Shakuhachi Lessons

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.

Teaching on Skype at a conference in Information Studies, Toronto, Canada.

Repertoire

Zensabo:
I teach Zensabō honkyoku, and my Zensabō repertoire is (in alphabetical order):

  1. Ajikan
  2. Azuma Jishi
  3. Banji
  4. Dai Otsu-gaeshi
  5. Daha
  6. Echigo san’ya
  7. Hifumi-chō
  8. Hifumichō & Hachigaeshi
  9. Honchōshi & Sagari-ha
  10. Honte no Shirabe
  11. Jyakunen
  12. Kaede
  13. Kokū
  14. Koro Sugagaki
  15. Kudari-ha
  16. Kumoijishi
  17. Kyorei (虚鈴)
  18. Kyorei (虚霊)
  19. Kyushu Reibo
  20. Matsukaze no Shirabe & Matsukaze
  21. Mukaiji
  22. Musashi Shirabe
  23. Murasaki Reibo
  24. Nerisaji
  25. Ōshū nagashi
  26. Ōshū Rinbo
  27. Ōshūsaji
  28. Reibo (Futaiken)
  29. Reibo (Shoganken)
  30. Rinmon
  31. San’ya
  32. San’ya Seiran
  33. Shika no Tone (Betsuden)
  34. Shin Kyorei
  35. Shin’ya
  36. Shingetsu
  37. Shingetsu-chō
  38. Shinsaji / Yamagoe
  39. Shinseki
  40. Sokkan
  41. Sō Shingetsu
  42. Suzuru (Koten)
  43. Takiochi
  44. Tamuke
  45. Toppiki
  46. Tōri-Katotsuke-Hachigaeshi
  47. Tsuru no Sugomori (kudan)
  48. Tsuru no Sugomori (Oshūden)
  49. Ukigumo
  50. Yamato Choshi
  51. Yamato Rinbo
  52. Yurisaji

Fuke Myōan Shakuhachi (in alphabetic order):

  1. Aji no kyoku
  2. Akebono chō
  3. Akita no kyoku
  4. Azuma no kyoku
  5. Chikushi reibo
  6. Chōshi
  7. Hachigaeshi no kyoku
  8. Hifumichō
  9. Hōkyō kokū
  10. Hōtaku
  11. Koden sukaku
  12. Kokū
  13. Koro sugagaki
  14. Kosho kokū
  15. Kumoi no kyoku
  16. Kyorei
  17. Kyushu reibo
  18. Monbiraki no kyoku
  19. Mukaiji
  20. Mutsu reibo
  21. Ōshu nagashi
  22. Renbo nagashi
  23. Ryūgin kokū
  24. Sakai jishi
  25. San’ya no kyoku
  26. Shika no tone
  27. Shin’ya no kyoku
  28. Shizu no kyoku
  29. Takiochi no Ryoku
  30. Tako no kyoku
  31. Tsuru no Sugimori
  32. Yamato chōshi
  33. Yoshiya no kyoku

Additional Myōan pieces:

Asuka reibo
Jinbō san’ya
Yoshitsune reibo

Other honkyoku pieces:

  1. Oteki
  2. 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.