Players

Schools/styles taught: Just how to play the shakuhachi.

Teacher’s teacher: Kohachiro Miyata

Languages: English

Teaching Locations: London

Skype lessons: Yes

Address/website: www.clivebell.co.uk

Email: clive.bell@tesco.net

Biography: Clive Bell is a musician, composer and writer with a specialist interest in the shakuhachi, khene and other Far Eastern wind instruments. He has travelled extensively in Japan (where he studied the shakuhachi ¬ or Japanese flute¬ for two years with the master Kohachiro Miyata), Thailand, Laos and Bali, researching music and meeting local practitioners.

Clive is the shakuhachi player on Karl Jenkins’s album Requiem on EMI Classics, and the final two Harry Potter movies. His shakuhachi playing was featured in a live solo session on Radio 3’s Late Junction. A musician who regularly joins David Ross, Sylvia Hallett, Mike Adcock and Peter Cusack in various improvisation duos and trios, Clive Bell has a substantial recording history as both a solo artist (his solo album, Shakuhachi: The Japanese Flute was reissued in 2005 by ARC Records) and as a composer for film, TV and theatrical productions (Complicite, IOU, Whalley Range Allstars). Kazuko Hohki, Jah Wobble, David Sylvian, Steve Beresford, David Toop, Jochen Irmler of Faust, Paul Schütze and Bill Laswell number among Clive Bell’s collaborators.

Based in London, he writes regularly for the music monthly The Wire.

Schools/styles taught: Kinko (honkyoku, sankyoku),
Myôan, contemporary, improvisation

Teacher’s teacher: YAMAGUCHI Goro, OKAMOTO Chikugai, FUJII Kunie

Languages: English, Japanese

Teaching Locations: Tokyo, world wide

Skype lessons: No

Address/website: www.yohmei.com

Email: yohmei@gol.com

Biography: Christopher Yohmei Blasdel began the shakuhachi and studies of Japanese music in 1972 with Living National Treasure Goro Yamaguchi. He also studied Fuke shakuhachi under Okamoto Chikugai, jiuta ensemble playing with Fujii Kunie and ryûteki flute under Shiba Sukeyasu. In 1982 he received an MFA in ethnomusicology from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and is one of only two non-Japanese to be accredited as a shihan master by Yamaguchi. Performing in Japan and around the world, Blasdel maintains a balance between traditional shakuhachi music, modern compositions and cross-genre work with musicians, dancers, poets and visual artists.

Discography includes Navarasa (2009), Breath Play (2007), Visionary Tones (2005) and several other CDs of traditional and contemporary music. He has composed and performed music for NHK documentaries and various films. He co-organized the World Shakuhachi Festival ’98 held in Boulder, Colorado and the Sydney World Shakuhachi Festival in 2008. He is the senior advisor to the annual Prague Shakuhachi Festival. His semi-autobiographical book, The Single Tone—A Personal Journey through Shakuhachi Music (Printed Matter Press, 2005) and The Shakuhachi, A Manual for Learning (1988) are two of the most important English language resource books on the shakuhachi.

He presently teaches Japanese music at Temple University in Tokyo and is coordinator/mentor for the Columbia University Hôgaku Program. He holds a third-degree black belt in Aikido

Name of the making dojo: Jessyflauti

Type of shakuhachi made: jinashi shakuhachi (1.8 – 2.4, or customers’ order)

Selling shakuhachi since: 2002

Location: Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

Address/website: www.jessyflauti.webs.com

Email: jessyflauti@gmail.com

Biography: I am a sculptor and a flute player. I started to make shakuhachi simply because I wanted to play one and it was too expensive for me to buy one. Initially I started to build them for friends and afterwards I began selling them.
I also make other flutes like Bansuri, Nay, Native American flutes and others. Flute is my infinite passion.

Schools/styles taught: Kyotaku Meioan style

Teachers’ teacher: Koku Nishimura

Languages: German, English, Spanish, Italian

Teaching Locations: Berlin

Skype lessons: Yes

Address/website: www.tilopa.de

Email: tiloburdach@web.de

Biography: Born 1949, teaching T’ai Chi/Chi Gong since 1982, has studied Kyotaku with Koku Sensei since 1986, 
making and teaching Kyotaku since the 1990’s, published several CDs under the name ’tilopa’, 
now living with his wife in Berlin.

Name of the making dojo: Valle con Palmeras

Type of shakuhachi made: Hochiku, shakuhachi ji-nashi nobekan, shakuhachi ji-ari

Selling shakuhachi since:

Location: El Palmar, Murcia, Spain

Address/website: www.shakuhachispain.blogspot.com

Email: reco1981@hotmail.com

Biography: I started making ethnic instruments from the age of 14; four years ago I discovered the shakuhachi, through classes Karate and Kobudo, Shaorin-Ryu style of Okinawa, so I started to make hocchiku of Arundo Donax and Phyllostaquys Nigra, Madake after; using synthetic lacquers; currently use natural resins and lacquers;and urushi also on request the hocchiku ji-nashi shakuhachi and nobekan I make without a prior order, but the flute ji-ari request only done as desired, from 1.6 to 3.1 shaku.

My work is 100% handmade, not use machinery, personal philosophical considerations;
of course flutes plastic or PVC is strictly prohibited in my dojo!

My teacher was inspiring Watazumi-do, and I want to continue the tradition of Japanese bamboo flute, it will remain when we are gone!

Schools/styles taught: Fukuda’s school Hijiri-kai (or “Sainte-école”): honkyoku and modern pieces

Teacher’s teacher: Fukuda Teruhisa and Daniel Seisoku Lifermann

Languages: French, English, Dutch

Teaching Locations: The Netherlands (Nijmegen, Eindhoven & Rotterdam).

Skype lessons: yes

Address/website: http://www.fluitshakuhachi.nl

Email: helene@fluitshakuhachi.nl


Biography: Hélène Seiyu Codjo started to learn shakuhachi with Daniel Seisoku Lifermann in Paris in the French association La Voie du Bambou. She also followed masterclasses with Gunnar Jinmei Linder, Christopher Yohmei Blasdel, Jim Franklin, Shimura Zempo, Yodo Kurahashi II and Koichi Yoshida.

