Myoan Flute

Kobayashi Shomei

2011-09-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

(Below is a posting from the Shakuhachi Stuff Writting 10 Minutes a Day site http://shakuhachistuff.blogspot.com/ please take a look)

Jinashi maker Kobayashi Shomei got his own home pages (Japanese) (English)

It was in 2007 when I met him for the first time. He struck me as a living komuso because of his austere spirit. He traveled worldwide when he was young as a backpacker. He draws paintings every month on komuso and his paintings reveal his inner spiritual world. (He was once accepted to an American university to study art).

One day, when he allowed me to play his (and his friend's) vintage flutes, he scolded me and said: "I don't understand what you are trying to get from each flute. This precious moment won't come back aqain. Why don't you put all of your energy into each flute?" Since then, he became my good friend and mentor. Later, he explained that he had done research on kokan vintage shakuhachi, and the only useful way for him was to play them with the maximized energy for a few hours at least, not by playing lightly or measuring the bore shape, length, and size of those flutes. In other words, he embodied the characteristics of each flute.

Kobayashi is predominantly a jinashi maker, even though he gives shakuhachi lessons regularly at Mejiro. Among the many jinashi shakuhachi that I've tried, his flutes are most colorful and flavorful in terms of tone quality. I particularly liked his long flutes. The sounds of these flutes were profound, vibrant yet light and smooth. As a pianist, I always think of his jinashi as Steinway, whereas other makers' flutes, however functional and playable, sound like the Yamaha or Kawai to my ears. Of course, this doesn't devalue their flutes (I have theirs and love them). But the tone quality of Kobayashi's flutes is outstanding.

Interestingly, when Dr. Shimura Zenpo made his 2nd CD on kokan vintage flutes, he used the Kobayashi flute (the length is 3.3) as if it is a kokan vintage shakuhachi. (Also, because of this, it appears as if Kobayashi was a deceased maker from the previous century). Shimura explains that the Kobayashi flute is an example of modern jinashi shakuhachi. Other four flutes used for the recordings were borrowed from the Hamamatsu Musical Instrument Museum (originally a collection of Inagaki Ihaku). The makers of these flutes were Hayashi Kogetsu, Matano Shinryo, and Kokyo.

Unfortunately, Kobayashi is not as well-known outside Japan as he deserves. It was not until recently that we see his flutes on sale at Mejiro's website (previously, Mejiro had no interest in jinashi). Indeed, it has been difficult to obtain his flutes even in Japan. I am glad that he finally decided to make himself available for a broader community of shakuhachi players.

(p.s. The flute I used for the Eurythmy performances was also a 1.8 jinashi made by Kobayashi, which has a mellow yet crisp tone).

http://www.jinashi.jp/

https://sites.google.com/site/shomeijinashishakuhachi/

http://kobayashishomei.blogspot.com/

http://shakuhachistuff.blogspot.com/

Myoan Shakuhachi

2011-08-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

Beyond the illusory duality of the "Bright" & the "Dark"

There are, basically, two approaches to shakuhachi practice: You may play in a way so as to entertain and enjoy your listeners which is known as Kanshō no ongaku, 鑑賞の音楽, "Music for appreciation"; or you may blow the shakuhachi as a means of "mental training": Shugyō, 修行, which is termed Gyō no ongaku, 行の音楽, "Music for ascetic Buddhist practice".

These essential distinguishing terms were formulated by Uramoto Setchō, 浦本浙潮, 1891-1965, founder of the Fuke Myōan-ha, 普化明暗派, branch of modern Fuke Shakuhachi.
The latter, esoteric practice of shakuhachi asceticism, may be at least five hundred years old and has - among other places in Japan - been preserved till today at the Zen temple Myōan-ji in south-eastern Kyōto - the most important center of the original Japanese meditative bamboo flute tradition known as "Fuke Shakuhachi".

"Myōan Shakuhachi can not be likened to the playing of an ordinary wind instrument. Such thing as a fixed way of playing does not exist. What I can say is, plainly, that I am only concerned with directing my blowing towards my own Self - with a gentle mind. People who trifle with skill of playing and "play well" - who exercise exceedingly only to impress the listener - the way that such egocentric persons perform represents the worst of human attitudes that I can think of. There are people who can produce changing sounds depending on technical skill, but as for the shakuhachi practice of the Myōan Temple, I believe that the ideal way of Zen Shakuhachi is to let one's true Mind listen to the sounds and to cultivate one's own Self in accordance with those sounds.

I can not easily express this in words but to practice Shakuhachi Zen is indeed a way of mental training and self-cultivation that does not depend on an egocentric approach but on having an open mind. The accumulation of this daily practice will, eventually, bring about a realization of the true Self of one's own Human Nature. It is, in any case, wrong to act against Nature. I am devoting myself every day to follow Nature and not to be mistaken about the Way."

Expressed by Yoshimura Fuan Sōshin, head [Jap.: kanshu] of the Myōan Zen Temple Taizan-ha Shakuhachi School, Kyōto, in 1977. Private communication, 1977. Trsl. by T.O.(TORSTEN OLAFSSON - Denmark)

"Myōan Shakuhachi is related to the Fuke Sect of Shakuhachi and it has as its purpose to employ the ancient Japanese shakuhachi flute as a Dharma instrument [hō-ki] in order that one may understand the Ultimately Adual Nature of "Brightness" and "Darkness" [myō-an] and experience the Essence of Emptiness and Non-substantiality [kyo] through self-cultivation. This practice is called Suizen."

Expressed by Osawa Seizan Sensei, my Fuke Shakuhachi teacher at the Myōan-ji Zen Temple in Kyōto, in 1977-78. Quotation from a letter of recommendation, 1978. Trsl. by T.O. (TORSTEN OLAFSSON - Denmark)

http://torstenolafsson.dk/tomyooanshak.htm

Fuke Zen

2011-08-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

Fuke Zen (Japanese: 普化禅) was a branch of Zen Buddhism which existed in Japan from the 13th century until the late 19th century. Fuke monks were noted for playing the shakuhachi flute as a form of meditation.

Early history and practice

Fuke Zen, according to its own accounts, is derived from the teachings of the Chinese Zen teacher Linji Yixuan (c. 800-866), known in Japan as Rinzai Gigen. Among Linji's students was Pǔhuà (普化), whose name is read as Fuke in Japanese and whom the Fuke school counted as its founder. Puhua was reputedly a multi-talented monk, known for being inventive and at the same time quite strict. There is some controversy as to the degree and nature of musical talents, but his followers would often reflect on a certain story for inspiration: the story describes Puhua going through his hometown, ringing a bell to summon others to enlightenment. The same, for many Fuke practitioners, applied to the shakuhachi, and its mastery was seen as a path to enlightenment.

Fuke Zen was brought to Japan by Shinchi Kakushin (心地覚心)(1207-1298), also known as Muhon Kakushin (無本覚心) and posthumously as Hotto Kokushi (法燈国師). Kakushin had travelled to China for six years and studied with the Chinese master Wumen (無門).
Although it no longer exists as a religious organization, Fuke Zen's following during the feudalperiod was quite extensive. Its members could be easily recognized by their practice playing the shakuhachi flute, which was considered a form of meditation and was called suizen (吹禅). These musician-monks were known at first as komosō (薦僧; literally "straw-mat monks") and, by the mid-1600s, as komusō (虚無僧; literally "emptiness monks").

Fuke Zen in general stressed pilgrimage, its adherents were mostly lay-practitioners rather than clergymen. During the Edo period (1603-1867), many ronin became incorporated into the sect, and due to the temperaments of these former samurai, the sect gained the reputation of harbouring troublemakers.

Development and demise

Fuke, which had initially been a loose affiliation of monks and lay pilgrims, solidified as a sect around 1700. However, the sect died out in 1871 following the Meiji Restoration. The new government promulgated a grand council proclamation banning the practice of Fuke Zen and playing the shakuhachi for religious reasons. The shakuhachi itself thrived and prospered in secular circles, but its use as a religious instrument was uncommon until recently.

http://www.buddhism-guide.com/buddhism/fuke_school.htm

The Zen Teaching of Rinzai

2011-08-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

[PDF]

The Zen Teaching of Rinzai - thezensite

Agar Kyosui Noiri

2011-06-04T06:40:00.000-07:00

From my memory, this is how I started playing Kyotaku;
I was 5 years old when I first heard the sounds of the Kyotaku when a Komuso (a Japanese wondering monk) came to my home.
In Japan, Komuso Takuhatsu Angya is part of a long tradition… The custom is that Komuso wonder from town to town visiting each house and playing the Kyotaku in front of each house’s gate.
In the summer of 1956, a Komuso called at our house and played the Kyotaku before two children, me and my elder brother. His eccentric appearance with his head covered by an Amigasa helmet and the strange sounds of Kyotaku seem to me something mysterious.
From then, 15 years passed when I happened to come across Shakuhachi. It was reminded of the Komuso player coming to my house. It was then that I start my life as a Kyotaku player.
I found out that Shakuhachi has many schools with different styles of music. I listened to the sounds of several famous Shakuhachi players and learned from them for years. However, I couldn’t find the exact sound of the bamboo that I was looking for.
4 or 5 years passed when one day for the first time I listened to the recorded sounds of Kyotaku played Koku Nishimura. The moment I listened to his playing, I realized “ This is it!” His sounds were the very sounds that I had been looking for.
Though it is difficult to describe them in words, the sounds of his fluet passed through my body like the “fresh air we breathe in and out unconsciously”. That feeling has still remained inside myself to this day.
It’s been over 8 years since my master Koku Nishimura passed away and left Kyotaku for us, his disciplines, to continue. Koryu Nishimura, the son of Koku Nishimura (the founder of Kyotaku) now continues the “Souke” (linage) of the Kyotaku. We, his disciplines continue our own lives as Kyotaku players.
These days I receive many questions about Kyotaku or Komusou-Shakuhachi through e-mails and letters;
I made this website to educate people about Kyotakus and to explain the basics.
If you want to start playing the Kyotaku, you will need a well made Kyotaku and a person who can teach it correctly. Unfortunately, Shakuhachi teachers cannot really teach you the correct method of playing the Kyotaku.
While a Kyotaku has the same number of finger holes as a Shakuhachi (4 on the front, 1 on the back), a true Kyotaku fluet is always made from bamboo with 7 joints (not 8 or 9 like found on Shakuhachi). It is very hard to find the ideal bamboo for Kyotaku, since the distance between each joint must be longer than for a Shakuhachi, making them all the more rarer.
To start with, a Kyotaku player usually begins learning with a 2.6 length fluet. You should become comfortable in closing all the finger holes correctly before advancing to a longer fluet.
To play a full length 2.8 ~ 3.0 fluet, it will take you more time and effort, but after you will be surprised with its deep reverberating sound.

Chronology:
1951: Born in Kagashima on December the 22nd,
When I was 5 years old, a Komosou (Japanese Monk) visited our house, and I heard the sound of the Shakuhachi for the first time.
1971: Got my first Shakuhachi 1.8 length and started to learn to play.
1973: Became a student of the Sakai-sect and learned Honkyonku from Chikuho Sakai II.
1975: Became Koko Nishimura´s student and started to play Kyotaku. Entered the life of a Komosou myself.
1977: Traveled to India as a wondering monk (Komusou) with 2.6 and 3.0 length Kyotakus.
Become a disciple of Osho (Bhagwan shree Rajineesh) and recieved the name `Swami Deva Agar ‘.
I continued to travel for the next 16 years in India, England, Germany, the States.
1993: Returned to Japan in the summer of this year and settled in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture.
2001: Toured Europe with Koku Nishimura (my master teacher) for one and half months to play, teach and spread the sounds of the Kyotaku.
2002: Koku Nishimura died on June 2nd.
In November of this year, I took Koku’s ashes to India to spread them in Rishikeshi.
2008: Koku Nishimura The 7th years memorial concert at Tchaikovsky conservatory in Moscow.

http://kyotakuagar.com/introduction

PLAYING HONKYOKU; PRAYING HONKYOKU

2011-05-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

By Mary Lu Brandwein

"Better to learn with your whole body
so you'll remember with your whole body."

Juan Matus

The shakuhachi Kinko School Honkyoku's origin is obscure. The Honkyoku or meditation pieces come from the ancient Komuso (wandering zen monks of emptiness) or from an anonymous monk in a zen temple emptying his life into sound perhaps four or five hundred years ago or more. What is for sure is that their origin is within the tradition of zen practice. Many of them are the special property of specific temples in Japan (the Meianji, the Fudaiji, Futaiken, etc.,) or, for example, like "Murasaki Reibo," composed by the Zen Master Ikkyuu Soujun (1394-1481). Fujita Ginrou in his Shakuhachi Tsuukai ("The Complete Explanation of All Things Shakuhachi") refers to them as part of a hidden or private repertoire of the shakuhachi. "Private" in so far as they have a specific place. They are part of the "sacred" music of zen and are not strictly speaking performance music for the general public. They were born before the shakuhachi became a "musical instrument" (gakki).* They came into being when the shakuhachi was only and truly an instrument for inner growth (houki).

Hearing a Buddhist sutra chanted at a funeral there is, perhaps, a striking similarity to the sound and character of the Kinko School Honkyoku. It has been said that the Honkyoku should be played with a feeling of purposelessness and therefore without emotion. This perhaps is the description of the shakuhachi sound of a realized Buddha, but for the student of shakuhachi, purposelessness and absence of emotion cannot be goals in themselves. If playing with purposelessness is the goal, then by definition, there is a purpose. Shakuhachi is an aid to zen practice, to paying attention and is to be played from the truth of what the shakuhachi player is in at the present moment. As students of shakuhachi and students of the Way, there is a longing for mastery of the instrument and there are many emotions present: frustration, desire, love, joy, sadness, anger, disappointment, disillusion....!? All of this will be present in the Honkyoku if one plays from the heart, resting in all of this interior messiness and the swarm of thinking. Over time with much relentless attention and deep feeling into the body and the sound, some of these things loosen and drop away somewhat. It is a lifetime of practice, that is, attention to the sound and all the spaciousness inside each sound, the physical sensations of producing the sound and the thoughts that betray the poison that keeps the ego solid, blocking, and twisting the free flow of the sound.

Traditional Honkyoku is a dialogue of sound and silence. The piece begins with silence and then the first breath, which is consciously experienced as it enters the whole body by means of the skin surface coming into the "hara" and then slowly up into the whole of the lungs. There is a slight holding of the breath and then the sound. The sound is entered into, developed, colored and exited, and then with just as much attention the silence is entered into. A seamless connection, unbroken. Silence of breathing leaving the music unbroken sound. The silence then becomes part of the sound as the sound becomes silence. Words only, if not experienced in minute detail in the body; this is the rhythm of the traditional Honkyoku.

The Classical Honkyoku are for solo shakuhachi; therefore, harmony does not enter in, the same as for the lyric melody. All these things: rhythm, harmony, and melody distract the mind, causing it to race ahead to the next moment trying to guess what will follow without truly being in and experiencing the sound that is right now happening. The traditional Honkyoku's focus is on total sound, which is a constant surprise to the listener. The length of a phrase and its tonal wandering cannot be guessed. Therefore, together with the rich tones, the mind, it is hoped, can be more persuaded and enticed to stay in this present, fleeting sound moment. Even though an "A" may have been heard a zillion times before, this "A" in this space and time has never been heard before. Within this one sound how much can be heard? Is there not infinite variety even in one sound? Can it be heard with the ear, with the whole surface of the body, and the internal organs?

Experiencing/playing slowly over time, more and more in the space between the thoughts, the Honkyoku means original tuning and also sound from the origin of being, and slowly that place within one's self is found. This is a slow, slow process that becomes real over many years of practice: feeling ever more deeply into the body, watching the mind and becoming slowly, with patience, tired of its fallacious little self defining secretions (thoughts)...slowly clearing away to leave the possibility of an occasional pure sound, only sound, only this: hearing sound in the space between the thoughts, "vast field of benefaction," this free space where music arises. What else arises here?

This kind of playing comes not from trying to play this way or be this way, not from trying to get from here to there, but it comes about by sinking into what is the real sensation right now. A crazy (to the little mind), most indirect path, which is really the fast, direct way.

What obstructs my sound and my attention? The tight, pinching body does not allow the free sound and this pinching comes from the thinking. Pushing the thinking away, the tightness solidifies and war is declared. Instead of pushing it away, notice the thought, especially those that repeat and scream in the face of frustration. These thoughts scream throughout every aspect of life, not only the learning of shakuhachi. Slowly seeing, seeing clearly, letting the thought be; sinking into the tightness of the body, being present, the sound gets deeper and deeper, more and more real. The obstacles slowly drop away over time or do not drop away but cease to be obstacles and thus reveal what is always there...trembling, so moving, Self-sound that resonates and awakens every heart within its reach.

It is not enough to practice and master technique or music theory or music sensibility. The inner self must be sought and that arduous and dangerous journey must be embarked upon in a serious, relentless way, sinking into the terror and/or resistance. Then, the possibility of playing true shakuhachi, true Honkyoku, presents itself. Honkyoku should be played for an audience that is prepared at least a little to listen, not as one being entertained or amazed, but as one prepared to experience the inner self in a different way. The focus is not on the player and certainly not on showing off the capabilities of the player or of the shakuhachi but on the inner discovery of the listener of the Self as the sound penetrates the skin, the mind, the heart, the inner sanctuary.

Shakuhachi sound in the Kinko Honkyoku is very powerful and should not be rendered impotent by indiscriminate use without distinguishing the place or attitude of those present. It is not necessary to preserve these traditions by non-Japanese people. There is no obligation to do so, but if it is not done, what a lost opportunity for one's self and those who hear! It is lost if shakuhachi is studied as another thing to do or play, another thing to show off (ego trip), instead of as "Chikudo" (The Bamboo Way) where it can become a great aid to satisfactory life from a deep innerness of being.

* This happened at the time of the Meiji Restoration roughly 150 years ago when the shakuhachi began to be cut in the middle for the first time in order to play with other instruments. Before then, it was enough for it to be tuned to itself. By governmental decree in Japan (1868) the shakuhachi and traditional Honkyoku were to be divorced from any religious practice. At this time, the element of "entertainment" became part of shakuhachi music, such as Minyo (folk music), Shinkyoku (modern, new music), and Sankyoku (referring to music played with three instruments: koto, shamisen [sangen], and shakuhachi).

So let's put the shakuhachi and these traditional Honkyoku back in their proper context again and use them as aids on our Way as they were originally meant to be. Also, in playing for other people the emphasis is never on the performer, but on the inner experience of the person(s) listening. The shakuhachi player, as much as possible, has the responsibility to set the stage for a transformative experience within the listener...more on that later....

Wishing you all the best in 2000 and beyond, I am

Attentively,
Mary Lu Brandwein

http://www.shakuhachi.org/HONKYOKU.html

Barry Kyuko Weiss

2011-04-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

Barry Daido Houun Weiss first heard the sound of the shakuhachi before boarding a Brooklyn subway (on his way to work). Well, he never made it to work. Instead, he went to a concert of shakuhachi in Manhattan and has been following the “Path of Bamboo” ever since.

In early 1974, he became the first student (deshi) of Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin. In 1980, he was lucky enough to study with Nyogetsu’s teacher, the late Kurahashi Yodo of Kyoto (a student of Jin Nyodo) and received his teaching license (Jun shi han) at that time.

In 1981, Barry received his Shi han license.

In 1988, Barry met Takashi Tokuyama and for 15 years had been focused on bringing his simple way to the shakuhachi world.

Barry is presently living at a Zen temple in Japan and continues to focus on both his Zen practice and shakuhachi. He is now an ordained zen monk, his teacher is the venerable Harada Tangen Roshi from Bukkokuji Temple in Obama City, Fukui, it is a soto-shu (Dogen) temple. Currently Barry works with Takahashi Suiko, a komuso from Ichikawa City, they have been active in helping to rebuild Ichigetsuji-do, now located at Manmanji Temple in Matsudo City, Japan.

http://komuso.com/people/people.pl?person=1025

Ozawa Zetsugai - 小沢盛山

2011-04-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

The below article is from the Mainichi Newspaper published in 1978 about Ozawa Zetsugai

Sometimes you will see a Komuso leaving a house in Yamashina, Kyoto. He goes begging for donations to Kiyomizu-zaka, shopping arcades, and elsewhere by playing the shakuhachi. He is Ozawa Seizan (49 years old), who works for Nittsu Company (one of the big transportation companies). When Ozawa-san was 20 years old, his younger brother was killed by an accident. (His brother rode on a bicycle with his friend and was hit by a train. He was killed instantly, but his friend was paralyzed from the waist down.) This tragic event changed his view of life. He tried to do zazen, but he was not satisfied. “When he could not find anything he could depend on,” he encountered Meian Zen Shakuhachi.

Since that time, he has been fascinated with it and was initiated into Meianji seven years ago (1971). The first time he went out in Komuso style, he was too shy to play shakuhachi and could not make a sound. But after 3 days of this problem, he came to behave in the Komuso way. Every evening when he comes home, he sits quietly and plays shakuhachi. He also goes up to Mt. Hiei or Arashiyama to play shakuhachi. When he has leisure time, he makes shakuhachi (taught to him by his master Yoshimori Fuan. He is often invited by Zen temples to play shakuhachi for their religious ceremony. He has 20 students, including 5 foreign people who have interested in Zen.

http://komuso.com/people/people.pl?person=1617

Higashi Myogi - 東妙義

2011-04-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

Higashi-san began the study of shakuhachi when he was 16 years old. At that time, he entered the Buddhist priesthood under the head of Kokokuji-temple, Munezani Furukawa. This temple, located in Wakayama, is the cradle of Fuke-sect shakuhachi. He was a student of Hanazono High School and Hanazono College in Kyoto. During those days, he learned from the following masters of shakuhachi:

1. Shizan Koizumi (the 38th of Myouan style)
2. Nyohou Aoki (the master of Nezasaha style)
3. Zeshin Sasaki (the master of Nezasaha style)
4. Chikuho Tukamoto (the 3rd of Tozan style)

From April of 1958 to March of 1964, he practiced Zen at the dojo of Ryutakuji-temple in Mishima city, Shizuoka prefecture. When he had a break from Zen training, he studied under the shakuhachi master Setuchou Uramoto. He studied under Watazumido-so (海童道祖) from 1967 to 1983 and received the license of the eight grade and was given the name Kogetu Watazumi (海童江月) which translates as “moon on the lake” (pure mind). It is a very special honor for the student to be given the master's name. Higashi Myogi has two other shakuhachi names (given by himself). One was Shogetsu, which translates as ”tease moon” and the other was Unkai (雲海), which means, “cloud like sea”.

