>From: Ralf Muhlberger <ralf@dstc.edu.au>
>Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 08:30:55 +1000
>Subject: Re: Kinko and Tozan
>
>Why do others on this list play?
At 48 years of age, and with little hope of becoming a shakuhachi
master, I see my study of the shakuhachi from two perspectives.
First, it is the center of my zen practice. Although I make no
claims to be particularly "religious" about my practice, it is
useful to have a focus in zen.
Second, my other take on the shakuhachi is to study it as a language,
as a way of taking a glimpse into another culture that has long
fascinated me and, at the same time, is different and distant from
my own.
The shakuhuachi has a lot to recommend it as a language for study.
One can learn its expressive forms (music or sound), learn to read
and write the language (calligraphy), study the various sub-cultures
(tozan, meian, kinko, chikuho, minyo) and dialects (players).
There is a history that is an interesting blend of myth and fact,
as all good histories are, and a developing culture of modern
interpretations and new creations, cross-polanized by encounters
with other linguistic (musical) traditions.
I have two teachers, one a professional musician and Japanese (and
the teacher of my other teacher), the other also a professional
musician, Anglo, and a serious student of zen (which the Japanese
is not).
I have been put to studying just about all aspects of the shakuhachi
by these wonderful folks. I was started out with Kinko-ryu notation
but shortly introduced to Tozan notation. I also started out
playing the little folk tunes in Masayuki Koga's book, then graduated
to the more simple honkyoku (choshi and honshirabe). It wasn't
long (maybe the second year of study) that I was given more complex
honkyoku as well as sankyoku and shinkyoku to work on.
The reasoning behind the variety of styles and schools, explained
by my Anglo teacher, runs as follows: If you are primarily a kinko
student, and you study tozan music and notation, you learn about
kinko music by comparison. If you learn to play sankyoku your play
of honkyoku will also improve and your range of expression will
expand. If you really take a zen perspective on the shakuhachi,
then (as Riley Lee noted elsewhere on this list), whatever you do,
however you live your life, will affect your play.
Like my study of spanish and latin as a college student (many years
ago), (IMHO) you learn more about your own language as you study
another: "The man who has only one language really has none".
So, as advice to Hans, who learned about kinko notation and is now
offered a chance to study with a tozan teacher, I'd reiterate what
Ralf said, unless you're concerned about continuing a musical
tradition, go study with the tozan teacher.
After all, a teacher who can show you new things can only improve
your play and expand your horizons with the instrument.
bj
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