Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi Brian   I found it under the new releases section at Universal Music,  dct-1882 Watazumidoso - Sokuin Rancho/Ryohbo (Universal Music, DCT-1882) (CD) 3,000

Nope still don't see it. Can you post the exact link?

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this, but since the topic of Watazumi has come up, I thought I'd share the story of my encounter with him, about 20 years ago. This encounter provided me with invaluable insight into the  personalities of everyone invovled, including myself. I wrote this in my journals.

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The attitude of the shakuhachi-player-as-spiritual-adept can probably be traced, in large part, to the late Watazumi Dô, who insisted that he was, above all, a zen roshi rather than a shakuhachi player. In his case, however, he was a superb technician on the instrument and opened the ears of a generation shakuhachi players, including Yokoyama Katsuya, to the sonic possibilities in the old honkyoku. Yet, he, too, was full of hype, and though most people took him quite seriously, he was not above playing the trickster and pulling to wool over everyone’s eyes. An experience I had with him bore this out.

The shakuhachi collector Dan Mayers once asked me to come with him as translator on one of his perennial visits to Watazumi. Mayers paid Watazumi several hundred dollars to write out the notation to various honkyoku, knowing that eventually these manuscripts, written in the master’s hand, would increase in value. For his part, Watazumi was glad to oblige, for he could scribble out a few pages of eccentric notation and be paid a handsome amount for a minimum amount of work. Theirs was a match made in heaven. As for me, I was eager to finally meet this much talked about master.

Watazumi put on a rich performance for Mayers, and Mayers loved it. Watazumi insisted, every few sentences, that he was the undisputed master of the shakuhachi, everyone else who played was “sick,” and that he and only he was the pure shakuhachi roshi adept. Mayers agreed with every utterance, knowing that such eccentricity would only increase the value of his investments in the Watazumi original notation.

As translator, I was caught in the middle. It was my first time to visit this legendary shakuhachi player, but after a time of translating his ravings I became disillusioned and slightly disgusted with his egocentric attitude. On the other side, it was also obvious that Mayers was using Watazumi for his own ends, and I struggled to make Mayer’s overtly predatory attitude palatable to Watazumi through my interpretation.

The coup de grace came at the end of the session, when Mayers invited us all out to lunch. Watazumi could not decide where he might like to eat, so in the end he declined the invitation and just asked Mayers for the money that he would otherwise have spent on the meal.

As we took our leave, Watazumi maintained his “holier than thou” attitude and I, thinking I had absolutely nothing to loose, decided to be blunt with him. I faced him squarely and told him quite frankly that I thought he was a big buffoon, full of himself and nothing but a fake.

For a moment there was silence as he took this in. Then, slowly, a huge grin spread across his face as he said “You! You are absolutely right! You have attained satori!” He was ecstatic that someone had called his bluff, and, for the first time during the visit, he actually smiled and looked relaxed. I felt as if a fog had suddenly lifted and that indeed, I was in the presence of a special being.

In the meantime, Mayers stood by waiting impatiently, totally unaware of what had just transpired between us.

I heard that he took a bunch of flutes from a great maker, sold them, and kept all the money for himself. The maker died bitter and in poverty. I suggested something similar to Ken but he didn't go for it, don't know why.

I suppose it MIGHT not be true but the source is reliable. Hey nobody says great musicians are nice people, ever watch "Amadeus"? Talent can find a repository anywhere. We are just the vessels. The problem is that in this particular case there is also a spiritual dimension attached to the great music.

Wow, Yohmei. What a story! Nice ending though!
I hear so many of these kind of stories about Watazumi, but mostly (not all) from secondary sources. Nice to hear  from a person, who directly experienced him.
Thank you for sharing it!

Kiku

Tairaku wrote:

The problem is that in this particular case there is also a spiritual dimension attached to the great music.

And the tantric people don't call it 'crazy wisdom' for nothing. Not to excuse unkind or bad behavior by anyone, but  many accounts of profound spiritual revelation are preceded by pretty graphic stories of mental and even physical abuse. Zen masters, tantrics, Don Juan. Taunting, slapping, setting up impossible tasks, lopping off digits.

Last edited by Chris Moran (2007-09-25 15:35:44)

People seem to share both ridiculous and inspiring legends/stories about Watazumi just like they do about any public figure. When you turn yourself into a public figure (in this case by performing and making albums, etc.) you open up the doors for that kind of treatment. I have seen a lot of the behavior ascribed to Watazumi in musicians of all walks, call it crazy wisdom if you like or maybe it's called "knobism".

I listen to him more than any other shakuhachi player and I don't really care that much about what kind of person he was or if he was nice to the people around him. He's dead. So it's only the music that lasts. I also love Wagner and Charles Mingus although it's pretty well documented that they had some flaws as humans.

One interesting thing is that many people say, "I had the opportunity to study with Watazumi and I didn't, I can't remember why." or "He did several concerts I could have attended but I never did." And they always seem confused by that. Chikuzen, you have been playing a long time and you probably could have met, studied or seen him perform. Did you?

I was carrying my shakuhachi around in a soprano sax case. Lacy asked me what kind of soprano it was and I said, actually shakuhachi. Then he started going on about Watazumi. Said he had all his LP's but in storage so he needed a CD. I gave him one. Lacy said Watazumi gave him 2 lessons. First one was, "Stop smoking". Second one was asking Lacy to sing a note. Lacy gave forth a fairly feeble tralala and Watazumi laughed. Watazumi called in his girlfriend and asked her to sing a note and she peeled the paint off the walls. Watazumi said they went down to the train tracks to practice singing and playing the flute against the noise of the trains. Watazumi also taught Lacy some breathing techniques. Supposedly they recorded something together but it hasn't come out, man I'd love to hear that, two of my favorite musicians.

Coincidentally Ken just posted a version of Lacy's "Blues for Aida" we recorded in L.A on his myspace page.

http://www.myspace.com/mujitsushakuhachi

A very good story, Yohmei. 

You also wrote a few years ago:

"The personality is actualized through precise mental concentration and training in technical skills, and betterment of the personality is a vital part of mastering the shakuhachi.  Realizing a profound, humble connection with humanity--through the music--is the ultimate goal.  An artist with an unbalanced personal life cannot create balanced music.
Performing is not without its contradictions, however.  The times we live in demand a personality behind the music, and a peformer in the public eye demands a strong personality and defined sense of one's duties.  Too much 'self-ishness', however, makes mockery of the shakuhachi's spiritual aspects.  The fine borderline between humility and hubris is easily crossed."

Did Watazumi find balance in his eccentric rebellion against Japanese and other social conventions?