Since 2006, she regularly attends the masterclasses of Fukuda Teruhisa, founder of the ensemble and school Hijiri-Kai. In January 2013, she received the jun shihan license with the name Seiyu (Wisdom of kindness) from him. In November 2015, Fukuda Teruhisa awarded her with the shihan license (master).

She lives in the Netherlands, where she gives lessons, workshops and concerts.

Furthermore, she writes shows where she plays other world flutes (quena, dizi, African flutes,…) in addition to the shakuhachi and the western flutes. She also works with storytellers and has recorded a dozen CDs for children with her different flutes.

Schools/styles taught: Kinko-ryu honkyoku, sankyoku and shinkyoku

Teacher’s teacher: Yamaguchi Goro

Languages: English, Japanese.

Teaching locations: Oxford, England.

Skype lessons: Yes

Website: Soumei Shakuhachi

Email: chikusoumei@gmail.com

Biography: Michael Soumei Coxall studied shakuhachi under the legendary Yamaguchi Goro (1933–99) in Japan from 1979 to 1984 and continued his studies with him on frequent visits to Japan until 1999. Yamaguchi Goro was the head of the Chikumeisha branch of Kinko-ryu shakuhachi, one of the oldest existing shakuhachi lineages, and was the youngest ever performer to be designated as a ‘Living Cultural Treasure’ and played the most wonderful music. Since then, Michael has continued to study sankyoku (music to accompany koto and shamisen repertoires) and honkyoku (traditional solo pieces) under Mizuno Kohmei, one of Goro-sensei’s foremost students and presently head of Chikumeisha, and he received his Shihan (Master’s Licence) in 2007. Michael also studied shinkyoku (new music) under Sugawara Kuniyoshi in Japan

From 1986 to 2009, Michael taught full-time at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and took over teaching shakuhachi there from Iwamoto Yoshikazu from 1992 onwards. In 2006, he was one of the co-founders of the European Shakuhachi Society (ESS), a registered charity to promote an understanding and dissemination of shakuhachi and Japanese music throughout Europe, and has been organising and teaching many ESS Summer Schools and online workshops since then including the World Shakuhachi Festival in 2018.

Michael has performed widely in Japan and Europe with some of Japan’s finest koto, shamisen and shakuhachi players including performances at the National Theatre, Tokyo, and continues to teach shakuhachi honkyoku, sankyoku and shinkyoku music in the UK. He is a member of the Hibiki Ensemble with Kitamura Keiko and is also head of the UK branch of Chikumeisha.

Schools/styles taught: Koten Honkyoku Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshukan style + Improvisation

Teacher’s teacher: Kakizakai Kaoru Sensei

Languages: Spanish, English, Catalán and some Portuguese

Teaching Locations: Barcelona and other places in Spain

Skype lessons: Yes

Address/website: www.shakuhachi.es, shakuhachies.wordpress.com

Email: horacio.curti@gmail.com

Biography: Horacio Curti encountered the Shakuhachi for the first time on the Indian Himalayas. Fascinated by its sound, decided to go to Japan where he started his studies under Kakizakai Kaoru Sensei focusing on the Koten Honkyoku music. There he received his Shakuhachi Shihan (Shakuhachi master degree) from Yokoyama Katsuya Sensei in 2004.

Besides his work with the Koten Honkyoku, he started researching on contemporary forms such as “free improvised music” collaborating both with musicians and dancers, poetry and theatre, and especially “western classical contemporary music” both solo and as part of the Mei trio, premiering several compositions.
He has performed and taught in Argentina, Chile, Belgium, Holland, UK, France, Japan, Spain and USA.

He completed his studies in Ethnomusicology in 2005, specializing in Japanese music practices. At present he is teacher at the “Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya” and “SAE Barcelona”.

After several free improvised music recordings, in 2009 was published his first solo album, ichi, by Agharta Music. In 2012 Viena Edicions released the Book-CD “Contes Zen. Petites històries per despertar” a compilation of Zen stories by Marta Millà accompanied by a disc with a narration of some of the stories with music by Horacio Curti. More information in www.shakuhachi.es

Schools/styles taught: Zensabō, contemporary music, min’yō, improvisation and meditation and shakuhachi

Teacher’s teacher: Okuda Atsuya

Languages: Danish, English, French and Japanese

Teaching Locations: Denmark

Skype lessons: Yes

Address/website: www.kikuday.com

Email: kikuday@gmail.com

Biography:

Kiku Day (PhD, London; MFA, Mills; BA, London) is a jinashi shakuhachi player and ethnomusicologist.

Dr Day trained shakuhachi playing with Okuda Atsuya for more than a decade in Japan and since her return to Europe has dedicated her life to the dissemination of the shakuhachi on that continent. She is a founding member of the European Shakuhachi Society, which she currently serves as chairperson. She has performed with performers such as Fred Frith and Joanna MacGregor and as a soloist with the Nonsuch Choir and with Odense Symphony Orchestra in Takemitsu Tōru’s November Steps. Day is always exploring new possibilities with the shakuhachi in unconventional collaborations such as dance, narrative performance and film.

Her research has been mainly performance based and focused in particular on the potential use of the jinashi shakuhach in contemporary performance. Her teaching spans from the repertoire of Zensabō to shakuhachi and meditation and improvisation. Her aim is to help disseminate the knowledge and love for the shakuhachi. Her love of teaching shakuhachi has been noticed by many of her students.

Day is presently living at the meditation centre, Vækstcenteret in Nørre Snede, Denmark.

