Komusō-Shakuhachi

Mukaiji 霧海箎 November 3, 2025 Recent meetings and particularly the Kyōchiku Zenji Hōsan-Kai 虚竹禅師奉讃会 held on November 3rd 2025 have seen a sharp rise in Non-Japanese participants. The shakuhachi has long been appreciated and eagerly embraced abroad in all kinds of musical styles. But this growing interest in the classical shakuhachi as it is played at Myoan-ji is new, as this is not so much just another musical style but rather a form of zen-meditation or a religious ritual. There may be as many different kinds of motivations to take part in this tradition as there are players, but some speculation may be permitted. The ceremonies at Myōan-ji allows participants to share a kind of spiritual space regardless of their particular religious beliefs. Japanese participants belong to all kinds of Buddhist traditions but the personal affiliation is never discussed. Needles to say that in the outside world, those Buddhist traditions do not always go along well with each other. The Fuke-shoshū 普化正...

The 23rd Fuke Fūin Kai 普化風韻会 (“Elegant Fuke Gathering”) was held in Kōbe on June 22nd in Kōbe. 44 players were assembled and we played from 10am to 5pm. It is always an intense experience. After the concert we had a relaxing time sharing some food and wine meeting old and new Shakuhachi friends. I played Kyūshū Reibo 九州鈴慕 on a 2.9 Shakuhachi made by Ota Tekizan 太田笛山. Kyūshū Reibo 九州鈴慕

From time to time the question comes up if we ever compose our own pieces or if we ever improvise. And it is a legit question as all honkyoku must have be written down or “composed” if you like at some point or other in history. For the oldest pieces like Kokū or Mukaiji the Legend of the Kyotaku explains that they have been “received” in visions or dreams. But for many others we don’t know their exact origin and only in a few cases the “composers” are known by name (e.g. Ōshū-Sashi). The Myōan tradition of shakuhachi is based on the idea that what we do is not some kind of musical performance, and therefore concepts of “expressing oneself”, “musical virtuosity” or “creativity” do not apply. It seems to be the fundamental mystery about the tradition that what seen from the outside is clearly a musical tradition is denying its musicality from the inside.  For me personally it has always been a strong source of inspiration that by playing those melodies that have come down to us thr...

Nyoi 如意 Composed by Miyagawa Nyozan 宮川如山 (1868-1946) Players at the November meeting 2024 of the Hōsan-kai  奉讃会  at Myōan-ji on Nov. 3rd Program of the Meeting At this year's November meeting we were blessed with the best of weather, a bright blue Japanese autumn sky. 45 players or groups from all the major Shakuhachi traditions did participate and they came from all over Japan (and one from Hong Kong). What was surprising was that the long and difficult piece Futai-ken-reibo was played 4 times from players from different  groups. Some impressions

Kokū 虚空   At Myōan-ji, June 5th 2022 Kyochiku-zenji Hōsan-kai 虚空禅師奉讃会2022年6月5日

Some impressions of the  21st Fuke Fūin Kai 普化風韻会 (“Elegant Fuke Gathering”)  Semi Annual Concert at Kōbe Here is the program of the meeting  The Fuke Fūin Kai  is led by Master Uemura Fūgetsu who has a YouTube channel with his recordings. It is accessible through the homepage of the Fūin Kai. https://studio616.net/fuke/youtube/ 40 players had assembled this time and we played for six hours without a break. It is always an intense experience a real "shakuhachi shower" washing away your daily worries. Master Uemura Fūgetsu giving the opening address In the morning before the concert Towards the end of the meeting Myself playing Matsukaze no shirabe 松風之調 - Matsukaze no kyoku 松風之曲

  At Myōan-ji, November 6th 2022 Kyochiku-zenji Hōsan-kai 虚空禅師奉讃会 Ajikan is now one of the most famous Shakuhachi pieces. It is an arrangement done by  Miyagawa Nyozan 宮川如山 (1868-1946)  of the piece Sashi 薩慈. The contemporary practice of playing Yamato-chōshi as a kind of prelude started with Tani Kyōchiku 谷狂竹 (1882-1950) who is famously known as the "Last Komusō". Ajikan translates into "Contemplation on the Syllable A", a meditation practice in the esoteric Shingo school of Japanese Buddhism. The piece is also known as Aji-no-kyoku 阿字の曲 and it  is played on a 2.5 Shakuhachi made by myself.

