The "Zen Shakuhachi" Historical Evidence Research Web Pages

WELCOME ☺ INTRODUCTION

Unveiling & Verifying the Actual Historical Origins & Unique Secrets
of Ascetic Shakuhachi Traditions, Ideologies & Practices

Introduction & Guide to the Critical Study and Substantiation of Early Ascetic Shakuhachi Culture in Particular: Historical Chronology, Philology, Etymology, Vocabulary, Terminology, Concepts, Ideology, Iconology & Practices

- by Danish/Icelandic Torsten Mukuteki Olafsson, Elsinore, North Sealand: Multimusician, composer, music editor, graphics designer, japanologist, shakuhachi historian, writer & lecturer

'SUI-ZEN' "Translated" to English as "Blowing Zen" ... ?

- Well, first of all: The word "Zen" does not explain anything, at all - in itself!

No, really ... ☺ Using the same word or term in a "translation" as in the original text
is not a "translation", the result is devoid of meaning.

A more proper, academically and philogically fitting "interpretation" of 'Sui-zen' could be:
"Flute-blown Meditation", or "Flute-driven Mental Training".

The Japanese 'kanji' for 'sui' is also used in the verb 'fuku', "吹く", "to blow", both when f.i. the wind is blowing, 'kaze ga fuku', "風が吹く", or when you blow and play a wind instrument, 'kangakki wo fuku', "管楽器を吹く",
'Sui-zen' could also be re-phrased and read as "Shakuhachi Asceticism", or "Ascetic Bamboo Flute Practice".
Or, even better: Do not "translate" - just leave 'Suizen' as it is, and explain it in a note, instead.

"Asceticism" comes from Greek "áskesis" and means "Exercise, Training" - which is potentially the equivalent of Japanese 'Shu-gyō', "修行", "Ascetic Practices, Mental Training", and 'Shūyō', "修養", "Self-Improvement, Cultivation".

The term and concept 'Sui-zen' was invented only as late as after 1950, among a small group of both "genuine" Buddhist monks and practitioners of the Taizan-ha Way of Shakuhachi of the Myōan Temple in Kyōto.

So, obviously, 'Sui-zen' could never have been practiced at anytime before 1950, be that during the Edo Period, 1603-1868, nor even less during the 13th century, as more and more writers and websites keep postulating.
'Sui-zen', therefore, can not be described as an "ancient tradition". Period ☺

However, sadly so, with the 1974 release of the Columbia Japan KX 7001-03 triple-LP set 'Sui-zen', that new "fancy term" very soon went viral and nothing but "New Age fashion", first spreading within shakuhachi circles in Japan, then disseminating in the West, too, the term becoming more and more diluted, while its original semantics and "ideological essence" have now, eventually, been pretty much lost - not least "thanks to" that "fraudful" WWW Internet, as well.

Read more about 'Suizen' history matters here - an ongoing research project, updated on April 20, 2021, now with a new webpage file name:

1950s ... : The Origin of 'Suizen' at Kyōto Myōan-ji:
     Kobayashi Shizan, Tomimori Kyozan,
     Tanikita Muchiku, Yasuda Tenzan,
     Hirazumi Taizan, Koizumi Ryōan,
     Fukumoto Kyoan, Yoshimura Sōshin a.o.

Links to closely related webpages:

1852: Kyōto Myōan-ji's 32nd 'Kansu' Rodō Genkyō's
     Commandments Regarding Komusō Begging Practice
     and 'Sui-teki shugyō' - and the Possible Origin
     of the Now so Much Favored Term 'Suizen'?

1974 ...: Misleading 'Suizen' & "Shakuhachi Meditation"
     Information & Assertions, East & West
     - Presented in Western Languages

1861 ... : Shakuhachi, Fuke & Komusō Narratives
     Authored and Published in Western Languages

Last updated on April 21, 2021

Re future website updates ...

This website is solidly based on decades-long academic, Japanological and philological studies, experience and historical research.

More updates and menu-expansions are planned for Spring/Summer, 2021.

'Fuke', 'Kakushin', 'Komusō' & ... 'Suizen'?
No Proven Historical Connections Exist at All!

Forget It! No Proof, No Common Sense at Play There ...

