Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

tddy934 wrote:

Hello, I have been shopping around for my first real shakuhachi and I want to get one with a root end.
From my reading, I've found that it should have 7 nodes if it is root end and 5 if it isn't.
Well, in most all of my looking around, I don't find them with 7 nodes, more often they have 8 or 9.
Does this mean they are probably fakes?
-Thanks.

Seven nodes is an element of the classic Japanese shakuhachi aesthetic, and has nothing to do with the quality of the flute, which could be a dog with seven nodes or splendid with 8 or 9. Some shakuhachi are even made with a node or two near the root end carefully shaved smooth, so as to make them appear to have just seven.

What you need is a shakuhachi that works. Worry about things like the number of nodes down the road apiece....way down.

edosan wrote:

tddy934 wrote:

Hello, I have been shopping around for my first real shakuhachi and I want to get one with a root end.
From my reading, I've found that it should have 7 nodes if it is root end and 5 if it isn't.
Well, in most all of my looking around, I don't find them with 7 nodes, more often they have 8 or 9.
Does this mean they are probably fakes?
-Thanks.

Seven nodes is an element of the classic Japanese shakuhachi aesthetic, and has nothing to do with the quality of the flute, which could be a dog with seven nodes or splendid with 8 or 9. Some shakuhachi are even made with a node or two near the root end carefully shaved smooth, so as to make them appear to have just seven.

What you need is a shakuhachi that works. Worry about things like the number of nodes down the road apiece....way down.

Thanks for the reply.
So, from the sound of it, it is okay to have more than 7, is it ok to have less then 7 on a root end piece?

Karmajampa wrote:

If you are looking for a reasonable root end Shakuhachi for your first 'real' flute, only going by the number of nodes is not going to tell you that.The reason why flutes are made from root end bamboo is to have a taper, or more correctly, a reverse taper, through the bore., but even having this does not make it an excellent flute.

For you to judge a flute you first need to have learned to blow accordingly well.
Otherwise you really need someone else to assist your judgement, either a teacher you respect or a maker you respect, but perhaps in the longer term you may have to 'kiss a few frogs' !

K.

Well thanks for letting me know that.
I'm aware of the reverse taper, but should it also flair out at the end?
Or for my first good shakuhachi should I just get one without a root end?
I have other good flutes, just not a good shakuhachi, I have a rip off one, but at least with it, I was able to develop the basic embouchure and some sort of breathing technique.
-Thanks for the help.

If you are buying a jiari flute, the internal aspect of the bamboo makes no difference at all, since the bore is constructed out of ji paste. Now if you do decide to get a seven-node flute, you also have to make sure that the bottom ring has 32 root rings ;-)

I was told by one of the sensei teaching at Meijiro that you should, ideally, have 32 root rings on the lowest node, from a Japanese shakuhachi aesthetic point of view...Did you hear differently?

I just counted mine (for the first time).  It has 31.  Yes, I was very bored.

Hmmm ......attention to detail I respect.
Obsession I question and keep my distance.

K.

... Hey, and while we're at it, these guys make a really nifty bamboo keyboard and mouse and I'll bet you anything that they are jinashi and sound better!


http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01 … phones.php