Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hi Jim
I had to remake a 2.7 shakuhachi made by a professional Tozan maker. It had had 2 hanko (2 stamps of the same maker) on it. It were terrible. I could not call it a shakuhachi. It was only shaped like a shakuhachi. I guess the maker had no ability to make long shakuhachi.

Your question I think is equal to asking, "Why did that "shakuhachi" have 2 hanko stamped on it?" I heard about one maker who felt that many makers these days put 2 or 3 hanko on all of their shakuhachi (as a business), whereas in the olden days, according to what this maker said, a shakuhachi had to be good to deserve a hanko. As a kind of rebellion against that, this maker decided to not put his hanko on any of his shakuhachi, even though he made his shakuhachi very slowly and carefully.

Justin
http://senryushakuhachi.com/

I've heard a few explanations, because I've asked this question many times. Maybe we can get other veiws, or god forbid, even facts.

Q: Why do some shakuhachi have no hanko and might play better than 5000 dollar instruments?

A(#1): Perhaps it was a shakuhachi made by a maker for a student and not made as a commercial instrument. (Or made for some charitable cause. Yamaguchi Shiro's workshop evidently donated shakuhachi to the Japanese armed forces in and around WWII. These may have been unsigned as well.)

A(#2): Shakuhachi was made with bamboo which had inherent 'flaws' -- branch growing off of node, dents, scratches, fissures, channels, snow-cracks grown into the bamboo, crooked or "ugly" roots. These flaws might not effect the playability or sound of the shakuhachi but may render it as a "2nd quality," hence no hanko. It may be an incredibly good playing instrument however. Flawed flutes may _also_ have the maker's hanko, as well.

A(#3): Shakuhachi was made from bamboo that was not to proper form (number of nodes, node placement). I've seen at least three shakuhachi shihan play 6-node personal instruments. (The optimal Number of nodes according to shakuhachi traditionalists is 7, four below the tzu hole, three above. Some think that 8 nodes with five below the tzu hole is superior or even 'lucky'. Some think that the more nodes below the tzu hole the merrier.) 6 node instruments will almost always be discounted but many of them do have the maker's hanko on them if the maker thought it is a good instrument.

A(#4): Shakuhachi was damaged and repaired during making. Otherwise a fine instrument, but the maker decided not to sign it.

A(#5): Any combination of the above and more.

(Now I have the numbers correct. I was lousy in math.)

Last edited by Chris Moran (2008-11-03 18:23:31)

Thanks for the input fellas. It was helpful.
    Chris, good to see you at Masa's memorial.
                                       Jim

People have different ideas about what constitutes the quality
of an instrument.  Even when only looking at the quality of a
shakuhachi as a musical instrument and disregarding any
other qualities (like visual aesthetics).

So, the price of a shakuhachi is not, in fact, cannot
be a measure for its quality (rather:qualities).

The only times I let go of a high end shakuhachi without a hanko is when it is a gift or if I just forget!

First, a gift is usually between people who know each other. So, the formality of a hanko is less important. Also, there is the logic that a hanko is perceived as something that gives the flute more value. A maker who gives a flute away or sells it at a substantial discount may want to protect himself from competition should the beneficiary decide to sell it later. It makes it more likely that the flute will stay in one place longer.

Ken

Toby must be better and finding the good flea markets than I am! Aside from my first experience playing shakuhachi, which was at Kitano-Tenmangu in Kyoto in the fall of '88, where a guy had about 10 decent shakuhachi for sale, I rarely saw anything but very poor flutes at flea markets. After bringing the one I chose to my teacher, Yoshio Kurahashi, for my first lesson, he told me I'd have a very hard time finding a good flute at a flea market, but I persisted, and after about 35-40 attempts I finally found an exceptional flute, in fact a stupendously good no-stamp 1.8. It needed some repair but I still have it and it's one of my personal 1.8s.

I've acquired two other no-stamp shakuhachi, a 1.8 which I sold, and a 1.9 I still have, that are unusually fine shakuhachi. Both date to the Taisho or earlier, and it's telling, to me at least, that virtually all of the very good or better mumeikan (no stamp flutes) I've found over the years have been quite old. I had (and sold) a jinashi 1.9 with no stamp that plays like a ji-ari flute (but with jinashi tone), and just acquired a very, very old (Edo?) jinashi 1.8 like that. Whether it was humility that kept the stamp off, playing them is certainly humbling.

I think the fact that some great old flutes have no stamps, whereas many so-so modern ones have 2 or 3, says a lot--and I mean a lot--about the intersecting curves of shakuhachi making (and playing for that matter) and that of shakuhachi self-promotion, over the past 100+ years.

Yamaguchi Shiro was known to have produced a number of very fine no-stamp flutes. Adding to the "I've heard it said" column, makers some times left the stamp off for a very prosaic reason: cheaper price.

Yokoyama Rampo put two stamps on any flute he made beginning to end. A friend of mine has two of them with 3 stamps and they are definitely top-notch Rampokan, but the best one has two.

Miura Kindo shakuhachi are almost all one-stamp (I've heard of two-stamp Kindos, anyone ever seen one?).

When I studied karate in college I was told that the origin of the black belt was that after years of practice one's white belt naturally became black from grime. Then, after even more years, the belt would fray back to white (nowadays some ryu-ha mark progression through the dan with white stripes). One of the nicest shakuhachi I've ever owned is like that--one stamp that's nearly faded to illegibility through use. When it's gone I guess it will also be a mumeikan.

My personal 1.8 was made by Tsurugi Kyomudo about 20 years ago for me.  It had no hanko for 19 years, but I decided that I wanted Tsurugi sensei's hanko on it since he doesn't make shakuhachi anymore due to his age and I wanted the flute's origin to be known should I not be there to tell it.    The fact that it had no hanko originally had nothing to do with it's quality since it's an excellent flute.  It had to do with the fact that it was given directly to me by the maker and he probably never gave much consideration to what would become of it after I was no longer around nor did he see it as a commercial object.
I have had and still have some excellent quality mumeikan.  Perhaps they too were gifts or made specifically for one person, or maybe the makers felt that the entire instruments were a signature of sorts and that a stamp was moot.  All wonderful things to dream about.