Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

That might be a good launching point for Christopher B's European shakuhachi odyssey.

Forwarding more info about Chiku Za or Kodama due to his visit in Spain this spring:

Chiku Za  (Kodama Hiroyuki)

Among the traditional Japanese bamboo flutes known as shakuhachi, the hotchiku flutes are constructed with minimal work out of bamboo, and without any other material, they have a deep natural sound and are difficult instruments to master. 

Kodama Hiroyuki is devoted to hotchiku.  He became a disciple of Okuda Atsuya sensei in 1989 and he follows his teacher's affinity for long breathing and enormous dynamics (from whispering to very strong, almost percussive sounds), and a wide
repertory that includes different versions of many songs which originate from different schools, but always in the koten honkyoku, the repertory of the komuso monks.
 
In 1991 he began jinashi shakuhachi making study with Murai Eigoro sensei.

He adopted the name Chiku Za in 2001, and started to perform in public.

Kodama now lives in the mountains of Nagano, where he harvest bamboo, make beautiful hotchiku and work in his search of pure sound.  For him, hotchiku is not only a kind of shakuhachi. Hotchiku is a way of living, involving spirituality, breath development and playing technique.

In his own words:

As for my name Chiku Za; chiku means bamboo (as chiku in hotchiku) and za means sitting (which also forms a part of the word zazen [sitting meditation]).



The Chinese character of Za is built with two characters of Person over the character of Earth.



This character makes me imagine that people are ploughing earth, and also having a rest together on Mother Earth. Human beings, as well as all other creatures in existence, can not maintain life without the blessings of the nature. Everything that exists goes ultimately back to earth. Being with nature, being with people, I'd like to pass the beautiful Earth
to the next generation: This wish made me name myself Chiku Za.

Shakuhachi is a musical instrument whose power of expression and application is enormous. It has been used in all kind of musical environments and loved by all kinds of people.

However, if you'd like to enjoy the real pleasure of shakuhachi essence, I recommend you to listen to koten honkyoku. Shakuhachi music which was greatly influenced by Zen has taught us the importance of concentration on your own breathing itself, which is previous to sound. This is more important than the sound itself.

We don't say ‘to play shakuhachi’,  but say  ‘to put the breath into take’(inhalation, exhalation and the state of non-breath): this control and harmony of breathing reveals one world of sounds, which is a mixture of sound and silence, musical sound and noise and all kinds of vibrations.

For me hotchiku is not only the name of an instrument. It is not a different name for shakuhachi, either. Hotchiku, means sound through a bamboo, and also spirituality, technique, and breathing.

Chiku Za