Air filling up my insides
swirling round and round
is infinite
Vibration through the vessel hollow
waves of sound like sunlight
in the dark wintry days
Diving deep in the flats of tone coloring my days
reaching down into my earth for infinite air
Sitting
the light to ink etches its calligraphy on my heart
round and round and round to deepen the structure
Canals catching the sound
moving me down the current
closing the gap between the worlds
as the pressure builds releasing the voices of spirits
as air mixes with bamboo
the reaction stops time
In the ground of inexpressible we do the impossible
Like the seed from nothing we stand between the dream
And do what we can to see beyond the veil
Have heart to open the hole and harmonize with the tool
It is there all the time ready to metamorphose into
The secret eternity
which we are
--Alcvin Ramos
Update 5: Bamboo in the Earth
Spring in Japan is in full bloom and the moisture in the air increases with
every breath. Soon, the monsoon season will be upon us followed by the deep
heat of Japanese summer. On this particular path, I witness the changes of
strata. I am disintegration, falling away from the moving points of time and
space. Wanting the light beyond the mirror, the silence in the sound, I
subdue my conscious mind and reach under to explore the depths of the maker,
and see the emptiness in the form. The flow is good today. Waiting for the
bus again to Kyoto, the old capital, in the new capital, Tokyo, Japan, city,
country, of wonders and wierdness. An old, destitute man wakes up from a
brief nap by the wall and pulls down his pants to reveal stains of our mind.
Behind all the hurt and all the waste is beauty. The urge to blow the
bamboo is always there but the timing is not. In this even flow, sensing the
connections of energy points in this web of illusion. Infinity. Which is
eternal, illusion or Reality? Everything is alive, alive with energy.
Watching the mass of people pass the earth woman walks up. My wife is with
me now visiting from Vancouver. It is good to be with her again. It's been
6 months since I last saw her.
My study of the Do-kyoku style of shakuhachi are going wonderfully well. I
rather enjoy teaching English to Japanese businessmen but I'd rather put
more time into shakuhachi. I'm giving free basic shakuhachi instruction to
people at the community centre near my house. People from all over the world
come and sample the instrument, and talk about music and Japanese culture
and spirituality. It's really fun and interesting. In June, I'll be playing
with a few music groups in some clubs in Tokyo. Whenever I get the time I go
busking in the parks or in front of train stations. It's good practice. I
busked at Ueno Park during the hanami (cherry blossom viewing) weekend and
made a good amount of cash before I was kicked out of the park both times by
the authorities. Perhaps they thought I was making too much money! They
threatened to take me to jail the second time, so I put on my best gaijin
accent and said, "Sumimasen, Nihonjin wa tabemasen" (Sorry, I don't eat
Japanese people). With an irritated but puzzled look, they let me go home.
Near the entrance of the station a slight breeze blows, pushing the city
smoke away from me. A station cleaning crew dressed in blue and green pastel
uniforms gets ready with buckets and squeegees to clean the station door
windows. Monday night, May 1, first day of the Golden Week in Japan taking
the overnight bus to the old Capital again to study the art of shakuhachi
making.
Arriving once again in magical Kyoto, a city built on feng shui principles.
But the crimson bird is dead, so the city is suffering. Waking from a
pleasant sleep on the bus we take the taxi to Higashiyama Dori and walk the
rest of the way to Hoshi-sensei's house, a beautiful old Japanese house
nestled in a cluster of other old houses at the foot of a hill. Around the
house is a very aged looking garden with a large stone lamp emerging from
the moss and ferns. It's 6am and we ring the doorbell and wake him up. We
hear him rustle and rush down the stairs to greet us with disheveled hair
and half open eyes. He hugs us and smiles and we tell him to go back to bed.
Sandra and I take a walk in the early morning to visit Meian-ji and
Tofuku-ji, where we have a breakfast of pasteries from the convenience store
and tea from the vending machine. In front of the main Buddha hall, a woman
practices Tai Chi in the light of early morning. Beautiful form.
This time with Hoshi-sensei, I delve deeper into studying how shakuhachi are
made. I learned how to choose a good piece of bamboo, where the front and
back are, how to place the holes, and how to fashion the root end, as well
as the various tools used in constructing a shakuhachi in the tradition of
Tamai Chikusen, Hoshi's teacher.
Hoshi-sensei just received a grant from the Canada Council to live and work
in Vancouver, Canada for several months. He will be performing and
demonstrating how to make and play shakuhachi at this year's Vancouver Folk
Festival on Jericho Beach in July. Please stop by and say hello to him.
