あ。うん On Top of the Town

あ。うん On Top of the Town at Matenrou, November 19th, 2011

The Dining Room at Matenrou

The Diners

The Pleasures

The Music

Izumi Fujikawa-koto, Jeff Cairns-shakuhachi, Yumiko Minoda-shamisen

Photos and Graphics by Robert Mortenson

A Flight of Fancy







The Wabi Sabi Brothers

Last August I had the pleasure of performing in an intimate concert in Guelph, Ontario with an old friend and bassist for the renowned Canadian band, The Cowboy Junkies, Jeff Bird.
After spending the morning rehashing memories and rediscovering each other's musical identity, we put together a set of crafted and improvised pieces for shakuhachi, wood bass and octave mandoline.
Here are a couple of sound bites, the first being a rendition of the classic shakuhachi piece Choshi performed on shakuhachi and wood bass. The second being and improvisation with shakuhachi and octave mandoline called Is It To Be. And lastly, another improv based on a cross-over of an Okinawan mode and an Indonesian mode called Indonawa.
We appropriately refer to ourselves as The Wabi Sabi Brothers and have entitled the collection 'Dangerous Beauty.'

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The Economics of It All

I've been involved in collecting shakuhachi for some time here in Japan. It's generally had many rewards. For example, I've been able to pass some of my collection on to eager learners who otherwise don't have access to well-made instruments and reasonable prices. I've also had the great advantage of being able to play many instruments of varying quality and age. I decided to do this as a means to an end. That end is to build a recording studio and chronicle the many traditional musicians that live in these parts of Japan and who would otherwise live and die without being heard from or of. As a musician and specifically a shakuhachi player and teacher, I considered this to be a pity. I quickly realized that my unique situation would in effect kill four birds with one stone. Get the studio built and outfitted, record these living treasures and add an aspect of recognition to their lives and those of their families outside of their work-a-day lives, supply qulaity instruments to folks who didn't have reliable access to them, thus giving some happiness to them and finally, having the chance to play and increase my own collection through the avenues that I travel in order to get the shakuhachis in the first place. However, this, like many pursuits these days is taking a back seat to the world economic crisis. Movement of instruments has slowed down somewhat and that means that everything connected must also slow down. That's okay. I can wait. And in the mean time, I play.

Of Old and New

I'll have the opportunity to do something quite unusual on March 16th on the main stage of the Kumamoto Prefectural Theater in Kumamoto, Japan. I was invited to perform along with members of Pro Musica Nipponia, a professional Japanese traditional instrument performance group. It's an honour for me to do that, though it isn't the first time for me. I also had the chance and honour about 5 years ago when we performed Taketori Monogatari (The Legend of the Bamboo Cutter) which is a story put to music much like the larger Heike Monogatari. Though I'm thrilled to be doing it again, that isn't the point I want to make here. It has more to do with the choice of music for us to perform and a couple of the players who will be joining in.
As for the piece of music, we will be performing a well known composition by jazz pianist Chick Corea, entitled Spain. I'm not at all sure what possessed the organizer of this performance to go that route (I must ask them), but something tells me that it was an attempt to validate traditional instruments to some degree (I hope that's not the case). Of course attempts have and continue to be made using Japanese traditional instruemnts in the performance of a variety of modern works outside of the genre, so that in itself isn't new. But certainly, in the local area of Kumamoto, Japan, it hasn't been done on a large stage for a large audience. None-the-less, it will be interesting to see what comes of it.
Now the second point of interest is that I and PMN will also be joined on stage by an upcoming koto player who has only been learning the koto for 6 years. That person's name is Sophie Cairns and she is my daughter. Though she has played on many stages locally with local players, and in fact did her first solo performance of the very difficult piece Tori No Yo Ni (Like a Bird) by Sawai Tadao last December, this will be her first chance to play with such an elite group of professional players on a big stage. I'm excited for her and the other Kumamoto players who will be performing in the show. I'm also looking forward to it very much.
At this point, I don't know exactly who the other players will be, but the instrumentation will be piano, koto, shamisen, biwa (I understand that the very gifted Satsuma Biwa virtuoso Kumiko Shutoh will be playing), shakuhachi and wadaiko. I'll report again after the performance.

