Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi Christopher, I've played and worked on many Seikado flutes. I visited the present maker, Ikuya Kitahara, in Tokyo around 2003. He's a very nice, helpful and gracious man.

The Kitahara family have been making Seikado flutes in the Tozan style for three generations (I was told). They are prolific makers with craftsmen of different skill levels through the years, thus you may find flutes in a wide range of quality. In recent years, the criteria has been more strict along with quality control. From what I've seen, contemporary Seikado  flutes are consistently very nice modern instruments.

As usual, the best thing to keep in mind when shopping for an instrument is that every shakuhachi is different, even when made by the same maker.