礫川餘光's interview with Tomimori Kyozan 3

Track 4

The interviewer: Is there any kinko player who today transmits the old former of playing?

Tomimori: Ummmmm. When it comes to honkyoku... Masters like Araki Chio-san played both classics and sankyoku well. But usually it is not easy unless they are really great masters. Miura Kindo-san played honkyoku well in kinko-ryu. He was a brother of Miura Kinnosuke who was the jiinokami (servant?) of the meiji tenno emperor. I visited to comfort him after the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred (in 1923) and found him still making shakuhachi including larger bore size flutes. I asked him if kinko people also play such sizes of shakuhachi. He answered, "honkyoku needs to be played on bigger bore flutes." Now kinko shakuhachi are much narrower. I wonder if many people today hope to have Miura Kindo's shakuhachi, cause someone said "if you find Miura Kondo shakuhachi, let me know. I would buy it for 300000 yen." Shakuhachi became quite expensive. Today, kinko-ryu people themselves say that none of kinko-ryu masters play honkyoku well. That should be impossible, as the emphasis is now placed on sankyoku performance. I think that's fine - they play sankyoku. If kinko-ryu people play myoan shakuhachi, then sankyoku players won't be enough in number. Then, this (money) dries up! (laugh) That's why it is impossible. So kinko-ryu honkyoku is like daijo (mahayana), and kinko-ryu people should acknowledge and make good use of it. When it comes to theater music and other kinds of music, kinko-ryu playing is better. When it comes to music offering, myoan would be better. Each has pros and cons....

礫川餘光's interview with Tomimori Kyozan 2

Track 3

So when the shakuhachi began to merge with the strings, the need to study scales emerged. Before the genroku (of the edo) period, people changed the lengths of shakuhachi to play in ensemble. However, after the genroku period, around the time of the first Kurosawa Kinko, 1.8 shakuhachi became the standard size. As a result, shakuhachi pieces needed to be transposed to different scales. Then, five scales of shakuhachi music emerged.

"Mukai Reibo" and "Koku Reibo" in kinko-ryu were transposed to the akebono scale. "Sanya Sugagaki" and "Kumoi Jishi" were transposed to the kumoi scale. These are very precious pieces, as they show traits of transposition and the five scales. The music score(s) of these pieces recorded around the time were also well written, much better than those of myoan shakuhachi. Half tones were also being used in kinko-ryu only after the meiji period. They were not used initially.

[Tomimori doesn't seem to explain well in the first part. He probably wants to point out that prior to the influence of strings, all the shakuhachi pieces were played in the same scale. Not sure about this]

Orchestra Asia

Around 4:35... Not my cup of tea. Makes me wonder to what extent the differences of underlying values were filled.

Funagawa Toshio 2

More recordings of Funagawa Toshio

Funagawa was born in Shimane in 1931, began tozan shakuhachi at the age of 16 with Matsuda Suizan. In 1956, the year when he received a shihan rank, he moved to Tokyo and studied Furukawa Taro, a koto player. He was awarded the first prize at the Tokyo Shinbun hogaku competition (composition) , the Minister of Education prize, and the NHK prize.

B-2 Koto quartet (three movements: 1 Moderato, 2 Lento, and 3 Allegro)
Shakuhachi by Miyata Kohachiro, plus koto, viola, and cello

B-1 Shakuhachi trio (four movements; 1, 2, 3, and 4)
Shakuhachi: Aoki Reibo, Miyata kohachiro, Yokoyama Katsuya

A-1 Suite: Izumoji (1. Kiyomizudera no boshiki; 2. Matsuri; 3. Shinjiko no yubae)
Shakuhachi: Yokoyama Katsuya, plus, two koto(s), and 17-string koto

A-2 Shakuhachi Quintet (two movements: 1 and 2)
Shakuhachi: Miyata Kohachiro, Yokoyama Katsuya, Aoki Reibo, plus koto (Haga Mikiko), and 17-string koto (Miyashita Shin)

A-3 Buson’s poetry (four movements titled with Buson’s poems)
Koto: Nakata Sonoko, Narrator: Funagawa Toshio

A-1 Satoru: Ensemble Concert for Two Shakuhachi and Groups (gun)
1. Shiru; 2. Sameru; 3. Oboeru; 4. Satoru
Solo shakuhachi: Aoki Reibo and Yokoyama Katsuya
Group shakuhachi: (Part 1) Sakata Seizan, Soekawa Hiroshi, Kanei Akio, Inoue Yoshinori, (Part 2) Kono Masaaki, Nagase Kenji, Furuya Teruo, (Part 2-2) Mitsuhashi Kifu, Seki Ichiro

B-1 For koto and sangen

B-2 Shiki no tsuki (four movements: 1, 2, 3, and 4)

A-2 Symphonic poem: Ocean

B-3 Fuku kyosokyoku (multi concert) for koto and shakuhachi
Conductor: Fukuda Kazuo, Shakuhachi: Funagawa Toshio, Koto: Haga Mikiko, and the hogaku ensemble

1. Hachidan, 2. Midare
3. 足をはずされた客車のうた