Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

The PodCast of (the Australian) ABC Radio National's Encounter episode on the Shakuhach and Komuso is now online at

http://abc.net.au/rn/encounter/default.htm

with more information on the story itself, including a transcript and list of people interviewed (lots), at

http://abc.net.au/rn/encounter/stories/2007/1882869.htm

I'm not sure how long the podcast remains online, however you can download it as an MP3 at the moment:

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/ … 070401.mp3

Great listening.

Ralf


----- promo blurb
The Zen Priests of Nothingness

We travel to Tokyo and Kyoto to meet a Zen sect with a tradition of music as spiritual practice whose influence continues today. They were the Fuke sect, and the wandering monks of this Buddhist lineage, known as the komuso, became famous as the Zen Priests of Nothingness. Drawn from the ranks of masterless samurai, they were renowned for their skill in playing the Japanese bamboo flute, the shakuhachi.

Our search takes us to Nakano in Tokyo where we meet one of Japan's greatest living shakuhachi masters, Katsuya Yokoyama, and to the spiritual centre of the Fuke sect in Kyoto, Myoanji, the Temple of Light and Darkness. Other guests include the Zen priest at Myoanji, Eko Hirosomi; shakuhachi masters Yoshio Kurahashi in Kyoto, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel in Tokyo and Jim Franklin in Sydney; the world's first non-Japanese shakuhachi Grandmaster Riley Lee; and an American Grandmaster from New York City, Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin. We also hear from a student of the shakuhachi, Margaret Tung, in Sydney.