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April 07, 2005
EBAY Shakuhachi flutes
Today's entry deals with all the different kinds of shakuhachi you see on EBAY.
Not all are actually shakuhachi instruments. If you are planning on buying a real shakuhachi, do some research, ask a lot of questions to different teachers and then do more research. Real shakuhachi makers and dealers offer a customary audition period.
Hi Dana, Great to hear from you.
> I see a lot of Shakuhachi out of Japan being sold on
> E-bay. Some for a sizable hunk of money, yet others
> for almost nothing. This leads me to believe that a
> lot of the wares from Japan is likely low quality.
> There is too much of it floating around.
Shakuhachi, as you already know, is a a highly esoteric instrument even in Japan. In that small world there are several kinds of makers: established makers who
produce the finest instruments that unquestionably play shakuhachi musc, competent hobbyists
who make playable shakuhachi (depending upon opinion), monks who make a simple flute for meditation only and regular folks who have the desire but lack the dexterous skills to make a real shakuhachi. The Japanese shakuhachi you see on EBAY can come from any of these sources. It can be confusing for the novice to know what he or she is actually buying. Makers from the last catagory sometimes produce great looking flutes but seldom are they capable of playing shakuhachi music. By this, I mean a style of shakuhachi music recognized by it's charactersitic timbres such as Kinko or Dokyoku.
> Also, most of what I see is pretty old stuff, not
> well cared for. But there are rare pieces that are
> in excellent condition, relatively new, being sold
> for a song.
>
> So the questions. Is the new stuff out of Japan that
> sells for perhaps a couple hundred dollars or less
> of any quality?
New or old, the only way to tell if any shakuhachi is good is to audition the instrument. If you are inexperienced or incapable of judging a shakuhachi, I'll be glad to evaluate a prospective flute for no charge. I've handled "ugly duckings" that played extremely well AND beautiful looking flutes that are completely non functional.
> And of the older stuff, were the Japanese producing
> questionable product then? Or was the quality good
> but so many made, many were left by the wayside to
> deteriorate?
The older stuff could've been made by a monk not concerned with tuning or someone running a ramen shop and carving bamboo on his breaks to relief the stress of the lunch crowd. Seriously.
> I am curious about the whole thought process of the
> Shakuhachi to the Japanese people so I can make a
> judgment call on these flutes.
The best thing to do is ask the seller some hard questions - "Does he know if the flute is capable of playing real shakuhachi music and from what school? Can it handle the third register Hi and Ha notes in all the various fingerings? AND the most imporatnt is for an audition as a guarantee. You would only lose out on the shipping if the flute turns out not what you expected or what was claimed on the auction listing.
You might find a gem at a great price. That's how EBAY used to be. Just a word of caution though, I've repaired and retuned a bunch of shakuhachi sent to me that were won on EBAY.
Most of them came from one seller who claims his flutes to be both professional and antique. Flutes
that fit into that catagory are extremely rare. I'm very glad you asked these questions. It is very
important for the newer members of the shakuhachi community to understand that in Japan, the shakuhachi is a high quality music instrument made to play a specific type of music. But, on EBAY, it can also be a crude bamboo flute with holes burned into it.
Enjoy the bargains but do the research!
Namaste, Perry
Posted by Perry Yung at April 7, 2005 09:38 PM