I make instruments in batches and due to daily inquiries, they are often sold before I can make them available. Many have come from Australia and Germany recently. Today’s inquiry was for a fat long Hocchiku. Pictured below are extremely long Choukan instruments. From top to bottom: 3.0 Chikuisng Jinashi (33” long), 3.0 (Chikusing Jnashi), 2.9 (Hocchiku) and a 1.8 Wooden Japanese shakhachi (21 1/2” long).

Aside from the modern fabricated shakuhachi instrument, I also make all natural bore instruments. The most natural root end flutes are called Hocchiku (translated from Japanese as Darma Bamboo). This term was coined by the famous Komuso Monk Watazumi and this spelling comes from his record album   using Hocchiku flutes to interpret the Myoan Honkyoku music in his style of Dokyoku playing. It may also be spelled as Hochiku or Hotchiku. I prefer Hocchiku as that was how it was imprinted in my head as I was studying to make these in Japan under Sogawa Kinya, who was a music student of Yokoyama Katsuya, who studied under Watazumi himself.

These are as fat as they come for the style of playing in the way it was shown to me. I also played the modern shakuhachi while studying some pieces under Kinya but we did most of our studies on Choukan (long bass) natural bore flutes. These are handled differently as the tone color is different from the modern flute. One has to dig more to highlight the unique sound for the particular piece of bamboo. IMHO, one is not better than the other, they are like people, each unique with their own characteristic attributes..or quirks

I base all my crafting choices on the understanding of the music. If a Hocchiku can not play the Dokyoku repertory, the flute would not be classified as a Hocchiku. This is done in respect to my teacher, Watazumi and the Japanese people whose culture enriches the world.

In 2002 I received an artist fellowship to live in Japan to immerse myself in the shakuhachi. This grant is offered through the Japan-US Friendship Commission. Here’s how the website describes the goal of the fellowship for the artists:

...They go as seekers, as cultural visionaries, and as living liaisons to the traditional and contemporary cultural life of Japan. The outlook they bring home provides an unparalleled opportunity to promote cultural understanding between the United States and Japan. Cultural understanding is at the heart of this program.

I remember when I first made a simple sound on a simple flute I made by my own hands. In that moment time stopped, and I felt the winds of change. Little did I know that years later I would find myself in Japan sitting in front of a master with a bamboo saw in my hand. One of the highlights of this trip was making a performance with Kinya, his partner, my partner and Kazuo and Yoshito Ohno, the legendary father and son Butoh team (more on this later).

If there is anything I can do to help further your understanding of the shakuhachi, anything at all, please do not hesitate to ask. The experience of the shakuhachi is open to anyone.

A deep bow, Perry