Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

chikuzen wrote:

ABRAXAS, thanks for the clarification. I do have a stellar ability to misinterpret words on a page and the tone of words on the page. I am even better at yelling in the middle of backswings.

No problem, I tend to express myself in too strong of terms, and occasionally leave out important qualifiers.

To the point, Tokyo is a riot and I'm not surprised at anything that comes out of there. It's full of good taste and bad. There's 55~60 million people between Tokyo and Kamakura-one endless city. What would one expect but a lot of everything.

Sounds kinda like a microcosm of America!

Ps. I may be contacting you about lessons in the not-too-distant future.

Last edited by ABRAXAS (2009-03-26 13:23:38)

edosan wrote:

ABRAXAS wrote:

Maybe another way of saying it is that a top-tier traditional player may have it in them for whatever reason to put out non-traditional playing that, however proficient, is the shakuhachi equivalent of Lawrence Welk or The Carpenters..."

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Watch it, buddy, that's OUR tradition you're takin' about...
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Come to think of it - it might me fun to play BABY ELEPHANT WALK on shakuhachi along with Lawrence Welk.

Seth wrote:

When you read through this thread one gets a good understanding of the various reasons why people pick up shakuhachi in the west.  And also a good understanding of the different value systems through which people understand their shakuhachi experience.

In the western shakuhachi world I would offer that there are two primary value spectrums on which people fall:

Traditional versus personal expressionists

And

Artistic mastery (extroverted) versus spiritual experience (introverted)

The best players (and true artists) combine all these attributes and don't see them as being in opposition to each other.

ABRAXAS wrote:

One point regarding the "East vs. West" theme that keeps cropping up in this discussion: Whether on CD or online some of the worst examples of non-traditional shakuhachi I've heard, grotesque jazz-funk-fusion, insipid cover versions of pop tunes, elevator muzak, and insufferably saccharine "new age" renditions, have been from Japan.

Also, some of the most outstanding examples of how I would NOT want to play a shakuhachi has been from Japanese and Western players noted for their traditional training background, even though the demonstrated "technical" proficiency might be outstanding. I know much of this falls under the heading of individual taste, but for every non-traditional piece of shakuhachi music I've heard that knocks my socks off, there are about ten times more that make me hit the off-button or listen aghast to the train wreck.

Yeah one of the greatest shakuhachi players from Japan knew I was a rock musician so he gave me a copy of his "rock" album which was an atrocity. But his honkyoku is tremendous.

And there are the guys who are good honkyoku or gaikyoku players but think they can get away with "New Age" drivel, which is almost always insipid and pointless regardless of the instrument. I think this is a commercial gesture because the uninformed listeners and consumers make a vague connection shakuhachi=zen=meditation=new age thinking but that's lazy.

The lesson to be learned from this is that if you want to play jazz, rock, blues or pop on shakuhachi you have to understand those styles. And bad music is bad music even if it's coming from capable players.

Nyogetsu wrote:

Just a minor correction: James Nyoraku Schlefer and Stan Kakudio Richardson both studied the entire repertoire with me.
Stan WAS self-taught, but wanted to go through all the pieces with me.
Both Jim and Stan have studied with my teacher's son - KURAHASHI YOSHIO - for many years, and Jim has done additional studies with many Japanese Masters as well.

Of course I know these dudes and the fact they've studied a lot. I was referring to Michael's statement that everyone on his list lived in Japan for decades.

chikuzen wrote:

In a nutshell, it comes down to COMMITMENT: how much money do I have for shakuhachi, either a flute or lessons, and COMMITMENT of time and energy: how much of these do I have for practice. Everyone reaches a balance themselves. A golfer who shots bogey golf in Britain is considered "good". That's an average score of 90. The meaning is that one can enjoy golf even being a boggy golfer.

Hi Michael,
Your nutshell is a shiny pearl.
Also, when golfing, do you ever take a break and just blow for rogey? -kerry

Brian, thanks a lot for taking up the discussion: interesting thread.

Mujitsu wrote:

What creates opportunity also creates dilution. I'm concerned where the shakuhachi is going in the West.

edosan wrote:

We here in the west will never have a system like the traditional Japanese makers had.

Ed, I don't think that's quite accurate: at least in Europe the traditional education of craftspeople has been somewhat similar.  This is in the process of dilution (probably caused by "market mechanisms") and the consequences were painfully clear to me when returning to Europe after having lived in Japan for half a year.  So, I do actually share Ken's concerns.

And, obviously, education and experience of a maker will (rightly) be reflected in the price of a shakuhachi (or any other product or service for that matter) --- alongside other factors.  However, I don't see a direct relation to the quality of an individual instrument (in a specific context): as, for example, Brian and Jeff pointed out earlier, their affection for an instrument has little to nothing to do with what they paid for it.

Last edited by udo.jeromin (2009-03-26 20:20:21)

What a great photo!

After all of the reading plus trying to make a few flutes myself I am really starting to appreciate what actually goes into making a shakuhachi. It is a lot of work and requires a lot of skill.Getting the right piece of bamboo,knowing how to tune the flute etc.. They are worth the money. I can relate it to bonsai in a way. You look at a tree and see a $5000 price tag and go WOW. That much money for a little tree, but once you realize that it took 10 to 20 years to grow in that shape and what was required to keep it that way you can appreciate the price tag. A shakuhachi is very much the same thing.

Last edited by purehappiness (2009-03-27 12:33:14)

Thats one thing a tree definetly does not have.