Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

ABRAXAS wrote:

Question:

I have a very large secluded yard, and many types of Bamboo flourish in Florida. There is also a large Bamboo nursery nearby, so needless to say I am considering turning my yard into a small bamboo grove. I won't be restricted to one type of bamboo.

Any suggestions as to which types of bamboo I should consider to cultivate for future use as shakuhachi/hocchiku?

Jim

Google: 'madake', 'madake timber bamboo', and 'Madake Timber Bamboo (phyllostachys bambusoides)'

Also enter some of those keywords into the forum search function (see above left in the navigation bar); there's a plethora of stuff there, too.

Be prepared to wait, though, if you plant that stuff in Florida. The best is found in mountainous, poor soil in Japan and China. It's pretty slow-growing as bamboo goes, to get the good culms.

Excellent - this was the type of specific info I was looking for. I'm going to do my homework as to what is most doable before I go to the nursery and invest the time and money.

Perry, as my gateway to shakuhachi/hotchiku, you will be at the top of my list to recieve free bamboo if/when I reach the point that I'm growing any to spec!

Thank you for the invitation! I have a lot of irons in the fire here on the home front and don't travel much, but I'll drop a line if/when I find myself bound for Japan. Not entirely outside the realm of possibility.

Bamboo can definitely get out of control fast. That is why I keep mine in containers.I have some black and buddah belly bamboo. Nothing for flutes though.

Last edited by purehappiness (2009-01-21 14:19:15)

The makers I have spoken to shun black because of its tendency to crack. The best madake supposedly grows in rocky mountain soils. I believe that Florida is too warm to grow good madake, but you can certainly try.

As Perry says, any bamboo with the correct inner geometry can make a decently-playing instrument, but I believe it will be hard to make jinashi flutes with most culms other than those of madake, which has a specific taper and inner diameter (and of course madake culms themselves have to carefully selected). For jiari you should be able to build whatever bore you desire, but in terms of aesthetics you will run into problems with the node and root spacings with any bamboo other than madake.

Toby

ABRAXAS wrote:

This what I will probably be working with, unless I find another source: http://www.bamboo.ws/for%20sale%20list.htm

They list "Phyllostachys bambusoides ‘Castillon'"

Does this sound right? Or is "castillon" another form of bamboo unsuitable?

There are quite a few varieties of Phyllostachys bambusoides, alas.

Some interesting reading:

     http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~shaku100/bam.html

And then you might email the guy. Pretty knowledgeable; been makin' 'em in Japan for about 35 years.

Thank you for the suggestions, all very useful!

I am very close to the ocean so the soil is naturally sandy, usually too much so to grow most things.

Madake growing in it's natural state here in Kumamoto is most suitable for shakuhachi when it's growing on a south east face of a slope with water nearby and the soil has a fairly high clay content, but is otherwise rocky and poor for growing much of anything else.  If the soil is too loose, the roots tend to grow too deep.  The color of the soil is something of a clue here.  If the soil is too dark, it generally isn't suitable.  Madake doesn't naturally grow in sand, and my guess is that it wouldn't be compact enough to allow for shallow root growth.

Clay may be a good additive. I know that is what is one of the main ingredients in bonsai soil.The clay helps hold in moisture in a rather sandy soil mixture.You may have to experiment and see what the bamboo likes best.