The findings and conclusions presented on these research web pages are all based on
the actual concrete surviving, academically trustworthy written and pictorial source materials:

'Fuke', known as the monk 'P'u-k'o' in 9th century Buddhist T'ang China, most probably never even lived, to be frank.
Anyhow, how about the "idea" that some Chinese flute player named Chang would really have made up a melody, allegedly inspired by Fuke's ringing a monk beggar's bell, that could ever have survived til' this very day, in Japan?
Of course: Evidence for that, stretching over a timespan of almost 1200 years, is absolutely non-existant.

'Kakushin' lived in 13th century Japan and could never have imagined how, about 4 centuries later, his good name and reputation was destined to suffer from being fraudfully "hi-jacked"/"kidnapped" to play a very central role in a grand fake 'shakuhachi' "history" fabrication fraud executed by a steadily growing number of desperate unemployed 'samurai' warrior class members becoming "half-lay half-monk" beggars.

So called 'komusō' "Pseudo-Monks of Non-Duality and Noneness" did not appear in Japan until after the middle decades of the 17th century at the earliest.

The concept of 'Suizen' was introduced into "modern" 'shakuhachi' ideology only after 1950 by a small group of genuine Buddhist monks and Myōan Taizan-ha shakuhachi ascetics at the then newly inaugurated, rehabilitated 'Kyorei-zan Myōan-ji', now located in SE Kyōto within the compounds of the Tōfuku Zen Temple.

Those are the plain and simple facts.

The Top 15 List of Truly Embarrassing Shakuhachi History Fabrications,
     Falsifications, Untruths, Lies ... & Fancy Fairy Tales

There exists no proof nor even the slightest suggestive historical evidence of any kind that
any of the below listed widespread, common claims and statements are "true", have any
"Merit on Earth", whatsoever!


Untruth #1 - 'Suizen' is "an ancient tradition of playing Japanese bamboo flute
     as a form of meditation" ...

Untruth #2 - A "Fuke Sect" was founded by a 9th century Chinese monk named 'Pu-hua' ...

Untruth #3 - A flute melody titled 'Kyorei' was created by some Chinese civilian named
     'Chang Po' in the early 9th century ...

Untruth #4 - A Japanese Shingon monk nicknamed 'Kakushin' brought 'Kyorei' to Japan
     accompanied by four "Buddhist laymen" - and then "invented" 'Suizen' ...

Untruth #5 - A disciple of Kakushin's named 'Kichiku' created two flute tunes titled
     'Mukaiji' and 'Kokū' ...

Untruth #6 - Kichiku's disciple 'Myōfu' established a "temple" in 1335 and called it 'Myōan-ji' ...

Untruth #7 - A defeated Japanese samurai general became the first so called 'komusō' ...

Untruth #8 - A Japanese dictator granted special privileges to 'komusō' in 1614 ...

Untruth #9 - 'Komusō' formed a "Buddhist sect" titled 'Fuke-shū' in the early 1600s ...

Untruth #10 - 'Komusō' blew a bamboo flute named 'shakuhachi' for "meditation"
     since the early 1600s ...

Untruth #11 - A 'komusō' "temple" was founded on the Southern island Kyūshū in 1640 ...

Untruth #12 - A "Buddhist sect" titled 'Fuke-shū' was officially acknowledged in 1677 ...

Untruth #13 - By the eighteenth century, the mendicant monks - who now called themselves
     komusō 'monks of emptiness' - - - were divided into about eighty regional temples
     around the country ...

Untruth #14 - The Myōan-ji in Kyōto "was founded by the 'komusō' and Zen master Kichiku
     (known honorarily as Kyochiku Zenji)" ...

Untruth #15 - The Myōan-ji in Kyōto "is the former headquarters and the premier pilgrimage
     site of the Fuke sect of Rinzai Zen" ...


And so, and so, and so on ... there's no end to it - none of the above never, ever happened ...


We in the West, outside of Japan, those many of us who once - more than 50 years ago - became fascinated with that enchanting, mesmerizing sound of the shakuhachi - we were both misled and even downright fooled from the very beginning, sadly speaking.

And the deception continues to govern the scene, getting worse and worse, on and on!

A Truly Sad Situation: How Many More Lies Can You Keep On Believing In ... ?
Why Are So Many Still Lying About Ascetic Shakuhachi Cultural History & Ideology ... ?

No matter what you may call it, these are the plain facts:

Overall conclusion that has manifested itself
     as an inevitable result of the present research project

The asserted history and alleged characteristics of Ascetic Shakuhachi Culture in Japan have been most purposefully "constructed" since the very early beginnings.