I believe that he did not think of himself as having a pure mind! A Zen priest who had a recording of his playing introduced him to Watazumido-so. He then became very interested in this way. When the priest became ill, Watazmido-so came to visit him. At that time, Higashi-san met his future teacher. He was 23 years old. At present Higashi Myogi is the abbot of Tengenji Temple in Tokyo Japan

http://komuso.com/people/people.pl?person=1671

高岡　臨済宗国泰寺の開山忌 - Takaoka Rinzaisyuu Kokutaizi founding of memorial

2011-04-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

全国から十六人の虚無僧が集まり百八の音色の中　国泰寺の開山忌が行なわれました。お寺の雰囲気が盛り上げるのでしか百八の音が心に残りました。

GT-Kokutaizi memorial was held in the tone of the founding of eight hundred six of the ten Komuso gathered nationwide. The sound of the eight hundred remain in the mind only spice up the atmosphere of the temple.

法要が始まるまでの時間、虚無僧さんがいろいろなところで百八の練習を・・・。カメラを向けて写真を撮らせていただきましたが皆さんこころよく撮らせてくれました。ありがとうございました。

GT- Until the start of Buddhist time, the practice's eight hundred Komuso in many places. I took me all of you Kokoroyoku I took photos for the camera. Thank you.

境内裏の茶室ではお茶会が行なわれていて、来る皆さんにお茶を立ててくれていました。作法もしらないわたしまでいただきました。とても美味しかったです。

GT- The tea room is a shrine behind the tea party they have been done had me come to you making a tea. I also do not know until Itadakimashita manners. It was delicious.

※毎年6月2・3日（開山の祖である慈雲妙意が亡くなった日）に行われる法要です。全国から数十人の虚無僧が集い、開山忌が営まれます。客寮から開山堂までの境内を虚無僧と国泰寺の僧侶が行列で歩き、開山堂で読経に和して尺八を奏でます。

http://youtu.be/AC-IXX8ZUt4

June each year ※ 2.3 (Sun 慈雲 strange death meaning the founder of Temple) is a memorial service be held. Komuso gathered from dozens of the country, founding the memorial is practiced. Kokutaizi monks walk in procession to the temple precincts of the Temple and Komuso customers from the dorm plays a Japanese bamboo flute with a reading of the sutras in the Temple Hall.

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/willis_dad/25641601.html

Interview: Blowing Meditation - Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin

2011-04-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

A master of the shakuhachi, the Zen bamboo flute, explains how deep listening can spark awareness and relieve suffering

Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin

I have been playing the shakuhachi (bamboo flute) for over 26 years. I had the privilege of studying with Yodo Kurahashi (a great Japanese shakuhachi master), who not only taught me to play, but to play with ha-ha gokoro, "a mother's heart." This attitude of selflessness and nurturing is a part of a the great heritage of Zen Buddhism. The day I began to study the instrument, I was absolutely entranced, and I still am.

In many ways, I am a modern-day komuso. The komuso were itinerant, mendicant priests of the Fuke-Shu sect of Zen Buddhism who wandered Japan during the Edo period (1600-1868). These priests were samurai who had lost their masters, and they would take the problems and illnesses of people upon themselves by playing a certain kind of shakuhachi music called Sui-Zen. The ko in komuso means "emptiness" or "nothingness," so the komuso were quite literally priests of the emptiness. They would wear tengai, a kind of woven basket, on their heads, hiding their faces. This was for anonymity, to suppress the ego. As selfless, empty vessels, other people's problems could be "poured" into them. When someone needed a komuso to play for healing, the patient would see only a flute extending from the bottom of the basket, not a person.

The komuso wandered the breadth of the countryside. Many government agents disguised themselves as komuso, since one could travel about in complete anonymity and gather information. I even know a short piece that was supposed to be played by one komuso greeting another. If the second komuso did not respond, the first would know that the other was probably a spy. When the government changed, in order to eliminate the spy network, the Fuke sect was abolished and all its temples abandoned. It was only by good fortune that the repertoire of the Zen shakuhachi survived.

The idea of shakuhachi is to become one with the music so that you experience no other distractions, worries, problems, illnesses, or stresses

Zen literally means "meditation." The shakuhachi is the only melodic instrument used for meditation (as opposed to gongs, bells, and drum beats). When you simply sit in meditation, it's called zazen, or sitting meditation, and when you play shakuhachi to meditate, it's called suizen, or "blowing" meditation. The idea of this Zen art is to become one with the music so that you experience no other distractions, worries, problems, illnesses, or stresses.

Meditation has only recently been accepted by Western science as a way to control stress and pain, regulate blood pressure, and address problems related to the immune system. It has been shown to effect changes in the autonomic nervous system, which until recently was thought to be beyond conscious control. Many of my recordings touch upon this healing aspect of the repertoire, but in this recording the healing side of the shakuhachi is explored to its fullest extent.

The shakuhachi has existed in Japan for 1,200 years. At first it was used to play court music, or gagaku. The kind of shakuhachi music I play here is honkyoku, or music that is played for one's own enlightenment and that is an outgrowth of Zen Buddhism. The word honkyoku refers to "origin," hon. And origin, in this case, means the place inside yourself that is the origin of your being or the origin of the truth. Part of the purpose of this music is to promote unity between what is within you and your outward manifestation.

You can play shakuhachi music in the background of your daily life to create a peaceful environment. But to get the full benefit of this music, it is best to find a place where you have few distractions and where you can relax.

The music is designed to bring you to a state of balance. If you concentrate on it and allow it to become the center of your thought, you will become remarkably calm. Imagine that you are on a wonderful journey, walking through countryside you have never seen before. Try to appreciate every sound and silence as if it were a waterfall or a bird in flight or wind in a field of flowers. You are encountering it and not expecting to experience it again. Allow yourself to be delighted with it, to be struck by its beauty for the first (and last) time. This is hearing music in the Now. Listen for how a note begins and how it ends. Listen also for the space between sounds, called the ma, which means "space" or "emptiness." Listen for all the various textures in which the notes are played. The same notes can sound totally different depending on the tone, the way the note begins, what happens to it while it is sounding, how it ends, and the space in between. That is the aesthetic, and part of the Zen experience.

Try to breathe along with the music. Imagine that the flute is an extension of your breath, which is the most intimate part of you. Focus on the flute as if you were playing with it, making the breath that activates the note. The breathing is from the hara, the area two inches below the navel, which is considered the center of the body in many cultures.

Remember that breathing itself is linked to healing. Lamaze classes teach a "cleansing breath," and in yoga the first step of practice is regulating the breath. Your life begins with breath and ends with your last breath.

The beginnings of many of the honkyoku pieces start with a few phrases in a low octave and are quite brief. As one enters more deeply into the blowing meditation, the phrases get longer and longer. Let them pull you into the meditative state; they are designed to do that, as it is the breathing exercise aspect of the music.

Both player and listeners can enter into a trance state through this music. My teacher used to say that if you are playing for a lot of people, just choose one person and play to their kokoro, their heart. On this recording, I am playing to your kokoro.

_____________________________________

The piece of music featured here is called Kyo-Choshi, a Meian-Style honkyoku. This honkyoku is played simply, without any unusual techniques. The word choshi means "tone," "condition," or "state of mind." It refers to the essential unity and harmony of the universe or to the state of mind when heaven, earth, and humanity are perceived as one. This version of choshi is from the Meian-Ji Temple in Kyoto.

Although all Zen pieces help to clear the mind, I believe that through deep listening to pieces such as "Kyo-Choshi" one can find further awareness and unity in one's thoughts and memories. That is why it is one of my favorite pieces to play for the mentally ill and the aged.

http://www.nyogetsu.com/interviews/blowingmeditation.html

http://www.nyogetsu.com/interviews.html

宏　洞　管　尺　八　の　事

2011-04-20T16:51:00.000-07:00

桐の枝をくりぬいて作られた、長さ三尺六寸の長管尺八です。

嵯峨野、清涼寺の釈迦堂で道場を開かれていた菊水湖風先生から譲っていただいたものです。道場は、先生亡き後、狂言堂になっています。

息使いが大変な尺八ですが、なり始めると、柔らかな音で、吹いてる自分も眠くなりそうです。

きっとアルファー波が響くのでしょうか？

「平常心是道」は京都明暗寺の苔山住職に頂きました。

GT- Tung made the branch of Nui Kuri is six feet three dimensions Shakuhachi long tube length. Sagano, you are giving up the lake breeze Kikusui teacher was being held at the dojo of 清涼寺 Shakadō. Dojo sensei after the death, has become Kyogen Hall.

It is hard breathing and shakuhachi, and begin to sound, soft, sleepy myself is going to be blowing. What alpha wave sounds of us? "Eternal calm way," the priest gave 苔山 dark temple in Kyoto.

http://jxkura007.exblog.jp/5206172/

The eternal Kyorei

2011-04-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

Warning: Shakuhachi inside baseball ahead.
So one of the genres of music typically played on the shakuhachi is honkyoku 本曲: mostly solo pieces, usually without strong rhythm, handed down from komusō culture. Kyorei 虚鈴 ("Empty bell", etc.) is one of the "three classics," traditionally considered the oldest surviving honkyoku, and has been transmitted in many different versions.

Romei at shakuhachi blog Nichiyō komusō made an interesting post not long ago about three versions of Kyorei. His diagram shows a summary, in shakuhachi notation (black text = low register, red text = high register, blue text = low or high register), of the piece in three versions: Seien-ryū 西園流, Taizan-ha 對山派, and Jin Nyodō 神如道's version (i.e. the Fudaiji version).

Now, the Taizan-ha version of the piece is based on the Seien-ryū version, edited into its present shape by Taizan-ha founder Higuchi Taizan 樋口對山. This editing seems to consist mostly of adding repetitions (e.g. as in the first row) and moving the first few phrases to the high register. This is relatively uncommon in the honkyoku repertoire, in which pieces tend to start low, go high, and then come back down to low again. (The "mountain" structure.) So why did Taizan do that?

Romei argues that both the repetitions and the high-register start were a way of reinforcing the "Kyorei sound world," the chief characteristic of which is eternity. The repetitions undermine the passage of time, eroding what little motivic direction the Seien-ryū version originally had, and the "start high" approach is a way of implying that the song was already in progress when the player picked up the flute. What is played, and heard, is just the section of Kyorei that happens to be manifest in our world; and the ending, too, implies a continuation in another place.

http://no-sword.jp/blog/

Here is the post from Nichiyō komusō

「虚鈴」の神如道の編曲

遅まきながら　あけましておめでとうございます。

去年は途中からBLOGの更新をさぼってしまいましたが今年ことは不定期でも何か書いていきたいと思います。

さて、正月に岐阜の父を訪ねた時に、神如道さんの所の「虚鈴」はどうなっているんだ？と聞かれた。

善養寺門下で神如道の古典本曲を習っているが、実は普大寺系の本曲はほとんど習っていないのだ。

改めて、譜面を比較して見てみた。

下の楽譜の画像は途中で切れているので画像をクリックして全体を見てください。

黒字：乙　赤字：甲　青字：或いは甲

GT- Joe imaginary" god 如道 arrangement

Happy belated.

BLOG last year by the middle of this year I will not bother to update anything I want to write at random times.

Well, when my father visited the New Year in Gifu, the place of God 如道's "Joe the imaginary"'m on? Was asked.

This song has been studying classical 如道善養寺 disciple God, this song is actually a series of Pu Ootera almost no learning.

Once again, I looked compared to the score.

Scores below the image, please click on the image to see the whole because it cut off.

Black: red B: blue Curse: Curse or

西園流から樋口對山が整曲（編曲）した意図、特徴は、フレーズの繰り返しを増やし、虚鈴の持つ悠久とした世界観をより広げたと考えられる。

曲の終わりもそうだが、決して終止しない、無限に続く感覚というのはほかの曲にないものである。

神如道の編曲は明らかに對山派と酷似しており、伝承は堀口是空からとなっているが、西園流系の人ではなく、明らかに對山派の人から習っていると思われる。

特に西園流ではあったホロホロが省略されていることから、對山派でも對山譜にはホロホロがあり、今の對山派にはない（小林紫山が外した？）ことからも、それ以後の人から学んでいると思われる。

少し不思議なのは、西園流でも對山派でも大きなフレーズ（①から④）を甲乙を変えて繰り返しているのに対し、神如道は⑤の返しの途中から「或いは甲」と指示がある。

これは⑤の最初の1フレーズまでを前半と合わせて一つ完結させた状態と考えたためと思われる。

神如道の曲の頭が乙のフレーズから始めているのは、甲から始める對山派では虚鈴のイメージに合わないと考えたための工夫と思われる。（あえて西園流のそれを聞いてその部分だけ乙としたというわけではない）

この種の工夫は滝落ちの最初も甲から始めるのを乙からにしていることなどからも、いきなり甲というのは神如道の気分に合わなかったのだろう。

余談だが、私は西園流から對山があえて甲から始めるという風に編曲した理由をずっと考えてきた。

普通に考えるなら乙→甲と進む方がはるかに自然で、この違和感をどう解釈するかもやもやしていた。

私なりに考えた結論としては對山はこの曲をこの甲から始めるのではなく、まだ吹いていない前から続いているもの、そして曲の終わりもこれで終わりではなくずっと続くものと考えたからではないか。

虚鈴について新春考えてみたがすべては想像の世界である。

間違いもありそうなので指摘いただきたい。

GT- Happy belated.

BLOG last year by the middle of this year I will not bother to update anything I want to write at random times.

Well, when my father visited the New Year in Gifu, the place of God 如道's "Joe the imaginary"'m on? Was asked.

This song has been studying classical 如道善養寺 disciple God, this song is actually a series of Pu Ootera almost no learning.

Once again, I looked compared to the score.

Scores below the image, please click on the image to see the whole because it cut off.

Black: red B: blue Curse: Curse or

The adjustment from the current song Higuti 對山 Nishizono (Arranger), intention, character, increase the repetition of the phrase seems to have spread from a world that has a bell and imaginary Hisashi Yuu.

Much like the end of the song, do not never stop, that is no sense in endless other songs.

The arrangement is very similar to God 如道對山 school apparently has become a tradition, but from the sky Eternal Horiguchi, rather than the current system Nishizono people, who seem to learn from the school apparently 對山be.

In particular, Nishizono flow from fowl that had been omitted, the score has 對山對山 fowl in school, the school now is not 對山 (Kobayashi 紫山 is removed?) May also, after that It seems that people learn from.

The strange little phrase in a big group in the current 對山 Nishizono (④ from ①), whereas the discrimination has repeatedly changed, from the middle of the return of God 如道 ⑤ "Party or" you are told this.

It seems to be considered in conjunction with the state of being one of the first half to complete the first phrase of ⑤.

The phrase beginning with B music 如道 head of God, by school 對山 from Microsoft is expected to start for ideas and thought the image fit the imaginary bell. (Not only was that part B of the flow Nishizono dare to hear it is not)

This type of device, such as that from the B to be the first to start a shell falls down, the armor that would fit the mood suddenly 如道 God.

As an aside, I've been thinking why I like it was arranged to start from the current shell Nishizono 對山 dare.

Much more natural and if we proceed with normal B → Party, how to interpret a cloud had this strange feeling.

In conclusion and I thought rather than starting from Microsoft 對山 this song, what followed is not blow yet from the front, in the end, not much thought to continue even now and the end of the song or not.

I thought about all the New Year's bell is the imaginary world of imagination.

I'd also point out mistakes so.

http://nabitsuma.cocolog-nifty.com/shaku8/2011/01/post-cf35.html

2011-04-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

彈眞空「地無し管」工房から展示即売会のお知らせです。（BCC）

年初めの計画としては、普化宗尺八〝地無し延べ管〟制作講習会を予定していましたが、

準備不足もあり、急遽展示会に変更しました。http://hw001.spaaqs.ne.jp/dan-art/live1.html
講習会の方は、改めてご連絡いたします。

以前は、会場を借りて開催していたので、経費が嵩み、日程の調整も難しかったのですが、

今年からは、地無し管工房の入っている通称「三太郎小屋」の設備も整いましたので、

工房を拠点に実践していきます。

個人指導は続けていましたが、この機会に詳細を明記した公募情報を、ホームページその他に掲載します。

＜嘗て宮城県に在った虚無僧寺 - 布袋軒伝とされる鈴慕の曲を、2nd Album に録音しました。

　この震災を機に改めて煉り直してみよう思います＞

＜地無し管工房正会員各位　今月中にはweb講座の詳解ページを送ります＞

Dan Art Plan/Ji-nasｈi Kan Studio

http://hw001.spaaqs.ne.jp/dan-art/

Sakai Shodo - Kangetsu Kyoku

2011-04-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Sakai Shodo - Kangetsu Kyoku from naha Jaja on Vimeo.

Prague Shakuhachi Festival 2011 introduces the first of its guests, Sakai Shodo, head of the Chikuho Ryu. He is playing Kangetsu Kyoku from the Shinpou Style of Myouan School.

Shodo-sensei will teach and perform 25-29/08 2011 in Prague. komuso.cz

http://www.komuso.cz/en/festival

Justin Senryu plays Itchoken Koku Reibo ジャスティン泉龍　一朝軒　虚空鈴慕

2011-03-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

Justin Senryu plays a classic honkyoku from the Itchoken temple of Kyushu region. This piece was transmitted from Tsunoda Rogetsu to Yamaue Getsuzan, whose lineage is currently passed down in Nagasaki and Hakata.

http://senryushakuhachi.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YBHPX-os38

Justin Senryu Myoan Shimpo-ryu Sou Mukaiji ジャスティン泉龍　明暗真法流　艸霧海箎

2011-03-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

Justin Senryu plays Sou Mukaiji, a classic honkyoku from the Myoan temple of Kyoto. Although there are many schools of shakuhachi associated with the name "Myoan" (or sometimes pronounced "Meian"), the honkyoku of these schools is unconnected to the Edo period Myoan temple (modern Myoan honkyoku come mostly from Seien-ryu and Kinko-ryu).

The original Myoan school of the Edo period became known as Myoan Shimpo-ryu, headed by Katsuura Shozan, the last head of the school. This lineage almost totally died out. Only one person learned the whole repertoire from Katsuura, and that person did not teach it. A few people learned a few pieces from Katsuura, such as Jin Nyodo, Sakai Chikuho, and Takahashi Kuzan, who passed down their arrangement of some of those pieces. Some teachers also teach their own interpretation of the pieces from the notation available.

Yamaue Getsuzan studied Shimpo-ryu from a young age, from Katsuura's students at first, and then with Katsuura directly. He studied about 25 of the pieces, and passed them down in strict keeping to the Shimpo-ryu style. As such, Yamaue's lineage represents the most complete and most pure collection of Myoan Shimpo-ryu honkyoku. Justin has studied this lineage from the two remaining teachers, Takahashi Rochiku and Otsubo Shido, and has now been asked to continue the lineage.

Instrument used: 1.6 jinashi shakuhachi made by Justin Senryu

http://senryushakuhachi.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS9xWZvSJu0

Shakuhachi 尺八本曲 Zen music　大和調子　阿字観 Yamato-chosi & Ajikan

2011-03-29T15:02:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA2x3YduFv8

http://youtu.be/j1LmC9BV4fE

Shakuhachi 尺八本曲 Zen music　手向.wmv(Tamuke)

2011-03-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpDhYzQ-X1g

Shakuhahi　尺八本曲 Zen music　西園流　虚空.「KOKUH」

2011-03-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4QojxuinpM

Shakuhachi 尺八本曲 Zen music　西園流　琴菅垣　「KOTO-SUGAGAKI」

2011-03-29T15:00:00.002-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGEwkxTfOAI

Shakuhachi　尺八本曲 Zen music　明暗流　手向　TAMUKE

2011-03-29T15:00:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAgjY6iC2nk

Shakuhachi I 尺八本曲 Zen music　西園流　瀧落　「TAKIOCHI」

2011-03-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAgjY6iC2nk

Kinya Sogawa playing Tamuke During Blackout

2011-03-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.fides.dti.ne.jp/~sogawa/36choshi.MP3

Kinya Sogawa's website
http://www.fides.dti.ne.jp/~sogawa/englishpage1.html

2011-03-20T17:06:00.001-07:00

“39 pieces lie within 36 pieces. 36 pieces lie within 18 pieces. 18 pieces lie within 3 pieces. 3 pieces lie within one piece. One piece lies within no piece. [No piece lies within a spiritual breath.] A [spiritual] breath lies within emptiness and nothingness” Fuyo Hisamatsu

Shakuhachi Music

2011-03-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

In spite of its simple construction and specific nature of music, the instrument often charms western music lovers. The Shakuhachi is an end blown bamboo flute with four holes on the front and one on the back. The standard length of 1.8 Japanese feet (54.5 cm) is found in the name of the instrument -shaku-foot and hachi-eight.

In the Nara Period, there was an end blown flute called Shakuhachi, but it had six finger-holes, five on the front and one on the back. This was introduced from China and then disappeared in the Heian Period. In the Muromachi Period, another end blown bamboo flute from China, called hsiao, was brought to Japan and modified into the Hitoyogiri, literally meaning one joint bamboo. This is a smaller flute, 1.1 feet (33.3 cm) in length with five finger-holes. This was first favored by mendicant friars and later became in fashion among the lower class Samurai and merchants.

In the beginning of the Edo Period itinerant Buddhist priests (Komuso) of the Fuke sect who were employed by Samurai began to use a 1.8 feet long Shakuhachi for their mendicancy. This was called the Fuke Shakuhachi.

A retired Samurai, Kurosawa Kinko (1710-1771), who was the teacher at a temple of the sect, established a style of art music on the instrument by composing new pieces based upon the repertoire of the Fuke Shakuhachi.

At the end of the Edo Period musicians of the Kinko school began to participate in the ensemble of Koto music, taking the place of the Kokyu, together with the Koto and Shamisen. The repertoire of the original solo pieces of the Kinko school is called Honkyoku (original pieces) while the repertoire of Koto pieces in which the Shakuhachi participates is called Gaikyoku (outside pieces).

