From: Dan Ribble
Date: February 13, 2001
Greetings, all. I've enjoyed looking at this archive from time to
time and reading various and sundry about the shakuhachi. I've been
playing the shakuhachi since 1987 in Kochi prefecture, Japan, (living here
since '86) though for the first year it was on a length of pc pipe, before
I could afford to buy a piece of well crafted real bamboo. I play with a
small group that is part of Chikudosha, a Kinko ryu guild headquartered in
Tokyo. It's good to be able to read what is happening with the shakuhachi
overseas. From reading this archive and looking at Monty's website, it
appears as if interest in the shakuhachi is growing more outside of Japan
than within -- I can't speak for Tokyo or the other large cities, but down
here in the countryside most people who play the shakuhachi are getting up
in years, and there is no new generation of players to replace them. In
Kochi prefecture there are more Tozan players than Kinko, and there are
several Kinko iemotos represented -- Kawase Junsuke's group Chikuyusha
being the largest. I look forward to seeing the second volume of the
International Shakuhachi Society's Annals; that was one of the few sources
I had on the shakuhachi in English (and is quite good) before I found out
about Monty's website. Happy blowing.
Cheers,
Dan
Daniel Ribble
English Department/Kochi Medical School
Kohasu, Okoh-cho
Nangoku-shi, Kochi-ken, Japan 783-8505
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