Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Justin wrote:

Hi Utsilasi
If you split bamboo open there is a white skin on the inside (seems a bit like rice paper). That I believe is good for asthma, drying mucus from the lungs. But better check with a qualified doctor first as I am not an expert.

Justin
http://senryushakuhachi.com/

Is very interesting this further connection between bamboo and breath
thank you !
Cristiano

Last edited by utsilasi (2009-01-16 05:55:00)

purehappiness, how does your bamboo fare over the winter?  Last Spring I got a little plant for my balcony here in Vancouver and this winter, which was a fairly cool and snowy one for us, the plant's leaves turned all brown.  Is that it?  Is it kaput?  Or will some new green shoots come up in the spring?

By contrast my three year old bonsai plants are doing very nicely and the cold hasn't affected them adversely at all.

Thanks for that info pureH.  We have quite a bit of bamboo growing in gardens around here and on balconies but I have read that the plant is vulnerable in its first two years so, yeah, maybe this one won't pull through...  if that's the case I'll get another plant this spring and then take that one inside, as you have suggested, during the next winter.  This patio gardening has  certainly been a learning process for me.

Oh, so you keep a Buddha belly bamboo in a pot. That's a good idea. I would love to have that when I move into my new house in the Western part of Denmark.
Purehappiness, can you post a picture of the bamboo?
I have a shakuhachi made from Buddha belly bamboo. When I was living in New Zealand I played shakuhachi one evening in a teepee at a festival. A guy came up to me and told me he had all the bamboo imported to N.Z. growing on his land and if I could make a shakuhachi from it, he would give me a special bamboo. That was the Buddha belly bamboo. Murai Eigoro helped me making it. It only plays well in the lower octave, but it looks great !

I will see about taking a picture today or in the next couple of days. It does not have a lot of the fat nodes  because it only does this in drought conditions. When there is not a lot of water the nodes get small and distort giving the plant its buddah belly shape. I have been watering it daily so it looks like a regular bamboo except for a few stalks. I will take a close up of those too.The actual name is bambusa ventricosa. I was just thinking last night about possibly making a flute out of my buddah belly bamboo. Unfortunately, the stalks stay small because it is in a pot. This spring I am going to plant it in some bonsai soil. This should make the nodes really swell and have the buddah belly appearance.I have some black bamboo too but it stays small because I have it in a pot too. Actually, the only black bamboo I have right now is in bonsai soil so it is staying real small. I will take a picture of that too to show you.

Edit:Actually, I have a couple pieces of buddah belly that I cut a few years back that are dried that have nice swelled nodes. There not big pieces but they show the the buddah belly look.I will take a picture of those too. If I can find them.

Last edited by purehappiness (2009-02-07 06:34:30)

Here are the pictures.

Last edited by purehappiness (2009-02-07 15:52:30)

I am going to have to pick up some madake just to keep in a pot. It may not grow big enough for a flute but it will be nice to have.

Edit: Perhaps,if planted in a large enough pot, I may get a piece large enough for a flute one day.

Last edited by purehappiness (2009-02-08 11:32:32)

ABRAXAS wrote:

That was going to be my next question!
A friend of mine who owns a nusery gave me some timber bamboo and several long pieces of buddha belly bamboo. They have been curing for about 2 weeks now. I thought it would be amusing to attempt to make a shakuhachi from the buddha bamboo just to see if it was possible; how did it go for you? Any special tips? What length did you make it?

The Buddha belly bamboo flute was something like... 2.4 I think. Perhaps a little less.
It was hard to tune it because it had so many nodes. Murai managed to help me tune it in the lower octave but because the bamboo is so wide it was impossible to tune it in the higher octaves. Perhaps someone like Ken, who is a magician tuning fat flutes could have made a decent flute out of it. But since then all the nodes have also made it vulnerable for cracks.
I will post a picture of it when I get back to London where it is.

I would love to see a picture of the buddah belly flute too.That would be great.

You will most likely have to keep it outside on a deck or something on the warmer months. I tried growing some black bamboo in my house and it did not make it. Bamboo loves direct sunlight and lots of it.Although, the piece I tried growing in the house had just been transplanted by my wife at the wrong time of the year. If you transplant it in the spring and let it grow all summer outside it could most likely handle being inside during the winter months.Mine do.

Last edited by purehappiness (2009-02-09 06:57:46)

My black bamboo is a runner and it does ok in a pot. It can get rootbound fast though so needs repotting maybe every 2 years or so.

The shoots will hit the edge of the pot and start to follow the pot then pop out along the edge of the pot. When you go to transplant it you will see all kinds of curly rhysomes.

Unfortunately, I have only gotten culms about the size of a pencil. So, I may never get a shoot big enough for a flute. Unless, I get a real large pot and leave the roots alone.

Last edited by purehappiness (2009-02-09 09:33:18)

I just remembered that I had promised to post pictures of my Buddha Belly Bamboo shakuhachi !
Sorry, just taken with my mobile phone for now....