Schools/styles taught: Kinko Honkyoku

Teachers’ teacher: Daniel Lifermann, Teruhisa Fukuda

Languages: Italian

Teaching Locations: Alzano Lombardo (BG), Borgone (TO), Italy

Skype lessons: No

Address/website:
Fiore De Mattia, Via Marconi 12, 24022 Alzano Lombardo (BG), Italy
tel. 035511259
cell. 346 8122492

www.flautoshakuhachi.it

Email: fiore@flautoshakuhachi.it

Biography: Fiore De Mattia, Italy (1960)
– I am a member of the French society “La Voie Du Bambou”, whose purpose is to teach and disseminate Shakuhachi.
– In 2003, I began learning Shakuhachi with Master Daniel LIFERMANN and as of 2006, I continued studying under the guidance of Master Teruhisa FUKUDA, from the Kinko school “Hijiri”/ “Sainte École”.
– Since 2012, I hold concerts in Italy and France : “The Sound of Zen Buddhism”.
– In 2013, I achieved the title of Shihan, granted by Master Tehurisha FUKUDA

Schools/styles taught: Kinko, Taizan, Nezasa Ha,

Teachers’ Teacher: Andreas Fuyû Gutzwiller,
Shimura Zenpô Satoshi, Kawase Junsuke III

Languages: Swiss, German, French, English

Teaching Locations: Basel and Bern, Switzerland

Skype lessons: No

Address/website: Ueli Fuyûru Derendinger

Email: ueli.derendinger@bluewin.ch

Biography: 1954 in Olten geboren und aufgewachsen. Studium der Querflöte bei Felix Manz an der Musik-Akademie Basel. 1980 – 1988 Studium der japanischen Bambusflöte Shakuhachi bei Andreas Fuyû Gutzwiller in Basel (Kinko-Stil), 1988-89 bei Shimura Zenpô Satoshi in Osaka (Myôan-Stil). 1998 Verleihung des Meistertitels (shihan) und des Meisternamens Fuyûru durch Kawase Junsuke III Tôkyô (Kinko-Stil). 2008 Weiterbildung bei Shimura Zenpô Satoshi in Japan.

Im Jahr 2002 erhielt Ueli Derendinger von seinem Heimatkanton Solothurn den Kulturpreis für Musik.

Ueli Derendinger gibt regelmässig Solokonzerte im In- und Ausland mit Stücken des klassischen Shakuhachi Repertoires und zeitgenössischer Musik für Shakuhachi. Er tritt aber auch immer wieder in Verbindung mit anderen Kunstgattungen auf, so etwa in den Bereichen Tanz, japanische Kalligraphie, westliche bildende Kunst und Literatur. Mit den Tänzerinnen Chin Kham Yoke (Malaysia), Heidi S. Durning (Japan), Silvia Buol (Schweiz), den Kalligraphen Sanae Sakamoto und Hiroyuki Matsumoto, dem Künstler Martin Cleiss, dem Schriftsteller Tim Krohn, den Musikern Lukas Rohner, Jürg Zurmühle (Shakuhachi) und Silvain Guignard (Biwa) hat er verschiedene Performances erarbeitet und in Japan, Deutschland und der Schweiz zur Aufführung gebracht. Dabei spielt die Improvisation, die ihm seit seinen Jugendjahren lieb und wichtig ist, eine grosse Rolle. Die weite Dynamik und Klangvielfalt sowie die Möglichkeit zu Glissandi und mikrotonalen Veränderungen prädestinieren die Shakuhachi geradezu für die improvisierte Musik.

1999 gründete Ueli Derendinger zusammen mit dem Alphornspieler Balthasar Streiff (stimmhorn) das Duo sanshi/purpurberg. Japanische und schweizerische Tradition treffen aufeinander, durch Improvisation und freies Spiel werden Grenzen gesprengt, der Dialog gelingt.

Schools/styles taught: Shin Tozan Ryu

Teachers’ teacher: Nakamura Seizan

Languages: English, Japanese

Teaching Locations: Bristol, UK; Kobe, Japan

Skype lessons: No

Email: iburozan@gmail.com

Biography: Robin Eve, artistic name, Iburozan, trained as a horn player, then started playing shakuhachi in 1972. Since living full time in Japan from 1989, he has been active in traditional music playing, and also diversifying into western music, classical, jazz folk, etc.

Obtained teacher’s (shihan) licence in 1997, and ‘grand-master’(daishihan) licence in 2001.Won honkyoku contests in 1996, 1998, and 2003, at three different grades.

He performs regularly, sankyoku, etc, and teaches. He also arranges and composes music for shakuhachi, and other instruments. Particularly interested in ensemble music for shakuhachi groups, such as Nakao Tozan compositions.

In 2015 was invited to perform solo at the Moon Festival at World Heritage Site Shimogamo Shrine, Kyoto. In 2016 he was an examiner for the practical exams of the Shin Tozan Ryu.

Schools/styles taught: KSK, Chikuho Honkyoku

Teacher’s teacher: Dr Riley Lee, Furuya Teruo, Yokoyama Katsuya

Languages: English and German

Teaching Locations: Japan, worldwide (lessons via internet)

Skype/FaceTime/Zoom lessons: Yes

Address/website: www.bambooheart.com
1-23-13 Ichiriyama
Ōtsu-shi, Shiga-ken 520-2153
Japan
Tel. +81 77 599 0522

Email: dr_jim_franklin@t-online.de

Biography: Dr Jim Franklin is a master performer of the shakuhachi in the Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshukan. He initially studied composition and musicology in Australia, Germany and Holland and during his studies, he encountered the shakuhachi, and was fascinated by it. After learning the instrument in Australia with Dr Riley Lee and in Japan with Furuya Teruo and Yokoyama Katsuya, he received the title Shihan (Master) in 1996 from Yokoyama Katsuya.

In the area of solo shakuhachi, Franklin has specialized in the honkyoku lineage of Yokoyama Katsuya and in modern music. His concert activities extend throughout Europe as well as in Japan, where he currently lives. He has released two CDs of shakuhachi honkyoku (‘Hearing Stillness’ and ‘Zen Garden Meditations’) and a further CD of his own shakuhachi solo pieces (Butsuga), as well as several CDs of compositions and improvisations with other musicians (‘Water Spirits’, ‘Moon Road to Dawn’, ‘Abundance’, ‘Aurora’, ‘Nine-Elemental Songs’, ‘Journey of Simurgh’, ‘Trees, Stones, Water, Sand’), on the Celestial Harmonies label and with other labels.