Since the Shakuhachi was played with the Koto it became fashionable with men of every social class and in the middle of the Meiji Era (1896), Nakao Tozan established another school. Today the Kinko and Tozan schools dominate the Shakuhachi music, while the Fuke Shakuhachi declined since the Fuke sect was abolished by the Meiji government in 1871, when the organization for protection of blind Koto musicians, called Shokuyashiki, was also abolished.

The instrument is made from the lowest section of the bamboo. The average diameter of the pipe is 4-5 cm, and the inside of the pipe is almost cylindrical. The length varies according to the pitch of the ensemble of Koto and Shamisen. A difference of 3 cm renders a half tone. The standard length of 1.8 (Japanese feet) or 54.5 cm is used for solo pieces and the pitch of the open pipe, d, is regarded as the standard pitch. Five finger-holes, four in front and one on the back, give the following six tones in the standard pipe, d (closed), f, g, a, c, d'. By various fingerings, half holing, and controlling the angle of the mouthpiece against the lip, all of the twelve tones can be produced. The mouthpiece at the top of the pipe is made by cutting the edge diagonally toward the outside.

This type of mouthpiece makes it possible for the player to control the pitch by changing the angle, which in turn produces a delicate change in intonation not possible on a Western recorder (Blockflote) having a whistle type of mouthpiece.

As well as the delicate changing of intonation and various kinds of portamento, the noise of blowing on the edge of the mouthpiece creates an artistic effect. Of course the mellow timbre of the rather thick bamboo pipe is the basic characteristic of the instrument. To give the best possible sound the inside of the instrument is carefully lacquered, as in the case of the transverse flutes of Gagaku and Noh.

The musical form of solo pieces (Honkyoku) does not show fixed forms. Different melodic lines are placed in a row. Many stereotyped intervallic units occur here and there.

The more important musical element is free rhythm. There is no piece of Honkyoku that is written in fixed rhythm. The basic mode is the In-mode, the most common mode of Shamisen and Koto music.

The Honkyoku pieces of the Fuke sect (30 to 40 pieces) are based on the religious ideas of Zen Buddhism. Honkyoku of the Kinko School took over the repertoire of the Fuke Shakuhachi, but modified into a more artistic style. Then, too, new compositions not religious in nature were added to the repertoire of the Kinko-ryu Honkyoku (36 pieces).

By Dr. Shigeo Kishibe

http://komuso.com/pieces/index.pl

【妙音】虚無僧の行進曲【手の内ご無用】

2011-03-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

Atsuya Okuda - 奥田敦也

2011-03-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

https://picasaweb.google.com/uncle12216/20011010

Edo culture: daily life and diversions in urban Japan, 1600-1868 By Matsunosuke Nishiyama, Gerald Groemer

2011-03-14T14:49:00.000-07:00

http://books.google.com/books?id=gudOOeIuoYIC&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=edo+shakuhachi&source=bl&ots=tznUcz0Rep&sig=IXDUr_jUJN1LQtVcU3SCyqbfFSw&hl=en&ei=RYx-TfTCHYL7rAHKj-H5BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFcQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=edo%20shakuhachi&f=false

Music of the Shakuhachi (5-hole end-blown flute)

2011-03-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Predecessors (pre-Tokugawa/Edo)
Gagaku shakuhachi (Nara/Heian era; no longer used in gagaku)
Origins: ancient Chinese panpipes used for sacred tuning practices.
Pipes used for Chinese theory of “blown fifths.”
Name based on Chinese measurement: 1 shaku and 8 sun (56 cm).
Tempuku (Muromachi era; defunct): flute for light classics by Satsuma school
Hitoyogiri (Muromachi era; defunct): replaced gagaku shakuhachi
Small 5-hole flute with oblique-cut mouthpiece
Played by itinerant beggar-priests called komoso (“straw mat monks”)
Hitoyogiri replaced by larger modern shakuhachi with fuller sound.
Development of modern shakuhachi (Tokugawa/Edo period to present)
Komuso (“monks of emptiness”): itinerant samurai beggar-priests
Ronin: unemployed samurai at the end of the warring period
(samurai at top of social hierarchy over farmers, artisans, merchants)
Fuke sect formed in Kyoto (by govt. permission):
Komuso became government spies in disguise; freedom of movement.
Shakuhachi doubled as a weapon (long swords banned in this era).
Headquarters moved to Edo (Tokyo), spying in the pleasure quarters.
Sect was abolished with Meiji Restoration (1868).
Kyoto komuso sect became Myoan school; Tokyo group became Kinko school.
Less exclusive Tozan school formed in late 19th century.
Jiuta chamber ensemble (late Edo era): shakuhachi accompanies koto and shamisen.
Shakuhachi important in experiments with Western music in 20s and 30s.
Common characteristics of the shakuhachi
oblique-cut blowing edge with ivory insert;
four holes on top, one in back;
slightly curving instrument with knobby, natural looking bell at root end.
Variations: length (and thus the pitch) may vary as well as number of holes;
experiments with keyed instruments during 1920s never became popular.
Standard shakuhachi (55-56 cm.): five holes sound D, F, G, A, C
Merikari: additional pitches played by half-holing, changes in embouchure.
3 degrees of lowness (meri), 3 degrees of highness (kari).

Three categories of shakuhachi music
Honkyoku: original pieces, performed solo
Music developed out of meditation practice called suizen (“blowing zen”)
Free meter, natural breathing rhythm.
Phrases: begin soft, swell to loud, return to soft with final grace note;
Use of ma between phrases.
Variety of timbre effects: vibrato, explosive breath, flutter tonguing.
Programmatic imagery (e.g., nesting cranes, calling deer, wind, insects)
Scale: in scale (emphasize leading tones: ½ step upper, whole step lower)
Music in rondo form: A B A C A etc.
alternation of melodic theme with new sections;
returns to main theme are not exactly the same;
tendency to begin in low register, move higher and return to low.
Gaikyoku: pieces borrowed from, or played with koto/shamisen.
Shamisen solos from famous pieces adapted for shakuhachi.
Jiuta music: shakuhachi plays melismatic version of shamisen line.
Shinkyoku: new music in the modern era
Large shakuhachi ensembles
Shakuhachi accompaniment to religious services
Shakuhachi music used as aids to meditation

http://stripe.colorado.edu/~keister/shakuhachi.html

Dan Shinku bio

2011-03-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

I received this biography of Dan Shinku today from a person named Yuki Ozaki, This bio takes a special meaning all together, it was sent a day after the great earthquakes and tsunami that ravaged Japan.

Dan Shinkû
彈眞空
Born 1955
Shakuhachi

Born in Tokyo Japan in 1955, Dan Sinku has studied music since he was 5 years old , a multi instrumentalist he studied Organ, Piano, Shinobue, Harmonica, Classical & Electric guitar, Recorder and Mandolin. In 1972, he first heard Free form Improvisation, in a live event his high-school classmate planned. In 1973 he Studied under a jazz guitarist, Kazumi Watanabe at Syoubi Academy of Music. From1975 to 1981, he served as a lecturer of the guitar as well as Music and Jazz theory in the Jazz course at Muse Academy of Music. He then in1978 entered the late-Takayanagi Masayuki’s “Renjyuku” and pursues Improvised Music in the New Direction Unit. Dan Shinku then started the research and practice of Ethnic music and improvied music, doing performances that incorported Jazz and traditional Japanese music. In 1983 he formed the avant-garde improvisation unit “ Sol-Ambivalence”. After this he, started doing solo activities. Dan Shinku then carried out unprecedented performances and recordings with Synthesizer, Saxophone, Shinobue and Shakuhachi. It was then that he heard the incomparable record “Take-no-Hibiki” by the late Takahashi Kuzan. He was so fascinated by this music and it’s beauty that he stopped all other music activities.

Dan Shinku devoted himself to Fukeshu-Shakuhachi (the Fuke sect of Zen Shakuhachi ). he started the research of sound quality and mode through self-education. Groping in the dark he started making Ji-nashi Shakuhachi as well. From 1987 to 1988, he traveled on foot to Nepal and India to study Shakuhachi, after returning he studied Fukeshu-Shakuhachi formally under Fujiyoshi Etsuzan. From 1991 to 1994, he participated in the “ Space Sengawa Project”. While wearing a Komuso costume, Dan Shinku Played Classic solos incorporating as the main “Kokû” the essence of Fuke- music. He performed throughout Japan with Yoshida ôshû the Satsuma biwa player and Satuki Rino, the drama narrator. He then started the research of ancient occultism and the religion of the soul and also collected the data of Yamataikoku and Himiko. He also at that time planned and Carried out lectures on the making of Fukeshu-Shakuhachi “Ji-nashi Nobekan” as well as playing Hitoyogiri. Since 1996, he has been performing Suizen at Temples and searching for Fukeshu-Shakuhachi music, its original form as the principle. At the same time, he takes a new direction from his original work, utilizing traditional music that of the Fukeshu-Shakuhachi and Avant-garde modern music. In 1998, Dan recorded the cd “Juki Onjyômandala-Kokû” . and posed to the world that the sound of Fukeshu-Shakuhachi should be further developed. He put forward the integrated indivisibility of Sui・Saku・Sou (Playing Shakuhachi・Making it ・the reconsideration and creation of Music by Onko-Chishin ). Every autumn, he goes on a 3000km trip from Tohoku to Kyusyu, Japan to find Bamboo, through the years he has gathered hundreds of pieces of bamboo.

In the year 2003 Dan Shinku set up the only Ji-nashi Nobekan making studio in Kami-ongata, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, Japan. Where he researches and makes Fukeshu-Shakuhachi〝Ji-nashi Nobekan”, Miyogiri, Hitoyogiri, Doushô-Shakuhachi, and Gagaku-Shakuhachi,etc. He recorded his 2nd Album, “Juki Onjyômandala - Reibo”. in 2008, then recorded his third Album, “Juki Onjyômandala - Mukaichi”. Dan Shinku is now working on a live space that players and audiences can become one with Zen thought. He is also writing on the theory of playing, making and creation as an expression. He continues to lecture to individuals and small groups on the making and playing of Shakuhachi , and, does Suizen-no-Kai at Zen temple “Ryusenji ” across the street from his Studio.

◇ Dan art project / the representative of Ji-nashi Nobekan studio.
◇ The member of Komusou research work.
◇ The member of The society for Research in Asiatic Music.

http://hw001.spaaqs.ne.jp/dan-art/

http://komuso.com/people/people.pl?person=1651

Set of Six CDs of Jin Nyodo

2011-03-05T18:00:00.001-08:00

The table below is a listing of shakuhachi honkyoku pieces recorded by Jin Nyodo. The music was recorded in Jin's living room by one of his students, sometime in about 1958. These works were originally released in 1984 on LPs by Techiku, and were re-released this year on CD (also by Techiku). The LPs contain 39 pieces. The CD re-release includes an additional 10 pieces. The original LP format was copied on the CDs (pieces on LP #1 are on CD #1), the additional pieces were added at the end of each CD as shown below.
As on the CDs, the original 38 pieces are listed below as numbers 1 through 39. The additional pieces are numbered I through X (Roman numerals) for clarity and separation.
The list of titles and origins are from three sources:

An article published in Hogaku, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1989 (a journal from the Japanese Traditional Music Society).
A list put up by Monte Levenson (what's the URL?)
A copy of Monte's with track numbers added by Bill Atwood with comments and corrections by Ronnie Seldin.

The times are from the albums and the CDs, and the shaku length column info comes from an advertisement for the CD package.
With all the seeming different ways to interpret and spell Japanese words and names, there are probably spelling and other errors here - that's why there are more than one entry in some fields.
Please send comments or corrections to bjones@ucsd.edu.

http://communication.ucsd.edu/shaku/newjin.html

CD #1
Track	No.	Origin	Title	Time	Shaku
1	01	Nezasa-ha	Shirabe	02:55	1.8
2	02	Nezasa-ha	Sagariha	03:52	1.8
3	03	Nezasa-ha	San'ya Seiran	08:39	2.1
4	04	Nezasa-ha	Tori-Kadozuke-Hachigaeshi	11:42	2.3
5	05	Nezasa-ha	Nagashi-Reibo	11:29	2.3
6	06	Nezasa-ha	Matsukaze	06:59	2.3
7	07	Nezasa-ha	Shishi (aka) Shi Shi No Kyoku	08:46	2.3
8	I	Nezasa-ha	Sanya Seiran (aka) Sanya Seikaku	08:23	2.0
CD #2
Track	No.	Origin	Title	Time	Shaku
1	08	Nezasa-ha	Shirabe-Koku	14:13	2.3
2	09	Nezasa-ha	Shirabe-Sagahira (Urajoshi/Urachoshi)	04:12	2.1
3	10	Nezasa-ha	Matsukaze (Urajoshi/Urachoshi)	05:36	2.0
4	11	Jin Nyodo Shokyoku	Daiwagaku	03:03	1.8
5	12	Ikkan-ryu	Rokudan	08:33	1.7
6	13	Echigo-Myoanji	San'ya	10:22	2.1
7	14	Jin Nyodo Shokyoku	Mujushin-Kyoku	08:30	2.3
8	II	Nezasa-ha	Nagashi Reibo	10:29	1.9
9	III	Nezasa-ha	Matsukaze	05:48	1.6
CD #3
Track	No.	Origin	Title	Time	Shaku
1	15	Renbo-ken Kisen-ken Hikyoku (aka) Renpoken Hi Kyoku	Tsuro-no-Sugomori	16:40	2.1
2	16	Futai-ken	San'ya	09:57	2.1
3	17	Futai-ken	Reibo	12:14	2.3
4	18	Shogen-ken	Reibo	11:58	2.1
5	19	Kinko-ryu	Banshiki-cho	04:17	1.9
6	IV	Futai-ken	Reibo	10:17	1.9
CD #4
Track	No.	Origin	Title	Time	Shaku
1	20	Kinko-ryu	Shika-no-Tone	16:07	1.9
2	21	Kinko-ryu	Hi-Fu-Mi Hachigaeshi-no-Shirabe	11:02	1.8
3	22	Kinko-ryu	San'ya Sugagaki	05:15	1.8
4	23	Ryugenji/Rogenji	Takiochi	10:36	2.1
5	24	Fudai-ji	Tsuru-no-Sugomori	10:09	1.8
6	V	Kinko-ryu	Sokaku Reibo	09:04	1.8
7	VI	Kinko-Ryu	Yugure (aka) Yugure no Kyoku	08:03	1.8
CD #5
Track	No.	Origin	Title	Time	Shaku
1	25	Fudai-ji	Koku	10:52	2.1
2	26	Fudai-ji	Mukaiji	09:27	2.0
3	27	Fudai-ji	Choshi	03:34	1.8
4	28	Origin/Sect Unknown	Yobidake-Ukedake (aka) Yobitake Uketake	01:04	2.5
5	29	Fudai-ji	Kyorei	10:39	2.8
6	30	Kyoto Myoan-ji	Choshi	06:07	2.7
7	31	Kyoto Myoan-ji	Darani	06:32	2.5
8	32	Kyoto Myoan-ji	Murasaki-Reibo (aka) Murasaki Reiho	05:06	2.2
9	VII	Nezasa-ha	Shirabe Shishi (aka) Shirabe Shi Shi No Kyoku	09:27	1.9
10	VIII	Jin Nyodo Shokyoku (Seikyoku)	Mujushin Kyoku	08:17	2.0
CD #6
Track	No.	Origin	Title	Time	Shaku
1	33	Kyoto Myoan-ji	Tsuru-no-Sugomori	15:26	2.1
2	34	Kyoto Myoan-ji	Horai	05:06	1.9
3	35	Miyaka Nyozan	Ajikan	07:12	2.1
4	36	Itcho-ken	Sashi	05:18	1.8
5	37	Itcho-ken	Banshiki	06:19	1.9
6	38	Itcho-ken	Azuma-no-Kyoku (aka) Asuma-no-Kyoku (aka) Azuma/Asuma Jishi	03:21	1.8
7	39	Itcho-ken	Kumoi-Jishi	05:40	1.8
8	IX	Itcho-ken	Ajikan	06:20	1.9
9	X	Origin/Sect Unknown	Tsuru-no-Tsugomori	08:19	2.0

78 recordings from Sepia

2011-03-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

http://www.sepia.dti.ne.jp/shakuhachi/
明暗流(Myouan-ryu, Meian-ryu)

鶴の巣籠（上・下） - 藤田松調、平田松暁

虚空（上・下）(Kokuu) 一朝田中普門、後の海童道

大和調べ　(Yamato Shirabe) 海童道

薩慈 (Saji) 海童道 1941

三谷 (Sanya) 海童道1942

手向 (Tamuke) 海童道1952

虚空（上・下）(Kokuu) 宮川如山 (Miyagawa Nyozan)

本手調子(Honte-choshi) 宮川如山 (Miyagawa Nyozan)

阿字観(Ajikan) 宮川如山 (Miyagawa Nyozan)

鉢返し(Hachigaeshi) 宮川如山 (Miyagawa Nyozan)

阿字観 (Ajikan) 浦本浙潮 (Uramoto Setchou) 二尺二寸管（小笠原清太郎作）

虚空 (Kokuu) 小林紫山 (Kobayashi Shizan)

琴古流 (Kinko-ryu)

鹿の遠音（上・下） (Shika no Toone) 荒木古童 (Araki Kodou III)

鉢返しの調べ（一・二・三・四）(Hachigaeshi no Shirabe) 荒木古童 (Araki Kodou III)

英霊に捧ぐ、(Eirei ni Sasagu*)　横山蘭畝 (Yokoyama Ranpo)

三谷菅垣 (Sanya Sugagaki) 横山蘭畝 (Yokoyama Ranpo)

三曲 (Sankyoku, with Koto and/or Shamisen)

六段 (Rokudan) （一・二）尺八：水野呂童(Mizuno Rodou)

山田流筝曲　越後獅子（上・下）(Echigojishi) 尺八：三浦琴童 (Miura Kindou)

千鳥の曲（一・二・三・四） (Chidori no Kyoku) 尺八：荒木梅旭

上田流 (Ueda-ryu)

平和の光（上・下） (Heiwa no Hikari)尺八：上田竹童、富岡仙童

平和の光（上・下） (Heiwa no Hikari) 尺八連管：上田芳憧、上田直堂

五月雨（上・下）、(Samidare)　尺八独奏：上田竹童

新本曲たそがれ、(Tasogare) 尺八連管：上田芳憧、上田竹童

新本曲順禮歌、(Jyunreika)尺八連管：上田芳憧、上田竹童上田流秘曲鶴の巣籠り、(Tsuru no Sugomori) 尺八連管：上田芳憧、上田竹童

黒髪（上・下）(Kurokami) 尺八：上田芳憧、琴：楯城護

追分、(Oiwake)尺八連管：上田芳憧、上田竹童

千鳥の曲（一・二・三・四） (Chidori no kyoku)尺八：上田芳憧

六段（上・下） (Rokudan)尺八：上田芳憧

茶音頭（上・下） (Chaondo)尺八：上田芳憧

福田蘭童 (Fukuda Randou) (Azuma-ryu)

麦笛の頃 (Mugibuenokoro)福田蘭童

月草の夢 (Tsukikusanoyume)尺八福田蘭童ピアノ小松清

正調追分（上・下）(Seichou-Oiwake)福田蘭童

追分（上・下）(Oiwake)福田蘭童、兵藤勉、古賀一聴

虚空鈴慕（上・下） (Kokuu-reibo)福田蘭童

深山ひぐらし、(Miyama Higurashi) 福田蘭童

子守唄即興曲、(Komoriuta Imprompt)福田蘭童

桔梗幻想曲、(Kikyou Fantasia)福田蘭童

旅人の唄、(Tabibito no Uta) 福田蘭童

鶴の巣籠、(Tsuru no Sugomori)福田蘭童

鹿の遠音、(Shika no Toone)福田蘭童

鶴の巣籠2、(Tsuru no Sugomori - another version)福田蘭童

鹿の遠音2、(Shika no Toone - another version)福田蘭童

追分專輯 (Oiwake)

追分、(Oiwake)一睡軒花堂　

追分、(Oiwake) 小柳市太郎

追分、(Oiwake) 立花家扇遊

追分（上・下）(Oiwake) 小金井静堂

正調追分（A・B）(Seichou-Oiwake) 尺八本多翠竹

正調追分（前唄後唄・本唄）尺八福田蘭童

正調追分（上・下）尺八酒井竹保

正調追分（上・下）尺八吉田晴風

江差追分 (Esashi-Oiwake)

江差追分、(Esashi-Oiwake)

江差追分、(Esashi-Oiwake)尺八小金井静童

江差追分、(Esashi-Oiwake) 尺八菊池淡水

江差追分、(Esashi-Oiwake)尺八小金井正童、小金井静童

江差追分、(Esashi-Oiwake)尺八菊池淡水、榎本秀水

竹保流 (Chikuho-ryu)

春の曲（上・下）(Haru no Kyoku)尺八酒井竹保

胡蝶の戯れ（上・下）尺八：酒井竹保、酒井正保、ピアノ：芝高正蕉（酒井竹保作曲）

中尾都山 (Nakao Tozan, I) （1876～1956）

岩清水（上・下）(Iwashimizu)、中尾都山独奏

寒月（上・下）(Kangetsu)、本手：中尾都山、替手：小池玲山

若葉（上・下）(Wakaba)、本手：中尾都山、替手：小池玲山

湖上の月（上・下）(Kojou no Tsuki) 本手：中尾都山、替手：倉川簫山

夕月（上・下）(Yuuzuki)、中尾都山

三曲の部

千鳥の曲（後唄） (Chidori no Kyoku) 尺八：中尾都山

茶の湯音頭（上・下）(Chanoyuondo) 尺八：中尾都山

七小町（上・下）(Nanakomachi) 尺八：中尾都山

磯千鳥（上・下）(Iso Chidori) 尺八：中尾都山

越後獅子（上・下）、(Echigojishi) 尺八：中尾都山

楫枕（一）、（二）、（三）、（四） (Kajimakura) 中尾都山

六段（上） (下）、(Rokudan) 尺八：中尾都山

都山以外本曲

朝の海（上・下）、(Asa no Umi) 本手：森田鸞山、替手：星田一山

木枯し (Kogarashi) 倉川簫山

若葉（上）（針飛びがあります）、若葉（下）、(Wakaba) 古林周山　他15名

三曲

鶴の巣籠（上・下） (Tsuru no Sugomori) 但馬大山一行

その他 (Others)

秋の夜　ながしの枝 (Aki no Yoru, Nagasi no Eda) 尺八：一睡軒花堂

大津絵 (Outsue) 尺八：小柳市太郎

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/shakuhachi-taiwan/article?mid=462&next=196&l=f&fid=11

The San Koten Honkyoku of the Kinko-Ryū : a study of traditional solo music for the Japanese vertical end-blown flute, the shakuhachi by Norman Allen Stanfield

2011-03-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

THE "SAN KOTEN HONKYOKU" OP THE KINKO-RYU: A STUDY OF TRADITIONAL ...

