Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hey Lorka!

Thanks for that introduction! I think it's great that people say a bit about tehmselves so we get to know a bit more of each other.

I think it's great that you continued with teh Shakuhachi even you encountered so much difficulty at teh beggining, it really shows your devotion to it and I m sure it will be something very positive in your "bamboo path".

Regearding Chinese bamboo, I'm sure that there are more informed people her to asnwer but from what I've heard and from my experience you should not have any problem learning with a Shakuhachi made of Chinese bamboo, as I think the important thing is what the maker makes of the piece of bamboo and not so much the bamboo itself. Some people say that the material it is made is not important, in that sense I also agree with Tairaku, I have a wooden shakuhachi and a bamboo one and although you can extract beautiful resonating notes from both the "feel" of playing one and the other is quiet different, the impression that I get when I blow the bamboo one is of flexibility and softness while I find wood much more rigid. But bamboo is still bamboo whether in Japan or China, I guess there must be some differences but not as important as to hinder your learning progress. Apparently Watazumi used to play sometimes on very low quality bamboo, and as John Coltrane said (thanks Tairaku for that great quote!) "you can play a shoestring if you are sincere". So if you buy a Shakuhachi, just make sure it is made properly (I've seen some flutes being sold as Shakuhachi on ebay that they look a bit suspiucious...) and enjoy the feel of such an amazing material (for a testimony of how amazing material it is just check the "Respectful Request for Flutemakers out there" thread by Pablo63, a sensational story!)

Salud!

Alex

P.S: By the way Darren, that's such a cool avatar!

Concerning your statement: "I am interested in the meditative, Honkyoku styles of music that I have heard, and would like to get a Bamboo flute, as I agree with many of Tiraku's posts about the nature of bamboo."


I have been playing a set of Perry Yung's flutes for a couple years now. All lacquered. But I recently had and event change my entire thinking. Below is a letter I wrote Perry about it:

Perry,

I think it is most interesting that the only one of the Shakuhachi you have made that literally spoke to me was a natural bore. I believe that says more than first meets the eyes.

All your Shakuhachi have life. They play with a breath that moves. But this one was partly speaking on it's own.

I think I have told you that there is this small bamboo grove at the Theosophical Society book store in Seattle. Every time I go there, I step into the grove and sit. Walking into the grove is like no other experience I have ever felt. LITERALLY, the second I step in, time stops. And the bamboo does whisper. Very ancient stuff. There is a mystery to the plant I never expected. I have spent hours sitting there, trying to see. But the energy there is vastly different than my world, even the mystic world in which I have one foot in at all times.

So it was not just a message in the visions that struck me. (I actually got visons when I started to play this natural bore Shakuhachi) It is the fact that the bamboo that spoke had its heart still intact. That, all by itself, is screaming at us. Letting us know that we made a terrible mistake in our human path.

I will tell you that from now on, any Shakuhachi I buy from you will not have lacquer. It would be an act of treason to me to do so.

D.J.

Last edited by D.J. (2007-02-28 16:40:09)