As a composer, Franklin is active in the areas of contemporary and electroacoustic music. He composes for shakuhachi solo and in combination with other instruments, and frequently performs projects with shakuhachi and live electronics, sometimes in combination with dance and video art. The interface between shakuhachi and electronics, and shakuhachi and visual media, is a key area of interest. His works, ‘Three Treasures: Columns and Webs’ (realized in 1996 as Composer-in-Residence at the Centre for Computer Music, Kunitachi College of Music, Tokyo) and his CD ‘Songs from the Lake’ (NEOS 12029, released 2021) are representative of this musical direction.

From 2004 to 2021 Franklin lived in Germany. As a teacher, he gave individual lessons in a number of cities, including Mainz, Stuttgart, Hannover, Bergisch Gladbach (near Cologne), Heidelberg, Bamberg and Nuremberg. He offered regular workshops for beginners as well as advanced students. In 2021 he and his wife, shakuhachi player and visual artist Hiroko Sugino, emigrated to Japan; they now live in Seta, near Kyoto. As well as teaching (face-to-face and online) and performing, he now focuses on composing for shakuhachi.

Prior to emigrating to Germany in 2004, Franklin was Senior Lecturer in Music Technology in the Music Department of University of Western Sydney, including a period as Head of Department (1997-98). His connection to the academic world has been maintained through occasional publications such as the articles “Japanese Shakuhachi Honkyoku Tradition and its Reinterpretation into a Contemporary Composition Practice” (in ‘Music of the Spirit: Asian-Pacific Identity’, Australian Music Centre, 2008) and “Compositional Encounters with Shakuhachi” (in ‘The Annual of Texts by Foreign Guest Professors’, Charles University, Prague, 2008).

Franklin was instrumental in the founding of the European Shakuhachi Society, and was its foundation chairperson, from 2006 to 2009. He has taught and performed at many of the European Shakuhachi Summer Schools, including 2006, 2007 (organised together with Véronique Piron), 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 (organised by him in Radolfzell, Germany), 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. For many years he was also a regular performer and teacher at the annual Prague Shakuhachi Festivals.

Franklin was one of the principal organisers of the World Shakuhachi Festival in London, 2018, being responsible for programme and budget, as well as performing and teaching at the event. He has also been active at most other WSFs: teaching and performing in Boulder 1998, New York 2002, and Sydney 2008 (at which he also assumed the role of programme coordinator). He performed at Kyoto 2012.

Schools/styles taught: KSK/Chikushinkai

Teacher’s teacher: Katsuya Yokoyama, Clive Bell

Languages: English, Portuguese and a little French and Japanese

Teaching Locations: Dartington, SW. England

Skype lessons:

Address/website: www.adrianfreedman.com

Email: pureland33@gmail.com

Biography: Adrian was born in Leeds, N. England in 1962 and studied music at Manchester University (1983) and at The Guildhall School of Music (1986) and has always had a broad range of musical interests, from baroque music to contemporary classical, from jazz to folk.
He began studying the shakuhachi in London with Clive Bell and then moved to Japan in 1990 where he lived for eight years devoted to the study of koten honkyoku repertoire with Yokoyama Katsuya. At this time, he also had a government scholarship as a research fellow at Kyoto University.
After leaving Japan, he spent several years in the Brazilian Amazon immersed in the study and practice of ritual music. Adrian has worked as a composer and musical director for many theatre and dance companies and has taught music projects in over 100 schools and colleges. He has used the shakuhachi in collaboration with musicians from around the globe including the African kora, Arabian oud and the Brazilian berimbau. Currently, he is based in Dartington, SW. England.
Adrian’s approach to shakuhachi teaching rests upon a deep resonance with the principle of ichion jobutsu…the universe within a single tone. He tailors his teaching style to the needs of each individual student.

School: Shin Tozan Ryû (also trained in Kinko Ryû chikumeisha style)

Teacher: Sôzan Chiaki Kariya, Gunnar Jinmei Linder

Languages: French, English

Teaching Location: South Paris (Montlhéry)

Skype lessons: Yes

Email: christophe.gaston09@gmail.com

Biography: Christophe «Kazan» (歌山) Gaston is a shihan of the Shin-Tozan Ryû. He learnt shakuhachi under the guidance of Sôzan Chiaki Kariya, chair person of the french branch. He also studies the Kinko Ryû repertoire in the style of Yamaguchi Goro (Chikumeisha) with Gunnar Jinmei Linder. Besides his interest in all forms of honkyokus he regularly performs with the koto player Akari Sagara and with jazz and contemporary musicians. He is the contact person of the Chikumeisha french lesson center in France and the main organizer of the workshop series driven by Gunnar Linder in France.

Shakuhachi playing: Kinko-ryu – Chikumeisha with Gunnar Jinmei Linder – Yamaguchi Goro lineage

Trained in shakuhachi making by: Self taught

Name of the making dojo: Atelier Chikudo

Type of shakuhachi made: Straight bamboo student shakuhachi,
Ji-nashi shakuhachi self harvested.

Selling shakuhachi since: 2009 (making flutes since 2003)

Location: Figeac, France

Address/website: www.chikudo-bamboo-flutes

Email: atelier-chikudo[at]no-log.org

Biography: After 10 years of different bamboo flutes making and shakuhachi since 2009, I decided in 2014 to center my work on just a few instruments in which shakuhachi is the one I am dedicated to.
It’s a long and humble way to learn how to make good shakuhachi; Like the process of harvesting, curing and turning a piece of bamboo into such a rich musical and spiritual instrument.
This is my path : Chikudo – the bamboo way

Schools/styles taught: Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshukan (KSK)

Teacher: Kaoru Kakizakai, Clive Bell

Languages: English, German

Teaching Locations: Edinburgh, UK; Papenburg, Germany

Skype lessons: Yes

Website: markusguhe.net

Email: markusguhe@icloud.com

Biography: Dr. Markus Guhe has been performing with the Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers since 2011, doing multiple tours per year and countless performances abroad. He discovered the shakuhachi on a taiko research trip to Japan in 2012, and now the the shakuhachi is his main instrument.

