Hi all
Ahh, thanks to all who have replied, now I have two further questions..
I recently filed away part of the chin of my shakuhachi to make it a bit
more comfortable to play and I must admit until now I had thought that
most shakuhachi were the same and that it was my chin that was unusual
(although it looks pretty normal to me..:-)) and I was taking an unusual
step doing this - is this in fact a not so uncommon thing to do (or have
done for those with =A3=A3=A3 instruments and shaky hands..:)
The other thing i'm now wondering is kind of related to the question
Brian just asked - what does an "old" (expensive I guess) style
shakuhachi sound like (i.e. pre 1970 or 60) were some more "in tune"
than others? Was building a shakuhachi in tune to the equal temperament
scale valued at all by (any) makers?
Cheers
Kenny
Tom wrote:
> =
> OK Toby, here goes although this may not be of much help in answering t=
he
> question.
> =
> I didn't get to Tamai's sweatshop until late 1970. Tamai was primarily =
a
> maker of Tozan sect shakuhachi with about 10% or less of his flutes mad=
e
> with a Kinko mouthpiece inlay. This was still very slightly before the=
time
> that shakuhachi players in both sects began to demand flutes that were =
more
> accurately in tune to the equal temperament scale. That began to reall=
y
> happen because of the work of Nagahiro Shinzan (also one of Tamai's
> apprentices) and his relationship with Yamamoto Hozan in the mid 70's.
> =
> As far as the color of the finish urushi used for shakuhachi is concern=
ed, I
> think that there is no hard and fast division between Kinko and Tozan.
> Rather, it seems to be the preference of the flute maker. Tamai did us=
e
> red, or rather vermilion, for Tozan and black for Kinko flutes. Yokoya=
ma
> Ranpo, who was still active around that time, preferred red for his flu=
tes
> which were mostly Kinko. I have also seen some Miura Kind flute, and t=
hese
> would be fairly old by now, that were red. I don't know whether the re=
d
> color was the original as applied by Miura or that of some other person=
> doing repairs. I did see once upon a time a Yuko (Kurosawa Kinko's tea=
cher)
> flute that belonged to Yamaguchi Goo and sort of remember it as red. I=
t
> often happens that during repairs the finish color will be changed, or
> rather the original color painted over with a different color.
> =
> I don't know what system Tamai used for finger hole placement. He had =
a
> long flat bamboo stick made from what you would call a yard stick or a =
meter
> stick (in this case a 3 shaku stick cut off to about 2 shaku) which had=
> marks on the back side of it. There were marks for the total length of=
the
> flute, the cut for the connecting joint and for each finger hole. The
> finger hole marks didn't seem to mean much as he would move the finger =
holes
> well off the marks depending upon how close the bamboo nodes were to th=
e
> marks. He really got on my ass the first time I marked the holes on ab=
out
> 108 flutes because I took his marks literally. The idea, I discovered =
then,
> was to move the holes around so that the balance (distances) between th=
e
> holes and the nodes looked attractive. The third hole was always a lit=
tle
> smaller in diameter than all the other holes on both types of flutes. =
I
> also know that on all the older Kinko flutes I have seen the 5th hole i=
s
> bored (or burned for you romantics out there) closer to the top end of =
the
> flute than was normal for both Tamai's Tozan and Kinko flutes.
> =
> Tamai also had a habit of cutting the top end of the bamboo off at near=
ly a
> 90 degree angle for his Kinko flutes and not rounding the chin as much =
as on
> his Tozan flutes. The angle of this cut and the rounding of the chin b=
oth
> seem to be up to the maker. If one looks around at various makers flut=
es
> these days one will find lots of different angles and roundness. (The
> spelling checker tells me that "roundness" is not an English word. But=
I
> think you will get the idea.) Currently, Yokoyama Katsuya's idea is to=
> round or file away the chin to the extreme so that the players lips get=
> closer to the mouthpiece inlay.
> =
> Other than this I don't know what I can say about the differences betwe=
en
> Kinko and Tozan flutes. Most people today make both with, aside from t=
he
> mouthpiece inlay shape, little difference between them. Not so long ag=
o I
> did meet a shakuhachi player and teacher who said that one of my flutes=
> which had a Kinko mouthpiece inlay sounded like a Tozan flute.
> Unfortunately, I was not there with him when he made this comment and
> couldn't get more information about this. Hmmmmmmm...I'd like to meet t=
his
> guy and find out more about his special talent for telling Kinko and To=
zan
> flutes apart. I wonder how he would perform blindfolded on a small tes=
t of
> nine Kinko flutes and one Tozan flute which he could play himself or li=
sten
> to someone else playing them.
> =
> Oh, yes! There may actually be some differences in the inlay paste wit=
h
> which older flutes, Tozan and Kinko, were filled. It is really hard to=
tell
> what has been used after the flute has been finished, even if one carve=
s
> some of the finish urushi off to get into the usually much thicker inla=
y
> material. And I've done quite a bit of that sort of mutilation when
> replacing tenons or mouthpieces. One would expect, though, that in the=
> olden days there were not so many different materials at hand to use as=
the
> filler. Nowadays it seems that anything goes and rightly so. As Yokoy=
ama
> Ranpo impressed on me one afternoon at his home, "You can do anything y=
ou
> want as long as it works".
> =
> Best wishes to you all!!!!!
> =
> Tom
> =
> ----------
> >From: "toby" <kymarto@gol.com>
> >To: <shakuhachi@weber.ucsd.edu>
> >Subject: Re: A simple Kinko/Tozan question!
> >Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2001 12:35:04 +0900
> >
> =
> >I do know a few other differences. The Tozan shakuhachi traditionally =
used
> >red lacquer for the bore, while the Kinko normally used black or dark =
brown.
> >Also the third tone hole from the bottom was the same size as the othe=
r
> >holes in the Tozan flutes, while it was .5 mm smaller in Kinko flutes.=
> >Modern makers no longer seem to follow these traditions strictly, and =
many
> >modern flutes are therefore identical except for the utaguchi.
> >
> >Maybe we can get Tom Deaver to jump in here and comment--he would real=
ly be
> >the one to ask.
> >
> >Toby
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Kenny Forte" <kenny@cs.strath.ac.uk>
> >To: <shakuhachi@weber.ucsd.edu>
> >Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 8:24 PM
> >Subject: A simple Kinko/Tozan question!
> >
> >
> >> Hi
> >>
> >> This is something i've been curious about for a while. Is there a
> >> difference between the Kinko and Tozan shakuhachi other than the
> >> aesthetic look of the mouthpiece?
> >>
> >> Cheers
> >>
> >> Kenny Forte
> >>
> >
> >
-- =
Kenneth Forte
Computing Officer tel: +44 (0)141 548 3592
Department of Computer Science mobile: +44 (0)7941 034 209 =
University of Strathclyde fax: +44 (0)141 552 5330 =
Glasgow G1 1XH email: kenny@cs.strath.ac.uk
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