On the 3rd of May 2024, Shimura Tetsu (Zenbō) 志村 哲　(禅保) Professor at The Osaka University of Fine Arts 大阪芸術大学 and one of the leading Shakuhachi Players and researchers of our time has published an article about Myōan Shakuhachi / Komusō Shakuhachi in the Nikkei Shinbun one of the major Japanese newspapers. It is entitled “Stubborn and rich” (the online edition reads “Stubborn and fascinating”) and in his article he tells the story of how he became a Shakuhachi player in the first place even though in his youth he was intrigued by Western music (English Rock). It is - as you might imagine - a longer story and it is not my intention to summarise his whole story here. “Stubborn and rich” is how he puts the essence of our music into a nutshell. The Komusō Shakuhachi is stubborn as it refuses to follow the changing taste of time. The world around us is getting faster, noisier, more efficient and more and more consumer oriented. Japan being by no means an exception but rather one of leaders ...

Matsukaze no shirabe 松風之調 - Matsukaze no kyoku 松風之曲 The piece Matsukaze 松風 "Wind in the Pine Trees" belongs to the Kinpū-ryū Nezasa-ha 錦風根笹派 tradition which originated in the old province of Tsugaru (now Aomori Prefecture) in the Northern part of Japan. It is composed of two parts Matsukaze no shirabe 松風之調 and Matsukaze no kyoku 松風之曲, the former being a kind of introduction and the latter the main part. --- In the recording presented here it is played by myself on a 2.3 Shakuhachi made by Sakurai Muteki the teacher of Monden Tekikū who was my own teacher.  That Shakuhachi was often referred to as  k uro  黒 ("black") by Monden Tekikū because the color of the bamboo is very dark, nearly black.

In the book   Komusō Tani Kyōchiku  (edited by Inagaki Ihaku, Komusō-kenkyū-kai 1986) Tani Kyōchiku  reports some popular beliefs about the Shakuhachi and the Komusō which I present here.  (1) "Mr. Komusō, would you please let that child wear your  tengai  for a moment?" As I was stopped like that, I turned around and saw a women holding a little child. She's making fun of me, trying to trick me into taking off the  tengai  so that she can see the Komusō's face. When I looked silently at her, she said very earnestly: "Could you please be so kind and let the child wear it?" There was no laxness in her voice whatsoever.  "And what will happen, when the child wears the  tengai ?" I asked insistently, because I did not now what was going on, and that was a somewhat fishy situation. When I listend to her explanation I understood. "That child has something with its brain ✢  and we are in trouble." She also said that she herself had headac...

  吾妻 Azuma  Azuma belongs to group of pieces known as hirukara 昼から ("afternoon pieces") which have a lighter atmosphere than the formal pieces which were played during religious ceremonies (mostly in the morning, I suppose). They are also known as hade  派手 ("flamboyant") as opposed to honte 本手 ("original pieces"). --- In the recording presented here it is played by myself on a 2.3 Shakuhachi made by Sakurai Muteki the teacher of Monden Tekikū who was my own teacher.  That Shakuhachi was often referred to as  k uro  黒 ("black") by Monden Tekikū because the color of the bamboo is very dark, nearly black.  

In the book   Komusō Tani Kyōchiku  (edited by Inagaki Ihaku, Komusō-kenkyū-kai 1986) Tani Kyōchiku  reports some popular beliefs about the Shakuhachi and the Komusō which I present here. That's what happend to Kyōchiku near Ōmuta City in Fukuoka Prefecture: At that place I was called to stop by a young lady. The contrast between her and the coarse Komusō must have been a peculiar sight. "Sorry Mr. Komusō, but I have a little request." Turning around after having been called, I noticed that she was heavily pregnant and started blinking my eyes with surprise. "Yes, what can I do for you?", I answered, unintentionally becoming a little formal. She approached me with her enormous belly and said: "If you please." That had never before happened to me, and I was completely clueless. So I confessed: "To be honest, I'm not from here but have come from far away knowing nothing. Is something the matter?" "No, I would only ask you to stroke my ...

