Japan update

Cranes and Mountains

August 2000

Pain penetrates deep for years. Burning, bladeful mind cuts me from the Source and feeling the agony of past wounds now. Every pore filled with the fire of living. This is the change. It is the healing. Slow healing. Faith in the pain. Relief is found in the forest purity. Looking up through pine and birch trees at the night sky my stars are fixed in the sea of darkness. Everything revolving around me on the central mountain where movement and stillness are one. This is my last year in Japan. Compression begins. Moonlight filtering through the smokey veil of clouds deep in this mountain village in Yamanashi, music and cicada soundwaves filling the air on this cool, windy summer night. Taiko, Brazillian Samba, Erhu, Gu zheng, Jazz...All these combinations in this field of time supported by the unseen. I'm pretty tired still from my trip to Vancouver, Canada for summer holiday. High points were seeing my wife, Sandra again....moving into our new apartment in North Vancouver, and playing and spending time with Take-san and Hoshi Bonchiku. Bonchiku sensei and I played at this year's Powell Street Festival. We spent many enjoyable hours practicing for the show. We only had 45 minutes to play so we decided to play one honkyoku each then end with a semi-improvisation piece. I played Tsuru no Sugomori (Crane's Nesting) first. Then Bonchiku sensei played Echigo Meian Sanya. The last piece was a mixed duet piece of Shika no Tone and Take by Yamamoto Hozan and improvisation with me on didgeridoo and Tibetan bell and Bonchiku sensei on shakuhachis. I also had a nice time spending time with friends. I apologize to all those in Vancouver whom I didn't get a chance to call and say hi. My vacation was much too short! Now back in Japan I'm getting ready for a solo performance (shakuhachi and didgeridoo) I'm giving up in the north in Tohoku, Sendai on August 24, as well as the next Shin Jin Okete Shakuhachi Competition on August 26.

There seems to be with me an interesting relationship with the piece Tsuru no Sugomori. I first heard this piece several years ago on a CD by Kohachiro Miyata which moved me deeply. I immediately tried to copy it from the CD and spent the next several years trying to develop and deepen this piece in me. I learned the Oshu-den version from Furuya sensei which I love very much. Recently I heard an old recording (maybe 50 years ago) of Watazumi-do playing Tsuru no Sugomori when he was named Iccho Hakata which was great too. The crane also appeared in the form of the master biwa player, Tsuruta Kinchi (Tsuruta meaning "Crane Field") who moved me deeply with her piece, Atsumori which inspired me to take Biwa lessons. As you know, she is connected with Yokoyama-sensei from their performances of November Steps. Anyways, I will be playing Tsuru no Sugomori (Oshu-den) for the Second Annual Shin Jin Okete (Shakuhachi competition for new players under 39) in Tokyo this weekend. I'll give you details after the contest......

Second Annual Shin Jin Okete 8/26

Back in the same auditorium in Mizue, Tokyo where the last shakuhachi competition was being held. Many of the same people from last year are here. But I see a few new faces which is nice. I think I have a good shot at getting first this time.

I love the feeling of being with so many shakuhachi people and the fact that these young folks are playing is great. I'm excited to hear how much improvement some of the participants from last year have made. Like last year, we had to all pick from a bag to see in which order we were to proceed. Approaching the bag with folded pieces of paper, I had an intuitive feeling I would be the first one, and.....to my shock a number one was written on my paper! What a tense position to be in. The good thing about it is that I can get it over with and watch every one of the performances. Anyways, I only had one hour to warm up and get into my kimono. Good thing this piece is internalized or I'd risk embarassing myself on stage. I was surprised again to see Christopher Yohmei Blasdel emerge from back stage. I gave him a hug and discovered he was one of the judges! Totally unexpected. I credit Christopher for pointing me towards some important portals that led me to this point in my shakuhachi career. We met for the first time at a performance he had in an old, misty temple in Kyoto 6 years ago. He's never heard me really play yet so this was a good time for him to finally hear me. Furuya-sensei, Yonezawa Hiroshi, and Sugawara Kuniyoshi were judges again. The two new new ones were Christopher Blasdel and Tanabe Retsuzan. 15 minutes till showtime...Surprisingly, I was not as nervous as last year, perhaps because I've played Sugomori so many times in the past 5 years. The story of the cranes is imbedded in my heart and mind. Plus, I've worked on my "tabane" (fluttering technique using the throat) to an acceptable standard. 5 minutes to go....stretching muscles and tendons, blood rushing through freely....I must merge with the cranes.....It's time.

