FUKE SHAKUHACHI

SHAKUHACHI FUKE SHAKUHACHI TAKAHASHI KUZAN FUJIYOSHI ETSUZAN ONO RANZAN

One sound to reach enlightment

The Japanese bamboo flute and the great Fuke-shu sect


Old traditional Shakuhachi made of one piece, the inside part is unpolished (Ji-nashi Shakuhachi); the nodes are not completely withdrawn.	Modern Shakuhachi made of 2 pieces, the inside part is shaped, the nodes are withdrawn and the internal diameter is regular.

Shakuhachi, Japanese wind instrument made from a simple piece of bamboo and constituted of 5 holes, was a long time considered by Buddhist monks Zen of the sect Fuke (普化宗尺八) as an instrument of meditation. They did not use it as a musical instrument but as an instrument of meditation permitting to reach Enlightenment. Suizen (吹禅) represent the blowing of Zen, the meditation through the interpretation of the traditional Zen pieces.

In Europe, this wonderful instrument was introduced by the Great Master Takahashi Kûzan who, at his first travel in Europe in 1961 – as a representative of the academy of music of Japan - made known this unique contemplative music in the world.

This page is an introduction to the history of Fuke Shakuhachi. I hope that it will allow the traveller stopping there to have better knowledge of this imposing and still ignored art of Japan, what is the Shakuhachi, and to approach the teaching of Fuke-shû Shakuhachi.

THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED ON 2007/02/25

This page contains Japanese characters. Fonts can be download on the Web.

Japanese names of the various persons introduced on this site are notified as follows; name precede first name as it is of use in Japan.