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>>=20
>>=20
>> A story is beginning here after reading Stav Tapuch's thoughts...
>>=20
>> The most expensive new shakuhachi that has ever been purchased, accordin=
g to
>> reliable gossip, went for issenman (1000,0000) Japanese yen. (The Japan=
ese
>> language counts numbers in units of four rather than three.) Today, 200=
2,
>> January 24th, issenman yen is US$74,626.87! or 84,745.76 euro! Presumab=
ly,
>> all the requirements of the purchaser, whatever they were, were met to h=
is
>> satisfaction. Even so, this is a long way above the traditional standar=
d of
>> one months salary for a good shakuhachi and two months salary for an
>> excellent one.
>>=20
>> The fellow who made and sold this most expensive shakuhachi is an older
>> brother in terms of shakuhachi lineage who terminated his apprenticeship=
at
>> the flute shop about six months before my arrival there. His work is
>> remarkable in terms of being visibly magnetic; anyone who has seen two o=
r
>> three of these flutes would spot others in a crowd right off. His price=
s are
>> the highest of anyone around, commonly ni ka sanbyakuman yen (2 or 300,0=
000)
>> for mid-range bamboo. If you have looked at lots of bamboo through the
>> process of its' accommodating a shakuhachi, then you will be able to vis=
ually
>> pick out those shakuhachi which have their bottom ends, roots and all,
>> stained with urushi to enhance their appearance. These expensive older
>> brother flutes are twice stained with a rather reddish urushi and are
>> polished until they glitter and sparkle. They have gold bordering the
>> mouthpiece inlay and told rings at the nakatsugi. AND the bamboo itself=
is
>> handsome in the extreme.
>>=20
>> During days as an apprentice it sometimes happened that a business excur=
sion
>> forced the vacation of the usual work space in order to move merchandise=
,
>> shakuhachi and accessories, to the location of an assemblage of shakuhac=
hi
>> teachers and their students. These periodic events were (and probably s=
till
>> are) the rank examinations within Tozan Sect Shakuhachi with perhaps a
>> hundred and fifty or more shakuhachi people all at once in the same
>> arrangement of examining spaces and perhaps a hundred and fifty shakuhac=
hi
>> displayed in a wide well lit area so everyone could mill around while
>> fondling and/or playing and comparing different flutes. Through this
>> interaction a general consensus about shakuhachi prices was somehow agre=
ed
>> upon; as low as goman yen (5,0000) and as high as gojuman yen (50,0000) =
when
>> a US dollar was around 300 yen, with a most popular price of jugo kara
>> nijuman yen (from 15,0000 to 20,0000), which was within the one month sa=
lary
>> range at that time.
>>=20
>> It happened that the most popular items were also very attractive bamboo
>> specimens to begin with, meaning that they had lived long enough to matu=
re so
>> as to be able to not shrink up into wrinkles around the bottom as they h=
ad
>> dried, had not emerged from the earth around a stone or root or refriger=
ator
>> (until quite recently bamboo groves also commonly served as trash dumpin=
g
>> places) so as to have grown into a more than less symmetrical shape with
>> thick evenly spaced undamaged roots, had not had their roots severed too
>> short when being dug up, had been cleaned and rough cut expertly, had no=
t
>> been dropped on concrete or asphalt or something to damage their tender =
green
>> skin (don't just throw it into the back of a pickup), had not been scorc=
hed
>> or burnt while being roasted over a white charcoal fire (white charcoal =
is
>> actually white before burning) to an indescribably pleasant color of gre=
en
>> which lasts for about three days, had not split while being bleached for=
two
>> months in the direct sunlight and, finally, had been placed in long term
>> storage for curing. And the actual shakuhachi construction hasn't even =
begun
>> yet so there are a great many other ways to damage bamboo for shakuhachi=
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