Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Between having a quaint historical object that I don't touch or a living instrument I enjoy playing I choose #2... whatever it takes... I have a couple of very old instruments that were lovingly and respectfully restored and retuned by Perry Yung and I play them daily... I'm sure the ancestral spirits are ok with it
  The sharp Chi is a different story... I tend to leave that as is and work with the new possibilities it offers...

Last edited by jdanza (2014-01-03 03:52:06)

Moran from Planet X wrote:

I would like to encourage a lively, and constructive exchange of ideas about raising the pitch of the Ro on a vintage 1.8 shakuhachi — jiari or jinashi.

I have definite opinions about it, but rather than dirging on about how much I like or dislike the practice, I'd like to hear from players and makers.

There are some vintage shakuhachi which clearly could benefit from some adjustment. But of course there are others which adhere nicely to the function of their time - and perhaps not as well to the present. That's a finer line and a tougher call.

I think a patient thing to do in these situations is to contact makers and players to get a consensus of what to do or not to do.

And if you really, really, really need that ro raised there is a non-invasive way that can work. Stack up 1cm squares of electrical tape and stick them to the half-way point in the bore. On a jiari that is the area at the very end of the male joint.

Patience.

Then, there is the most important aspect of this practice which is that the old towari method of creating a flute (or minor variations thereof) were consciously created to allow the player more choice of how to play notes like Chi, Tsu and Ro.

If the Ro in a flute is "flat" that can be quickly changed by the player changing to a more karu position to play on pitch. The advantage there is that when playing Ro-meri or Ro dai-meri the player has a much wider and lower pitch range from which to choose.

If a flute appears to have a "flatter" Tsu, playing the note karu will adjust for pitch and give you the added advantage of giving you more room to adjust the flute for deeper meri and dai-meri Tsu notes.

On a flute with a "sharp" Chi, older fingering methods prescribe lightly shading the Chi whole for proper pitch. The advantage to the wider Chi hole becomes apparent when playing the Ou note. The Ou is then able to be played karu, on pitch, and meru with a variety of tone color variations. Also, older Myoan music calls for an Ou-kan instead of a Chi-meri. Getting an accessible and fluid transition to an Ou played in kan and an OU-meri in kan is much easier with a "sharper" Chi.

Tairaku 太楽 wrote:

Well, that's a different question. Altering a Myoan flute so you can play Tozan or Kinko on it is bogus. Just buy the flute that's right for the music you play in the first place.

Yeah, you would think that it would be that easy. But you have to remember the Dokyoku mystique. Plenty of KSK (Dokyoku, etc) people have a fetish for old jinashi and Myoan flutes (if you can actually identify them as such) - or rather they think they do. They'd be better off with modern jinashi makers like Shugetsu Yamaguchi or Kokoryu if they want to get modern pitch Yokoyama-style jinashi. (Better yet, blaze a new trail with Taimu.)

As far as taking classic Kinko jiari flutes and "upgrading" them to fit modern assumptions about what shakuhachi should be, I have to ask: did the titanic makers like Shiro, Kindo, Ranpo and Shigemi [et al.] get it wrong?

This was a spontaneous group project inspired by my forlorn tirade that overtakes me every time I see antique and vintage shakuhachi that have been mutilated and then sold on eBay — sometimes at high prices for the famous maker shakuhachi, sometimes at low starting prices but hefty shipping fees all. All these guys selling these shakuhachi seem to be Yokoyama-Dokyoku players.

This picture project was passed around by a couple of fellow ne'er-do-wells and then sent on to me with a dare to post it, which is a silly thing to do because I always take a good dare. The only thing I added was the "shakuhachi" sign.


ROCKYSHAKY by aaponivi, on Flickr

I think Frank here needs to be holding a shakuhachi. Any takers?

Last edited by Moran from Planet X (2014-01-08 03:42:24)

Recapitulation in the strict dictionary sense, yes. But no retreat implied.

Who was the famous maker wanting an attractive node/hole spacing? Shiro*? An equidistant node/hole spacing is part of the old towari measurement scheme, but the bamboo culm itself had to be found in order to provide a rare, perfect hole to node scheme. I wouldn't imagine that going over too well with the Kinko crowd.

The elongated Tsu, sometimes just a Tsu with an added notch carved into the bottom is something I've seen promoted by some KSK (Yokoyama-style Dokyoku) teachers. I can't speak from experience with more than a few KSK teachers, but a couple of them espouse that ALL meri notes should be louder rather than softer than the straight notes. Hence the elongated Tsu hole in order to faciliitate and easier and louder Tsu-dai-meri. A few makers like Yamaguchi Shugetsu offer this feature. I haven't seen a Miura Ryuho flute close up, but I don't think his Tsu shows an elongation — however his entire flute design is meant to favor the Yokoyama style, and his flutes have a price tag to prove it. Then the iconoclastic and individualistic player/maker John Neptune plays and makes flutes with very large and elongated holes to fit his particular needs.

Traditional Kinko, Tozan and Myoan teachers accept the dynamic variations in shakuhachi made without those special considerations. A Tsu-dai-meri is played softer and gloomier, affording a different kind of dynamic tension than trying to play it louder and more dramatically than a straight Tsu or Tsu-meri note.

And so, to each his own. Whichever tribe you want to belong to is great and wonderful. But lay out the details when you go to sell the flute, particularly expensive flutes sold internationally which cost a small fortune in shipping insurance to return.

* see http://www.shakuhachiforum.com/viewtopi … 177#p37177 for a II shakuhachi (played by a left-handed player) that has equidistant/equal (or nearly equal) sized holes. This flute was the brother of a flute which had been attributed to Shiro's workshop.

Last edited by Moran from Planet X (2014-01-09 20:40:28)