Name of the making dojo: Chiku Za, based in Nagano, Japan
Kodama Hiroyuki, also known as Chiku Za, began studying koten honkyoku playing on jinashi Shakuhachi (hotchiku) with Okuda Atsuya in 1989. Very soon after, he found the Shakuhachi to be his path in life and also quickly became Okuda’s main student. Chiku Za also studied jinashi Shakuhachi making with Murai Eigorō for many years and moved with his family to the mountains in Nagano, where he is also able to harvest his own bamboo, to devote his life to Shakuhachi playing and making. In view of his renown, he receives many Shakuhachi players at his home who wish to learn how to make Shakuhachi and learn about honkyoku. Chiku Za continues to perform koten honkyoku and make jinashi Shakuhachi from his home in the mountains.
“One interesting aspect of jinashi shakuhachi is that it doesn’t always come out as you intended. Due to the depth of each single note, the delicate and manifold expressions in konten honkyoku, the jinashi shakuhachi is a just like a mandala of sound. I walk on this way by visiting the bamboo all night by enquiring and listening to what the bamboo tells me. I take each step while befriending the bamboo.”
Kodama Hiroyuki
Selling shakuhachi since 2000.