Observations, notes, ramblings on bamboo, shakuhachi and cracking:
Rambling #1:
A couple of years ago I returned from a trip to China. One of the
items I brought back was a Budai (Japanese Hotei) carved from a
large bamboo root. When I got it it was already cracked, and was,
on being brought into the desert of San Diego, cracking even more
than it had in the rainy mountains of southern China.
I asked one of my teachers, an artist who works with bamboo, how to
prevent it from cracking. Should I use oil? If so, what kind?
Her reply was, "Impermanence is the nature of Buddhism."
Rambling #2:
A few more years ago than that trip to China, I bought my first
root-end hasun, and it began cracking. I showed it to a different
teacher, and asked how to prevent the cracking (not yet having
learned the lesson in #1 above). He sat there with his ~100 year
old hasun in hand - dark as ancient mahogany from the oil of the
hands that have played it daily over the decades, and as full of
cracks as a schoolyard playground - and said, "bamboo cracks. Try
to keep it from rapid changes in humidity, but it will crack. Just
superglue up the cracks and go back to playing".
[ASIDE: I've heard that superglue is not the preferred method of
crack repair and I'm not recommending it here (altho I use it
myself)]
Exception that proves the rule:
Recently I've been having a chat with Tom Deaver, not related to
this discussion, but apropos nevertheless, about a really nice
hasun that Teacher #2 (above) lent me.
I said: [Teacher #2] said that the flute was likely made in the
1920s and, aside from a few cracks around the roots (none
of which are deep and all of which look like they've been
there for most of those 75+ years) the flute is solid.
I showed this hasun to Riley Lee and he said that it probably never
will crack any more. Given that it's been in LA for more than 60 of
those 75+ years, I suspect he's right.
Point to all this:
Maybe your shakuhachi will crack (likely) and maybe it won't (luck?).
Meanwhile, that well-cracked flute mentioned above produces some of
the sweetest and most profound sounds I've ever heard from a 22"
piece of bamboo.
Maybe all that's needed is to worry less, blow more,
and learn to bow to the inevitable.
bj
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