"The Society for the Study of Classical Shakuhachi" Koten Shakuhachi Kenkyū Kai 古典尺八研究会 The society was founded by Sakurai Muteki 桜井無笛 (1893-1961) who had been asked by Tanikita Muchiku 谷北無竹 (1878-1957) to organize a group for Komusō-Shakuhachi in Osaka. Tanikita Muchiku was at that time the main Shakuhachi teacher ( kansu 看主) at Myōan-ji temple in Kyōto. After the death of Sakurai Muteki, Monden Tekikū was elected leader of the group. He retired in 2011 and Maeta Tekifū 前田笛風 officially became his successor. Our mission is to preserve and transmit the playing style and repertoire of Master Monden Tekikū (the repertoire of Myōan-ji) who passed away in August 2020 at the age of 94. The group meets once a month in Osaka and we are welcoming guests from different Shakuhachi traditions. To become an official member of the group one needs to become a student of one of the members (i.e. one of the students of Monden Tekikū), but we have a number of long time guests and are open to ...

The temple Myōan-ji is not always open to the public, even though the area of  Tōfuku-ji  temple within which it is located is a well known tourist location. If you come to Myōan-ji on a normal day, the gate may be closed and then you will only be able to catch a glimpse of the beautiful moss garden. The abbot of Myōan-ji who lives there with his family is not a Shakuhachi player himself and to take part in or to witness any Komusō activity there you need to know when to come. Some of those events are public and then everyone is free to enter and to listen.  Myōan-ji today is home of the  Myōan-dōshu-kai  明暗導主会 "Community of Myōan[-Shakuhachi] Teachers" and the Kyochiki-zenji-hōsan-kai 虚竹禅師奉賛会 "Zen-Master Kyochiku Appreciation Society". The Myōan-dōshu-kai dates back to the time when Higuchi Taizan came to Kyōto in 1885 to engage himself in reestablishing the Komusō-Shakuhachi tradition and compiling the present repertoire of  koten-honkykoku . The group is...

  Prohibition and revival of the Fuke-sect On October 28, 1872, the Fuke-sect and the Komusō were forbidden by the Meiji government. In the justification of the prohibition, it was said that the Komusō, by wearing the Buddhist robe ( kesa  袈裟) and the characteristic basket-shaped hat ( tengai  天蓋), gave themselves the appearance of Buddhist priests. But in reality they lived in laity because they had neither taken the Buddhist priest's vows nor did they spread the doctrine of Buddhism. They also did not carry out Buddhist ceremonies like burials. Nevertheless, they regularly went through the cities and towns to receive alms ( takuhatsu  托鉢) what was - and still is - one of the privilege of the Buddhist clergy. One other point of criticism was that, although in the Edo period only Samurai were allowed to become members of the Fuke-sect (which is a slightly disturbing rule for a Buddhist sect anyway), they had given out Komusō licenses against payment irrespective of s...

  Kyotaku  虚鐸 is synonymous with Shakuhachi. The "Legend of the Kyotaku"  Kyotaku-denki  虚鐸伝記 provides a myth of origin for the Komusō tradition by placing the Chinese Zen master Puhua 普化 (Japanese pronunciation Fuke, thus Fuke-sect and Fuke-Shakuhachi) at the very beging of its lineage. Puhua was a contemporary of the famous Zen-master Linji 臨濟, (jap. Rinzai) who lived in the 7th century. Puhua is said to always have chimed a little bell in the streets, reciting the following mysterious verse, which has become a kind of motto of the Japanese Fuke-sect until today. Here is the Japanese pronunciation with a rough English translation: Myōtō rai ya myōtō da.  Antō rai ya antō da. Shihō hachimen rai ya senpū da. Kokū rai ya renga da. "When one comes in the light, I strike in the light. "When one comes in the dark, I strike in the dark. When one comes from everywhere, I strike like the whirlwind. "When one comes out of the void, I strike with the flail." Photo:...