The "San Koten Honkyoku" are three ("san") traditional ("hon") compositions ("kyoku") which are distinguished and venerated for their archetypical ("koten") characteristics. Of the many "schools" ("ryu") of musicians who claim proprietorship or proprietary control of versions of these melodies, the Kinko-ryu has the strongest claim to historicity. Their medium of performance is the "shakuhachi"—a bamboo, end-blown, vertical flute—and their aesthetics is founded on Zen Buddhism. The progenitor of the shakuhachi most likely originates from the Mesopotamian civilizations of the fourth millennium B.C. After diffusion to China, the vertical flute acquired a seminal role as the aural manifestation of the Chinese fundamental pitch, "huang-chung". Some time later it became a melody instrument in the court orchestras, suffering several recondite changes in nomenclature and popularity. When it arrived in Japan as the Imperial "ch'ih pa" (Jp. shakuhachi) it was in rapid decline, but during the 16th century it re-emerged as an ignoble instrument played by Japanese mendicant Buddhists called "Komo-s5". The period between the decline of the Imperial Court's shakuhachi and the rise of the Komo-so's vertical flute is a void for historians of the instrument, but it is suggested in this thesis that an earlier group of mendicant Buddhist priests/musicians, the "Mo-s5" biwa players, may have been the source of this renaissance. By the time of the Edo Period (1600-1868), the vertical flute had passed from the hands of the Komo-so, through the merchant class who called it the "Hitoyogiri" and a samurai clan who knew it as the "Tenpuku", to a newly-emerged group comprised of "ronin" or masterless samurai who adopted the then-defunct Komo-so's way of life in a manner that suited their aristocratic background. They called themselves "Komu-so", and their colorful history ranges from clandestine malevolence to Buddhist saintliness. In the 18th century, Kurosawa Kinko and his son (Kinko II, 1741-1811) and grandson (Kinko III, 1772-1816) advanced the positive aspects of the Komu-so's activity by assembling a unified repertoire and organizing an association of lay flutists devoted to the pursuit of "Takedd"—the "Way" of the bamboo flute—a process of self-enlightenment fashioned after Zen Buddhist precepts. Today, the music theory of the Kinko-ryu Honkyoku is comprised of a basic system of rudiments tempered by complex performance practices which are only accessible through the oral/aural instruction of a sensei. His pedagogy is designed to bring the student to a unified understanding of the many aspects of melodic detail by emphasizing their role in animating the simple melodies outlined by the skeletal notation. Through a systematic analysis of the Kinko-ryu "San Koten Honkyoku", the present study has found that the theoretical principles of these compositions are clearly demonstrable. Their inherent pitches are derived from the Japanese "In" scale and exist in a hierarchy made manifest in tonal proclivities which are naturally or deceptively resolved. The hierarchies also determine the structures of the melodies by articulating their progress. The conclusion of this thesis draws together the sociology, history, melodic theory and melodic analyses of the Kinko-ryu shakuhachi and its Honkyoku by outlining their respective contributions to a unique musical expression of Zen Buddhism.

https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/20631

琴古流尺八- Kinko Shakuhachi

2011-03-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

古童会

琴古流尺八

はじめに

古童会へようこそ。当会は二世荒木竹翁（五世荒木古童）師のもとに集う尺八演奏家の会です。会員は開かれた自由な雰囲気の中で尺八の楽曲と技法を学び、演奏を楽しんでいます。尺八に興味をおもちの方はどうぞ各地の稽古場まで。

Introduction

GT- Welcome to the Board古童. The Association II Bamboo WENG Araki ( five world 古童Araki) are the group of musicians gathered under a master shakuhachi. Members will learn the techniques and music of the shakuhachi was held in an atmosphere of freedom and enjoy playing. Those interested in the shakuhachi toys to please throughout the rehearsal.

音楽室

六段の調三世荒木古童、箏河田登宇、三弦福田きく

六段の調　荒木梅旭、箏中能島欣一、三弦上原淳子

茶の湯音頭　第47回竹之会演奏会（古童会助演）

四世荒木古童編　越天楽　第40回琴古流尺八演奏会（古童会）

黒髪　木村友齋

残月二世荒木竹翁

屋島　第49回竹之会演奏会

一二三鉢返五世荒木古童

古童会

二世荒木竹翁(五世荒木古童)師紹介

1937	琴古流尺八の名人三世を祖父に、才能に恵まれながらも早逝した四世の三男として東京に生まれる。
1947	四世門人吉田錦童、後三世門人木村友斎に師事。
1961	慶応義塾大学卒。
1962	五世古童襲名。
1963-1971	UCLA、ワシントン大学、ウエスリアン大学へ学士入学と共に民族音楽科講師を歴任。
1967	スクリブスアジア芸能研究所講師を兼任。
1971	ウエスリアン大学修士卒。コロンビア、プリンストン、スタンフォード、ミシガン大学、その他私立、州立大学、多数で演奏、演奏指導、講演。日本コロンビアより”尺八の真髄”「鹿の遠音」、「こんかい」、「千鳥の曲」、「残月」等、数曲レコーディング、放送、出演。
1998	NHKラジオ第一放送”ふれあいラジオパーティー”にて「尺八を世界に広めた荒木古童」と紹介され、約一時間半にわたって出演。
2004	NHK BS1 「週末日本学・尺八」海外181ヶ国向けの番組に出演。国際尺八音楽祭 in ニューヨーク講師。
2005	NHKテレビ教育番組「週末日本学・尺八」に出演。古童会会主。
2008	二世竹翁襲名。

GT-

1937	The grandfather Kinko shakuhachi virtuoso III, IV was born in Tokyo as the third son of a gifted but early 逝.
1947	Child disciple Yoshida Nishiki IV, III, studied with his students after Kimura Yuu 斎.
1961	Graduated from Keio University.
1962	Shumei five 古童 world.
1963-1971	UCLA, University of Washington, served as a lecturer, School of Folk Music Degree with admission to the University Uesurian.
1967	Serving as laboratory instructor Sukuribusuajia entertainment.
1971	Master's degree Uesurian Satoru Hiroshi. Columbia, Princeton, Stanford, University of Michigan, and other private, State College, played in many music teaching, lectures. From Japan, Colombia, "the essence of the shakuhachi," "distant sound of a deer," "you today", "Tidori song", "残月" such as recording a few songs, TV appearances.
1998	NHK broadcast the first radio "Radio Friendship Party" at "spreading the world shakuhachi Araki 古童" was introduced, appeared about a half hours.
2004	NHK BS1 "of the Japanese shakuhachi weekend," appeared on the show for 181 foreign countries.International Shakuhachi Festival in New York City teachers.
2005	NHK Educational TV program "of the Japanese shakuhachi weekend" appeared. Main 古童 Association.
2008	Weng Shumei Bamboo II.

http://sites.google.com/site/kinkoryukodokai/home

Kaisei Hôgo by Hisamatsu Fûyô

2011-03-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

This essay was written by Hisamatsu Fûyô in the year 1838. It has reached us through a copy by Yoshida Itchô, one of his students. The title means “Sermon from the silence of the sea”.

The translation is from Dr. Andreas Gutzwiller and has been taken from his book, “Die Shakuhachi der Kinko-Schule” (i.e. “The shakuhachi of the Kinko school”), published in “Studien zur traditionellen Musik Japans” Vol. 5, Bärenreiter, Kassel 1983). I warmly thank him for his permission to publish this text.

Authentic mind erects no barriers between past and present. Inauthentic mind separates everything into foot-length parts1. The devout listener hears at the crossing the long sustained sound of founder Fuke’s handbell2.

The customs of the Fuke tradition have changed very much over the roughly thousand years since its founding3. Above all its long connection to the military has weakened its faith4. Alas, can a person who is busy with arms follow the law of Buddhism and practice
shugyô?

Fortunately, the doctrine of the Fuke tradition has not perished but has survived thanks to roughly two hundred years of peace5. Nonetheless, there are no more true masters, nor is there anyone who shows the true way. These false masters are only skillful in their disdain of patience, and their narrow-minded arrogance dominates. Thereby they have debased
the status of the shakuhachi as an instrument of faith6 and have extinguished the Buddhist mind. This is an example of how people of war cannot conceal their nature.

Through their bad influence, the intention of the founder, Fuke, has been distorted. They have taken the jewel of his teaching and thrown it away as if it were a fish’s eye7. They have the jewel, but let it lay unnoticed like a dirty pebble8.

Truly immense are the offenses of these false masters! Truly painful is the illusion of their students! They do not even notice that they are sitting together in the error of their false egotism, and that as they strive for their own profit and personal welfare they are doubly mistaken.

Bit by bit, however, they are remembering that the shakuhachi is an instrument of faith. So they are suddenly ashamed of the injustice they have done to the founder, Kinko. Is it not truly as if they have found a jewel among shards of pottery?

But still, this renewed study of the true teaching has not yet brought forth any fruit. Even
Kinko I could not spread the true teaching sufficiently, for he had only limited time left to do

(1 An attempted translation of these first two sentences.
2 These first three sentences form an introduction to the main part of this essay.
3 Fuke is said to have died around 845 C.E.
4 Membership in the Fuke tradition was by law limited to members of the bushi class.
5 This refers to the Edo era.
6 Hôki.
7 This refers to the Chinese saying “mistaking a jewel for a fish’s eye” which means not recognizing the value of something.
8 In the Japanese original in two phrases a square was inserted to indicate a kanji which could not be read in the original handwritten manuscript. I think Mr. Ichikawa Motoo for the tip that perhaps Kurihara could very well read the missing character, but omitted it out of modesty. In both phrases strong or perhaps even obscene expressions
would be possible. Throughout this essay, in other respects as well, Fûyô does not mince words.)

so 9. He asked his successors to do so, but there were few good students. As he died, with
woeful thoughts, he left behind this request. Alas!

At this time Nyodô10 seized the opportunity and confused people. He ransacked the name of the master and insidiously spread wild rumors. To the old errors he added a serious new mistake: enjoying great riches. Like flies attracted by the stench, many people gathered around him. They were like a family, poisoned and infected with a serious illness. In they end, they could not escape their grave sins, and like fleeing rats they withdrew from the Fuke tradition. Still today there are many who have not recovered from the remains of this poison.

In the past, they were separate from the true teachings like fish that live in a dirty inlet and do not know the taste of pure, flowing water. But like insects that live in thick grass and seek open land, there are also some that seek the truth but do not yet recognize it. It is not difficult to explain it to them, as it is not easy to admonish those who do not seek the truth. So let us here expose it for those who do not yet know it. Shall we not explain it as well to those who are already looking for the truth?

I have done this already once earlier in Hitori Mondô. In the 20 years that have passed since then11, less than two or three out of ten have understood the problems discussed therein12. Perhaps in time, it may be half.

Oh, how few understand the shugyô of the way! Oh, how difficult it is to choose what is essential to reaching the goal!

Successful shugyô depends in truth only on the mind and on the breathing. When the mind is awakened, the breathing becomes mind. When the mind is still, the breath is completed. This is the meaning of completely entering Zen.

Furthermore: concerning enlightenment, the prerequisite is that the mind resides in the body, in the same way that a tone appears when the breath gathers in the form13. The shakuhachi is the body-mind and thus the spiritual breath gathers in it. Truly, how can truth not appear here?

When the spiritual breath arises, the ten thousand illnesses cannot break out. But whoever wants to allow the spiritual breath to arise must first free himself from poison. Whoever wants to free himself from poison must not fear the dizziness caused by the antidote. Do not shy away from the dirty sound which arises when the great bamboo is blown. This sound is like an emetic which drives out the evil phlegm.

When someone has gone through this cure, then certainly he will entirely reach the stage where there is no illness. Whoever has become this healthy can also allow the spiritual breath to appear. Whoever really allows this spiritual breath to appear reaches the stage of

(9 It was only three years before his death that Kinko I assumed the leadership of the shakuhachi schools of both main temples of the Fuke tradition in Edo, although he was already previously active there..
10 Yamada Benzô. The attacks against him are today no longer understandable. Presumably he was a popularizer of the shakuhachi who managed to achieve personal success and wealth.. Especially the latter seems to have attracted Fûyô’s anger.
11 Hitori Mondô was written in 1823; so it was only 15 years that had passed.
12 Mondô.
13 An attempted translation. The possibility of a misprint is not to be rejected. The two phrases follow a parallel construction: “The mind which resides in the body is ki; The breath which flows into form, is tone” In this
translation the kanji ki was interpreted in a secondary meaning (kongen) as “reason, cause, requirement” and taken to refer to both parts of the phrase. This has little effect on the argumentation of the essay as a whole.)

the true tone14.

Do not doubt! Those who are most decisive do not fear dizziness and after long shugyô will reach the true way. For those who are less decisive, who fear the bitter difficulties of the cure and do not take the medicine, it is difficult to avoid the wrong path. The undecided, those who learn of the difficulties of the cure and out of fear do not take the medicine is one who loves the “little bamboo”15. Someone like this is self-complacent with
respect to the spiritual breath. He is only playing around on the path, and the tone he produces is like absurd blathering16. Someone like this is a dishonest person and one who only sees illusion. Keep away from people like these!

The difficult way17 of renunciation is the prerequisite to achieving the true way. Those who follow the easy way18 are descendants of an evil spirit. Those on the difficult way forget how difficult it is, but those on the easy way even forget how easy it is. The solution is not to be found in the mind tied to reality19, but do not strive either to free yourself from this
reality20.

No striving
Endlessly going
No stopping
No goal
Become like the silence of the sea!

What I said above about the shakuhachi as a tool of Zen was known to various branches of Zen. But the teachers of different directions have distanced themselves from this, sutras are not terribly respected and the writings are studied too rarely. Thus it must be explained how the shakuhachi is a tool of Zen with the expressions mui21 and kisoku22. Additionally, Fuke’s words, “tomorrow there is a ceremonial celebration in Daihiin” must be studied well.

Above I said that warriors cannot deny their nature. They do not fear death, nor are they attached to life. When ominous clouds approach, they stomp upon them; and when an evil wind rises, they smash it to pieces23. One must not shirk the trials of the difficult way. Then one recognizes that also with the image of the stomped cloud Fuke’s words “bright-darkstrike”
are to be applied24.

They way of bamboo was founded in China and came to our country later. Those who

(14 Tettei no oto.
15 In contrast to the “great bamboo” referred to above, the blowing of which is a part of the “cure”.
16 Fûyô uses here four characters of his own invention. The possibility of a misprint can be excluded, since Kuriharas printer created at least two of these characters by splitting other standard characters. All four characters are seemingly intentionally incomprehensible, have though as radical gonben (speech), which is why they have been translated here as “absurd blathering”. A more radical translation would be something like “Blablabla”.
17 Nangyô.
18 Igyô.
19 Ushin in contrast to mushin.
20 Mushin. In the translation, this sentence is connected to the previous sentence, which means “being on the easy way” was understood as the subject. It is, however, also possible to understand the sentence as a general remark without any specific subject, similar to the following.
21 The principle of inactivity, or better, of non-goal-oriented activity.
22 Spiritual breath.
23 This passage means that warriors tend to favor absurd “solutions” to all problems which arise, like “stamping clouds” and “smashing the wind”.
24 This means that also in the case of “stomping clouds” (problems solved falsely, i.e. through violence) the dualistic contraction of reality (“bright-dark”) remains unresolved. Further below Fûyô terms this contradiction as “the bright-dark rain” that cannot be escaped. The words “bright dark-strike” come from a saying passed on from Fuke)

want to understand the founder, Fuke, and strive for the truth, can no longer understand the way of bamboo. What can one then do to recognize it?

There are only very few writings and not a single clarifying word. The next two expressions for example: “in the three existences25 everything is an articulation of the infinite and wondrous”, and “the voice of the ethics of the soldier class26 is an articulation of the five elements27 and the five virtues28” are nothing but illusions of yûi29. These expressions are
misrepresentations and fabrications and explain nothing. They do not bring even a little bit of understanding. But the members of the Fuke tradition who love these sayings are not few, and thus they do not practice shugyô.

Today we have indeed reached the end of time30. The teachings of the founder Fuke and the path transmitted by him must nonetheless realize their greatness and significance.

Soku31!

Deep sayings are nothing more than many words and false notes32.
That blowing sounds like ten thousand howling dogs.
In no cave can you escape the bright-dark rain.
Who completely understands the fearless founder Fuke33?

In the first month of the ninth year of Tempô (1838)

Chikuin Fûyô34 Sei

(25 See Hitori Mondô on this term.
26 Budô, also bushidô, “way of the warrior” or class ethic of the warrior (samurai).It is possible that this expression budô onsei (“Voice of the ethics of the soldier class”) refers to the shakuhachi, as shakuhachi playing was originally limited to members of this class.
27 Wood, fire, water, earth, metal.
28 Justice, manners, wisdom, loyalty, goodness.
29 Yûi is the complement to the above-mentioned mui, the principle of goal-oriented activity. Both expressions are thus characterized as illusions of the world of purposeful, goal-oriented activity.
30 cf. similar closing words in Hitori Kotoba.
31 Fûyô apparently often uses soku, “breath”, as a closing exclamation, similar to Rinzai’s “katsu!”
32 An attempted translation.
33 These four lines in Chinese style, each consisting of seven characters, conclude this essay.
34 Chikuin fûyô can also be read as “Bamboo is yin; wind is yang”.)

http://komuso.ch/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Kaisei_Hougo_e.pdf

http://komuso.ch/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Startseitebild.gif

郡川直樹さんの本曲- This song's 郡川 Naoki

2011-03-01T07:56:00.000-08:00

昭和２４年１月６日青森県八戸市に生まれる。
琴古流尺八を飯山如雲、値賀筍童に師事。津軽藩御家流・錦風流を内山嶺月、岡本竹外に師事。
ＮＨＫ邦楽技能者育成会１６期生。昭和５４年全日本三曲コンクール第一位優勝。
昭和５６年グリーン・リボン賞受賞。現住所：〒983-0852仙台市宮城野区榴岡 5-9-28-301

GT-Born in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, January 6, 1949.
Iiyama 如雲 Kinko shakuhachi, bamboo shoots child studies under the Saiga. Mon Jin 御家流 Utiyama Mine a taste Tsugaru clan, he became out of bamboo Okamoto.
16 year students Empowerment Skills Committee NHK music and more. Japan Music Competition first place in three Masaru Masaru 1979.
Green Ribbon Awards 1981. Address: 〒 983-0852 榴岡 ku, Sendai Miyagino 5-9-28-301

津軽伝承錦風流本曲

GT-Refinement of traditional Tsugaru Jin Song

【下り葉】（２尺管）

【松風】（２尺管）

錦風流別伝（小野寺源吉伝）
GT- Nishiki taste 別伝(Transfer Yoshi Hazime Onodera)

【鶴の巣籠】（江戸期の古管１尺７寸）

【鈴慕】（現代管２尺）

奥州流本曲
GT-This song interior flow

【神保三谷】（２尺）

明暗流本曲
GT-This song dark current

【虚鈴】（２尺７寸管）

Hitori Kotoba By Hisamatsu Fûyô

2011-02-23T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hisamatsu Masagorô (ca. 1790-1845), named Fûyô, was a fourth-generation successor of Kurosawa Kinko1 and was of exceptional importance to the Kinko school2. Like Kinko himself, Masagorô made
great efforts to further the Zen aspect of shakuhachi playing and had strong reservations against the use of the instrument in worldly music. Three writings of his have survived: Hitori Mondo (written in 1823), Hitori Kotoba (before 1830) and Kaisei Hôgo (1838). These writings are of special importance as they comprise the only surviving statements from a shakuhachi player from the Fuke tradition on the spiritual background to this practice.

This essay was printed in the Chikuyû journal, a quarterly publication of the Chikuyûsha3. In the introduction is it said that Fûyô wrote this essay before 1830, and that it was often copied. It is not stated whose hand wrote the manuscript which served as a basis for this printed version. The title, which can be read as either Hitorigoto or Dokugen, means “monologue”.

This translation is from Dr. Andreas Gutzwiller and has been taken from his book, “Die Shakuhachi der Kinko-Schule” (i.e. “The shakuhachi of the Kinko school”), published in “Studien zur traditionellen Musik Japans” Vol. 5, Bärenreiter, Kassel 1983). I warmly thank him for his permission to publish this text.

■ Whoever studies the shakuhachi must rid himself of worldly thoughts, separate himself from his desires and put aside [the idea of] being superior or inferior. He must concentrate his mind in his stomach4, so that he can hear the sound of the bamboo. That is the most important thing.
For this reason, he must play with his eyes closed. Especially in the case of beginners, worldly thoughts will arise when they do not close their eyes.

■ The shakuhachi must not be too tightly held. If it is too tightly held, tensions arise. Should tensions arise, you must relax your mind. Know that tension is the “sickness of the shakuhachi”. The shakuhachi is held with only the thumb and middle finger of the right hand, but you must not grip it too tightly5.

■ There are rules for playing the shakuhachi. The basic rule is the notation itself. Whoever injures the rules is outside of the tradition. For this reason one must not repeatedly deviate from the notation.

■ Meri-kari is of particular importance. If meri-kari is lacking [when playing the shakuhachi], it is as if you were blowing through a stick, and it is most disgraceful. It is actually good when the tone becomes certain and firm, but wildly blowing about is most unpleasant.

