Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

shinkage ryu wrote:

What is the main defining characteristic that sets the kyotaku apart from other shakuhachi?

Hi Jack.  There might be a student of Koryu or Koku Nishimura on the forum.  You'll get your best answer from them.

In the mean time, I'm no expert but I've held and briefly played some kyotaku and I have a book and some photos of Koku Nishimura's collection.  I'll tell you what I think I know about the subject...

Kyotaku are thick-walled, long, and have wide bores, but not extremely wide for their length (and not as wide as some are making flutes even today).  Some (maybe all?) the bores are lacquered.  I can't recall if ji paste was used at all (this is an important distinction to some -- sorry I don't know this).  The angle of the mouthpieces were cut perhaps slightly more bluntly than most shakuhachi but not to an extreme as with some very wide bore flutes.  All the utaguchi that I recall and can see in photos have (ivory) inlays, neither Kinko nor Tozan, but maybe Myoan-style (or similar to Kinya Sogawa).  Inlay wouldn't affect the sound at all, of course.  Finger holes were larger than average.  Obviously, these are all one-piece flutes.  Tuning is, give or take, the same as shakuhachi. 

There is a fair bit in common, I think, between what people call hocchiku (or hochiku) and kyotaku.  Tom Deaver gives his thoughts on Hochiku versus Shakuhachi.  Maybe hochiku are a bit wider on average.  Maybe they're less likely to be lacquered, without inlay, etc.  But they have a very similar philosophy to kyotaku in playing style, I think.  These aren't concert instruments.  They're not for ensemble.  They're not for folk music.  They're breathy and complex in timbre and maybe a little quieter on average.  You meditate with them and if anyone is around to hear you, so be it.

In the end, it's all just a bunch of rotting bamboo though, isn't it?  Koku Nishimura was clearly an enlightened player and that's the essence of kyotaku.  I'm sure he could have made a PVC pipe sing.

His son, Koryu, is a very nice man and teaches.  A Danish group, founded by a student of Koku, has a website here.

-Darren.

As a pupil of Tilo Burdach I will add some things
first the kyotaku is indeed Ji-nashi, and the lacquer on the inside is just some simple laquer to prevent the moist to enter the bamboo, so no thick lacquer as in ji-ari flutes
the utaguchi can be ivory, buffalo horn or other things, and is indeed a bit Myoan style
the bore of the flute is big, and it is out of one piece, normally with 7 nodes in the bamboo
the breathing is very loose, say relaxed and meditative, as are the pieces and the fingering
the fingering is also more simple than the Kinko fingering systems
on my website I have an example of the fingering chart and of some pieces played on kyotaku
www.kyotaku.nl
unfortunately the englisch part of my site is not yet finished, and it is mainly in dutch
the name kyotaku comes from the Kyotaku Denkai, which can be read in english on the danish kyotaku website, but it is merely a legend
Koku Nishimura choose to name his flutes kyotaku again, but indeed it is a thick-walled, big bor ji-nashi shakuhachi
but : the pieces are in red-black notation and have a very meditative character
hope this clears up a bit

Hans

Tairaku wrote:

Hans van Loon wrote:

but : the pieces are in red-black notation and have a very meditative character
hope this clears up a bit

Hans

Thanks Hans, that's very helpful.

Any chance of a Kyotaku teacher coming to the US or an advanced student living in the states? It's so valuable to get different teachings from different school's teachers

That's right , I forgot that.
The grip with the right hand is always with the first part ( closest to the hand) of the finger on the hole , and not with the tip, so even with big flutes the holes don't need an off-set, but other big shakuhachi are also played the same way
also the way the holes are divided on the flute is very strict, but in most shakuhachi you see the same proportions
It is allso a matter of how Nishimura liked to name things
there are other ji-nashi shakuhachi who qualify for kyotaku as well I think ( but that's my own interpretation )

you guys have helped me out so much.  I wish there was a way to repay you for your kindness ad knowledge.  Nishimura koku has probably been one of my biggest inspiration in terms of the long flute.  The long flute is my favorite to play : )  Where can I buy an original copy of his recordings?  perhaps on tape or vinyl?

While on the subject, I thought I give a link to some photos of a student model kyotaku 2.4 made by Nishimura Koku's deshi Agar.  Under the technical definition of kyotaku, it seems that it doesn't quite fit the spec, however it was called a kyotaku by Agar when he gave it to me in 1994.  That suggests that use and intention are important defining features of a kyotaku as well as physical peculiarities.
Here's the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10014218@N03/

Nice flute, that looks like one of the flutes Tilo Burdach called "practice" kyotaku.