Zach awry in Japan

« Previous | Next »

28 August 2007 A Weekend of Shakuhachi

I spent the weekend with my shakuhachi teacher, Taniguchi-sensei. It was nice to go up there, as I haven’t been up in about six months. I usually try to go every few months, but the birth of Zoe made it hard to make time. When most people learn an instrument they take weekly lessons, but I go up for 1-2 full days every few months. During this time we spend 6-8 hours each day playing, which I think is actually better than practicing together just for a little while every week. He puts me up at his inn, feeds me, brings me to hotsprings during the evenings, and spends the entire day or weekend teaching me, all for free. For this reason he has very few students. Probably less than five at any given time. So, I’m very honored to be one of them, especially because I think he’s the best player alive (and I’ve heard a lot).

I was particularly pleased this time because a piece I have been working on for the past seven years finally earned a star of approval from him. Of course, it’s the hardest piece in the repertoire and I began learning it when I could hardly play at all, but it’s always been my favorite song and the theory is if you can play that you can play anything. The piece, called San-An, or “safe birth,” is a centuries old piece played by itinerant zen monks for alms as a prayer for safe birth. When I first started playing it he said my version was more like “incredibly difficult labor,” but I’ve now clawed and scrambled my way up to a reasonably safe birth after all these years, and I’m very happy about it. To stretch the analogy entirely too far, if I am now at a 2-hour or so labor ending in a happy healthy baby (which, coincidentally, was how Zoe popped out), Taniguchi’s version is so good he’s about a 30 second labor resulting in Superbaby. Still, he said I’m now good enough to play in front of people without being embarrassed, and I can spend the rest of my life polishing, which is just what I intend to do.

UPDATE: Although I assume most people who visit this blog know what a shakuhachi is, I’ve now updated the entry with a link to Wikipedia. Also, here is an old recording of my teacher playing an old folk song at a recital at Oberlin when he was a guest professor there.

Taniguchi-sensei, his wife Machiko, and a 150-year old (estimated) happy and healthy woman who works at the inn.

 

The entrance hall, stuffed with various Buddhas and Boddhisatvas. I really want that big life-sized fat guy on the right.

 

The view right outside the inn, which is in the boonies. The sign reads “Don’t throw cans in the rice field.”