A Collection of Moving Shakuhachi Masterpieces | Beautiful Japanese Melodies That Stir the Heart

Nagashi Rinbo

Nesasaha Kinpū-ryū “Nagashi Reibo” — 2 shaku 7 sun ji-nashi flute

One of the classical honkyoku pieces for shakuhachi.

It is a honkyoku of the Nezasaha Kimpū school, belonging to the suzumori (Rinbo) category.

It was traditionally played during alms-begging pilgrimages.

It is performed using the Nezasaha school’s distinctive technique known as Komi-buki.

The high-register passages are especially characteristic, reminiscent of the ringing of Fuke Zenji’s hand bell, conveying a lingering sense of poignancy and sorrow.

Kinsan Kyorei

Kinsan Kyorei (Kotomi Kyorei), Sho Yamaguchi

This is one of the classical shakuhachi honkyoku pieces called Kyorei.

It is also a honkyoku piece of the Kinko school.

Originally it was known as Shamisen Kyorei, Kinzan Kyorei, and Kinsha, but under the witness of Yuko, the chief priest of Rinpō-ji, and Taigon, the chief priest of Ichigatsu-ji, Kurosawa Kinko appears to have changed the name to the characters for Kin San Kyorei.

Meguro Lion

Meguro Jishi (Lion of Meguro) Sho Yamaguchi

A honkyoku piece of the Kinko-ryu, belonging to the shishi-mono genre.

It is one of the pieces in the Ura-gumi Juhachikyoku (Eighteen Inner Pieces).

It was handed down from Roshūshi, a disciple at Nishikōji of Aokiyama in Bushū Kanagawa (present-day Yokohama), a branch temple of Ichigetsuji.

The Kinko Notebook records that at that time, at Roshūshi’s request, the first-generation Kurosawa Kinko taught him Kyō Reibo in exchange.

Rinbo-ryu

Reibo Nagashi (School/Style), Yamaguchi Sho

A classical honkyoku piece of the Ōshū lineage for shakuhachi.

It is a honkyoku of the Kinko school, Myōan Shinpō school, Myōan Taizan, Kimpū school, and Seien school.

According to legend, when a komusō played this piece in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters, a rash of double suicides followed, and from then on playing it in the pleasure district was forbidden.

Kumoi Shishi

Shakuhachi Classical Honkyoku: Kumoi Shishi

A type of classical shakuhachi honkyoku known as a “shishi-mono” (lion piece).

It is also called Kumo-i no Kyoku (“Piece of the Cloud Tone”) and was actively performed in Kyushu, especially at Icchōken in Hakata.

In the Kinko school, there are three kinds of Kumoi Shishi: (1) the piece said to have been transposed by the first-generation Kinko from the Meguro Shishi into the Kumoi mode; (2) the Icchōken Kumoi Shishi of the same school’s Taketomo-sha lineage, which Junpuku Kawase I imported into the Kinko school from the piece transmitted at Icchōken in Hakata; and (3) the Kumoi Shishi (also called Kumoi Sakae Shishi or Sōjō Shishi) created when the first-generation Kinko adapted Sakae Shishi into the Kumoi mode.

The Song of the Sound Pillar

Shakuhachi Classical Honkyoku: “Kōon-bashira no Kyoku” (Kinko-ryū)

This is a honkyoku piece of the Kinko-ryu school.

Like Ashi no Shirabe, it is also a prelude piece for Kinuta Sugomori.

It is said to have been composed by Hisamatsu Fūyō, a disciple of the third-generation Kinko.

Not much else is known about it.

Moon over the Peak

Peak Moon (a Tozan-ryu shakuhachi honkyoku)

It is one of the Tozan-ryu honkyoku pieces.

It is said to have been composed by the first Nakao Tozan around the summer of 1946.

The kanji for “mine” in “Yama no Mine” can be written three ways—峰, 峯, and 嶺—and the meaning changes considerably when you imagine the moon with each character.

Mine evokes the image of the moon rising to the mid-sky over the mountains; Rei suggests viewing the moon yourself from the mountains; and Mine gives the sense of the moon just beginning to rise at the mountain’s edge.

The composition first depicts the dim, indeterminate twilight that is neither quite dark nor bright, and then conveys the sense of reassurance as the moon rises.

The high notes express, sometimes strongly and sometimes softly, the rustling of trees swayed by a gentle breeze and the sounds of insects.