Articles on Shakuhachi - Table of Contents

Identifying the Komuso
Two courtesans attempt to discover the identity of a komuso by offering him a wrapped coin on a mirror.
Koryusai ga (c. 1770)

Articles, Reviews
& Other Resources

Shakuhachi
&
Related Topics

String Theory: New Approaches to Instrument Design
By Andrew C. Revkin
New York Times- November 28, 2006

Sui Zen Temples of Japan

A map compiled by Steve Weiss and Yoshio Kurahashi

Riley Lee's Review
of
Christopher Yohmei Blasdel's
THE SINGLE TONE: A Personal Journey into Shakuhachi Music

Dan Ryudo Ribble
The Other Side of the Pacific:
A Few Statistics and Observations on Shakuhachi Playing in Japan and in Kochi Prefecture

East Meets West: Traditional Japanese Flutes Being Made in Willits, USA
Willits News - August 22, 2003

An article on Monty Levenson published in his hometown newspaper.

Playing Chess With Life
At Age 81, Dan Mayers Lives in the Fast Lane
Life Extention Magazine - August, 2003

Dan Mayers is President Emeritus and founder of the Internatiional Shakuhachi Society (amongst other things.)

Steven Casano
From Fuke Shuu to Uduboo: Zen and the Transnational Flow of the Shakuhachi Tradition to the West
An Excerpt from his Thesis

As Nature Intended by Ray Brooks

"It's not the best time to stop someone when you stark naked and have just climbed out of the cold pool at Wilber hot springs. But I ask you, what would you have done if you had seen someone pass by with a Shakuhachi tube strapped to his back. How many Shakuhachi players do you bump into out in the wilds of California. Miss an opportunity like that, never. The flute carrier was with a woman and they were both fully clothed."

John Coltrane taking care of some important business.
(Thanks Ralf Muhlberger)

Shakuhachi Summit 2002
Review of the Event
A Conversation with Preston Houser
Zen Buddhist, shakuhachi player and truly original thinker!

Following the Flute to Kyoto

Washington Post Staff Writer Patterson Clark had a passion for the Zen instrument, so he sought its master in Japan.
Sunday, August 4, 2002; Page E01;
Streaming Video of Yoshio Kurahashi-sensei
Read the Sidebar that did not make it into the Washington Post Article

Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project
features a duet for cello and shakuhachi played by Kojiro Umezaki

Read the NY Times Review
Read the NY Magazine Review

Umezaki-san performed Michio Mamiya's "Kio" using a 2.4' Tai Hei Shakuhachi.

Japanese Traditional Instrumental Music :
An overview of solo and ensemble development
by Bruno Deschênes

Although Japan is obviously the most Westernized country in all of Asia, Japanese people are known as being great guardians of tradition. When it comes to music and all other forms of art, traditions are firmly and safely preserved, yet, as in all Asian countries, there is a decline; the youth being more interested in pop and rock music then their own traditions. Modernization is surely a threat; but the sense of tradition in Japan is so strong that their traditional music will continue to thrive and, to a small extent, with the help of the West.

Japanese music is extremely diverse: solo music, chamber music, court music, festival and folk music, different types of theatre music, percussion music, epic singing, and many more. This article presents a general overview of Japanese traditional solo and how it evolved into ensemble music.

Shakuhachi player and teacher Tomie Hahn is featured in the NY Timese article
Making the Music Sway to Your Beat

Wearable instruments that put chips in dancers' shoes, an orchestra on a sleeve and wireless duets on city streets.

"Professional musicians and performance artist are exploring interactive technologies more seriously, not to fill awkward silences but to delve into new areas of expression. Dr. Tomie Hahn, an ethnomusicology professor at Tufts University, is using technology to experiment with Japanese dance forms. In one of her dances, she personifies Pikapika, a Japanese word that means "twinkling." For her performance, Dr. Hahn wears an interface designed by Dr. Curtis Bahn, a researcher at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It consists of sensors worn on the hands and feet, and small speakers strapped to the arms. As Dr. Hahn dances, her body is guided by the music of its own creation."

The Japanese Shakuhachi and the Western World
by Bruno Deschênes

An interview with shakuhachi master
James Nyoraku Schlefer

BEGINNER'S MIND: My Shakuhachi Journal by Meredith Katz

Killing the Buddha: Form vs. Content in Hogaku
by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel

A Fool for Shakuhachi by Ray Brooks

El Shakuhachi by Dan Ribble

Playing Shakuhachi for Hollywood by Bill Shozan Schultz

Playing Honkyoku; Praying Honkyoku by Mary Lu Brandwein

The Sound of Zen. An article about Christopher Yohmei Blasdel from The Nation (Bankok, Thailand)

Blowing Zen - Book Tour Update by Ray Brooks

Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin, Essay & Interview

Blowing Shakuhachi Interview with Monty H. Levenson