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A lot of you folks out there in places other than Japan are rather isolated
and on your own as far as shakuhachi and it's tradition and lore are
concerned. Hang in there and eventually you will have your own tradition
and lore. Bear in mind that shakuhachi have been played, some say, for
around 1,200 years in Japan, and that all of you live in countries where
shakuhachi has a history of less than one or two generations. It's going to
take a while to be able to walk and talk. In addition, you are living in a
culture other than Japanese with different cultural perceptions, ideas. The
whole of shakuhachi in a Japanese context simply will not fit your cultural
mold. So you have to take what sort of fits and and make up the rest as you
go along for the long haul.
In the meantime, there seems to be a real need for information, education,
experience. If someone or everyone wants to set up the wiki page Duke
suggested, many of us "old timers" would probably be able to offer things we
have learned and experienced. For now...
Tom's convention: Always write, when using Roman letters, the names of the
lower octave (otsu) notes Capitalized, only the first letter, like in Ro,
Tsu, Re, Chi, Ri and so on. Always write, when using Roman letters, the
names of the second octave (kan) as not capitalized like in ro, tsu, re,
chi, hi and so on. Always write the names of the third octave (dai kan)
with all letters CALITALIZED, like TSU, RE, CHI and so on.
Makes me feel there is also a real need for everyone to be able to write
shakuhachi notation in Japanese katakana symbols with a computer, vertically
on the page reading right to left, with all the various systems of time
notation available. Anyone possess a copy of Fontographer, about US$900
some time ago, and want to work up the software? Frequently, questions like
"How do you finger so and so?" need to be asked to expand the number of
alternative fingerings for a specified phrase. Anyone have a Great
Fingering Chart that lists many fingering positions, their relative pitches
and which could be added to. Some may have discovered fingering positions
that others have not experienced yet. All in all, there are lots of them,
some used for this music and some for that music. Some are responsive on
some flutes but don't respond at all on other flutes...
HOCHIKU vs. SHAKUHACHI
Some of you shakuhachi fans have asked about hochiku flutes so perhaps it is
time to put up some more detailed information such as it is now. Here is
the first try...based in part on discussions with Kodama Hiroyuki and
observations of his hochiku and hochiku by Endo Eiji, the other fellow using
hochiku nearby, and in part on experiences lived by just being in the
Japanese shakuhachi community for a long time.
First, to make it a little easier, let's call hochiku hochiku and
shakuhachi shakuhachi so that everyone knows what is what. The plural of
"hochiku" is "hochiku" and the plural of "shakuhachi" is "shakuhachi"!
Hochiku, or as some write, Hocchiku, flutes are always (except for the
exceptions) one piece flutes, without the familiar connecting joint near the
center of the length. Shakuhachi are almost always made in two pieces with
the joint near the center of the length. Any shakuhachi made in one piece
is called "nobe". The "be" of "nobe" sounds like the "ba" of "baby".
"Nobe" can be translated into English as "total".
Hochiku are usually much thicker (fatter) and longer than shakuhachi so are
commonly heavier than shakuhachi.
More often than not hochiku have no inlay material (buffalo horn, ivory,
plastic, whatever) at the mouthpiece. NOTE: "mouthpiece" is being changed
to "utaguchi". The plural of "utaguchi" is "utaguchi".
The angle of the utaguchi plane of hochiku is closer to perpendicular to the
length of the bamboo than utaguchi angles commonly seen on shakuhachi.
The size of the hole at the top of hochiku varies widely and can be quite
large while the size of the hole at the top of shakuhachi is very nearly the
same for all shakuhachi regardless of the length. The hole at the utaguchi
end of shakuhachi varies a bit among shakuhachi makers but nowadays there is
some consensus that things are generally easier when these open ends are all
nearly the same in internal size. The external size varies widely, of
course, depending on the fatness of the bamboo. What this means is that for
shakuhachi with large bores there will be a thin wall partially closing the
open end at the very top of the flute in the area where the shakuhachi is
placed against one's chin. This little wall is called "iki kaeshi". "Iki"
means breath and "kaeshi" means return. On some shakuhachi, and even
hochiku, a thin ring of bamboo is inserted into the utaguchi end to replace
part of the removed membrane and is then filed out in the area where the
breath is blown over the edge, leaving a sort of crescent shaped partial
ring of different color and texture. Sometimes material other than bamboo
is used to reduce the size of the opening at the utaguchi, car body putty,
resin, whatever.
Hochiku are mostly bamboo bores that have grown while shakuhachi are bamboo
and some other material bores that have been made. 0n certain occasions for
whatever reasons filling material is added to the grown bore while on other
occasions for perhaps other reasons bamboo material is removed from the
grown bore.