In 2016 he received a shihan (master’s license) from his teacher Kaoru Kakizakai, authorising him to teach and continue the lineage of the Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshūkan (KSK) established by Katsuya Yokoyama.

In 2017 he won the prestigious KSK scholarship to study with his teacher in Japan.

In 2018 he released his first CD (Samazama) featuring a mix of traditional shakuhachi solo pieces and modern, self-composed music.

In 2021 he started regularly posting videos on YouTube on playing shakuhachi.

Sergey Maksymenko
: Performer & Teacher

Schools/styles taught: Zensabo style, Honkyoku

Teacher’s teacher Kiku Day

Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, English

Teaching Locations: Kiev, Ukraine

Skype lessons: sernamaksy

Address/website: www.shakuhachi.com.ua
facebook.com/bamboolaboratory

Email: hachigaeshi@gmail.com

Biography: The first time I heard the shakuhachi in 2000, on a CD. This was the beginning, Honshirabe by Kohachiro Miyata. Later, an incredible sound of Tamuke, by Riley Lee prompted me to start the search an instrument. I’m interested in what makes a tool for these beautiful and sad sounds.

The first steps in studying of shakuhachi I started to make by myself, as in Ukraine, no teachers. I was helped by friends such as enthusiastic as I am.
 Then I started taking lessons from the masters in Skype. I took a few lessons from Kaoru Kakizakai, Michael Chikuzen Gould. I met with Kiku Day in 2008 in Kiev, and in 2010 after the European Shakuhachi Festival in Prague became her student. In 2012 I took part in WSF in Kyoto. In Tokyo I studied with Okuda Atsuya. Now I continue to learn Zensabo repertoire under Kiku’s leadership, and teach beginners in Kiev and Ukraine.

I have a project “MA”. This is improvised music of shakuhachi, singing bowls, tanpura. In 2013 our album “Guide” was released.

Vlastislav Matoušek: Performer, Teacher & Composer

Schools/styles taught: Contemporary music

Teachers’ teacher: Kifu Mitsuhashi

Languages: Czech

Teaching Locations: Prague, Czech Republic

Skype lessons:

Address/website: Vlastislav Matousek

Email: matousek@shakuhachi.cz

Biography:

Marek Kimei Matvija: Performer & Teacher

Schools/styles taught: Kifu-kai, Myoan style

Teacher’s teacher: Kifu Mitsuhashi, Vlastislav Matoušek

Languages: Czech, English

Teaching Locations: Prague (at NEIRO Association for Expanding Arts)

Skype lessons: no

Address/website: www.matvija.cz

Email: marek@neiro.org

Biography:
Marek Kimei Matvija
*1985

Czech master player of the shakuhachi, Japanese bamboo flute. He is a performer of contemporary, improvised, and Japanese traditional ensemble and solo music. He has graduated at the Centre for Audiovisual Studies of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) and has studied under Czech pioneer of the shakuhachi and a composer, Vlastislav Matoušek. Since 2009, Marek continues his studies with Matoušek’s teacher Mitsuhashi Kifu. In 2017, he was awarded the title nattori shihan of the Kifu-kai and a performance name Kimei, 貴明.
Marek Matvija has performed throughout the Czech Republic and in Japan, Netherlands, Hungary, Slovakia, USA and Portugal. He is a member of the Topos Kolektiv, ensemble for site-specific improvised music, and the artistic director of the International Shakuhachi Festival Prague.

Torsten Olafsson: Performer, Teacher & Researcher

Schools/styles taught: Myôan Taizan-ha

Teachers’ teacher: Ozawa Seizan

Languages: Danish, Swedish, English, German, Japanese

Teaching Locations: Elsinore/Helsingør, Denmark

Skype lessons:

Address/website: www.torstenolafsson.dk

Email: myooan@gmail.com

Biography: Born in January 1950 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Torsten studied music from very early childhood and on: Piano, recorder, singing, bugle, drums, electric bass, acoustic guitar, vibraphone, tablas, percussion – then shakuhachi, a little koto, acoustic bass guitar and – as of lately: arabic darbuka.

First professional appearances as a pop/rock drummer in 1964-65.
1965-68: Specialized language & classical music studies in high school.
1968: Formed the symphonic rock band ACHE, who composed the world’s first genuine rock ballet, ‘De Homine Urbano’ in 1969, released on LP in 1970 (Philips) & re-released six times since then, internationally. Second ACHE album, ‘Green Man’, 1971, also reissued six times, worldwide.
1968: Began university studies in Chinese Language and Culture. BA degree in 1974.
1974: Began university studies in Japanese Language and Culture.
1977-78: Studies in Japan: Kyōto University foreign research student, and Myōan-ji, Taizan-ha shakuhachi, with Ozawa Seizan sensei, Yamashina, Kyōto.
1981: BA degree in Japanese/Japanology.
1983: Records the LP ‘Standing Waves – Zen Shakuhachi Meditations’ (Olafssongs OLP 001).
1986: Special research in the Tōkyō area. Shakuhachi studies with Yokoyama Katsuya in Chiba.
1987: MA thesis in Japanology submitted to the University of Copenhagen: ‘Early 17th Century Ascetic Shakuhachi Ideology. The Kaidō honsoku. A Komosō’s Fuke Shakuhachi Credo, dated 1628.’
1991-2000: Print Manager, then Serious Music Manager with Warner/Chappell Music Denmark A/S.
1997: On invitation by then International Shakuhachi Society president, the late Dan E. Mayers, Esq., Torsten writes an introductory essay to the ‘Kaidō honsoku’ thesis.
2001: ‘Standing Waves’ is re-released on CD by Fønix Musik, Denmark (Fønix Musik FM 1183).
2003: The ‘Kaidō honsoku’ thesis together with the introductory essay is printed and published internationally by Monty H. Levenson/Tai Hei Shakuhachi, Willits, California, USA.
2003: Website about Fuke Shakuhachi research is launched, now: www.torstenolafsson.dk.
2005: Introductory essay about the ‘Kaidō honsoku’ thesis is published by the ISS, in Annals vol. 2.
2008: The late Prof. Tsukitani Tsuneko concludes in her article in the book “The Ashgate Research Companion to Japanese Music”: ‘The body of shakuhachi researchers in Japan is relatively small; names that recur in the bibliography include Kamisangō, Tsukitani/Tukitani, Seyama and Simura/Shimura. It is regrettable that the most conspicuous work is being produced not in Japan but by scholars abroad. (See the works by Fritsch, Gutzwiller, Keister, Lee, Olafsson.)’

