Name of the making dojo: Un Ryū, based in Kyiv, Ukraine
I practice making shakuhachi – It’s a separate practice than playing for me. It’s my poetry of the wind.) My teacher is Ejun Lechika. Ejun Lechika Rinzai Zen monk is a certified teacher of the Meian (Myoan).
When he was teaching me to play shakuhachi, he told me that a real komuso must create his own flute with his own hands. And the time came. I began to make shakuhachi listening to his advice. Making a flute for me is not simply making a flute. I listen to birds singing … I listen to the wind. I say a prayer so that my flute can open its heart to a person listening to it or practising it and I thank Buddha that helped me create this flute…
My buddhist name is Un Ryuu (雲龍). This name was given to me by my teacher when he was giving me rakusu. I live in the city of Kiev in Ukraine.