I had quite an action packed week. Aside from the ASCLEPIUS rehearsals, shakuhachi repairs, a private lesson with Riley Lee, I also taught a Shakuhachi making workshop at my apartment.

I have been teaching others how to make an all natural bamboo flute since 2003. I started with friends then word of mouth spread and I soon began to teach privately for to those who inquired. By 2006, I started presenting workshops in universities, colleges and as a guest artist in two of Michael Chikusen Gould’s Shakuhachi Ro camps. I offered my first public workshop in New York City in February 2009 and the response was so great that I recently organized a small workshop at my apartment.

My style, or approach to making, is influenced from the Dokyoku style of playing and making that I studied under Kinya Sogawa. Dokyoku is the style of Zen Honkyoku music the famous Komuso monk Watazumio started. He decided to bring the shakuhachi experience back to it’s origins by playing the most organic flutes possible. He called these flutes HOCCHIKU - Darma bamboo. Hocchiku are made in antithesis to the modern, fabricated bore shakuhachi. Unlike the modern flutes, Hocchiku are made without plaster (Ji paste), lacquer, or utaguchi inlay. These flutes can be more challenging compared with the modern shakuhachi since the bore is not work meticulously for tuning, balance and response. But for those indoctrinated into Dokyoku music played on the natural flute, the struggle to maintain the precarious state of the music is all part of the process. For beginners. it’s just a raw bamboo flute with an earthy sound and natural whispy vibrations. Please know that Hocchiku are not crudely made flutes. There is still an amount of tuning done by nodal removal, root opening and finger hole fashioning. These all affect the playability and tuning and can make or break a flute.

The typical Yung Flutes Shakuhachi making workshop lasts around 3 hours. In that time frame anyone can make an all natural bamboo shakuhachi. The participants in the photos all created fully functional flute (I must say I was quite impressed with their concentration and ability to learn how to use the tools so quickly.Must be the shakuhachi practice!) The next step for them would be the fine tuning process. This process can be relatively short but can take years. This all depends upon the playing skills of the owner. In order to make a superb playing shakuhachi, the maker needs to be a superb player.

Feel free to contact me through the contact section if you are interested in making your own bamboo shakuhachi. I can take you from a simple shakuhachi flute all the way to a professional level instrument. My making lessons are taught very much like my playing lessons, geared towards the individuals needs and goals.

Namaste. Perry