This more or less constantly ongoing activity of deliberate source falsification, forging and fanciful myth fabrication is taking place still, this very day - generated by "professionals" and "amateurs" alike, inside as well as outside of Japan - be they both shakuhachi musicians and players, musicologists and "history" writers, book editors and publishers - beside a wide variety of enough so sincerely devoted shakuhachi "admirers" in general.

Very little indeed of what you can find and read in most of the books and articles, in phonogram cover notes and on the internet - be that on websites or weblogs presented in a variety of languages - can actually be soberly corroborated when first one is investigating the totality of known, preserved text and picture source materials etc. - the multitude, comprehensiveness and complexity of which is not only aweinspiring but truly terrifying.

The very most central and important fact having now been revealed is that there were absolutely no socalled komusō, 虚無僧, "Pseudo-monks of Non-Duality & None-ness", in existence and action in Japan before the middle decades of 17th century, at the earliest!

Neither did the Edo Period 'komusō' in their writings about themselves, nor any outsiders writing about the 'komusō', present, document and share any kind of specific, collective and descriptive term for any ascetic use of the 'shakuhachi' for "mind-body enlightenment therapeutic" purposes - a.k.a. "meditation" in the West.

Anything like that only became "reality" in Japan after 1950, when 'Suizen' was, eventually, invented and established by the Myōan Temple in Kyōto to characterize and represent the extraordinary original ascetic shakuhachi culture celebrated and preserved within the circles of the Myōan Taizan-ha Tradition of 'Fuke Shakuhachi'.

'Shugyō' & 'Shūyō' Shakuhachi
     versus
'Ensō' & 'Gikō' Shakuhachi

"Ascetic" & "Self-Cultivation" Shakuhachi Breathing
     versus
"Entertainment" & "Show-Off" Shakuhachi Fingering?

     - Do You Know - and Appreciate - the Difference, Possibly, at All ... ?

FU-SHŌ FU-METSU

"NON-BORN NON-PERISHED"

According to Yamamoto Morihide who compiled and partly authored the famous 1795 Kyōto publication Kyotaku denki kokujikai, 虚鐸傳記国字解, this definitely the most fundamental principle underlying the teachings of all the schools of Mahayana Buddhism, including Chinese Ch'an and Japanese "Zen", was meant to be calligraphed on the wooden board that was, allegedly, placed on the grave of a deceased 'komusō', 虚無僧, a "Pseudo-Monk of Non-Duality & None-ness".

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MYŌ-AN SŌSŌ

"The Myō-an Pair of Light & Darkness Duality"

明頭来 明頭打
暗頭来 暗頭打
四方八面来 旋風打
虚空来 連架打

"The Bright Aspect of Duality appears,
The Bright Aspect of Duality hits,
The Dark Aspect of Duality appears,
The Dark Aspect of Duality hits,
Appearing from Anywhere & Everywhere,
A Whirlwind hits,
Non-Duality appears - a Knife cuts through ..."

虚空, 'Ko-Kū': "Empty Sky"/"Emptiness" = "Absence of Duality" = "Non-Duality"

Ascetic shakuhachi practice is, simply, nothing but training and freeing yourself to non-egoistically appreciate the Essentially Non-Dual Nature of Ultimate Reality.

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT as of June 28, 2020 (renewed)

SHIRYŌ / SHIRYŌ

Historical Materials Like Documents & Pictures etc.
= Documentary Evidence = Possible "Proof" or Possible "Disproof",
or Sometimes Only "Un-Proof" ...
i.e In Full Recognition of "The Three Logical States", namely,
1) Proven, 2) Disproved or 3) Unproven.

During the course of 2020, a major expansion of this website is being prepared, realized and eventually publicized, case by case, step by step, web page by web page.

Many hitherto largely unnoticed surviving source texts and essential quotations are now continuously being added to this site, not least dating from the middle years of the 1600s, the time when the so called 'komusō', 虚無僧, the "Pseudo-monks of the Non-Dual & None-ness", made their actual very first appearances in Japan.

Do note, that this website and the research project being illuminated here is presenting textual and pictorial documentary evidence ("facts") while, not least:

Debunking plain fiction, mere speculation, romantic wishful thinking, and utter non-truth.

Remember: We can only "know" and should only publicly share information that can be convincingly evidenced and proven, disproved - or un-proven - from truthfully and honestly presented, logically analyzed, and credible surviving source materials.

So, for any claim & mere postulation that anyone may make and share regarding shakuhachi history, ideology and practices in general - and shakuhachi asceticism in particular:

Show us your proof, the absolutely irrefutable textual and pictorial evidence of yours - if any such really exists?