The Path of the Maker

Tsurugi Kyomudo, master shakuhachi maker
I've been involved in a very general way with shakuhachi making for some time now. I came into it innocently enough. Just being around my teacher(Tsurugi Kodo) and his father(Tsurugi Kyomudo), who has been a master shakuhachi maker for well over 50 years, was sufficient to prick my curiosity on the matter. A few well placed questions caused later and I was thinking of trying to make an instrument myself.
The physical calculations and work went by rather smoothly. I had some training in the art of crafting Noh masks before I tried to make a shakuhachi, so the idea of tedious work was no stranger to me.
It often surprised me prior to having made my first shakuhachi, how much time was involved in its immergence into a playable instrument. It seemed like such a simple construction: a tube, some holes and a blowing edge. I soon learned that there was so much more.
After the initial process of removing the oils and resins by heating, and the initial exposure to sunlight to change the surface colour (about two weeks), the bamboo has to go through a period of curing in relative darkness and controlled humidity. Generally, between one and three years is good for that. Thereafter, the bamboo might need to be straightened in a jig. As a rule of thumb, a curve on the front side of the instrument upward from the bell is good, but a curve in any other direction is not good. It actually doesn't affect the sound, but it is an aesthetic consideration. After bending, the physical act of measuring and cutting to length, removing internal node membranes, opening up the bore in the root end, cutting the angle of the blowing edge and inserting the blowing edge inlay and drilling holes happens. If the flute is to be made as a jinashi shakuhachi (no ji paste applied to the bore for tuning purposes) then the maker will remove small amounts of bore wall material in specific places in order to improve tone and volume. If the instrument is to become a jiari (ji paste is applied for tuning, sound colour and volume) then a mixture of tonoko (crushed rock powder) and urushi (Japanese lacquer) is applied to the bore walls then removed incrementally by sanding until the desired sound is achieved. This step can take a great deal of time that often comes with frustration. To say the least, it's often a question of hit-and-miss at this stage until you've aquired years of experience under your belt.
As it is, I prefer to make jinashi flutes for now.

Hanko

Within the world of the shakuhachi maker, a particular means of identification has been in use at least since the 8th century. It comes by way of a stamp made from stone, bone, wood or metal that carries the maker's symbol, usually made from one or more Chinese characters(kanji) significant to the maker and is commonly known as 'hanko'.

This method of identification was formally introduced to Japan in 701 from China, and has been used in a general sense as a signature to bind any and every legal contract in Japan. "Jitsuin," or "true seals" are registered with the local authorities and used on important legal documents. Japanese also carry personal hanko for everyday use.

The shakuhachi maker's hanko has evolved from a simple carving in the body of the instrument to a much more elaborate inscription typically burned into the skin of the instrument from a metal stamp. Though these are intended to be the mark of the maker, they aren't legally controlled or registered, thus leading to a great deal of ambiguity when attempting to discover the identity of some long-dead, and possibly forgotten maker.

I've recently become interested in these marks as a result of collecting many older intruments. My often frustrated inquiry into the identity of a maker has lead me to begin to compile as many photos of hanko as I can and to soon post them on the internet with whatever information that I can find. I hope to publish this photo database in English soon as a service to others who would like to know more about their particular instrument.

Scouring the groves

I've been involved in searching madake bamboo groves in central Kyushu, Japan for suitable bamboo to make shakuhachi for the past 22 years. My interest began when my teacher, Tsurugi Kodo, asked me to join he and his father (master maker Tsurugi Kyomudo) in the bamboo hunt. The more hands, the easier the task was. I came to enjoy the atmosphere offered in the quiet of a large bamboo grove. Typically every year we harvest about 40 or 50 culms (pieces of bamboo including the root) for making shakuhachi. It's hard work, but very enjoyable. In recent times, my teacher Tsurugi Kodo and I have been hosting an international group headed by shakuhachi maker/teacher Alcvin Ramos from Vancouver, Canada.. We take the tour members through the process of choosing a suitable piece of bamboo according to their needs, and doing initial preparation like aburanuki which is a process of removing the oils and resins from the bamboo and begins the long curing process. We are very pleased to share our time and knowledge with those who seek it out. In this way we are perpetuating this ancient craftAlcvin Ramos from Bamboo-In, Canada