Torsten Olafsson has contributed as a versatile studio musician to at least 40 Danish music albums; as a professional graphic artist created more than 60 music album cover designs; transcribed, music engraved, typeset and layouted well over 1.300 Danish pop, rock, jazz, folk & instrumental guitar music pieces and, since 1980, in his capacity as music editor and publishing company music editor and print manager, produced several hundred sheet music and music book titles.

Torsten is currently – beside his various shakuhachi activities – working closely with his younger brother, internationally renowned guitarist Finn Olafsson, OIafssongs Music Publishers DK, as a studio and concert musician, music editor, graphics designer, photographer, and webmaster.

Antonio Enzan Olías - アントニオ · 炎山 · オリアス: Performer & Teacher

Schools/styles taught: Kinko Ryu Chikumeisha, Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshukan,
Tozan, Fukeshu Shakuhachi, Gendai Hogaku “Japanese Contemporary Music”.

Teachers’ teacher: Tanaka Komei, Teruhisa Fukuda, Etsuzan Fujiyoshi,
Kuniyoshi Sugawara, Tanabe Shozan, Katoh Hidekazu, Anne Norman

Languages: Spanish, English

Teaching Locations: Spain

Skype lessons: Yes

Address/website: –

Email: antonio.enzan@gmail.com

Biography: Antonio Enzan took up the shakuhachi in 2001 whilst he was living in Melbourne Australia and he started lessons with Anne Norman. In 2005 he was awarded with the Gen Foundation Grant and the AIE Grant to further his shakuhachi studies in Japan.

He received instruction under the direction of the best shakuhachi masters. In classic styles he studied with Tanaka Komei, Etsuzan Fujiyoshi. Modern and Contemporary music with Teruhisa Fukuda, Kuniyoshi Sugawara and Tanabe Shôzan.

In 2011 Etsuzan Fujiyoshi sensei awarded him with the professional name Saiho Enzan ·西方炎山· that means Fire Mountain from the West. In 2014 Teruhisa Fukuda awarded him with the Shakuhachi Dai Shihan “Grand Shakuhachi Master” license.

He has performed in Japan, Egypt, India, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Belgium and widely in Spain. He recorded his first album “Encuentros” in 2007 in Japan. He has collaborated with the especialist in Medieval Music Eduardo Paniagua recording the album “Cantigas de Nuestro Señor” performing Medieval Music Composed by Alphonse X The Wise. He has recently collaborated in the album of Erwin Grafe “Canciones Incrustables”.

Jean-Luc Peilhon: Performer & Maker

Name of the making dojo: L’atelier du bambou

Type of shakuhachi made: Ji-nashi and ji-nori nobekan (1.1 to 3.6),
kaval-shakuhachi (ten-holes chromatic C shakuhachi),
shakuhaflute (bamboo joint for transverse flute)

Selling shakuhachi since: 2013

Location: Villeurbanne/Lyon, France

Address/website: bamboushakuhachi.blog4ever.com

Email: bamboushakuhachi@yahoo.fr

Biography: Musician, composor, woodwind teacher I have studied and played shakuhachi on stage with my other favorite mouthharp, clarinets, jews-harps and ethnics flutes. I’m proud to be consider as one of the main harp player in Europa by the great Toots Thielemans himself…

I study shakuhachi in France with Daniel Liferman sensei, Fukuda Teruhisa sensei and also make some stage with Tadachi Tajima sensei and Christophe Gaston (Jun-shihan). I used shakuhachis on non traditional composition on stage with band as Totem project, Manu Vallognes Quartet, Etranges Primitifs, La Tribu Hérisson and on concert with cinema as Chang and Nanouk l’esquimau
that I have played in Europe, Africa, Indian Ocean, South and North America…
My composition mixed traditional music and improvisation as we’ved done …in jazz. I have composed more than 50 piece who had been played by orchestra from 2 to 35 musicians.

Véronique Piron: Performer & Teacher

Schools/styles taught: KSK, traditional and modern styles

Teacher’s teacher: : Katsuya YOKOYAMA, Teruo FURUYA, Yoshikazu IWAMOTO

Languages: French, English and Japanese

Teaching Locations: France (Paris and Bretagne), Belgium (Brussels)

Skype lessons: yes

Address/website: www.veroniquepiron.com (français) / www.veroniquepiron.com/en (english)

Email: nipponflutes@gmail.com

Biography: Véronique Piron is a French flautist and a shakuhachi player. She received her shakuhachi Master’s Licence Shihan from Yokoyama Katsuya in 2002 while awarded a Lavoisier research grant from the French government for studying in Japan. She has participated in the creation of the ESS, being an officer until 2012, and the development of the shakuhachi in Europe. In Japan, she also learned nohkan and shinobue from Nishikawa Kohei of the Ensemble Pro-Nipponia, which lead her later to get a French State Diploma and a Professor’s licence, for teaching Japanese traditional music in the French conservatorium system. Based in West of France (Bretagne), she is produced by “Big Bravo Spectacles -production” in a Japanese music programme and in a creative music programme. She has recorded several shakuhachi CD’s.