The membranes at the nodes of hochiku (on the inside) are removed to a
lesser degree than the membranes at the nodes of shakuhachi.
The node membranes of hochiku are usually visible while the node membranes
of shakuhachi are almost never visible.
The frequency of the lowest normal note (neither meru nor karu), Ro, of
hochiku is not adjusted to any specified frequency. The frequency of the
lowest normal note of shakuhachi is, these days, nearly always adjusted so
some specified frequency of the equal temperament scale.
The frequencies of the fingering positions for all notes, other than Ro, of
the open hole hochiku scale (Tsu, Re, Chi, Ri, Japanese Inakabushi Yosenpo)
are not adjusted to conform precisely to any musical scale, nor are they
adjusted to sound a specified musical distance from the basic tone (Ro).
These same notes of the shakuhachi are almost always adjusted to conform to
the the musical scale currently in vogue, nowadays, the equal temperament
scale with A4 somewhere between 440 and 445 hz, depending upon with whom one
is talking.
Finger hole location determination is about the the same for both hochiku
and shakuhachi, being in most cases a sort of good guess full of hope.
Hochiku, as bamboo flutes and as a term used and understood by Kodama, are
as long as or longer than about nishaku-gosun or rokusun. Some of the
shorter big fat flutes used by Watazumi would not be hochiku according to
Kodama. Further, what might be called semi-hochiku which have some but not
a lot of filler in the bore (some call them "ji-nashi" = without "ji" or
filler), could not be classes as hochiku by Kodama because of the added
filler.
Dinnertime; responses welcome, at your convenience, thank you.
Tom Deaver
Bei Shu Shakuhachi Workshop
http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~shaku100/
--MS_Mac_OE_3098970948_42422_MIME_Part
<HTML>
--MS_Mac_OE_3098970948_42422_MIME_Part--
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29
: Mon Feb 03 2003 - 09:09:51 PST
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Getting there</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
A lot of you folks out there in places other than Japan are rather isolated=
and on your own as far as shakuhachi and it's tradition and lore are concer=
ned. Hang in there and eventually you will have your own tradition and=
lore. Bear in mind that shakuhachi have been played, some say, for ar=
ound 1,200 years in Japan, and that all of you live in countries where shaku=
hachi has a history of less than one or two generations. It's going to=
take a while to be able to walk and talk. In addition, you are living=
in a culture other than Japanese with different cultural perceptions, ideas=
. The whole of shakuhachi in a Japanese context simply will not fit yo=
ur cultural mold. So you have to take what sort of fits and and make u=
p the rest as you go along for the long haul.<BR>
<BR>
In the meantime, there seems to be a real need for information, education, =
experience. If someone or everyone wants to set up the wiki page Duke =
suggested, many of us "old timers" would probably be able to offer=
things we have learned and experienced. For now...<BR>
<BR>
Tom's convention: Always write, when using Roman letters, the names o=
f the lower octave (otsu) notes Capitalized, only the first letter, like in =
Ro, Tsu, Re, Chi, Ri and so on. Always write, when using Roman letters=
, the names of the second octave (kan) as not capitalized like in ro, tsu, r=
e, chi, hi and so on. Always write the names of the third octave (dai =
kan) with <U>all</U> letters CALITALIZED, like TSU, RE, CHI and so on.<BR>
<BR>
Makes me feel there is also a real need for everyone to be able to write sh=
akuhachi notation in Japanese katakana symbols with a computer, vertically o=
n the page reading right to left, with all the various systems of time notat=
ion available. Anyone possess a copy of Fontographer, about US$900 som=
e time ago, and want to work up the software? Frequently, questions li=
ke "How do you finger so and so?" need to be asked to expand the n=
umber of alternative fingerings for a specified phrase. Anyone have a =
Great Fingering Chart that lists many fingering positions, their relative pi=
tches and which could be added to. Some may have discovered fingering =
positions that others have not experienced yet. All in all, there are =
lots of them, some used for this music and some for that music. Some a=
re responsive on some flutes but don't respond at all on other flutes...<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>
<U>HOCHIKU vs. SHAKUHACHI<BR>
</U><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<P>
Some of you shakuhachi fans have asked about hochiku flutes so perhaps it i=
s time to put up some more detailed information such as it is now. Her=
e is the first try...based in part on discussions with Kodama Hiroyuki and o=
bservations of his hochiku and hochiku by Endo Eiji, the other fellow using =