1 Kurosawa Kinko (1710-1770) joined the Fuke tradition at the age of 19 and studied the shakuhachi under Ikkei, komusô at Shôjuken Temple in Nagasaki. He travelled throughout Japan as a begging monk and compiled a collection of 36 honkyoku, which have remained until today the definitive repertoire of the Kinko school in Japan. In the year 1768 he became shinanban, teacher of both main temples of the Fuke tradition in Edo (modern day Tokyo), Reihô-ji and Ichigetsu-ji and taught there until his death two years later.
2 The Kinko school began as a revival movement within the Fuke tradition and was originally not a movement that aimed to further develop shakuhachi music. Instead it represented simply one of many traditions within the Fuke lineages. In any case the movement acquired particular importance as it from that point on shaped the tradition in both of the tradition’s main temples in Edo.
3 The Chikuyusha forms today one of the traditions within the Kinko School. At this time, it is head by Kawase Junsuke III.
4 Literally “settling one’s mind in the region below the navel.”
5 It is worth mentioning that today the best players prefer a reversed hand position in which the left hand is the lower hand which holds the instrument.

■ One must not deliberately strive from the beginning to achieve a beautiful tone. It is disgraceful when someone loves to produce a splendid tone.

■ When the pieces are played they should be uninterrupted from beginning to end, like the stem of the lotus6. They must be played without interrupting this connection. In the interruption-connection of the breath the playing happens by using one’s mind7. In this way from the beginning, no interruptions will arise. There is no place for interruptions in the case of tsukiro, nayashi and so forth8.

■ Concerning the pieces, it is of great importance that with respect to the time structure the correct measure prevails. The correct measure must not be omitted. Calm pieces have the correct measure when they are played calmly; energetic pieces have the correct measure when they are played energetically. Each individual piece has a different time-structure. This must be thoroughly practiced.

■ A beginner must firstly practice the technique of playing the shakuhachi. When he has mastered the technique, he must penetrate the mind of the music. Mastery does not lay in [the mastery of] technique, but in [penetrating] the mind of the music. Penetrating the mind of the music, however, is contained in technical mastery. Whoever has not mastered the technique will not penetrate the mind of the music. Whoever preoccupies himself as a beginner with the mind of the music, will stay his entire life a theoretician of the way of bamboo. [This is] beyond doubt!

■ It is bad to always blow around wildly with all your strength. One must play evenly and with certainty.

■ Recently the finger holes have been enlarged10. But still [instruments with] small finger holes should not be called bad. When the bamboo is played fully and with a mature style, then the difference between large and small finger holes is of no importance. For the beginner it is difficult to play [on an instrument] with small finger holes. But [for him as well] it is of no importance whether the finger holes are large or small.

■ There are people who believe that the true meaning of the bamboo tone “sadness about impermanence”11 is to be expressed sadly and with deep emotions. How ridiculous! Playing shakuhachi is actually not about being heard by others. The shakuhachi is an instrument to develop one’s own mind. He who has freed himself from everything can hear this. Whoever feels sadness [when listening to shakuhachi music] becomes even sadder;
whoever feels happiness becomes even happier. Sadness and joy are not on the side of the musician, but on that of the listener. [This is] beyond doubt!

6 Unlike bamboo, the lotus has no nodes.
7 This means remaining present with the mind over the breath pauses, thus establishing a connection between individual tone units.
8 Tsukiro is the older term for nayashi; the meaning of the phrase, however, remains unclear.
10 Around the turn of the 18th century, the finger holes of the shakuhachi of the Kinko School were enlarged, in particular making the execution of the meri-kari technique easier.
11 Mono no aware

■ No one should be criticized when he strays [from the set form of the pieces] when playing alone. However, when he plays together [with someone else] and his partner strays [from the form], they must harmonize with one another. When one of the two wants to dominate the other, the bamboo's tone becomes chaotic. Indeed, the true meaning of the shakuhachi is not found in playing together, but nonetheless those who play together in harmony actualize shugyô12. When playing together, helping the other must be the most important concern.

■ “Other pieces”13 should not be disregarded as “farmer’s music”14. Do not such pieces also have the wondrous yûgen tone15? Should we not learn them as well?

■ The beginner must take care that the pitch of the shakuhachi is balanced. If the pitch of the bamboo is poor, and he continues to practice in this way, his own [perception of correct] pitch becomes poor and he will stray from the correct path. It is difficult for the beginner to judge if his intonation is good or bad. Still he will, if he studies seriously, later be able to recognize it more or less correctly.

■ The [purity of the] intonation of an individual shakuhachi16 varies. Normally the intonation of the first and second finger hole is better than that of the third and fourth. Holes four and five are [on most instruments] not as good as two and three17. A good shakuhachi is one on which the pitches of the five fingerholes sound out clearly, neither too weak nor too bold18. On most [instruments], however, the five
holes are insufficient19.

12 The practice of playing the shakuhachi. The essence is playing “free from reason”, shugyo is thus the spiritual discipline to reach the stage where tettei on, “the absolute tone”, appears. The “great bamboo” is then blown with kisoku the spiritual breath. Kisoku shugyô (“the discipline of spiritual breathing“) defines the shakuhachi as a tool of Zen. Within this context of shugyô, the honkyoku are not a repertoire to be mastered in their entirety in order that one is considered a true player. It is not important how many pieces you have mastered, but rather much more how you play one single piece. In a source text, all honkyoku are reduced to a single piece; this piece is reduced to mukyoku “no piece”; this in turn is reduced to kisoku the spiritual breath; and kisoku finally is reduced to kyomu, “emptiness and nothingness”. “What meaning”, ends the text, “has the number of pieces learned?”
13 Meant here are pieces which stand outside the Fuke tradition.
14 Jap. inakadake “rural bamboo“.
15 Jap. yûgen (yû: unclear, gen: secret, dark) describes the aesthetic principal of honkyoku. This ideal that penetrates all of Japanese art, consists in the fact that innuendo is valued more highly than complete clarity, the excerpt valued more than the whole. It also consists in a turning away from closed symmetrical forms in favor of freer wanderings in which the individual parts are to be found in mutual interdependence. The contradiction between precisely executed details and the loosely-fitted entire form is not to be seen as a contradiction but as complementary elements. Yûgen is, however, not only realized in the form. The rhythm of honkyoku is not manifested as a series of regular and predictable stresses, but consists of a sort of hesitation so that an irregular sequence of tension and relaxation arises. Another aspect of this veiled art is the inexactly definable pitch of grace notes. The same goes for the slow tempo in which the honkyoku are played: a significant moment of time is placed between the tone-events, for even taking a breath becomes part of the music.
16 Plural.
17 As is also common in the notation, the numbers refer to the opened finger holes.
18 Possibly this last remark refers less to the tone color than to its pitch. Then the translation would read “neither
too low nor too high”.
19 This means the pitch is irregular.

What the bamboo does not automatically produce [i.e. an even intonation], human skill cannot correct. Such shakuhachi are to be played by submitting to theirintonation and by equalizing the intonation through playing technique.

■ Nothing has been transmitted by a master in writing on the subject of how shakuhachi are made. Many make the holes according to their own ideas and without much knowledge, and polish the shakuhachi with all sorts of herbs to produce an outer shine that confuses the [innocent] beginner. Such people are only interested in money. I will not say anything more about that. What a pity for the bamboo, which is naturally provided with a good tone! When shakuhachi are produced by such idiots, the bamboo is crippled forever and in the end is nothing more than a bamboo club. How sad!

■ There are many who only think about memorizing the external form when learning a piece. This is a grave misunderstanding. Meri-kari and the proper time-structure is the essence [of shakuhachi playing] and one who plays, understanding this after having learned the external form, is a good player. A beginner or a mediocre player is under no circumstances capable of doing so20. [For such players] the most important thing is that they imitate their teacher in everything. This is why the choice of teacher
is of such fundamental importance. One must not be careless in this! Only playing the outer form may not be called playing the shakuhachi and has nothing to do with the shakuhachi. Be very careful to avoid this!

■ There are many who can produce a tone that resembles [that of the shakuhachi] and who already criticize others, disdaining some who are better than themselves. Entrusting yourself to such people and learning from them is meaningless. With deceitful slander they mislead beginners. Whoever is [once] misled will his whole life long never be able to step onto the correct path.

A village without birds will be invaded by [false teachers like] bats21, who spread untruths and cheat the ignorant. So keep your distance when people appear who have not themselves achieved [mastery]. Do not linger there! How pitiful!

In the end one must give one’s life entirely to this matter. That is everything!

■ Shakuhachi teachers who meet someone who plays better than themselves should truly wish to allow his students to hear this bamboo tone22, and to teach and lead them accordingly. These students should not separate from their teacher but should have trust in his judgment.

■ In today’s practice there are pieces which are not played alone, but rather together with sangen23. Yet in doing so, the shakuhachi is deprived of its bamboo tone and loses its true meaning. This practice is like being arrogant of being the most common of people and being proud of going about with base prostitutes.

20 This means indeed that he cannot yet understand the essence of playing the shakuhachi, as he has not yet mastered the external form of the pieces, which is a pre-requisite to this understanding.
21 This refers to the saying: “Bats come to a village without birds”. In this case: where no authentic masters are to be found, false ones settle in.
22 i.e. the better player
23 Jap. sangen, lit. “three strings”, one name for the shamisen.

These people should be careful about straying from the right path to the wrong one. Keep away [from them]! Such people have nothing to do with the shakuhachi. They seem to play it, but in fact only steal its name and defile the shakuhachi, which is an important tool in Zen. They should be on their guard! Members of the Fuke tradition should forbid this [practice]. In any case, the end of time has been reached and the end of the right path is in sight. Nonetheless, whoever wants to study the way of bamboo seriously and with dedication must put [these people] aside and not get involved with them.

■ As I have described here, it should be easy for the beginner to find the right path. Still these were [only] general explanations so that [the student] does not end up on the wrong path. How one plays shakuhachi is something each person must learn from his teacher.

Â kashikô24.

http://komuso.ch/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Hitori_Kotoba_e.pdf

http://komuso.ch/?page_id=313&lang=en

Japanese Masterpieces for the Shakuhachi

2011-02-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

Played by the masters of Melan-ryu, Kimpu-ryu,Tozan-ryu, Ikuta-ryu, and Kikusue-ryu at Darumaden of Nanzenji and Melanji, Kyoto, Japan.

The Shakuhachi
Of all oriental instruments, the shakuhachi has the most fascinating background. The name itself means 1.8 Shaku (feet). The standard length, but others, from 1.4 to 3.3 ft., is also frequently used. It is as closely linked with Japanese history as the bagpipes are to Scotland’s or the lute and guitar to the Iberian Peninsula. It is the only device that had served simultaneously as a musical instrument, as a weapon of defense, and a cover for spying. Simple in construction, it is extremely intricate to play. It is made of bamboo with 3 or 4 joints, and 4 holes on top and 1 on the back, and is played vertically, like a saxophone. It has no mouthpiece, and it’s half and quartertones are produced by the control of fingers on the holes. It is presumed to have originated in ancient Egypt and to
have migrated gradually through India and China. It was first used in Gagaku in the Sixth century, but was abandoned when the dynasty fell. The revival came in the 13th century with the rise of the Fuke sect, a branch of Zen Buddhism, in which sutra chanting was replaced by the shakuhachi; many Fuke monks went on pilgrimages with shakuhachis,
and bamboo baskets to hide their identity.

Ronin, uprooted samurai who were disenfranchised by the death of their masters swelled the ranks of these itinerant begging and tootling preachers in the 17th Century. Many of these became Christians and were persecuted. The Kimpu-ryu (school) was founded approximately 400 years ago by the Tsugura, a samurai family and is also called
nezasaha (the roots of reed). The secret of its performance is inspired by budo, the skill of fencing, which employed a controlled technique of panting. (Warriors customarily played immediately after their rigorous training in budo.) Other styles of playing are the Meian, the most fundamental and undecorated, the Kikusui-ryu, a recent school originated by Seizan Shibata, and the Tozan-ryu, originated by Nakao Tozan.

Legend has it that members of a sect formed by the ronin forged a document giving them exclusive rights to play the shakuhachi and solicit aims with it. The reigning shogun during the Takgawa period went along with their hoax, but his price was that they spy on the activities of other ronin. Forbidden the use of their old samurai swords, the ronin make their shakhachis longer and stouter for use as clubs in self-defense, and became musical stool pigeons who took to wearing large straw baskets over their heads to achieve the anonymity essential to their under-cover eavesdropping while playing along the streets of ancient Kyoto. The present tradition regards the basket-hats as "symbols of other worldliness".

During the Edo period in the 17th and 18th centuries the shakuhachi playing was strictly solo, as solitary as the players' lives. Not until the mid-19th Century. During the Meiji period, was the shakuhachi heard together with the koto, the Japanese horizontal harp with 13 strings, in the now distinctive Japanese sound combination.

The tone of the shakuhachi is as mysterious and veiled as its history: its color changes from a shrill, penetrating high through a breathy middle to a mellow low that would do credit to the finest wood or gold flute. Its melodies exploit the tension of shaded intervals, sliding away from the true scale pitches controlled by the partial covering of the five finger holes. By shifting the position of the open mouthpiece against the lips and
changing his breath pressure, the player increases the instrument's basic pentatonic scale to wider ranged special modes. Sudden swells in the dynamics and a fast tremolo is part of the style, not unlike the quivering hand action of the "hot' trumpeter. According to Professor William Maim, author of Japanese Music and Musical Instruments (Charles E Tuttle Co.) the pieces tend to be structured like rondos, a recurrent melody alternating
with new material.

The Music
1) Koku. Two shakuhachis and a gong at Meianji, Kyoto, originally the headquarters of the Fuke sect, play this long piece. It was composed by a priest named Kyochiku in the 12th Century while meditating at a temple in Nara. In a dream he found himself floating in a boat. Suddenly tick mist rolled down the sky and blocked his view of the moon. On hearing the moving melody of a flute, he reached out for his favorite bamboo flute to
accompany the ethereal melody. The music is long and simple, and the listener is expected to forget everything and "sleep in nothingness."

2) Sekihiki no fu. The name of a Chinese poem (The feeling of the Red Wall), which is sung at the beginning of music. Composed by Seizan Shibata for 3 sizes of shakuhachi, - the longest being 2 ft. 4 in., the bell is played by the same performer with a 3-hole shakuhachi.

3) Matsukaze. (The Wind on the Pine Tree). The pine tree represents men, cherry and the plum trees, women. This piece is famous for its panting technique (komibuki), the symbol of the wild breath of the samurai. A member of the Tsugaru family in northern Japan composed it about 300 years ago.

4) Ajikan. The realization of Buddhism or the state of enlightenment. The first letter is an "A", the beginning of both Eastern and Western alphabets, derived from the Sanskrit "nothing". In Buddhism there is a code of "nothingness", and this music conveys, "all is nothing and nothing is all". Composed by Nyozan Miyagawa, one of the most beautiful Buddhist pieces.

5) Oshusanaya. Stylistically quite different from the others, it describes valleys in the Oshu (northern Japan), and is indicative of the folk music of that area. Played in the Kikusui style with a 3 ft. 3 in shakuhachi.

6) Sagariha (Drooping leaves) this is perhaps the oldest and most fundamental work of the ten pieces making up Kimpurvu music. The rhythm also suggests waves.

7) Kyushi Reibo for solo shakuhachi is one of the religious pieces of music composed in memory of Buddha's death. Kyushu is the southernmost island of Japan. Being closest to China, the most ancient cultures prospered there and many shakuhachi masters went on pilgrimages there. Conceived by one of the pilgrims who visited there and impressed by the reibo (spirit) of Buddha. The shakuhachi used here is 2 ft. 1 in. long.

Digitally mastered by Mikhail Liberman, LRP Productions, New York City.
Cover design: Hora Design, New York City.

http://lyrichord.com/japanesemasterpiecesfortheshakuhachi-mastersofmeian-ryukimpu-ryutozan-ryuikuta-ryukikusui-ryu.aspx

MUSIC OF THE SHAKUHACHI Recorded in Japan by Jacob Feuerring Performed by Yasuda Shinpu

2011-02-23T08:02:00.000-08:00

There is a saying that music and etiquette are necessary to make things complete and whole. This was certainly true in ancient China where
both music and etiquette were essential to the smooth functioning of the political system. It was the writer Koshi's opinion (" Reigakukeisei, Sonokyoku wa i tsunari" ; "Etiquette, music, punishment and government in the end all become one.") Music and government were inclusive and if
music made the country prosper it was also music that brought a country to ruin. Therefore, in China, religion, government and music, being based on the principle of church and state being one, were all essential parts
that could not be separated. This was well understood by the rulers who took care to administer the affairs of state accordingly. From this point of view to study ancient Chinese music was the same as studying Chinese
history. Unfortunately, it was not possible then, as it is today, to record such music and so it is not possible to reproduce the tunes of those times. In particular, the shakuhachi music that was part of China's ancient religious music (mainly Buddhist) cannot be known to us today. Of course there are various ancient books of flute music left to us but it is not clear how these should be interpreted within the musical systems of today. This manuscript is intended to related in simple terms an outline of the history of shakuhachi music as an example of ancient Buddhist music.

Though the author is particularly interested in ancient music, he is not a music research specialist and the reader is warned to take this into careful account. Again in K5y5sai's Zuihitsu Isshi of the Sung era it is written that a certain mad monk journeyed to the south of the capital where he acquired a shakuhachi which he played .•• could not this monk have been a member of the Buddhist sect known as Shingeshu. It makes one smile to think that in those days it was considered strange for a monk to play a shakuhachi This was a culture of the Imperial Court and was not available to the common people. This was true of the shakuhachi music that came from China in that the common people neither owned shakuhachis or played the music. During the late Tang period certain monks in Southern China used a shakuhachi with five holes to adapt to the bonhai musical scale. It was during this same period that the Hitoyogiri Shakuhachil was introduced into Japan along with Buddhist culture. This Hitoyogiri Shakuhachi, which was introduced during the late Nara era' (8th Century) went out of existence in the Genroku period. At the end of the Heian and the beginning of the Kamakura period, Hoto Kotushi, a Buddhist monk, went to Sung China and after his return he came to have much influence on the Buddhist world, especially upon Buddhist Shakuhachi music, in that he brought the shakuhachi with him from China.

I. The Hitoyogiri Shakuhachi is an early type of shakuhachi from China. It was smaller than the modern flute, its length being one joint of bamboo or about thirty inches. The end did not have the root of the bamboo. It is said the modification using the root section came about so monks who were not allowed to carry swords could use the shakuhachi as a club. The modern
shakuhachi is made of two sections joined with an inner joint. This development is credited to Kurosawa Kinko. By this means a flute maker
can remove a section of bamboo so the flute can be made into an exact length. A rare piece of bamboo is sometimes found and ffiade into a one
piece shakuhachi. These are called nobudake. Older flutes are sometimes one piece because the length and tuning were not so critical.

NAMES OF RECORDED TUNES AND THEIR EXPLANATIONS

1. Choshi
This is considered to be especially basic
to the Meian Koten Honkyoku. It is also known
as Takeshirabe and holds a particularly important
place in Shakuhachi music. Cho shi means
melody. It is a very simple piece but certainly
very profound. Usually a Meian student learns
it as his first piece. At group Meian concerts
the performers usually play it in unison before
the concert begins. This tune is played on a
long shakuhachi made of Aizu Paulownia wood and
it is called the Kotokan. l Its longth is
exactly three shaku and six sun (107 em.). This
shakuhachi is just exactly one-octave lower
than a regular shakuhachi and its tone quality
is extremely soft. Playing time is about 3
minutes and 35 seconds.

2. Kyorei
Considered next in importance to Choshi in
the Koten Honkyoku. This is one of three
Ky~rei, or especially treasured pieces of the
Me1an school. A meian student can buy a
pakcage of all the Meian scores. They are
usually numbered. Choshi is the first. However
at the back are the three extra special pieces
which are not numbered. Kyorei is one. It is
said that this is a tune Hoto Kokushi brought
back from Sung China.
Kyochu Kuzen once imagined that he heard
the sound of a reitaku (a staff with rings
carried by certain monks that would oroduce a
ringing sound when moved) while he was praying
in the Asama temple of Yamato. He then composed
this tune based upon the same kotokan that is
used for Choshi. Playing time is 8 minutes and 26 second-

I The Kotokan is a hand carved Shakuhachi
type flute of Paulownia wood. It was developed
and is made by Kikusui Kofu, a composer and head
of his own school or style of Shakuhachi playing.
Natural bamboo is very difficult to make into
long flutes but the kotokan can be carved into
long lengths to produce very deep sounds.

3. Koku
This is also one of three Kyorei or special
pieces. It has a very spiritual or Buddhist
feeling. It is central to Buddhist, especially
Shakuhachi music. On the one hand it is believed
that Hoto Kokushi brought this tune back from
Sung China while on the other hand it is said
that Kyochiku composed it. It is played on the
Hochiku Shakuhachi which is two shaku and three
sun long (68 cm.).l This Hochiku is considered
~be typical of Shinge Shakuhachi. Playing
time is 10 minutes and 57 seconds.

IThe Hochiku differs from the Shakuhachi
in that it does not have the root section of
the bamboo. Aslo the bore or inside of the
flute is straight throughout while the shakuhachl
gradually narrows towards the root, then
is very narrown about two inches from the end.
There is a difference in the timbre of the
shakuhachi and hochiku. The latter has a
louder more forceful sound. Its name means
thunder bamboo.

4. Mukaiji
~his is the third of the three Kyorei.
Kyoch1ku composed this tune while viewing Mt.
Asama through a fog from a boat in Ise Bay. It
conveys well the feeling of Ise mountains wrapped
in a spring mist. The essence of classical
Buddhist music is expressed in ·this piece. It
is three shaku and three sun long (93 em.).
Playing time is 10 minutes-and 5 seconds.

5. Ajikan
From ancient times there was a town known
as ~ in Kyuchu. Kiguchitaizan and Miyagawa
Nyozan (35th generation of Meian School) added
the term Kan and the tune came to be known as

Ajikan. This piece is in the esoteric style
peculiar to the Meian school of playing. 1t
sounds like the chanting of Zen monks. It
is typical Buddhist Shakuhachi music and is
also known as Saji or Sa. It is played on a
shakuhachi or specified length made of esron
pipe.

l This is used to adapt the tune to the
current auditory sense. It could be said that
it represents the Renaissance of Japanese
classical music. This esron pipe has seven
holes and is 56 em. long. Playing time is 8
minutes and 35 seconds.

USE OF THE INSTRUMENTS

1. The Kotokan is often made in long lengths.
This fits well with Meian music because the
player can make very deep low sounds or forceful
windy blowing sounds. The paulownia also
makes for a very soft sound.