He's also open to give shakuhachi lessons. He teaches the Jin Nyodo style of
playing, handed down to him from Mitsuhashi Kifu. He can also teach Tozan,
Kinko, and Western music on shakuhachi. I will be returning to Vancouver for
a few weeks from July 26-August 8. Hoshi and I will be playing together at
the Powell Street Festival held on the first weekend of August. I'll let you
know more details when the time gets closer. Hope to see you
there!
In life there is serendipity everywhere. We just have to be sensitive to the
signs.
Sandra's (my wife's) passion is the artistic creation of earthen, functional
vessels (particularly of the Japanese wood-fired type called 'yaki-mono' in
Japanese), and mine is the Japanese bamboo flute called shakuhachi and these
two share a harmonious relationship in my life as exemplified by our trip to
the Kansai this time around. A little background to this strata is last
year, Sandra went to the International Woodfire Conference in Iowa where
some of Japan's best potters went and gave lectures. There she met these
potters and obtained addresses and phone numbers. When I came to Japan last
year, she asked me to contact these artists so we could perhaps visit them
when she comes to visit me in Japan. The only one I contacted directly was a
potter named Kanzaki Shiho, from Shiga-raki. He invited us to his place and
we accepted. During our Golden Week in Kyoto, we spent a day in Shiga-raki,
where Kanzaki lives. Before calling to tell him we were in town, we walked
around town to check out the pottery festival that was happening on that
day. In the train station there was a pottery gallery and one of the pieces
was a ceramic cat dressed in a kimono playing a shakuhachi, and on the shelf
above it was a real bamboo shakuhachi! It was far beyond repair, but I knew
these were good signs and turned up my synchronicity knob up more notches.
As we walked down the street examining the various studios and galleries, I
came across another shakuhachi, but this one was made of clay. Unplayable,
but I was surprised at the uncanniness of these shakuhachi/yaki-mono
(pottery) signals. It was to culminate when we visited the home of Kanzaki
Shiho. We were met at the station by one of his apprentices, named Ozeki,
who stuck us immediately as one with great character and manners. He bowed
and apologized for being late and brought us to the car where he took us to
Kanzaki-san's place in the hills not too far from the station. Kanzaki-san
was waiting outside his beautiful Japanese-style home which he designed
himself, and escorted us into his main hall which was like a kind of
gallery. All around the wide spaces of his home were displayed some of the
most beautiful, moving yaki-mono art pieces I've ever seen. He had us sit
around the beautiful farmhouse-style double hearth which was shaped in a
figure 8 made of the bi-sected trunks of trees and polished to a fine sheen
and lacquered. From the high ceiling made of rough-hewn timbers, above the
hearth, hung a wooden pole-like device with carving of fish on it, and
hanging from it was a pot, suspended over the hearth. The snowy ash in the
pit was freshly filled and Kanzaki took fresh pieces of bamboo coals and put
them in the middle of the still-burning hearth to symbolize the newness of
our prescence. From there we had a long talk getting to know each other and
becoming friends. It was then that the climax of the synchronicity revealed
itself when Kanzaki-san said he played shakuhachi and even made his own in
the past. He brought them out and I played the raw-bored bamboos which were
quite nicely made for someone who never took lessons in shakuhachi playing
or making. And his friend, a Jodo Shu monk, Yano Shiku, was a student of
Yokoyama sensei many years ago. He gave me his address and phone # so I
could contact him. I was moved by his openness and kindness in spending time
with us. We were very surprised and grateful for what we experienced that
day.
Back in Tokyo, I get ready to cross-train in Biwa and settle down to
studying mostly with Kakizakai sensei, since he lives closer to me. I'm
quite busy with work now to regularly study with Furuya-sensei. I visited
one of Watazumi-do's disciples, an old Zen monk who manages the Ten-gen-ji
temple in Tokyo. I look forward to spending more time with him.
Sandra's last day in Japan (May 29) was again an amazing manifestation of
our passions intertwined as we spent the day in the hills of Saitama
Prefecture discovering hidden treasures.....and observing in awe the bamboo
in the earth.
Until next time, face in the winds. Blowing good ki to you,
Al
Asaka Shakuhachi Circle
Alcvin Ramos (Shakuhachi)
2-2-18 Dream Palace #201
Asaka-shi, Nishibenzai
Saitama-ken, Japan T351-0021
Phone: 048-451-0414
Kita-Asaka Kominkan (Shakuhachi Dojo): 048-473-0558
Office: 03-3486-7667
(Outside Japan first dial 001-81 then delete first 0)
Email: komuchiku@hotmail.com
"There is something deeper if you would go deeper,
if you go to the source of where the music is being
made, you'll find something more interesting. At the
source, everyone's individual music is made. If you
ask what that deep place is, it's your own life and
it's knowing your own life, that own way that you
live."
Watazumi-do Shuso
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