hochiku nearby, and in part on experiences lived by just being in the Japane=
se shakuhachi community for a long time.<BR>
<BR>
First, to make it a little easier, let's call hochiku hochiku and sha=
kuhachi shakuhachi so that everyone knows what is what.<FONT COLOR=3D"#FF0000"=
> The plural of "hochiku" is "hochiku" and the plu=
ral of "shakuhachi" is "shakuhachi"!<BR>
</FONT><BR>
Hochiku, or as some write, Hocchiku, flutes are <U>always</U> (except for t=
he exceptions) one piece flutes, without the familiar connecting joint near =
the center of the length. Shakuhachi are <U>almost</U> always made in =
two pieces with the joint near the center of the length. <U>Any</U> sh=
akuhachi made in one piece is called "nobe". The "be&qu=
ot; of "nobe" sounds like the "ba" of "baby". =
"Nobe" can be translated into English as "total".<=
BR>
<BR>
Hochiku are usually much thicker (fatter) and longer than shakuhachi so are=
commonly heavier than shakuhachi.<BR>
<BR>
More often than not hochiku have no inlay material (buffalo horn, ivory, pl=
astic, whatever) at the mouthpiece. <FONT COLOR=3D"#FF0000">NOTE: "=
mouthpiece" is being changed to "utaguchi". The plural =
of "utaguchi" is "utaguchi".<BR>
</FONT><BR>
The angle of the utaguchi plane of hochiku is closer to perpendicular to th=
e length of the bamboo than utaguchi angles commonly seen on shakuhachi.<BR>
<BR>
The size of the hole at the top of hochiku varies widely and can be quite l=
arge while the size of the hole at the top of shakuhachi is very nearly the =
same for all shakuhachi regardless of the length. The hole at the utag=
uchi end of shakuhachi varies a bit among shakuhachi makers but nowadays the=
re is some consensus that things are generally easier when these open ends a=
re all nearly the same in internal size. The external size varies wide=
ly, of course, depending on the fatness of the bamboo. What this means=
is that for shakuhachi with large bores there will be a thin wall partially=
closing the open end at the very top of the flute in the area where the sha=
kuhachi is placed against one's chin. This little wall is called "=
;iki kaeshi". "Iki" means breath and "kaeshi"=
means return. On some shakuhachi, and even hochiku, a thin ring of ba=
mboo is inserted into the utaguchi end to replace part of the removed membra=
ne and is then filed out in the area where the breath is blown over the edge=
, leaving a sort of crescent shaped partial ring of different color and text=
ure. Sometimes material other than bamboo is used to reduce the size o=
f the opening at the utaguchi, car body putty, resin, whatever.<BR>
<BR>
Hochiku are mostly bamboo bores that have grown while shakuhachi are bamboo=
and some other material bores that have been made. 0n certain occasio=
ns for whatever reasons filling material is added to the grown bore while on=
other occasions for perhaps other reasons bamboo material is removed from t=
he grown bore.<BR>
<BR>
The membranes at the nodes of hochiku (on the inside) are removed to a less=
er degree than the membranes at the nodes of shakuhachi.<BR>
<BR>
The node membranes of hochiku are usually visible while the node membranes =
of shakuhachi are almost never visible.<BR>
<BR>
The frequency of the lowest normal note (neither meru nor karu), Ro, of hoc=
hiku is not adjusted to any specified frequency. The frequency of the =
lowest normal note of shakuhachi is, these days, nearly always adjuste=
d so some specified frequency of the equal temperament scale.<BR>
<BR>
The frequencies of the fingering positions for all notes, other than Ro, of=
the open hole hochiku scale (Tsu, Re, Chi, Ri, Japanese Inakabushi Yosenpo)=
are not adjusted to conform precisely to any musical scale, nor are they ad=
justed to sound a specified musical distance from the basic tone (Ro).  =
;These same notes of the shakuhachi are almost always adjusted to conform to=
the the musical scale currently in vogue, nowadays, the equal temperament s=
cale with A4 somewhere between 440 and 445 hz, depending upon with whom one =
is talking.<BR>
<BR>
Finger hole location determination is about the the same for both hochiku a=
nd shakuhachi, being in most cases a sort of good guess full of hope.<BR>
<BR>
Hochiku, as bamboo flutes and as a term used and understood by Kodama, are =
as long as or longer than about nishaku-gosun or rokusun. Some of the =
shorter big fat flutes used by Watazumi would not be hochiku according to Ko=
dama. Further, what might be called semi-hochiku which have some but n=
ot a lot of filler in the bore (some call them "ji-nashi" =3D withou=
t "ji" or filler), could not be classes as hochiku by Kodama becau=
se of the added filler.<BR>
<BR>
Dinnertime; responses welcome, at your convenience, thank you.<BR>
<BR>
Tom Deaver<BR>
<BR>
Bei Shu Shakuhachi Workshop<BR>
<FONT COLOR=3D"#0000FF"><U>http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~shaku100/></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>