2. The Hochiku also fits in very well with
Meian music. It also can easily be made in
long lengths. Many players feel it has a natural
sound much in keeping with the old Meian
music. The modern shakuhachi is often filled
with plaster in the tuning process. The
HOchiki is left in a natural state with
usually only a light coat of lacquor.

3. The Esron pipe is often used with other
instruments. Also in modern pieces because
the pipe can be tuned very exactly. It is
also used by people who can't afford the now
expensive bamboo shakuhachi.

Download Liner Notes

Music of the Shakuhachi

Yasuada Shinpu FW04218

The shakuhachi,an end-blown bamboo flute, was imported to Japan from China prior to the medieval period but has evolved into a distinctly Japanese instrument, traditionally played by Zen Buddhist monks to aid in meditation.
Country(s) Japan
Culture Group(s) Japanese
Keyword(s) Instrumental music; World music
Instrument(s) Shakuhachi
Language(s) Japanese Year of Recording 1975
Record Label Folkways Records
Source Archive Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Credits Recorded by Jacob Feurring ; Translated by Akiko Kumeda ; Translated by Susan Barberi ; Liner Notes by Yasuda Shinpu ; Notes Edited by Stephen Mindel ; Liner Notes by Jacob Feurring ; Liner Notes by Riley Lee ; Recorded by Jacob Feuerring ; Artist Yasuada Shinpu ; Design by Ronald Clyne

http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=707

Fujita Masaharu revisted

2011-02-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

Fujita Masaharu

フジタマサハル

1916 - May 14th 2002Shakuhachi & Maker
http://sd.is.uec.ac.jp/~fujita/

Fujita Masaharu was an extraordinary shakuhachi player/teacher. As was often the case with shakuhachi players of his time, he studied multiple shakuhachi traditions: He began with Tozan and studied Jiuta and Nagauta, later he became interested in Myoan Shinpo-ryu. He visited many shakuhachi teachers across Japan and studied/collected many honkyoku pieces. Among those legendary teachers was Yamaue Getsuzan in Saga who was a student of Katsura Shozan and one of the very few successors of the Myoan Shinpo tradition. Fujita visited Yamaue over 100 times in a very rural part of Saga in the Yamaguchi prefecture where Yamaue lived and was very inspired by these visits. Fujita had become so close to the Yamaue family that he received a phone call from Yamaue's wife when Yamaue passed away. Fujita Masaharu was also a composer and prolific shakuhachi maker who composed about 60 pieces, made over 500 Jinashi flutes, and left 450 scores (collected and transcribed pieces) in 50 volumes. Fujita passed away on May 14th in 2002 at the age of 86.

http://sd.is.uec.ac.jp/~fujita/

http://www.komuso.com/people/people.pl?person=1624

Shakuhachi Zen. The Fukeshu and Komuso by James H. Sanford

2011-02-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

Shakuhachi Zen. The Fukeshu and Komuso Author(s): James H. Sanford

Watazumidoso: Sokuin Rancho/Ryohbo: UNIVERSAL MUSIC JAPAN, DCT-1882 CD

2011-02-14T17:09:00.000-08:00

Records by Zen priest Watazumi Doso Roshi (who died in 1992) have always been rare, so the re-release of two albums on a single CD by Universal Japan is to be welcomed. Especially as these are excellent recordings, displaying Watazumi's whole range.
Watazumi was the maverick misfit of the shakuhachi: he founded his own Zen sect, and incorporated flute playing as just one element in his ‘way', no more important than his martial arts practice, whirling a long stick. Stories abound of his unacceptable behaviour, megalomaniac remarks and unsavoury political connections, but few would deny his extraordinary skill on instruments which he made himself. These unlacquered bamboo flutes are called Hocchiku. Watazumi single-handedly took the shakuhachi tradition and shot it into orbit, to glow alongside visionary musicians like John Coltrane and Steve Lacy (who was an occasional pupil). “Man, that cat plays some bad shit,” might seem an inappropriate comment on many classical shakuhachi performances, but for Watazumi it'll do fine.
This album comprises two LPs: Sokuin Rancho from 1970 and Ryohbo To Zen'ei from 1975 (when Watazumi was aged 65). From the latter there are just two tracks from the original seven - but one of those is 19 minutes long and perhaps the most remarkable Watazumi recording I've heard. The album's overall length is a generous 67 minutes.

We open with “Furin”, an unhurried eight minute performance. These are Watazumi's versions of traditional Japanese pieces – the method is to study the piece, “and then follow the rules of nature”, according to sleevenotes by the late radio presenter and ethnomusicologist Fumio Koizumi. “Murasaki Shoden” by contrast is a brief, breezy take on a folk melody. “Hokkoku Renbo” and “Soh Shingetsu” are similar: higher pitched, outdoorsy music, blustering and flapping like a flag on a mountainside. “Shin Kyorei” on the other hand is 16 minutes of stillness and velvety rumination.
If timbral range is one key to Japanese music, then Watazumi offers a masterclass in it. The colour of his sound is magnificent and varied, one minute fierce and low, the next a gusting squall of wind, then slipping into delicacy till the note almost vanishes. Koizumi's sleeve essay makes the point that our idea of music needs to expand to accommodate what Watazumi was up to – he was a free spirit who happened to use shakuhachi to embody his ideas. One of his most extreme statements is the 19 minute “Ryohbo”. Here the microphone is closer, the sound intimate and the dynamic range astonishing. There are mid-note blasts here that are frightening, that can jolt you from your chair like a horror movie. Finally Watazumi reads one of his short poems, about getting up before dawn, culminating in a blood-curdling yell. The record should carry a health sticker warning off anyone who thinks Zen music might somehow be comforting.
BY CLIVE BELL

http://www.japanimprov.com/indies/universal/sokuinrancho.html
http://www.discogs.com/release/1244859
http://www.komuso.com/people/Watazumi_Doso_Roshi.html

http://www.clivebell.co.uk/recent_cd.htm#SONIC_AVANT_GARDE

The Shakuhachi as Buddhist Music

2011-02-14T16:56:00.001-08:00

The shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute, has been used in association with esoteric Buddhism as well as Zen Buddhism for quite some time. Due to a weakening voice in his older years, the Tendai priest Jikaku Taishi Ennin (794-864) is said to have practiced and taught with the shakuhachi, as well as performed the chant “Inzei no Amida-Kyo” on the shakuhachi. Shomyo’s focus on different tones produced is supposed to bring the singer into harmony with nature and himself. The Japanese music scholar Koizumi Fumio (1984) laid out in detail the relationship of Japanese music with shomyo, in particular gagaku and biwa.
Shimura “Zenpo” Satoshi, a shakuhachi performer, scholar, and professor at Osaka Arts University, says that the old Myoan-ji temple of the Myoan Shimpo ryu contains a repertoire of over 60 pieces. He says that many of these pieces have a strong relationship with the shomyo and the Mikkyo influenced gagaku music (Personal Correspondence, 2009).
Buddhist music has incorporated many different types of instruments each serving a different purpose. Each culture that that school has grown in has developed its own style and form of incorporating music into the communication of spirituality.

http://www.grand-island-serene-gardens.com/buddhist-music.html

Various Schools of Myôan Shakuhachi and their Development

2011-02-13T15:40:00.000-08:00

Shakuhachi players associated with the temples Ichigetsu-ji and Reihô-ji in Tokyo continued the Kinko styles after the meiji Restoration, developing the musical possibilities of the instrument. Those who wanted to emphasize the suizen meditation tradition found themselves drawn to kyoto's Myôan-ji. The temple, like all komusô temples, was disbanded, and the chief priest, Jisho Sakuhi (34th line) returned to secular life, calling himself Akekura Kakuhi and taking another profession. His departure from the temple left the suizen advocates nowhere to turn.

When the Fuke sect was disbanded, Sakuhi presented some Myôan-ji artifacts to sympathetic associate, Jikeirin Wa Shô, head priest of Zenkei-ji, a sub-temple within the compounds of Kyoto^s temple Tôfuku-ji. The artifacts included the statue of Kyochiku (founder of the Fuke sect) and memorial stone tablets of the head and supervisor priests.
Naturally, those who felt drawn to the suizen tradition followed these artifacts and gathered at Zenkei-in.

In 1881, thanks to the combined efforts of several Buddhist sects, begging was once more allowed after a 10-year hiatus, and hopes rose in the kyoto area to reactivate the komusô tradition. At the same time, there was a fire at Tôfuku-ji shich resulted in a widespread movement to rebuild the temple and its grounds. The komusô, thinking to take part in this movement by collecting funds through begging, applied to the government for permission. Permission was granted in 1883, and the Myôan Society was established at Zenkei-in, with Lord Kyûjo Michitaka (who was in charge of rebuilding Tôfuku-ji) as its chairman and Katsuura Seizan as the head of the Kyoto branch. The present day Myôan-ji grew out of
the Myôan Society. Following the establishment of the Myôan Society, Kôkoku-ji established the Fuke Society in 1888. Later, the temple Kokutai-ji established the Myô On Society, and the temple Myôkô-ji the Hottô Society. Several other former komusô temples around the country in
some form or another were also preserving and rekindling the komusô tradition of suizen. These societies together acted as a cooperative association and decided upon rules for dress, distributed licenses and identification papers (like the three seals of the Fuke sect), and established rules and time schedules for begging. Unlike the Fuke sect, however,
anyone could pay a set fee and receive a license. As a result, there grew a tendency among members to become „professional“ komusô beggars. Transmission of the music and development of an artistic style became secondary.

Higuchi Taizan (1856-1914) of the Myôan Society reformed this situation. Taizan, born in Nagoya with the name Suzuki Kôdô, first studied the Seien style and in 1890 came to Kyoto where he joined the Myôan Society, becoming an instructor. He spent his efforts collecting and organizing pieces from the Myôan tradition and many other styles. His outstanding abilities as a player and his work in expanding the artistic width of the myôan Society revitalized the tradition, and he became the 35th successor in the mineage which had been broken when Kakuhi returned to secular life. He developed a style of shakuhachi playing called the Taizan sect of Myôan Temple Lineage. His successorts were Kobayashi Shizan (36th), Tanikita Muchiku (37th), Koizumi Shizan (38th), and the recent Fukumoto
Kyoan (39th). In march, 1950, the Myôan Society was given permission to construct a temple, called the „Fuke Sei Su Myôan-ji“ which was to be built in the compounds of Zenkei'in in Tôfuku-ji. In 1952, various shakuhachi sects collaborated in creating a group to honos Kyochiku Zenji, the „Kyochiku Zenji Hôsan Kai“, which met twice yearly, in the spring and fall, to offer honkyoku to the spirit of Kyochiku. Shakuhachi players from around the country continue to come every year, regardless of their affiliation, to participate in this ceremony. In 1966, a stone memorial commemorating the spirit of suizen was erected, and in 1969, the temple's main hall was completed, creating a new Myôan-ji which acts as a spiritual „homeland“ for all shakuhachi players, regardless of sect or style affiliation. Although Taizan revitalized the myôna Society, his efforts resulted in the introduction of many pieces from other styles into the Myôan style. Therefore, the pieces in today's Myôan repertory are not necessarily the same ones which had been handed down at the end of the Edo period. After Taizan, the nature of the Myôan style changed. Katsuura
Seizan, who inherited the Myôan Shinpô style from Ozaki Shinryû, was at one time the head of the Kyoto branch of the Myôan Society, but he left soon after Taizan's appearance on the scene. It was inevitable that shakuhachi plyers wishing to follow the suizen tradition had differing
opinions and formed various styles. The end of the 19th century until present times saw the arrival af a number of such players, many of whom were centered around Tokyo. A partial listing of the more prominent players is as follows:

nagano ‒ Hasegawa Tôgaku, Konashi Reisui and his students Uramoto Setchô, all of whom were responsible for transmitting the pieces centered at Fudaiken Temple in Sendai.

‒ Jimbô Masanosuke of Renkôken Temple in Fukushima.

‒ Nyui Kenzô, Nagano Kyokû and Orito Jôgetsu of Hirosaki's Nezasa Sect, and Nagano's
student Jin Nyôdô.

‒ Miyagawa Nyôzan and Itchô Fumon (later known as Watazumi Dô, the founder of the Watazumi style) of Ttchôken Temple in hakata, and Nyôzen's students Tani Kyôchiku and Takahashi Kûzan.

‒ Kiyomizu Seizan from Itchôken Temple and Tsunoda Rogetsu from Kumamoto. Both studied under Taizan, and Seizan started the Kyûshû Myôan sect, and Rogetsu the Myôan Rogetsu sect.

One major problem in trying to trace the styles and lineages of the Myôan-style shakuhachi players lies in the fact that each one learned from a number of teachers and was influenced by several styles. An obvious example of this is Takahashi Kûzan, a player active until his death in the late 1980s. Kûzan not only studied under Miyagawa Nyôzan, but also with Takase sukeharu, Kobayashi Haô, Kojitomo Tarô, Kobayashi shizan, Ozaki Meidô, and Katsuura Seizan. Kûzan also studied the classical pieces of the Kinpû style and other styles, mastering over 150 pieces in all. Jin Nyôdô of the Kinpû style tried to learn all the extant pieces for the shakuhachi. He took the effort to travel around the country collecting music handed down from the various komusô temples. He learnde the
Myôan Shimpô style, the Taizan style, the Seien style, as well as the Kinko style, and he also composed and studied ensemble pieces, learning the koto and shamisen. Kûzan and Nyôdô are representative of the Myôan players, therefore it is difficult to draw a distinct chart showing the relationship and lineages of the teachers and their students. The problem is compounded by the fact that oftentimes players who have learned several of the traditional pieces from various sources created a new style or sect. One could go so far to say that each individual player becomes a sect himself, and that the number of sects in Japan equals the number of players. This condition has come about due to the openness of the shakuhachi world since the Meiji Restoration. Unlike the elitist Fuke sect,
there were no secreat or special societies and no ironclad rules to prevent a student from studying other styles or discovering his own musical expression. The Zen philosophy which allowed performers to interpret each honkyoku as they saw fit fostered individuality and kept students from being bound strictly to one style. Nonetheless, the players of the various Myôan styles, except for a few exceptions, played only the classical suizen-honkyoku pieces and had little interest in the other genres of shakuhachi music – a situation which tended toward musical stagnation. To them, the honkyoku was not a type of music to be played in public concerts. Although this supposedly kept their music „pure“, it did little to provide public exposure and support. After World War II, however, these classical honkyoku were „rediscovered“, and gained attention from mocern composers, musicians, and musicologists, both from Japan and abroad. The influence of theses classical pieces on the modern shakuhachi world is quite extensive, with players from all styles absorbing and integrating these suizen honkyoku into their own performances. The Myôan-style players have been quietly learning and transmitting their pieces, providing a base from which the post-war shakuhachi world has received a tremendous inspiration. For this reason, these guardians of the suizenhonkyoku shakuhachi pieces have played a valuable role.

Excerpt from The Shakuhachi History and Developmen byYûkô Kamisangô Translated and adepted by Christopher Yomei Blasdel

http://komuso.ch/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/History_and_Development.pdf

開山興国寺　和歌山県日高郡由良町

2011-02-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

Fundamental music of a shakuhachi "Kokuu"

2011-02-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

地無しの風景～彈眞空実践記

2011-02-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

　

普化禅師昇天の幻想　虚霊は天上の音、虚空は空中の...........。

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/ji-nashi/m/201011

komusō shakuhachi (虚無僧尺八) or fuke shakuhachi (普化尺八

2011-02-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

The komusō shakuhachi mentioned by Sōsan is the same as the above mentioned fuke shakuhachi. The komusō were monks within a Rinzai Zen Buddhist sect called the Fuke sect. As a sect it was not ackonowledged until 1677, some thirteen years after Shichiku Shoshin-shū. Obviously there was in 1664 already an acclaimed tradition, that went back to Hottō Kokushi (1207–1298), the legendary founder of the Fuke sect. The legend about the connection between the thirteenth century Hottō and the Fuke sect and its komusō was not published until 1795 in the Kyotaku Denki Kokuji-kai, but the legend had apparently already spread and become common knowledge.

Many of the Japanese scholars divide the historical development of the shakuhachi, saying that the six-holed, three-noded gagaku shakuhachi was the instrument of the Nara and Heian periods. There was a chūsei shakuhachi, medieval shakuhachi, which was an intermittent type of shakuhachi that we do not know much about, but a type (or several types) of shakuhachi that developed into five-holed instruments with one (hitoyogiri) or three nodes, further developing into the hitoyogiri and the fuke shakuhachi, which in turn was the origin to the modern (present day) shakuhachi. It would be difficult or impossible to pinpoint any exakt development from gagaku shakuhachi to later types. The common view, though, seems to be that “... the tempuku, hitoyogiri, and Fuke shakuhachi all descended from the five-holed shakuhachi which was a product of the Middle Ages. Only later did each instrument develop, through different circumstances and applications, into entirely different shakuhachi.”
The tenpuku mentioned above is hardly treated at all in the historical research in Japan. Kamisangō mentions tenpuku as having “... flourished in the Satusma ... area around Japan’s Middle Ages (12th - 15th centuries)”, but there seems to be a lack of historical records to back this up. Further more, even though the shakuhachi is mentioned in medieval texts, hitoyogiri may be dating back to the time of Ikkyū, there are no records as to what type of shakuhachi, how many holes they had, how many nodes they were made of, etc., until the early 16th century Taigen-shō, where we encounter a three-noded (CK) five-holed shakuhachi. Therefore, to talk about a “medieval shakuhachi” is at least problematic.
One distinctive feature that differs between the pre Edo period shakuhachi, and the fuke shakuhachi of the Edo period, is that older types of shakuhachi, including gagaku shakuhachi, tenpuku and hitoyogiri (shakuhachi) is that the latter were cut from above the root, above ground, whereas the former is of a type of root-end flute. To create this kind of instrument the bamboo root has to be dug-out while harvesting the bamboo. This includes a lot more work on behalf of the harvester, and thus it must have been of certain interest to the maker of the flute.
Plate 13, komosō playing shakuhachi in “Kanden Kōhitsu”
In Honchō Sejidan-ki by Kikuoka Senryō, published in 1734, there is a remark that may indicate a plausible reason as to why the root-end shakuhachi was used. “It is said that the making [of shakuhachi] with the root of the bamboo began with the kyōkaku, who wanted to use [the shakuhachi] for fighting.” The kyōkaku (侠客) was a chivalrous group of people beginning in kamigata during the Muromachi period, also known as ninkyō (任侠 or 仁侠). The kyōkaku had originally a noble character, resisting the inconsistencies in society, with slogans like “crush the strong and save the weak” or “to get the consent from [one person] is worth more than a thousand pieces of gold”. The kyōkaku can be divided in gikyō (義侠) and yūkyō (遊侠), the former having a more ethical outlook than the latter. In the seventeenth century Edo period society, the number of masterless samurai, rōnin, increased. From the beginning of the Edo period, with a peak in the middle of the century, the so called hatamoto-yakko (旗本奴) formed groups and roamed the city streets in an arrogant fashion. They engaged in gambling, entertained themselves in the kuruwa (redlight) districts, and acted as the warriors they were; they would even engage in tsuji-giri. In opposition to the hatamoto-yakko the machi-yakko appeared. The leader of the hatamoto-yakko, Mizuno Jūrōsaemon was ordered to commit seppuku in 1664, and by 1686 both the hatamoto- and machi-yakko had more or less disappeared. The kyōkaku should be seen as a diverse group of people, from morally aware people to plain ruffians.
Plate 14, komosō playing shakuhachi in 32-ban Shokunin Uta-awase
Plate 15, shakuhachi by biwa hōshi in 71-ban Shokunin
Uta-awase
In the essay Kanden Kōhitsu (閑田耕筆) by Ban Kōkei (伴蒿蹊, 1733–1806) we find an illustration of a so-called komosō (plate 13). The komosō is further discussed in Chapter/Section xx below. The instrument in plate 13 looks like the root-end type, compared to the shakuhachi played by the komosō in the scroll painting 32-ban Shokunin Uta-awase (plate 14) from 1496, or the shakuhachi that is next to the biwa hōshi in the scroll painting 71-ban Shokunin Uta-awase (plate 15) from 1500. Both of these latter flutes look more straight, and lacking the root-end. In the case of the flute by the biwa hōshi it also looks distictively shorter, more of a hitoyogiri than a fuke shakuhachi. However, considering the way the komosō in plate 14 is holding his flute, it is quite evident that the illustrator has no personal experience of playing the shakuhachi: the hands are far too high up on the flute. In plate 13, the position of the hands looks much more natural. By this we may conclude that the size and shape of the instruments in these drawings do not necessarily correlate to the actual holding, or the actual size or shape of the instrument. The komosō that appears in plate 13 looks similar to the komosō in plate 14, and the poem that goes with the depiction is the same, one of the poems in the 32-ban Shokunin Utaawase scroll painting. What we may deduct from these illustrations is that the flute apparently has undergone a change, or that the illustrator in the Kanden Kōhitsu is more familiar with the shape and holding of the shakuhachi.