Ôno Ranzan: Performer & Teacher

Schools/styles taught: Fuke Shakuhachi (from different branches and temples),
Hitoyogiri flute, Shinobiryû Shakuhachi (Ninja’s Shakuhachi)

Teacher’s teacher: Fujiyoshi Etsuzan

Languages: French, English, Japanese

Teaching Locations: Paris, France

Skype lessons: Yes

Address/website: www.fuke-shakuhachi.com

Email: ranzan88@gmail.com

Biography: An expert in different martial arts he is practicing since his childhood,
Ôno Ranzan is the first and only non-Japanese who has received the title of Zen Grand Master of the Fuke-shû Shakuhachi (普化宗尺八看主). He raises awareness of the Shakuhachi of the orthodox school by performing recitals and lectures and is teaching his art in Japan and Europe.

Perfectly bilingual in Japanese, he is also carrying out researches on the history of the Fuke Shakuhachi, and has published a thesis about the Great Fuke Sect, its history, philosophy, and musical principals.

At the same time, he is making Jinashi Shakuhachi and Hitoyogiri flutes following old and traditional methods. Besides Shakuhachi, Ôno Ranzan is also a renown player of Hitoyogiri.

Rodrigo Rodriguez: Performer & Teacher

Schools/styles taught: Mu Ryu, Kinko Ryu, Dokyoku

Teacher’s teacher: Kohachiro Miyata, Kakizakai Kaoru

Languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, Catalan.

Teaching Locations: Spain, Portugal

Skype lessons: Yes

Address/website: www.rodrigo-rodriguez.info

Email: info@rodrigo-rodriguez.info

Biography: Rodrigo Rodriguez is a shakuhachi player internationally known specialist in the Japanese flute, has performed in numerous concert halls in Asia, Europe, South Pacific and Latin America.
Among his important tours he performed in the “Tokyo Imperial Hotel” events NHK, in the temple of the Great Buddha of Kamakura, or Tchaivkosky Conservatory, Moscow Russia.

He has lived and studied in Japan with the renowned master of Japan’s leading players of shakuhachi Miyata Kohachiro, and Kakizakai Kaoru.

Emmanuelle Rouaud: Performer & Teacher

Schools/styles taught: General introduction to shakuhachi & Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshūkan (KSK) repertoire

Teacher’s teacher: Teruo Furuya, Gunnar Jinmei Linder

Languages: French, English

Teaching Locations: Paris, France

Skype lessons: Yes

Address/website: www.emmanuelle-rouaud.com

Email: emmanuelle.rouaud@orange.fr

Biography: Emmanuelle Rouaud is a French musician and performer of the shakuhachi.

She is currently studying the shakuhachi honkyoku music with Japanese Master player FURUYA Teruo, director of the Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshūkan (KSK). Emmanuelle is also studing the Chikumeisha sankyoku repertoire with Gunnar Jinmei Linder.

Emmanuelle’s wide interest in shakuhachi and Japanese music traditions has led her to attend various workshop and individual lessons with a great variety of players, e.g. Zenyoji Keisuke, Mizuno Kohmei, Matsuyama Ryumei, Kakizakai Kaoru, Matama Kazushi, Teruhisa Fukuda, Daniel Lifermann and koto player Kikuko Sato. She initially started her shakuhachi adventure with Jean-François Lagrost (Tozan) and Véronique Piron (KSK).

Besides playing the traditional solo repertoire, Emmanuelle is also working with the French composer Henri Algadafe. Their continuing collaboration resulted so far in a composition for shakuhachi and electric guitar, and a new piece for koto and shakuhachi which was successfully premiered by at the World Shakuhachi Festival in London 2018.

Ursula Fuyûmi Schmidiger-Jasch: Performer & Teacher

Schools/styles taught: Kinko

Teacher’s teacher: Andreas Fuyû Gutzwiller

Languages: German, English, French

Teaching Locations: Switzerland, Ober-Kuonimattweg 50, 6010 Kriens/Luzern

Skype lessons: No

Address/website: www.chikuyusha.ch

Email: u.yashu@hotmail.com

Biography: Since 1988 Ursula Fuyûmi Schmidiger has stuidied the art of traditional Japanese archery and heads the Kyudo group Shoken, Kriens/Luzern. Within the framework of a Kyudo seminar she experienced shakuhachi music for the first time live and was fascinated by the sound of this instrument. In the summer of 1998, she began studying the shakuhachi at the Studio of non-European music at the Music Academy in the city of Basel with Andreas Fuyû Gutzwiller, master in the tradition of the Kinko school. In September 2010 she received the teaching diploma (shihan menjô) Zenkoku Chikuyûsha and was granted the master name Fuyûmi in Tokyo by Kawase Junsuke lll.

Khagan Kugo SeiSon: Performer & Teacher

Richard Stagg: Performer & Teacher

Schools/styles taught: Kinko Ryu

Teacher’s teacher: Yoshikazu Iwamoto

Languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese

Teaching Locations: Wembley, UK

Skype lessons: No

Address/website: Tel: 0208-200 9593

Email: stagg516@btinternet.com

Biography: Richard Stagg has been a professional orchestral flute-player for the last thirty-five years, working in the Scottish National Orchestra and then in the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, from which he retired in 2008. He has been studying and playing shakuhachi for thirty years, and was a pupil of the late Yoshikazu Iwamoto. He now teaches shakuhachi and makes, repairs and tunes instruments. He performs publicly on the shakuhachi in the UK and in Japan. He has recorded a number of CDs as a member of the Yamato Ensemble, as well as a solo album and a disc of duets with Hidekazu Kato, under the ARC label.

Richard is happy to teach people of any age or level of attainment. After the ‘first note’ stage (however little or long it may take!) he starts his pupils off straightaway learning to read shakuhachi notation (Kinko or Tozan) and he believes in relating this directly to European notation pitch-equivalents at all stages of progress. He teaches the styles of honkyoku and sankyoku from the 17th Century up to and through the 20th. He can give advice on choosing an instrument, and can help in providing or obtaining instruments for beginners who are without them. He always tries to build his pupils’ confidence and to make it fun to learn the shakuhachi.

