Of the shakuhachi I have made myself, this 2.9 is one of my favourites. I think I made it is 1996, so I must have harvested it in 94 or 95. I was on a bamboo harvesting trip with my teacher Okuda Atsuya. I remember going into the bamboo forest on my own. I felt immersed in this intense green colour with the sound of my steps on the leaves on the path and the sound of the wind in the bamboo enveloping me like a soft blanket. I wanted to follow the path to the right – but the something made me look to the left. It was a bamboo that was trying to draw my attention. I literally felt it was calling me saying: “Take me! Take me!” So I harvested it. I wanted to ask Murai about how much of the root end I should cut off, but he was surrounded by people asking him questions, so I cut it where I thought I should. Later Murai said I should have kept one more row of roots. Then the bamboo would have been a 3.0 and have 7 nodes…. I have apologised to the bamboo many times. It paid the price for my impatience. It never-the-less has a deep soft sound. The wall of the bamboo is very thick, so it doesn’t have a huge voice. It is rather a bit introvert and deep. It always whispers back to me the honkyoku, I with humble respect play on it. I played it so much, it quickly got marking of my hours of playing on its skin. My 2.9 and I have been on a journey together for 27 years now! And we continue to explore each other and the unlimited possibilities of sounds in this universe. Love shakuhachi