Excerpt from the writings of Gunner Jinmei Linder

http://www.nipponicom.com/shakuhachi/index.php?About#l2a4ba43

Excerpt from The Shakuhachi History and Developmen

2011-02-01T20:48:00.000-08:00

by
Yûkô Kamisangô
Translated and adepted by
Christopher Yomei Blasdel

1.The Fuke Sect's Suizen
Lifestyle ans Music of the Komusô Monks

After the Fuke sect was established, it developed a set of intrasect rules based on the government's directives. The first directive, issued in 1677, specified three points: the method of choosing the head priest for the main and subsidiary temples, the method for choosing applicants (checking the credentials of those who wished to become komusô), and how to deal with crime and rule-breaking within the sect. These three points became
the basis for all the sect's rules and regulations.
The entrance requirements became quite stringent. Komusô applicants had to be samurai, requiring impeccable references and undergoing a thorough check. Then, after paying the required fee, the applicant had to swear his faithfullness at the grave of the founder before he was given the komusô's three tools and three seals. Those tools consisted of a shakuhachi, a tengai basket hat, and a kesa sash worn over the kimono. The three seals were identification papers which included a honsoku, a kai'in, and a tsûin. The honsoku was the komusô's licence, and therefore his most important document. Permission to enter the wect was called „Conferment of the Honsoku“. The kai'in were personal identification papers, and the tsûin enabled the komusô to travel freely about the country.
The hierarchy of the temples consisted of the head priest, deputy to the head priest, office manager, monitor (who kept discipline among the ranks), master of ceremonies and his assistant, and the komusô monks themselves. Daily activity centered around playing the shakuhachi. In the morning, the managing priest would play „Kakuseirei“, an awakening
piece which started the day. The monks would gather in front of the altar and perform the piece „Chôka“ to gebin their daily sevices, followed by a Zen session. During the day the monks practiced shakuhachi, underwent training in the martial arts, and went begging.
In the evening, they played the ritual piece „Banka“ before sitting Zen again. Esoteric practices at night included playing the pieces „Shin'ya“ and „Reibo“. In addition, each monk was required to go begging three days a month. During their medicant wandering, they played pieces such as „Tôri“ („Passing“), „Kadozuke“ („Street Corners“) and „Hashigaeshi“ („Returning the Begging-bowl“). When two komusô metwhile begging, it
was customary to play the pieces „Yobi Take“ („Call of the Shakuhachi“) or „Uke Take“ („Answer of the Shakuhachi“). When on the road and wishing to stay in a komusô temple, they played „Hirakimon“ od „Monbiraki“ („Open the Gate“) to gain entrance. Practice and
etiquette differed from temple to temple but remained basically the same.
Ritual pieces, and even the pieces which seemed like entertainment for the monks were part of Zen training called suizen. The word zazen, familiar in the West, refers to Zen meditation whie sitting („za“). „Sui“ means to play or create a sound on a wind instrument. Therefore, it was a „blowing Zen“. Actually, suizen of the komusô didn't remain all that aloof from the world of secular music. There was considereable contact between the two
worlds which resulted in shakuhachi pieces being influenced by secular music.

When this happened, komusô usually rationalized it by renaming the piece with a Zen-sounding name or adding some Zen pilosophy to the playing instrudtions. As an instrument, the shakuhachi is well suited to Zen training. The long continuous tones require an unbroken concentration of mind and breath. The instrument is neither too loud no too soft – perfect for those wishing to walk the path of moderation. The soft tones are
very rich, quieting, and can be minutely altered. Each player produces a different sound, which reflects the subtle variations between each individual. The simple instrument gives birth to tones which are rich and mystic. All these aspects of the shakuhachi lend itself to introspection, meditation, and spiritual discipline. It is not surprising indeed that siuzen was born aout of the shakuhachi. Even though the Edo period Fuke sect undertook questionable practices and contained its fair amount rogues, their practices and lifestyle was based on an honest and sincere disire for spiritual enlightenment. If the suizen idea was in its infancy during the times of the komosô, it reached refinement and idealization with the establishment of the Fuke sect.
The pieces which the komusô played, called honkyoku, were all born from this Zen spirit, and the musical characteristics of these pieces have their origins in suizen. As honkyoku are essentially solo pieces, the rhythm, phrasing, and musical arrangement are freely structured. Understanding the differences between indiviuals or schools deepens with practice of suizen. Even today, performers who play honkyoku maintain that these pieces
should be freely interpreted by each individual. Although sometimes this is an excuse for sloppy playing, it also exhibits a Zen way of thought.
Along with the change in organizational structur and daily life of the komusô, their morals and characters also changed, and the dubious image of the komosô monks faded away. In the Kiyûshôran (1830), the following can be found commenting on this change: „There's been a change in the attire of the komusô, and now it's very different from before. Around
the Jôô and Meireki periods (1650s), they had yarô cuts ( a style with the top of the head shaven) with dishveled hair and wore the usual woven basket hat with a simple kimono. At the beginning of the Genroku period (1688-1703), they started to wear kesa sashes and
the basket that was more open underneath. In the Kan'en period (1748-50), their kimono started to look like they do today (1830), with round stitched brocaded waist bands. The bottom of the basket hat was wide and had a small window. From the Meiwa period (1764- 71), they began to carry a brocaded flute case at their hips, wear narrower basket hats, and look like dandies.“ The deep tengai basket hat which completely covers the head and hides the identitiy of the player actually wasn't used until much later.

http://komuso.ch/

The Shakuhachi

Yamaue Getsuzan

2011-01-28T12:39:00.000-08:00

山上月山

Born 1908Shakuhachi

Schools: Shimpo Ryu, Nezasa Ha, Kyushu Kei, Oshu Kei, Taizan Ryu.

Yamaue was one of the foremost honkyoku experts of his generation. Originally from Kyushu, he traveled widely, being stationed in different areas of Japan for his work. He studied his native Kyushu style since he was a child and gathered all the available pieces from the remaining teachers. Modern day Itchoken owe much of their lineage to him, him being one of their two main teachers. He was a master of Nezasa Ha Kimpu Ryu, studying all the complete repertoire of 10 pieces from 4 different teachers as well as 4 from one other teacher. His main teacher for this lineage was Orito Nyogetsu, from whom he also studied the ura-choshi. Yamaue passed this lineage on to two people, Sato Reido and Iso Jozan.

From a young age Yamaue studied Shimpo Ryu from two of Katsura Shozan's students, and later went to study directly under Katsura. Though a number of Shimpo Ryu pieces survive in varying forms absorbed by other schools, Yamaue's transmission remains the key source of original Shimpo Ryu honkyoku. He passed this lineage to two people, Sato Reido and Takahashi Rochiku. Yamaue made extensive studies of Oshu Kei, Taizan Ryu (from Tanikita Muchiku), Kinko Ryu from a number of teachers, and various other pieces. Although Yamaue was highly regarded as a foremost expert, due to living in the remote countryside of Kyushu few people studied from him. His principle student and the only one to receive the entirety of his lineage was Sato Reido.

Some more info from Dr. Riley Lee's PhD thesis: YEARNING FOR THE BELL; a study of transmission in the shakuhachi honkyoku tradition. 1992 University of Sydney

"Yamaue Getsuzan (山上月山, b. 1908)also devoted his life to learning honkyoku from as many sources aspossible, notating honkyoku that he learned and documenting thecomplex lineages of individual pieces. The material he gathered and arranged is one of the most important sources of data on the transmission of honkyoku during the twentieth century. For example, Yamaue alone learned four versions of 'Reibo' of the Ôshû district, the central piece of this thesis."

Teachers

Gotô Tôsui

Orito Nyogetsu

Tanikita Muchiku Roan

Students

Written by Justin Senryu http://komuso.com/people/people.pl?person=877

komuso-ichiro.com

2011-01-21T08:07:00.000-08:00

弟子　高島靖生さんを連れて虚無僧の旅へ。

まずは、中村区鳥居周辺をまわり、伊那路へ出発。
一泊二日の修行でした。

＜高島さんの感想＞
自分か吹いた音色で、人が手を合わせてくれる・・・。
とても貴重な体験の中、自分が無になり、精神修行ができました。
自宅に帰り、家族にも、音色がとても良くなり人間的にも丸くなったと言われ、本当に虚無僧をやってよかったと思います。

GT- Friends took a trip to the Komuso Takashima Yasuo disciples.

First, the area around Torii Nakamura-ku, off to Ina Road.
Two-Day was training.

I blew his tone, people will get together.
Valuable experience in, and myself to nothing, you are spiritual practice.
Back to home, family, is said to be rounded as a person and sounds very good, I wish to do so Komuso.

まずは弟子　森田さんのご近所から出発（豊橋）

清めの曲を尺八で。。。
ご近所の方も森田さんの初めての旅に激励！

新城の駅前　そばや「伽羅」でまずは一曲。
そのまま旅は湯谷温泉へ。
湯谷温泉駅のホームで野宿。
虫の音をバックに、いい調子で2人で尺八の練習。
すると、浴衣姿の親子連れが、尺八の音に引かれてホームへやってきました。
あとで、お茶とお菓子を届けてくださり感謝です
GT- Morita's departure from Neighbours first disciples (Toyohashi)

The purification of shakuhachi music. . .

Morita's first incentive trip even better neighbors?

Shinshiro near the station and "Kyara" one song at first.
湯谷温泉 as it is to travel.
湯谷温泉 homeless on the platform.
Back to the sound of insects in practice for two shakuhachi good condition.
Then, the parents and children dressed in yukata, pulled the home came to the sound of the shakuhachi.
Later, I thank you for tea and snacks delivered.

佐久間から天竜川を渡って水窪へ

この日は飯田城跡「美術館」で現地で集めたダンボールをしいて野宿。
気持ちよく寝ていると、夜中3:00。
星をみるツアーがどっと押し寄せびっくり！

翌朝、尺八を吹くと、下に見える民家に音が届いたのか
窓が1つ、また1つと開いていくのがみえた・・・。

GT - Across from the Tenryu River to Misakubo Sakuma

On this day, Iida Castle "Museum" dare to sleep outside in cardboard boxes collected in the field.
And sleep comfortably, 3:00 at night.
See the stars rushed suddenly surprised the tour!

The next morning, and blow the shakuhachi, or look under the house received a sound
One window, and looked one is going to open again.

平成18年8月15日

飯田の町へ出発。

飯田のお屋敷街を尺八で流していると、ある家から品の良い出の高いご主人が
「私も尺八を吹くのです」と言って、出てきてくれました。
石川さんのおっしゃる方で、たまたまお盆で東京から帰ってきているということでした。
石川さんのホームページ

8月16日

伊那へ行き、児玉氏と、トム・ディーバーに会い　旅の報告をし、無事名古屋へ戻りました。
まだまだ、ここに書ききれないことがたくさんありましたが、今回もまた、いろんな人にめぐり会えてよかったです。

◎最後に、初めて旅に出た森田さんのひとこと

財布・携帯電話などいっさい持たず、尺八一本だけでの旅は、非常に不安だった。
しかし、いろんな人に出会い、人の心に触れる演奏をし、お布施をいただきながらの旅は、本当に貴重な修行となった。
交通量のはげしい道端のお地蔵様。
普段の日常生活ではさっさと通り過ぎてしまうのに、一路師はふと足を止め、献奏する。
そんな姿に感動しながらも、次第に自分もそのペースになり、自然にそまっていった。
やはり、虚無僧で旅をして、本当に良かった。
得るものは大きかったし、人生観が変わった。

GT- August 15, 2006

Departure to the city of Iida.

Shakuhachi and is playing in your town house Iida, Ino Takashi her husband left the house in genteel
"I can blow my shakuhachi," he said, coming out of me.
Ishikawa's say in who was to come back from Tokyo that happened in the tray.
Ishikawa's Website

August 16

Ina went to, and Mr. Kodama, trip reports and met Tom Deaver, safely returned to Nagoya.
Still, there are a lot of things can not write here, and again, I'm glad to have met many people.

Finally ◎, Hitokoto Morita's first trip out

Issai has no wallet and cell phone, just one trip shakuhachi was very disturbing.
However, many people meet, play and touching journey while giving money to you, the training was really valuable.
Guardian deity of children on the streets of heavy traffic.
In everyday life, but they usually pass quickly, suddenly stopped by the teacher straight to 献奏.
While that figure was impressed, and its own pace gradually became Somatsu naturally.
Again, to travel in Komuso, really good.
What you get is great, life-change.

牧原一路師のホームページ紹介

http://www.komuso-ichiro.com/tabi.html

。

高岡　国泰寺開山忌 - Takaoka Kokutaizi founding memorial

2011-01-21T07:41:00.000-08:00

哲学者の西田幾多郎も参禅したという高岡の国泰寺。
毎年6月2・3日（開山の祖である慈雲妙意が亡くなった日）に開山忌が行ます。
全国から数十人の虚無僧が集い、客寮から開山堂までの境内を虚無僧と国泰寺の僧侶が行列で歩き、開山堂で読経に和して尺八を奏でます。

Gt- Zen was also named the Takaoka Kokutaizi philosopher Nishida Kitaro.
June every year 2.3 days (meaning Sun strange death of a founding father of 慈雲) 行Masu founding in the memorial.
Komuso gathered from dozens of the country, monks walked in procession to the temple to temple Komuso Kokutaizi Temple and the customer residence plays a Japanese bamboo flute with a reading of the sutras in the Temple Hall.

虚無僧・・・って、謎めいた存在ですよね。
柴田錬三郎の時代小説なんかでは、粘っこい妖術を使い、主人公を散々苦しめます（笑）
孤独で、どことなくエロチックなイメージ・・・。
どこにも所属せず、どこからともなく現れて、どこへともなく消えていく・・・でも、実際の虚無僧さんは、練馬ナンバーだったり、千葉ナンバーだったり、カメラを向けるとポーズをとってくれたり（笑）とてもお茶目なひとたちでした。 GT- Komuso me, but it is a mysterious presence.
Something novel in the era of 錬三郎 Shibata, use the sticky witchcraft, afflict the protagonist terrible (laughs)
Solitary, somewhat erotic images.
Does not belong anywhere, appeared out of nowhere, even with no where to go, Komuso's real, might be No. Nerima, might Tiba numbers: some posing with a camera (laughs) They were very playful person.

http://gejideji.exblog.jp/10711436/

尺八根本道場「明暗寺」は尺八発祥の寺です。- Root Shakuhachi Dojo Temple "contrast" is the origin of the shakuhachi temple.

2011-01-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

同聚院の向かいの辺りに「明暗寺」という表札が目を引くお寺が有った。
その門には、「明暗寺　尺八根本道場」と書いてある。

GT- Across the 聚院 around the temple "dark" eye-catching to have been a temple of nameplate.
Into the gate, "root shakuhachi dojo dark temple," it says.

・・・「明暗」とか「尺八根本道場」って何？

「尺八を教えてくれるんだろうか・・・」

と思ってちょっと覗いてみた。

GT- ... "Dark" or "root shakuhachi dojo" What?

"What I teach shakuhachi"

I look around and think.

入ってすぐのところに「吹禅」と言う石碑が・・・
尺八を吹きながら線の修行でもするの？

GT- As you entered just "吹禅" said the monument
But the line while training to blow the shakuhachi?

ちょっとググってみた。
明暗寺：

東福寺・塔頭の明暗寺（みょうあんじ）、善慧院の表札も掲げてあります。

明暗寺の開祖は虚竹（寄竹）了円禅師で、日本の普化（ふけ）宗の始祖。

深編笠をかぶり、尺八を吹いて諸国を歩く尺八禅の一派があり、その人たちによる普化尺八といわれる虚無僧が興りました。

そういえば時代劇に虚無僧が出てくるのを見たことが有りますが、尺八を持って首から下げた箱みたいなのには「明暗」と書いてあった。
これが虚無僧で普化宗の僧侶だったのか。
だから「尺八根本道場」と言うのもなんとなく解ってきた。

詳しい事はまた各自が調べるとして、ここには小さいけど苔がとても美しい庭が有りました。

GT- I tried a little google.
Dark temple:

Light and dark temple subtemple Tofukuji (Anji Myou)Have been raised too good nameplate Hui Institute.

Founder of the temple is dark hollow bamboo (bamboo nearby) and completion of Zen yen, of diffusion of Japan (dandruff), founder of the sect.

深編笠 wearing, there is a sect of Zen shakuhachi bamboo flute blowing walking country, the Komuso 興Rimashita Prussian called by the people of the shakuhachi.

But it may be seen coming out of the historical drama Komuso Speaking of which, from the neck down in a box like the shakuhachi with the "dark" was written.
What was the priest in Komuso FUKE this.
So "root shakuhachi dojo" has been well understood to say somehow.

It examines each and a further, There has been a garden here is a small but very beautiful moss.

門を潜った所にあるので自由に見ることが出来ます。

GT-You can see the place because it dived into the gates of freedom.

ふっかふかの緑の絨毯…

とても綺麗でした。

東福寺散策の際はちょっとお立ち寄りください。
ほんの数分の散策で緑の絨毯を堪能できますから…

onsenclub支配人

GT-Sprinkle the green carpet or shark ...

Was very beautiful.

Please stop by strolling Tofukuji when the moment.
You can enjoy the green carpet in a few minutes walk ...

onsenclub manager

http://blog2.onsenclub-web.com/?eid=1276742

徳山隆（とくやまたかし）/虚無僧尺八吹禅会東京新宿区法身寺にて - Tokuyama Takashi (But also, and Toku) / Shakuhachi Society Komuso 吹禅 Body temple in Shinjuku, Tokyo Act

2011-01-18T08:03:00.000-08:00

5月22日（土）東京新宿牛込柳町にある法身寺（ほっしんじ）で、我ら徳山さんの「第三回吹禅尺八会」が開催された。

大江戸線牛込柳町下車徒歩5分「法身寺」

GT- May 22 (Sat) temple in the town law Ushigome Yanagi himself in Shinjuku, Tokyo (Hosshinji), and Tokuyama's our "third 吹禅 Shakuhachi Society" was held.

　5 minutes walk from Oedo Line Ushigome Yanagicho "body temple" law

吹禅会（すいぜんかい）と言っても普通あまり耳にしない言葉であるが、要するに、「虚無僧の尺八演奏会」と言った方が理解が早いかもしれない。

法身寺は明治4年に廃止された普化宗の仏像仏具の一部を受け継いだ寺。

GT- 吹禅 Committee (Suizen you), but not to hear words not usually say much, in short, "Komuso shakuhachi concert" might catch on quick to say that.

Temple inherited the body part of the Buddhist Law Buddhist temple FUKE was abolished in 1872.

徳山隆さんは慶応の文学部哲学科を卒業してから、ドイツへ留学し、その後インドで民族楽器を学んでから、当時新設された東京芸術大学尺八学科の一期生として卒業した異色の人物だ。

僕は徳山さんとバリ島の山奥で霊山修行の旅を体験したり、僕のドイツワインの旅を案内したり、旅をご一緒している仲だ。年齢は見かけより（失礼）若く僕より1年先輩である。

徳山さんを一言ではとても言いつくせない。尺八の世界では大変な方であるとだけ言っておこう。ともかく凄い人である！

「虚無僧（こむそう）」の尺八演奏家と言ってしまえばそれまでだが、古典本曲という、絶滅寸前の日本の文化遺産200曲以上を伝承し譜面に起こし、それをＣＤ演奏として録音し歴史に刻んだ。

こんなことは徳山さんだからできることだ。このためにどれだけのエネルギーと努力を費やしたかを考えると、想像を絶する世界だ。

「男のロマン！」と言えばそれまでだが、たぶん迷惑なのは陰で支えるご家族かもしれない、、？

GT- Takashi Tokuyama graduated from the Department of Philosophy, Literature of Keio University, to study in Germany, then studied in India, folk instruments, he graduated as a unique person of one of three categories at the time the newly established Department of Fine Shakuhachi .

　I travel training or experience in the mountains of Bali's Ryouzen Tokuyama, German wine and a tour of my trip, I traveled with us to get along. Apparent ages from (sorry) is a senior year younger than me.

　Tsukusenai Tokuyama's in a word to say very much. In the world of the shakuhachi is the one who let me just say great. Anyway who is amazing!

　"Komuso (yes Komu)" until then, but once the shakuhachi musicians say, that this classic song, causing the score to pass on more than 200 songs endangered cultural heritage in Japan, recorded a CD and play it carved in history.

　It's because this will be to Tokuyama. And to think about how much energy and effort expended for this purpose, the world is unimaginable.

"Man's romance!" But until then you say, perhaps might be annoying to support families in the shade,,?

徳山さんのホームページを見ると、虚無僧の尺八と関係の深い「普化宗（ふけしゅう）」と廃仏毀釈（外来思想である仏教を廃止すること）運動などについて、詳しく知ることができる。

http://www.01.246.ne.jp/~t-tok/

尺八と言えば「琴古流・都山流」の二大流派が有名であるが、その両方とも師範を極めた後に、虚無僧の尺八（古典本曲）にロマンを求め現在も歩み続けている、その姿に僕は頭が下がりただ感動する。

GT- Tokuyama's website and see, with close ties to Komuso shakuhachi "FUKE (showers Dandruff)" and 廃仏毀釈 (a foreign idea to eliminate Buddhism) and on exercise, you can learn more.

http://www.01.246.ne.jp/ ~ t-tok /

　Speaking Shakuhachi flow "Kinko Yamato" is a famous school of the two, after both the teacher Unusual, Komuso shakuhachi (this classic song) and continue walking still seeking romance that, I just moved down the figure head.

古典本曲の演奏は吹禅である。尺八を吹きながら禅の世界の境地に自ら入り込む事ができるという。

約2時間あまりの演奏会とお話しで僕は随分と心が癒された。日本にも捨てがたい素晴らしい音楽がある。西洋では絶対にありえない音と、西洋のリズムでは殆ど考えられない、独特の音楽が古典本曲の魅力である。

2004年にはエスパニアの世界遺産の街「タルト古典音楽祭」に日本人最高の尺八演奏家として招聘出演している。海外演奏活動も多い、徳山さんの尺八が欧米で人気が高い事は良く理解できる。

GT- This song is a classic play 吹禅. Things that we can get into the world of his own spiritual state of Zen while blowing a shakuhachi.

　Talk to me in about two hours or so concerts a lot and my heart is healed. He e have great music in Japan. In the West, and never sounds impossible, unthinkable in most Western rhythms, classical music is the charm of this unique music.

　In 2004, the World Heritage city Esupania "tarts classical music festival," has appeared as an invited musician best Japanese shakuhachi. Performance of many activities overseas, it is popular in the West can be better understood Tokuyama's shakuhachi.