UnRyū: Performer, Teacher & Maker

Schools/styles taught: Myōan

Teacher’s teacher: Ejun Lechika

Languages: Russian

Teaching Locations: Kiev, Ukraine

Skype lessons: No

Address/website: www.shakuhachi.kiev.ua

Email: vladimirlazutkin.wind@yandex.ua

Biography: 
I practice playing the shakuhachi in the style of Myōan. 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 komusō must create his own flute with his own hands. And the time came where I began to make shakuhachi listening to his advice.

I have performed with my flutes on the Religious festivals in the Conservatoire. I play honkyoku, I say a prayer so that my flute can open its heart to a person listening to it or practising it.

My buddhist name is Un Ryuu (雲龍). This name was given to me by my teacher when he was giving me rakusu.
Also, I have permission from my teacher to teach. I live in the city of Kiev in Ukraine.

José Vargas: Player & Maker

Type of shakuhachi made: Jinashi

Selling shakuhachi since: 2008

Location: Madrid, Spain

Address/website: coming soon

Email: josevarz@gmail.com

Biography: Being a professional musician and guitar player since 1982, I first encountered the shakuhachi in 2004 and took lessons with Antonio Enzan Olías in Madrid for some years.

About the same time, I began making shakuhachi and in 2008 and 2009, I travelled to Japan and participated in the jinashi making workshops directed by John Kaizan Neptune at Mejiro, Tokyo and received making lessons from Chiku Za, at his home in Nagano mountains. I also took playing lessons with Tanaka Koumei, Atsuya Okuda, and Chiku Za.

After my first travel to Japan, I made some jinashi flutes for Antonio Olías and since then I have been selling flutes regularly. In 2010, I went to Japan again, and also received playing lessons from Etsuzan Fujiyoshi, and Justin Senryu Williams.

I organized the first jinashi shakuhachi making workshop in Madrid, directed by Chiku Za and assisted him in a workshop at the ESS Shakuhachi Summer School in London 2011, and at another workshop in Madrid in 2012. At the ESS Summer School in Barcelona in 2013, I organized the making workshops directed by John Neptune and helped teaching the basic construction techniques.

I only make jinashi flutes and my approach to flute making is very open, trying to find every bamboo’s particular voice. I specialise in making long flutes for normal or even small hands, and lately I am also interested in making very small flutes making which is great fun.

Justin Senryu Williams: Performer, Teacher & Maker

Schools/styles taught: Honkyoku: Kinko Ryu, Araki Ha, Seien Ryu
(Fudaiji temple), Chikushinkai (a.k.a. Dokyoku), Kimpu Ryu (a.k.a. Nezasa Ha),
Myoan Shimpo Ryu, Myoan Taizan Ryu, Oshu Kei, Echigo Myoan, Kyushu Kei
Sankyoku: Kinko Ryu, Araki Ha

Teacher’s teacher: Araki Kodo V, Yokoyama Katsuya, Furuya Teruo, Iwata Seien VI, Otsubo Shido, Fujiyoshi Etsuzan, Takahashi Rochiku, Sato Jokan, Kurahashi Yodo II, Michael Coxall, Kanda Kayu

Languages: English and Japanese

Teaching Locations: London, England

Skype lessons: Yes

Address/website: www.senryushakuhachi.com

Email: Please see www.senryushakuhachi.com

Biography: Justin Senryu lived in Japan from 2005 undertaking 6 years of intensive shakuhachi study from the top masters of each Edo period honkyoku lineage. His teachers include:

• Furuya Teruo and Yokoyama Katsuya (head of Chikushinkai) from whom he received his first Shihan (Master’s license), and the name ‘Senryu’ as both a professional player and maker in 2007.
• The Grandmaster of Kinko Ryu, Araki Kodo V, from whom he received his second Shihan, and the prestigious makers’ stamp ‘Kodo-sen’ (‘chosen by Kodo’) for his shakuhachi making.
• The Seien Ryu iemoto Iwata Seien VI, who authorised him to teach.
• The oldest Kyoto lineage of Shimpo Ryu; Kimpu Ryu and others from Otsubo Shido, who requested Justin to continue and propagate these precious lineages.
• Various rare lineages from other teachers.

Justin has performed, taught workshops and given lectures across Europe and Asia. He specialises in historic regional styles, having studied and researched in depth every extant Koten Honkyoku style. Justin also studied and practiced Buddhism for 17 years primarily in monasteries in India, Nepal and Thailand. He moved to Europe in 2011, and gives shakuhachi lessons and also Buddhist Psychotherapy in London, and teaches internationally via Skype.

Koichi Nazarov Yoshida: Performer & Teacher

Schools/styles taught: Mujuan Shakuhachi dojo / kinko style, Jin Nyodo style

Teacher’s teacher: Yodo Kurahashi

Languages: Japanese, English, Russian

Teaching Locations: Moscow, Russia

Skype lessons: Yes (skype name:koichi21net)

Address/website: www.kosuian.com

Email: koichi21net@gmail.com

Biography: Koichi Nazarov Yoshida was born in Himeji, Hyogo prefecture、Japan. During student years he played blues and rock guitar, but also tried to play different musical instruments including ethnic ones. He was strongly impressed by shakuhachi sound and as a result he started to learn Kinko style shakuhachi under renowned Sensei Yodo Kurahashi, and is currently an active performer of traditional repertoire, as well as rock, jazz, folk music, and improvisation.

In 2009 he formed YUGAO, an ensemble project for shakuhachi, piano, cello, and tabla. He performs frequently in the museums and tea-houses of Kyoto. He also had YUGAO tour in Spain, France, London (2011), and original solo tour TAKEKAZE in France, Switzerland and Germany (2012), featuring with a calligrapher Ekaterina Nazarova, and being involved in a project “Sounds of Zen”.
“Sounds of Zen” (Tomokazu Takeda director) is a documentary movie about shakuhachi music, the attitude to Zen music and Zen culture in Japan and abroad. The movie is supposed to be on the screen in 2015. Due to this project, he had tour in October 2012 including Russia, Armenia, France, Germany and Switzerland. From January 2013 during 3 months Koichi Nazarov Yoshida lived and performed in France.
From May 2013 he lives and performs in Moscow, Russia.