Dawn. As the warm nest begins to stir the sun peeks over the horizon slowly and steadily rises to light up the world. The mother and father crane let out the first cry to usher in the new day. Little fledgling cranes make tentative, awkward movements as they wake from deep sleep. Father crane wounded from a battle wound stays in the nest to care and protect the babies. Mother crane goes out and gathers the food. She too is wounded from an arrow from a hunter's bow. She climbs out of the nest and spreads her beautiful wings and takes off in glorious flight crying in joy to be free to fly. She goes out and collects food then enjoys the pleasure of riding the winds. When she returns to the nest, father crane is dying from his wound and decides to leave and go to the crane graveyard to die in solitude. Mother crane cries for the loss of her husband and says goodbye. She is left alone to raise the baby cranes. When the children are old enough to leave the nest to start their own families, mother crane goes to the crane graveyard on the central mountain to die, and be reunited with her husband.

My concentration was suddenly disrupted by the sudden female voice on the speaker telling me that my alloted 4 minutes was over, but I kept playing and finished the piece, albeit a bit rushed since my mind felt time pressure. Since I was over the time limit by a few seconds I thought I was out of the running for sure. I was happy to see Kakizakai-sensei there with his wife Megu. Although they missed my performance, they witnessed the announcement of the prizes and watched me receive it. On September 2, Kakizakai-sensei will have a workshop comparing and demonstrating the piece, "Yamagoe" (Going Over the Mountain), of Watazumi-do, Yokoyama, and himself. I won't miss that one.

While the judges were tallying the scores, there was a small competition of who could blow the loudest "otsu no ro" (lowest D note on the 1.8 shakuhachi). The organizers used some computer software developed by a doctor in Kyushu to measure the sound. But apparently it wasn't working properly so the results were questionable. Anyways, it was a fun activity.

Afterwards all the judges came out onstage and announced the top three winners. Third place went to Aoki Yasuharu who played Tamuke (Offering), one of the most holy pieces of the honyoku. He played it wonderfully. I got second. The Middle Path. Perfect. This money will pay for my plane to Kumamoto for the all-Japan Hogaku (Traditional Japanese Music) Competition on October 22 which is a bigger competition comprising of not only shakuhachi but biwa, koto, and shamisen as well. I'm really excited about it. I'll be playing Sugomori for that one, too. First place went to Obama Akihito who played a beautiful "Daha no Kyoku" (Pounding Wave Piece), one of my favorite pieces in the honkyoku repetoir.

Last year, the top three were all modern pieces. This year honkyoku dominated the scene which made me feel great. Honkyoku is the ultimate, essential shakuhachi sound. It seems that the judges this time were looking more at an overall performance presentation (e.g. stage prescence, expression, dress, emotion, power, sensitivity) rather than just technical skill. Again I was the only one wearing kimono (and ironically the only foreigner in the competition) which is too bad, since I think it would be a much more interesting show if everyone wore their own, distinct garb (Japanese outfit preferred!), instead of jeans and a t-shirt or some other western garment. I was impressed with many other players who I thought would win. But I was especially moved by Tamoki Yuko who played the lovely honkyoku piece, Kumoi Jishi. Although there were some technical weaknesses in the piece (and she didn't wear Japanese clothes), she played it totally from the heart with perfect pitch. And to see this beautiful woman play with such passion and power was rare and wonderful. It was great to see such improvement in the players from last year.

At the reception party, everyone was in a jovial mood exchanging name cards and talking to the judges about how to improve their playing. It was a light hearted and humourous affair to hear shakuhachi players who were drunk from the beer to play shakuhachi to dance music and karaoke tunes. One guy started to pop-lock (a form of street dancing popularized by Michael Jackson) during one of the karaoke songs. I was rolling on the floor, it was so funny. After the reception party, I had dinner with Carl and Veronique. Carl is from Australia studying shakuhachi with Kakizakai-sensei for several months in Chichibu. Veronique just came from France recently on an 18 month scholarship from the French Governemnt to study shakuhachi.

Out of nowhere the roots emerge between empty spaces of minute particles of elemental chains. The pure energy of vibration bouncing off flegdgling illusions, mirrors, reflecting the Source. Eternity in a single grain of mountain holds the root in place, steady as the urge upward and outward consumes this being, a starburst in the realm of emptiness. The sections follow their own wayward path, dictated by the mysterious mover. From the dark nothingness of concentrated filters, the first break into a new world, reaching for the fullness of airlife, starlight, and the core sounds of the Deep. Compression begins.