Hi All,
Tom Deaver asked me the questions 'Who is the leader in Tokyo (of
Chikudosha)?' and 'How long has this group been around?', and I thought I'd
reply to those questions on the list as some other people might have an
interest in the Kinko lineages. The leader of Chikudosha is a professional
shakuhachi player living in Tokyo named Fuji Jidou. He was first a student
of Notomi Haruhiko (Notomi Judo II), and there was talk of him becoming a
uchi deshi when Haruhiko died unexpectedly. Then Fuji Jidou became a
student of Notomi Judo. That was during Notomi Judo's last years and after
he passed away, Notomi Judo's guild was taken over by another son, Notomi
Tetsuo. At that point the group was called the Domon Kai and shortly after
that there was a falling out between Fuji Jidou's faction and the
leadership of the Domon Kai guild (I don't know those details). Apparently
Fuji Jidou took about half of the membership with him (about 400 people?)
and made his own group. I'm not totally clear on this, but I don't think
it was considered an iemoto until after he had rearranged all of the Domon
Kai honkyoku to put his personal stamp on the music. That was about a
decade or so ago, and from that time the Chikudosha has been recognized as
a Kinko ryu iemoto by the all Japan (or is it Tokyo?) Sankyokukyokai. Our
style is very close to Araki kei and Fuji sensei wrote a book of honkyoku
scores along with instructional material together with Araki Kodo IV
several years ago (along with cassette tapes of all the honkyoku). Fuji's
group was also joined by a group called the Shodo kai, led by a
semi-professional player named Suzuki Shodo, which had split away earlier
from the Domon Kai, but which had not become an iemoto. Suzuki Shodo's son
Teido became an uchi deshi of Fuji Jidou, and today Suzuki Teido and Fuji
Jidou are the only two members of Chikudosha who make their livings
entirely from playing the shakuhachi (and in the case of Fuji Jidou, also
making shakuhachis). My sensei, named Ikezoe Kyodo, is the only Chikudosha
teacher in Shikoku; he was originally a student of Suzuki Shodo, and then
became a student of Suzuki Teido's, and also of Fuji Jidou. Fuji sensei
often plays with the koto and shamisen master Yagi Keiji (now retired?).
He has brought Tokyo members and played with our local group twice in the
last decade down here in Kochi and several of us Kochi players had the good
fortune to accompany his group to Shanghai, China, two years ago to play in
a concert along with a Chinese traditional music orchestra. I've asked my
sensei to ask Fuji sensei for more detail about the group's history so that
perhaps they could be fitted into the Kinko lineage chart that the
International Shakuhachi Society has in its files. In answer to your last
question, about what part of the shakuhachi music I spend the most time
with, I've been spending the most time recently with the Kinko ryu Okuden
gaikyoku; I'm learning the piece Hagi No Tsuyu at present, but my personal
favorites are the Kinko ryu honkyoku; not only our group's versions of the
pieces but also others, especially Yokoyama Katsuya's interpretations of
the honkyoku -- and his tradition has pieces that are not included in our
repertoire. Best Wishes,
Dan
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