Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

I have been writing my own comments to this effect, quoting from earlier statements about them, and wanted to post them after making sure they were worth doing so, so this isn't how I intended to start this, but so be it.

I was responding to comments in this thread:

http://www.shakuhachiforum.com/viewtopi … 942#p19942


I would like to respond to a couple of the above posts, specifically the statements that say, more or less:

a) even an "esteemed" player, and I'll put myself, and my teachers, in that group if only because I think that's intended, can not tell anyone what the quality of any shakuhachi is. I take that to mean that all of the statements I make about the quality of my flutes for sale are mere opinion and thus worth basically 2 cents. I would limit that comment to houchiku/hocchiku and some jinashi flutes. Okazaki Jisshu told me after I played a number of his flutes and (I guess) didn't seem impressed, "I like a shakuhachi that takes a lot of breath to play but produces very little sound." So that's fine, but if you're playing ji-ari shakuhachi--in my experience--there are huge differences in quality, and, the better the player, the better the assessment. Weaknesses and strengths often lie hidden until coaxed, or sometimes just forced, into view. And this is particularly true of vintage shakuhachi, even some great ones, thus the greater the difference in evaluation depending on the experience of the player. And as a result, they’re often as underestimated, as many jinashi shakuhachi are.

So while the criteria aren’t set in stone, quality is quality.

b) most shakuhachi in Japan are "crap." This is another very misleading over-statement, that paints a very inaccurate picture of the history of shakuhachi making up to the present day, and discredits the efforts of many makers of fine shakuhachi over the years and centuries.

Mentioning Kurhashi Yoshio, I've taken close to 300 lessons with him over the years, and in that time I've heard many of his opinions about vintage vs. modern shakuhachi, and I can tell you it's not as cut and dried as it's being made out to be. I recently gave him shakuhachi to play by some old master makers, and he didn't exactly disparage them, far from it. He did say that he recommends modern shakuhachi to his students because they play everything well, but he added old flutes are best for honkyoku. And since all the flutes play easily, it seemed he was referring to pitch, which isn’t perfect on two of them (though is nearly on the other two)  as the reason he used a Gyokusui most of the time.  So I was surprised that he didn’t recommend older shakuhachi to any students of his.

But he said my Gesshu was "his" sound and playfully put my Kindo aside as a "gift." I have a modern-ish 1.8, by Kinshu, that I play, it's a fantastic shakuhachi as he agreed, but he didn't try to "steal" that one, and had I had most modern shakuhachi I'm sure it would have been the same.

But beyond that, there are many, many good old shakuhachi out there, even some non-stamped ones that are good to incredibly good. So I would say that while about 50 or so percent of old shakuhachi are not very good at all, 20-30% are okay to very good, if worked on, or even played with patience, ad the rest range from very good, to high quality, to the best shakuhachi I've ever played. I await the modern hassun, with perfect tuning, that is better so I can acquire it if possible.

Which leads to the third point

c)  "shakuhachi being sold" is too general to know whether vintage shakuhachi are being included, but elsewhere on this forum it has been said as a given that they are almost all hard to play and thus an impediment to learning as is stated here. I wold welcome a clarification of that, otherwise it's easy to infer old flutes are included in that. And assuming they're meant, I'll say two things. First, though Mr. Kakizakai is one person to say this about older shakuhachi, which I know from personal experience handing him old flutes to play, he also remarked to me more than once that my playing older flutes may have improved my playing, and my reaction, though I said nothing, was "you see?" So we have a disagreement on this point, and while I acknowledge that modern shakuhachi are easier to play, in fact I've made it clear that's they're main advantage, aside from generally being better tuned, I don't think that's the be-all end-all of playing shakuhachi; in other words I agree with older makers.
The assumption in this view of old shakuhachi, that they're just mostly crap, is that people in that age were just not as good at their craft. The fact is, that while it's true there are a lot of bad shakuhachi in Japan, both old and new, there are a lot of good and great ones, both old and new, as well. And that is an uttlerly different take on the matter.

The second thing I'll respond now is that the other attributes of shakuhachi that many players, myself included, consider more important, are better on old shakuhachi: that's the bamboo (generally), the less scientific construction, and the (resulting IMO) nicer tone. Without getting into a debate on the whys and wherefores, that's considered more important by many players.
I highly respect Mr. Kakizakai, Furyura, and other players, who are all in favor of playing modern shakuhachi, and of whom some are trading in their Rampos for Miura Ryuhos because they're easier to play, but that doesn't mean they're not losing something in the trade.

Another example: without getting personal, a maker in Japan measured many of my flutes, and I played a copy of one of my Satoh Gesshus, which he was very proud of. It was a fine shakuhachi, but not a Satoh Gesshu. Since he measuered my Chikuin 1.8, I'd be curious, if a copy were made, how it would compare, but I wager even a copy, say nothing of a typically-made modern shakuhachi, has the same sound qualities.

That said, I think the points made vis a vis many flutes out there are accurate. In fact, I put in my ad post, before I decided to move those comments to the discussion part of the forum, that I've seen quite a few old flutes myself that had glaring weaknesses in them but had cost serious money. Fortunately I've either avoided those or had those weak parts fixed. And the interesting thing with that is the tone doesn't suffer, but if this maker really redoes the inside it sounds like a modern shakuhachi. That's worth mulling over, I think.

I'll add finally a comment by someone who bought a flute from me, namely that the one you like the sound of is the one you play the most; he continued that what he called flues with no soul would get put away, no matter how easily or loudly they played. And I think adding that soul is something that requires much more than technique.

This is a spur of the moment set of comments and reactions, I will return soon to fill it out with some other opinions and observations.

Last edited by Peter Kororo (2009-02-02 12:34:44)