僕のオカリナの師である、本谷美加子（ほんやみかこ）さんは先ごろ再び徳山師の尺八門下生に入門したと、先日連絡を受けた。彼女のオカリナが虚無僧尺八との関わりで、また新たな境地をひらくに違いない。

GT- 　 Ocarina of my mentor, 美加子 Motoya (carpenter and Ireland only) to the pupil's introduction to the recently re-Tokuyama Shakuhachi teacher, who contacted the other day. The relationship with the Ocarina of her Komuso shakuhachi, must also open up to new heights.

http://blog.zgm.jp/?eid=1033510

第１５回「山上のつどい」－１６　（虚無僧の尺八吹奏）

2011-01-17T17:05:00.000-08:00

清水心風尺八

2011-01-17T17:00:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt_3EHLDxTk

Shakuhachi and Zen-Buddhism

2011-01-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

Shakuhachi playing can be mainly divided into three classical styles: Meian-ryu, Kinko-ryu ja Tozan-ryu. The latter two are highly refined musical styles and bear the names of the founders of respective schools: Kinko Kurosawa (1710-1771) and Nakao Tozan (1876-1956). Meian-ryu is the oldest school of shakuhachi playing and is inseparable from the original doctrine of blowing Zen'. Also being called Fuke sect'after its founder, it is a school of Zen-Buddhism which resorts to shakuhachi playing instead of reading sutras in order to achieve Enlightenment (satori). Itton Jobutsu' - Buddha is hidden in one sound - is one of the sayings of Fuke monks or Komuso (the monks of emptiness'). They revered shakuhachi as a ritual instrument that was allowed to be used only in religious contexts. The meaning of Komuso' itself is probably derived from a large basket-like hat (tengai), which they used to cover their faces symbolising humility and anonymity, and to emphasise the profound difference between two worlds. For Fuke monks shakuhachi playing was closely related to spiritual and ritual practice, which took up the greater part of their everyday activities. For instance, the day started with a piece called Kakuseirei, a waking call for monks. Then the monks gathered before the altar and played the next piece, Choka, to start the daily monastery service. During the day monks practiced both suizen and the martial arts. Banka was the piece reserved for the evenings and other night-time esoteric practices involved the pieces of Shin-ya and Reibo. In addition every monk had the obligation to go on a three-day trip to collect charities every month. The obligatory repertoire of mendicant monks included such pieces as the Tori (Passing), Kadozuke (Street Corners) and Hachigaeshi (Return the Bowl). When two Komuso monks met during their journeys, they used to play Yobi Take (The Call of shakuhachi) and Uke Take (The Answer of shakuhachi). When a monk became weary of travelling and he desired to rest for a while in a Komuso temple, he played Hirakimon or Monbiraki (Open the Gates) to gain the permission to enter. This etiquette would differ a little between various temples, but generally remained the same.

Pieces which were played by the Komuso are called Honkyoku. These are solo pieces where rhythm and phrasing depends entirely on the player. Meian-ryu shakuhachi also differs significantly from modern shakuhachi. A modern instrument is covered inside with a thick coat of varnish in order to achieve precise tuning and sound volume and can be divided in two parts in the middle. The insides of older shakuhachis were left untouched and as natural as possible. The sound of such instruments was particularly etheric and rich in harmonics, and there are only few masters in Japan who can make them. The playing technique of the instrument is rather complicated. It has only five holes, which means that they often have to be covered partially and the pitch can also be varied by subtly changing the blowing angle.

Tokuyama Takashi received a degree in shakuhachi performance from Tokyo Fine Arts University. He also has a degree from Keio University in philosophy and art.

At the age of 20, he first heard Zen shakuhachi and from that moment decided to preserve this tradition as his life's work. Tokuyama has been studying and teaching Zen shakuhachi for over 30 years. In his travels, he has discovered more than 200 of these unique music treasures from all over Japan. A few old Zen priests kept many of these pieces alive although most of them have since passed away. Thanks to his efforts, these pieces have come down through the ages to us. Tokuyama Takashi has been working diligently to maintain this tradition for the present and future generations.

Roland Suits

http://www.festivitas.ee/?id=3208

Zen Music – An Interview with Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin (Shakuhachi master)

2011-01-07T18:45:00.000-08:00

Interviewed by Holley McCoy Eller

Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin is an American Grand Master of the shakuhachi flute. He has performed in numerous concerts, lectures and demonstrations in the US and Japan. Here he is interviewed by Holley McCoy-Eller.
Website: http://www.nyogetsu.com/

Holley: Where were you born and raised? How did you end up studying the shakuhachi – what inspired you to go off to Japan?

Ronnie: I was born in 1947 in Brooklyn, NY. I always had two passions and interests – one was music and the other was some sort of social activism. I was a theology major in college at the New School for Social Research. A few years after leaving college I went to Japan, where I got active in a religion called Ten Ri-Kyo, one of the so-called New Religions in Japan. But I’ve always been interested in religion and spirituality – and of course Buddhism, since shakuhachi is the only melodic instrument used in Zen Buddhism. My wife is an active Chan Buddhist.
On the musical side, my father was a musician and I started playing guitar when I was very young. I started to seriously take lessons at the age of nine. By the age of sixteen I was supporting myself quite nicely on guitar.
I was in a group that made three records in the late sixties and early seventies (we broke up in 1970) for Bell Records and Phillips Mercury. It was kind of a cross between classical and rhythm and blues. But guitar was kind of spoiled for me because I never really had a full love for it the way I did for shakuhachi. The first time I heard the shakuhachi I knew that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Holley: My experience of Japanese arts is that they are very highly structured – with a very strict hierarchy. As Westerners, we can tend to be very strong individualists. How did you find that with learning the shakuhachi?

Ronnie: I am one of those war baby Americans that lack structure and boundaries in formal training of any kind, including the arts.
Like many other people of my generation, I was curious about the phenomenon of searching for wisdom or enlightenment from the East. I think a lot of this was a search for structure, a search for order in the universe, a search for where things have their place. In other words we were drawn to a situation where there were people who were gurus or leaders, and people who were receiving. It wasn’t like a democratic Socratic dialogue where you always discuss things till you get to an answer. Answers were given from someone in a higher place. In Japan, you certainly knew your place. How you said ‘I’ or ‘you’ or how you addressed people was strictly controlled. You knew exactly where you were in reference to what you were doing. I think I had such a need for that; I loved the fact that I had so many Sempai or superiors in Japan.
So you’re quite right, it’s different over there. The study of the shakuhachi, like all the traditional Japanese arts, is very structured. I teach (and I’m on my twenty-seventh year of teaching) exactly the same way my teacher taught me. I can almost hear his words coming through me when I teach. I teach the same pieces in the same order. Of course, in Japan, they realize that no two spirits or no two kokoro are exactly the same. Over a forty-year breadth of study, you are going to evolve on your own. But that’s a slight evolutionary change. The Japanese traditional arts would never put up with revolutionary change.
Where in the West they say “Make this your own, put your own spirit into it” – a revolution where you turn a thing on its head – in the East they look for evolution – a gradual, natural change. This sort of change will happen naturally when you try to imitate. You try and imitate as close as you can, in dance or shakuhachi, but a slight change will always come in, and this is the beauty of how the art evolves over the years.

Holley: So how do you maintain your own sense of creativity within these structures?

Ronnie: You can’t help but do it, because you find the music living. In a way, it’s not that different from a classical pianist who plays Bach, or Baroque music all the time. They probably find as much creativity in expression and interpretation within the music as I do. I cannot pick up the shakuhachi for one day without having learned something; I haven’t felt bored in twenty-seven years. I feel incredibly lucky that I’ve found something that is still as alive for me now as when I first discovered it. Plus the fact that it’s something so difficult. My teacher used call it a world of levels. As you get from one level to the other, there opens up a whole new panorama. This is probably like the beginning student for any of the traditional Japanese arts – but I’m just speaking for shakuhachi – once you feel that you’ve got this thing licked, you’re going to fall to the bottom of the next level and all of a sudden say “I can’t do this!” But then you go through that whole level and get to the top again. There’s one level after another like that.

The elegant notation for Honkyoku - music composed for the shakuhachi by Zen priests.

Holley: Do you see playing the shakuhachi music as meditation in itself or music that comes from the inspiration of meditation?

Ronnie: Sui-zen means ‘Blowing Meditation’. This is the word used when you play the traditional honkyoku pieces (which can be up to 800 years old). When asked what is the Zen aspect of Sui-zen I used to say: “I’m a more extroverted person so my type of meditation needs to be inward-directed rather than outward. A piece that really clicks is going to be something that goes inward, towards the Sui-zen nature.” I still think that’s true, but I now see that what happens is for both the player and the listener.
If you’re playing correctly, then the other person (or the universe, or nature, if you’re on your own) can take the piece as a whole. It becomes a kind of yin-yang – something going bother inward and outward, a totality. Of course , the whole idea of Zen music is that you’re completely united with the sound. You’re not distracted, not doing something else, or thinking something else. Now, you could be doing Zen when you’re washing dishes or your car, but with the shakuhachi, since Zen priests composed the pieces, there’s a natural way into Zen experience. For example, where you take breaths, how they’re structure into the music, becomes a type of Zen breathing exercise. That’s not always to consciously put into the compositions for other instruments. There is that little extra slant. You could do Zui-zen on any blowing instrument, it’s just that it comes a little more naturally for shakuhachi.
My own compositions (I’ve only done about seven in twenty-seven years), which I call neo-honkyoku, are in the same tradition as the Zen honkyoku. You can take a lot from the tradition, but there’s always something original, and hopefully, inspired, in the new piece.
Holley: It sounds like the idea that when Buddhism went into different countries, it adapted to whatever culture it came into contact with. It’s almost the same here – you’re a Westerner who has taken up this very Japanese culture, and evolved something springing from those traditions that’s not quite the same.
Ronnie: In my own compositions I do definitely do that, and even in subtle ways when I play traditional pieces. After all, my personality is of somebody that was born in Brooklyn in 1947. So even if you played the exact same notes, your personality is so obvious. What side you got out of bed on is obvious, what sor tof mood you are in is obvious, when you play shakuhachi. I can tell all of that as soon as a student plays one note. The shakuhachi is an extension of the breath, such an intimate thing.
The shakuhachi is a very difficult instrument, it’s very difficult to get a sound out of it. The sound has a lot to do with the breathing and that’s going to reflect a lot about you. And so, what you say has to be true if anyone non-Japanese plays it. But it doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily going to be a worse player. I fought about that colour-line for many years, and noew a number of us are accepted in Japan. In Fact, the harder colour-line to break through was with Americans, who only wanted to see Japanese faces play Japanese music.

Holley: That’s like what happened in the early days of Buddhism in the USA. People tended to only want to go to senseis or masters from the Orient. When Westerners became ordained and came back, and started teaching they weren’t interested. But all that has now changed. People no longer have the false view that Buddhism has to be taught in this way or by this person for it be authentic.

Ronnie: In terms of Buddhism – I play at a number of Zen monasteries and know quite a few Roshis – they’re looking for it to become American – in fact they’re looking for it to become worldwide.

Holley: Returning to the breath aspect. In Buddhism we have a Mindfulness of Breathing meditation. Most traditions, whether Theravadin, Mahayana or whatever, have this – where you become aware of your breath. It does sound like it’s an extension of that practice.

Ronnie: Yes, it’s built into the music. In Japanese aesthetics there is the concept of Johakyu, which is like an arc. Any piece starts off very simply, then it rushes towards implosion, and finally everything is stripped away and ends up very simple again, but subtly different from how it began. In Japanese music every sound has that arc, each section has that arc, and each full piece has the same three fold arc. So it’s arc upon arc upon arc. A classical piece would be in three parts normally – the middle part being instrumental – they alternate from slow to fast to slow again. In terms of pitch each part will start off on a low note, go high, and end up low. You’ll find this structure also in Bunraku (doll theatre) it has three acts, and the same with Noh Theatre. Even when you look at classical Japanese Ikebana (flower arrangement) you’ll see that the arrangements have three branches. Again, this is the Johakyu arc. This is an aesthetic that isn’t really known in the West.

Holley: I’ve listened to the CD you made in collaboration with Gideon Freudmannn – the jazz cellist – The Sound of Distant Deer. It was a very interesting mixture of East and West, of traditional with modern styles. I felt that the jazz and the shakuhachi were connect by the element of improvisation, which is important in both.

Ronnie: I love playing with Gideon. We’ve don a lot of performances together since then and he’s a fantastic musician, we get along together really well. I have fourteen recordings of shakuhachi (mostly solo Zen music) and there are three more coming out, but that’s the only one where I bring in jazz musicians. The next volume coming out in early summer will be a CD of the New York Sankyokukai, which is my classical Japanese trio ensemble. This February what I think is the best recording I’ve ever done is coming out: Komuso – the Healing Art of Zen Shakuhachi. This CD focuses on the pieces that were used for healing by the komuso, who were mendicant priests that traveled with Tengai (or baskets) on their heads for anonymity and to suppress the ego. (Komuso literally means ‘priests of emptiness or nothingness’). I’m very excited about the CD because I used very long instruments, so it’s a really mellow recording.

Holley: How is the shakuhachi itself pitched? What is the sound based on?

Ronnie: Japanese music has two scales: in-senpo and yo-senpo. Yo-senpo is a pentatonic folk-scale and in-senpo is the classical Japanese model – more minor sounding. The shakuhachi is tuned in yo-senpo. However, the pieces you play on it, especially the classical pieces, are based on a modified seven-tone scale with a different note on the ascending and descending scales. With the Zen music anything goes, you can throw in tones that aren’t even in the scale! Rather than look for formal music rules, you focus on the pitch, the textures of the sound, the timbres, the tone-colours, the breath explosions, how one sound begins and ends, the space – the Ma – the emptiness between the sounds (which is written as part of the composition).

Holley: As shakuhachi has its roots in meditation, have your students transformed not just their music, but themselves? How have you transformed yourself?

Ronnie: Yes, it’s transformed people, different people in different ways of course. At the very least, shakuhachi is a stress-reliever. Even if you’re not going towards saving the world as a Bodhisattva, of nothing else you could learn to relax a little. And of course, those people who are already Buddhists come here as part of their practice. They come for the same reason that my teacher came to the shakuhachi. Let me explain. One of my CDs is called Ichi On – Buttsu, from Ichi On Jo Buttsu – ‘one sound, to become Buddha’, or ‘from one sound – Enlightenment’. That’s the reason he had in mind every time he picked up the flute and that’s what I try to emulate myself. It’s a path, rather than something with a fixed end. It’s not really relevant whether I become Buddha, but it’s relevant that I’m trying to go in that direction. Hopefully, I’m becoming a better person.

Holley: Many Westerners have been bringing their own style of art within their Buddhist practice, but you’ve done the opposite – you’ve taken up a very traditional Buddhist art form as a Westerner.

Ronnie: In my case, I’m still trying to copy and imitate, which as you know is very highly valued in Japanese society. But I’ve reached the point now, after a quarter of a century of doing this full time, where my own spirit does enter into the music. It’s a natural evolution. I remember one of the great shakuhachi masters, Miyata Kohachiro, telling me on the first day he met me, “make your own honky-oku” and to me that was the most radical thing you could tell somebody! That’s like saying write your own bible or something. Still today, it seems radical, but in a way, I understand him better because I have made my own honkyoku now. I wasn’t ready for another ten years after he said that, but now I have done it. This fits in with the meaning of the word ‘hon’ in honkyoku. For some people, ‘hon’ means ‘your origin’, ‘your heart’, but the way I was taught it meant the ‘original pieces’.

Holley: Or your ‘original face’. This relates to the Buddhist image of unfolding of layers to get to the original enlightened center – it takes many years to get there.

Ronnie: Exactly. And when you stop trying, when you stop the effort, when you stop being purposeful, it comes much more naturally. The more years you play, the more rewards you get – all the subtleties, all the ornaments, the beginnings and endings, the shapes of sound and textures – that’s the world of levels my teacher referred to.

http://sweepingzen.com/2011/01/08/zen-music-an-interview-with-ronnie-nyogetsu-seldin-shakuhachi-master/

西園流尺八道五世宗家 - Current World Shakuhachi five Soke road Nishizono

2010-12-29T17:06:00.000-08:00

西園流尺八道五世宗家
小原西園師追悼本曲演奏会
(竹静会主催)平成２１年１１月１日(日)
場所・甚目寺町　正善寺　西園門下・大橋円昭師読経供養　

GT-Current World Shakuhachi five Soke road Nishizono
This song tribute concert master Nishizono Obara
(Sponsored by the Society of bamboo IV), November 1, 2009 (Sun)
Buddhist sutra chanting studying with master Akira Ohashi yen Zimokuzi town where 正善寺 Nishizono

　

http://www.fuwaiin.com/kenendou/hougaku/21.11.01-ohara-seien-tuitoukai/seien-tuitoukai.html

尺八古典本曲根笹派(錦風流) 『松風』 Nezasa-ha: MATSUKAZE

2010-12-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

尺八古典本曲
根笹派(錦風流)所伝『松風』
Shakuhachi Koten Honkyoku
Nezasa-ha: MATSUKAZE

1尺9寸管
1-shaku 9-sun

これは私の演奏です。

1. 曲名について
根笹派の名曲「松風」には面白い話が伝わっている。
幕末元治元(1864)年8月15日仲秋名月の夜半、京都御所紫宸殿の裏、
今出川門内の関白太政大臣近衛忠煕公邸から、朗々たる尺八の音が響き、
遠く東山辺りまで聞こえ、維新のただ中にある人々の心を静めたという。
尺八の主は津軽家より派遣されていた近衛家の衛士で根笹派の名手、乳井建朝であった。
曲は「松風」。聴き終えた関白は暫く感激冥目の末、一首を詠まれた。

　　吹き鳴らす竹の調べもおのずから
　　　すみ渡りたる夜半の月かげ

忠煕公はこれより後は雅号「月影」を名乗るべしと申され、吹奏に用いられた銘管を手元におき、
後日大和錦の袋に入れて返された。
その後、乳井月影は明治22年、師の伴建之の後述と江戸の茶川徳行から伝えられた
作譜法によって、3年を費やして根笹派本曲10曲の作譜を行い、あわせて
松風の「風」と錦の袋の錦をとって「錦風流」の名を興したという。
津軽地方で根笹派が錦風流と称されるゆえんである。

2. 曲の構成
[〈調〉 -〈本手〉 -〈結〉]という構成である。

3. 曲の特徴
「松風」独自の〈調〉は、別曲「調」の三分の二ほどの長さで、オクターブの差はあっても
やはり筒音である甲のロから始まり、別曲「調」と共通の旋律が多く、曲の運びも似ている。
ただし、別曲「調」が独立の一曲としての姿もととのえているのに対して、
音域の高まりも控えめで、あくまでも前奏の部分である。
根笹派の中でも「調」「下り葉」に次いで短い曲であるが、
端正な形式感を具え、気品の高い名曲である。

神如道は根笹派本曲を折登如月、永野旭影他数人から伝承した。

This is my performance.

1. About the title:

There is an interesting story told about the famous Nezasa-ha composition Matsukaze:

It was a late moonlit night in mid-autumn, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month
in the first year of Genji (1864), at the end of the Edo period.
At the rear of the Murasaki--Shinden ("Purple Hall") of the Imperial Palace in Kyoto,
the resonant tone of a shakuhachi drifted from the official residence of chief Advisor
and Imperial Minister Konoe Tadahiro within the Imadegawa Gate.
It could be heard as far away as the Higashiyama area,
and the story has it that this music soothed the troubled hearts of the people caught up
in the Meiji Restoration.
The shakuhachi player was Nyui Kencho, a master of Nezasa-ha
who had been dispatched by the Tsugaru clan to serve in Konoe's Imperial Guard.
The piece was Matsukaze. When the Chief Advisor was done listening,
he was deeply moved and after closing his eyes and meditating a while he composed a poem:

"The take-no-shirabe resonates... Lucid moonbeams Fill the deepest night..."

On considering this incident, Tadahiro then proposed the new artistic name Getsuei
("moonbeams") for Nyui. The Minister also received the famous flute used in this performance,
and had it returned afterwards enclosed in a bag of Yamato brocade.

Later, in the year 22 Meiji (1890) Nyui spent three years compiling ten Nezasa-ha honkyoku
based on the oral teachings of Ban Yasuyuki and the composition method passed down
by Sagawa Tokugyo of Edo. Combining the character kaze/FU of Matsukaze and
the character nishiki/KIN from nishiki-nofukuro ("brocade bag") he created the name Kinpu-ryu.
This is why the Nezasa-ha is known as Kinpu-ryu in the Tsugaru area.

2. Structure of the piece

It is structured [Shirabe -Honte -Musubi].

3. Special features of the piece:

The unique shirabe of Matsukaze is about two-thirds as long as the separate piece Shirabe,
and although there are differences in octaves, they both begin from the same note
KAN-no-ro and have many melodies in common, as well as having a similar overall flow.
However, distinct from the piece Shirabe, which has a feeling of having been assembled
as a whole piece, this shirabe has the inescapable feeling of an introduction both,
in its overall pitch range and its moderation.
Among Nezasa-ha pieces, this composition is almost as short as Shirabe and Sagariha,
but with its decorous structural sense it is an extremely refined and justly famous work.

Jin Nyodo received Nezasa-ha honkyoku from Orito Nyogetsu, Nagano Kyokuei,
as well as from several others.
source:http://www.komuso.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCbfW8xUvA

鹿野城下（しかのじょうか）　虚無僧行脚（こむそうあんぎゃ）- Shiroshita Kano (Youka Shikanoji) Komuso pilgrimage (it Angya Komu)

2010-12-21T18:27:00.000-08:00

この行事は、平成１３年、町内の「譲傳寺」において、「京都明暗寺(きょうとみょうあんじ)　虚竹禅師奉賛会(きょちくぜんしほうさんかい)」の主催で「全国尺八本曲献奏大会(ぜんこくしゃくはちほんきょくけんそうたいかい)」が行われた際、鹿野在住の会員の呼びかけと、奉賛会の協力によって、虚無僧行脚が行われたことがきっかけとなり、これ以降、平成１５、１７、１９、２１年と隔年で続けてきました。

GT- This event, in 2001, the town "Yuzuru Tsutou Temple" in "dark temple Kyoto (Youtomyouanji come) Zen Bamboo Society 奉賛 imaginary (Yochikuzenshihousankai come)," sponsored by the "rule of eight national献奏 song competition (national and ゃくはちほんきょくけんそうたいかい Zen) "was made when, and call for members living in Kano, by the cooperation of the 奉賛, she became an Komuso pilgrimage is held that, since it 15,17,19,21 Heisei year has continued every two years.

この行脚は、夕暮れから夜にかけて行なわれ、家紋の入った提灯を家々の軒先に掲げ、各通りに設置された足元行灯に明かりが灯る中、住民に見守られながら静かに進みます。幻想的な光景に包まれながら尺八の音が佇む町に響き渡ります。また、信仰の厚い家々から「門付け」を求められた虚無僧が、玄関先で献奏(けんそう)する様子もよく見られます。

GT-This pilgrimage is being held during the night from dusk, raised the lantern into the eaves of the houses of the crest, in a light lit lanterns on each foot placed on the street, residents go quietly while being watched. Nestled in the town and cross the sound of the shakuhachi sound while being surrounded by fantastic scenery. Moreover, religious houses, "with a gate" is asked to Komuso, 献奏 outside the front door (I speak), how often to be seen.

（記：岡田）

http://www.shikano.org/2010/03/post.html