Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

It is the name Nishimura Koku used to describe the long jinashi shakuhachi he made and played. That's all.

Stuntman wrote:

whats your take on this?

Stuntman, since you're posting from Denmark, I'm guessing you may already be familiar with Kyotaku Denmark?  (Or maybe you're already a practitioner?)

If not, check them out...   From the website, it looks like a nice bunch of folks over there with a pure, simple approach to their flutes.

-Darren.

Kyotaku is the word that was used about a flute in the Tang Dynasty. The flute that came to Japan with the gagaku ensemble was called shakuhachi (well, if it is read in Japanese - I can't remember the Chinese pronunciation). Scholars today believe the Kyotaku didn't exist at the time of kakushin when he went to China in the 13th century, as it had not been mentioned in any writings at all describing music for a century or more. Therefore the belief, that no shakuhachi was imported in the 13th Century, but rather that the shakuhachi we know today is a descendant of the gagaku shakuhachi.
Another flute that may have been imported from China later on is tempuku, which is still seen on Kyushu Island.
Nishimura Koku used the word kyotaku to describe his flutes. He used this word in order to emphasise the difference between what has become the normal shakuhachi, the ji-nuri/ji-ari shakuhachi. He probably also did that partly because the story of Kakushin bringing the shakuhachi to Japan, as described in Kyotaku denki kokujikai is still very important for this group.
I find that calling a 7 node bamboo flute tuned in pentatonic scale with 5 holes and and with a mouthpiece cut outwards for kyotaku (or hocchiku for that matter), is nothing else than trying to create a border between us and them. But since ji-nashi shakuhachi had become such a minority in hougaku, perhaps it felt necessary at the time. My humble opinion is that kyotaku and hocchiku are ji-nashi shakuhachi.
Please, there is a Japanese word for "semi-jinashi". Here I mean flutes where the bore is not totally covered with ji, but ji is placed to spot tune. That is ji-mori. I hope this word will be used more as more and more ji-mori is getting onto the market, and it is better if we call it what it is.

To Stuntman: Har bu besøgt Anders, som er kyotaku-spiller. Han bor på en sidevej til Gl. Kongeven i København?

Kiku

I don't know a lot about tenpuku. But here is what I know.
I don't have the sources, so don't quote me , and I may get some details wrong:

The tenpuku is a vertical, endblown, bamboo flute. It only exists in Kagoshima prefecture in Kyushu. I don't know if it has ever been played much outside Kyushu. It is about 30 cm long. It has 5 holes like the shakuhachi, but I don't know how they are tuned.

Tenpuku has 3 nodes, which is interesting, as so has the miyogiri, which is considered the flute that existed just prior to the development of the Fuke shakuhachi (the hitoyogiri, miyogiri and Fuke shakuhachi overlap, of course). No matter how many nodes a Fuke shakuhachi has (it can vary and is not always 7), the 3 nodes, within which all 5 holes are usually placed, as very important. Sometimes hole 1 is just below, though. These 3 nodes play an important role for tuning and are also one of the important characteristics of the shape of the unique shakuhachi bore. 

What makes tenpuku NOT a shakuhachi is, that its mouthpiece is cut inward like on a xiao (except the one in Taiwan) and quena. This feature makes scholars think, that tenpuku may be a later and unrelated import to the gagaku shakuhachi from China to Japan. 

As far as I remember, the tenpuku played either with biwa or perhaps the biwa houshin (blind biwa playing begging monks) played tenpuku. However, I remember something about a decree being released during the Edo period (ok that is very imprecise) prohibiting that. The playing of tenpuku declined soon after and almost was forgot. There is a movement in Kagoshima prefecture trying to make a comeback!

You can see a little video clip with tenpuku here:
http://tinyurl.com/2d6orz

Kiku

david wrote:

It seems to me (I am certainly no expert), but i have read more than once, that kyotaku was what Chohaku named his flutes and that was also an alternative (or something) name for 'kyorei', which he wrote! it seems like kyotaku has been important since the beginning!!

True David, but those are myths that were created later on by the komuso to establish a link to one of the Buddhist ancestors (Fuke) and legitimize their sect. Nobody knows what the real truth is.

I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm just trying to figure this stuff out!
I spent some time since my last post reading Riley Lees History section of 'Yearning for the Bell', Torsten Olafssons' pamphlet on the 'Kaido Honsuko' and his scan of the 'Kyotaku Denki'.
I understand what you are saying about it being a myth, but the fact is that even if it was a myth, thousands of shakuhachi players during the late 1600's to 1700's read the Kyotaku Denki, which calls the shakuhachi a kyotaku.
I am thinking that at least some sort of a majority were calling it a kyotaku...right?