuhachi to order in the lengths I require. |
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Kodama Hiroyuki, Nagano, Japan. Kodama Hiroyuki is from Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main
Japanese islands. During a voyage to India, he encountered a Japanese
who travelled with his shakuhachi. Kodama was captivated by the
beauty of the sounds of this flute from his native Japan, and decided
to study the instrument. His wife, who had heard of Zensabô, Okuda
Atsuya's tea house and shakuhachi teaching space in Kokubunji, Tokyo,
told Kodama about it. After hearing Okuda's playing, Kodama went
through a phase in which his focus was on developing his skills as a shakuhachi player .
He has been Okuda's no. 1 student from very early in the latter's
teaching career. Together with the other Zensabô students, Kodama
would travel to Nagano to harvest bamboo every autumn. There he
learned the skills of shakuhachi making from Murai. Later Kodama
moved with his family to Nagano prefecture in order to live closer
to nature and to enable his children to grow up in a better environment
than that of urban Tokyo. Even after moving to Nagano, he continued
for a while to commute to Tokyo for lessons with Okuda. Presently,
he is making ji-nashi shakuhachi, performing, and learning to make
ji-ari shakuhachi making from Tom Deaver, a skilled shakuhachi maker
who lives nearby. |
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| Ken LaCosse, San Francisco, California, USA. | |||
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Ken LaCosse, of San Francisco is a skilled shakuhachi maker and an extremely kind person. He has been making shakuhachi since 1988. Early on, he specialised in ji-ari shakuhachi, but after being introduced to vintage ji-nashi shakuhachi by shakuhachi player John Singer, he focused on ji-nashi making exclusively. In an effort to refine some of the characteristics of extra wide bore, long flutes, he works closely with shakuhachi player Brian Tairaku Ritchie, making a style of shakuhachi called Taimu.
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| Perry Yung, New York, USA | |||
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In 2002, Perry became the only shakuhachi maker ever supported by both the American and Japanese "Perry is one of the most creative shakuhachi makers I know. He has spent considerable time studying the basics of construction and his instruments rival some of the best in quality, but from there he takes the shakuhachi to |
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