Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi Ken,
Thanks for that information.  Your idea of flushing the bore with water is interesting.  I've never heard of doing that before.  Did you come upon that yourself, or was that method passed on to you? I'm just wondering how common that might be.   What is the benefit of flushing the bore as opposed to not doing it?  Thanks again for your constant good help.
jeff

I wrote Carl Abbott about flushing the bore with water. He gave me permission to pass on his reply:

KL

"Using water while grinding out the ji is like using water on a wetstone when sharpening a knife. The water flushes away the grindings so they don't clog up the wetstone, or in this case the sandstone piece at the end of the bamboos stick. As this step for me was a common sense thing to do at the time anyway, I doubt Kanske told me.

The wonderful thing about Japanese instruction, at least in my experience, is that teachers leave you alone, and point only to what is absolutely needed. Western teachers, on the other hand, often prefer to 'fill up the space', and prevent problems from occurring. Too bad for allowing problems to unfold naturally places the mind in a extra receptive mode. Why one fills silence with answers before the question ripens is an interesting symptom.

Now, flushing the bamboo with water just to get a sense of what it will sound like when finished is perhaps also an obvious thing one notices when making shakuhachi. Although, you should know that I have a rather 'try everything, throw it on the wall and see what sticks' approach to life, and so much of what I stumble across comes from that approach."


/~\
carl

Hi All, I went to a few of Mejiro's Shakuhachi Workshops around 2002 to see how other maker's approach the craft ( and highly recommend them!). I can't remember the maker's name but he also poured water through the bore during the fine tuning. He used wet/dry sandpaper wrapped around a dowel and a bucket of water.

Jacques, there are different ways of applying Ji. There are also different mixtures of Ji (depending upon who you learned from) with different consistencies. So one needs to learn how to work with the material in order to not make a mess. Some are more smooth and some grainy, some clay-like and some puddy-like. Kinya had special tools made to smoothen the inside after the applications. It's like a long shovel scraper that extended out of the bore so it scrapped the walls evenly when turned and left a very nice surface. These were custom made tools that cost a lot of money. I found a different way of doing it because I couldn't a find a tool maker to make them.

Two piece flutes are much easier to work with. I drill the holes first and then start applying Ji at the middle and work my way out from both ends. i made long thin bamboo spatulas for this.

After I get the ji in, I let it cure a little then pull and press hollow metal dowels through the bore to even the plaster out. Both ends need to be at it's desired diameters so that the entire section will be even. The excess Ji will come out of the ends. After years of practice, I'm now able to produce a relatively smooth and even surface that ready for fine tuning, Early on, it was a bit messy

Hope this helps,
Perry

Hello,

This Japanese urushi lacquer site has pictures describing a process of Ji and urushi for fine bowls.

http://www.urushi-kobo.com/process.html

You can read more on this topic and see a video and pictures on my website on my page Jinashi and Jimori vs. 'Jiari' Jinuri and cast-bore Shakuhachi.

Personally I don't use urushi any longer for my  shakuhachi for sale because of the rashes and allergic reactions which are known to send some to the ER.
Truly life threatening for some.

RO on, Jon

Last edited by Jon Kypros (2024-03-30 19:39:49)