What I teach:
I have studied with Okuda Atsuya since 1990. I have taught Zensabō (the style of playing of Okuda Atsuya) since 2000. Okuda Atsuya only plays Kinashi shakuhachi – so naturally that is also what I do. It does not mean, you cannot study the Zensabo repertoire on a jiari(jinuri shakuhachi.
In May 2024, I received the menkyo kaiden in Fuke Myōan shakuhachi at Myo7an-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. I studied the repertoire of Myōan shakuhachi with Seian Sakai Genshin for 5 years. I have now begun to teach Fuke Myōan shakuhachi. This means I can enroll you as a member of the Myōan Kyōkai (Association) and take you through the repertoire, alongside the history and also spiritual approach to shakuhachi playing. After a minimum of 5 years of study, you can also receive a menkyo Kaiden at Myōan-ji Temple.
Where I teach?
I teach shakuhachi the following places:
Denmark: Nørre Snede and Copenhagen
Germany: Hamburg
UK: London (I am not so often in London any longer)
WORLD: online using Zoom/Skype/Facetime/Messenger etc.
Content of the lessons
I was taught koten honkyoku (the solo repertoire played by the komusō monks of the Fuke sect during the Edo period (1603-1867) from the very beginning by my teacher Okuda Atsuya. I was very happy about this as that was what I was interested in. Thus, I teach honkyoku from the beginning as well – unless the student want to do something else. But usually we do honkyoku because that is the music that has been played and developed through centuries on shakuhachi and it suits the instrument. I believe it gives you a very solid foundation of shakuhachi playing when studying honkyoku.
I teach honkyoku in the Zensabo style – as I have learned from Okuda Atsuya and Fuke Myōan shakuhachi as taught by the 42nd kansu of Myōan-ji Temple, Sakai Seian Genshin. I do also teach conteporary music as well as improvisation.
When you begin I have some simple honkyoku from the Itchoken and Kyushu styles to begin with. Then we usually move on to Kyorei and enter other honkyoku pieces from there.
With Fuke Myōan Shauhachi, there are 34 pieces you follow and there are various levels of licences. This style is also only honkyoku.
Pedagogy
In Japan, you will most of the time play alongside your teacher and learn the repertoire by following him or her. It is not the fastest method but it is a great method to learn the flow of the music and the feeling of it. I loved being taught this way. Okuda was not silent as I can understand some Japanese teachers have been. But he also preferred the playing along method. He would come with elaborate answers if asked. I certainly talk or teach more verbally – but the playing along method is also an experience of Japan. Thus this is also my preferred methodology.
On Zoom you cannot play together, so here the predominant method of teaching is I play and the student play the same thereafter. We also speak quite a bit about the pieces, the flow and the meaning of the pieces – as I have understood it.

Repertoire
Zensabo:
I teach Zensabō honkyoku, and my Zensabō repertoire is (in alphabetical order):
- Ajikan
- Azuma Jishi
- Banji
- Dai Otsu-gaeshi
- Daha
- Echigo san’ya
- Hifumi-chō
- Hifumichō & Hachigaeshi
- Honchōshi & Sagari-ha
- Honte no Shirabe
- Jyakunen
- Kaede
- Kokū
- Koro Sugagaki
- Kudari-ha
- Kumoijishi
- Kyorei (虚鈴)
- Kyorei (虚霊)
- Kyushu Reibo
- Matsukaze no Shirabe & Matsukaze
- Mukaiji
- Musashi Shirabe
- Murasaki Reibo
- Nerisaji
- Ōshū nagashi
- Ōshū Rinbo
- Ōshūsaji
- Reibo (Futaiken)
- Reibo (Shoganken)
- Rinmon
- San’ya
- San’ya Seiran
- Shika no Tone (Betsuden)
- Shin Kyorei
- Shin’ya
- Shingetsu
- Shingetsu-chō
- Shinsaji / Yamagoe
- Shinseki
- Sokkan
- Sō Shingetsu
- Suzuru (Koten)
- Takiochi
- Tamuke
- Toppiki
- Tōri-Katotsuke-Hachigaeshi
- Tsuru no Sugomori (kudan)
- Tsuru no Sugomori (Oshūden)
- Ukigumo
- Yamato Choshi
- Yamato Rinbo
- Yurisaji
Fuke Myōan Shakuhachi (in alphabetic order):
- Aji no kyoku
- Akebono chō
- Akita no kyoku
- Azuma no kyoku
- Chikushi reibo
- Chōshi
- Hachigaeshi no kyoku
- Hifumichō
- Hōkyō kokū
- Hōtaku
- Koden sukaku
- Kokū
- Koro sugagaki
- Kosho kokū
- Kumoi no kyoku
- Kyorei
- Kyushu reibo
- Monbiraki no kyoku
- Mukaiji
- Mutsu reibo
- Ōshu nagashi
- Renbo nagashi
- Ryūgin kokū
- Sakai jishi
- San’ya no kyoku
- Shika no tone
- Shin’ya no kyoku
- Shizu no kyoku
- Takiochi no Ryoku
- Tako no kyoku
- Tsuru no Sugimori
- Yamato chōshi
- Yoshiya no kyoku
Additional Myōan pieces:
Asuka reibo
Jinbō san’ya
Yoshitsune reibo
Other honkyoku pieces:
- Oteki
- Ekō
You can find my contact details on the contact page if you want more information about shakuhachi lessons.
How it all began
When I began to live between Tokyo (when I was studying shakuhachi with Okuda) and Geneva, Dieter Nanz (later he received his shihan name Zuishō) persuaded me to teach him shakuhachi. I was very afraid of doing anything wrong as I had never even thought of teaching or performing shakuhachi. For me – playing shakuhachi was something very intensely personal and deeply felt emotions. However, I taught Dieter but never charged money for it. It didn’t yet feel right. Once I moved to London in 2000 I was very quickly contacted by people wanting to learn. By this time I was less afraid of teaching and I began really enjoying it. I am grateful to especially Lorne Edwards in London for being my student and inspiring me to teach. Today I love teaching and sharing the wonderful sounds, techniques and knowledge about shakuhachi.
Dieter Zuishō Nanz passed away much too early in 2015. I will be grateful for him the rest of my life for having been so insistent and thereby inspiring me to get into the path of sharing the shakuhachi.