Cheers ☺ Torsten Mukuteki Olafsson, Denmark

Prof. YOSHIDA MITSUKUNI, 吉田光邦, stating in a private conversation in March, 1977:

'Zen to shakuhachi: Kankei ga zenzen nai.'

     - "Zen and Shakuhachi (?): There's no connection at all!"

     - Yoshida Mitsukuni, 1921-1991:
Since 1977 a highly esteemed professor of Science & Technology at Kyōto University who also wrote outstanding books and artcles on Japanese Arts and Aesthetics.
Quoted from a private communication in Spring, 1977

On this website and in this research project the UTTER NON-ZEN-se in traditional komusō shakuhachi music "historianship" is being investigated and exposed ☺

The CENTRAL 6 W's:

WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? WHO? HOW? WHY?

何事  何所  何時  何者  何様  何故

- those are the serious issues and proper questions to be truly honestly addressed and most soberly replied to ...

THE ESSENCE of ASCETIC SHAKUHACHI IDEOLOGY and PRACTICES:

Fu-ni Fu-shō Mu-ku-teki Shugyō Shakuhachi Suizen

Non-Dual Un-Born No Hole Flute Ascetic Practice Bamboo Flute Breathing Contemplation

ADVAITA ("Non-Duality") & NIRVANA ("Perfect Stilness", lit.: 'Breathed Out'):

The Ultimate Original Inspiration for Shakuhachi Asceticism

"Nirvana is a freeing from the chains of a false sense of individuality.
Nirvana is a state of nonduality (Advaita or Advaya);
a state where the illusion of a false sense of "I" (Parikalpita Swabhava, Fen-bie-xing – in Chinese) does not exist.

Expressed differently, liberation from the illusion of separateness
of the individual Self from the Whole is Nirvana.
Freedom is, Nirvana is, Truth is."

     Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya, 2019

Latest update as of November 11, 2020:

Latest updates as of November 3, 2020:

Latest update as of October 24, 2020 - important additions re the terms
'kisoku shugyō' (1818), 'sui-teki shugyō' (1852), 'sui-shō-zen' (1930),
and - 'suizen' (after 1950):

Latest update as of October 18, 2020 - significant new web page:

Latest update as of August 21, 2020 - significant new web page:

Latest update as of August 18, 2020 - significant new web page:

Latest update as of July 24, 2020 - more information added:

Latest update as of July 12, 2020 - commentary expanded:

Latest update as of July 7, 2020 - a new comprehensive web page:

Latest update as of July 5, 2020 - more text and links added:

Latest update as of July 4, 2020 - about the Komusō bath house temples:

Latest update as of July 1, 2020 - new web page:

Latest update as of June 30, 2020 - web page expanded:

Latest update as of June 29, 2020 - more text added:

Latest updates as of June 27, 2020:
The monumental Meiji Period encyclopedia Koji ruien
and its biased and deceptive selection of sources about 'Fuke-shū' and 'Shakuhachi'

Latest updates as of June 21, 2020 - new text quotations presented:

Latest updates as of June 16, 2020:

Latest updates as of May 20, 2020 - new texts:

Latest updates as of May 20, 2020 - important new information and pictures added:

Latest update as of April 14, 2020 - a new web page:

Latest update as of April 5, 2020 - a new web page further updated:

ZEN-SHAKUHACHI.DK WEBSITE ANNUAL STATISTICS
Feb. 11, 2019, to Feb. 10, 2020

zen-shakuhachi.dk website full year statistics for Feb. 11, 2019, to Feb. 10, 2020: Visits

ZEN-SHAKUHACHI.DK WEBSITE WEEKLY STATISTICS Nov. 19 to Nov. 26, 2019

zen-shakuhachi.dk website one week statistics for Nov. 19 to Nov. 26, 2019: Visits

Who was the very first so called 'komusō',
     - "Pseudo-Monk of the Non-Dual & None-ness"?

     - When, Where - Why?

When was the very first so called komusō "temple" established?

     - Where, by Whom - and Why? How was it financed?

Did you know that some, many, maybe even all of the so called Edo Period
"komusō temples" were in fact "professional bath house temples"?

     - How come that that has always been kept quite a deep secret?

Do you really - seriously - believe that all Edo Period
'komusō' were "Rinzai Zen Buddhist Devotees"
- and: even "Rinzai Zen Buddhist Priests"?

     - How could that in any logical way have been the case? Show us the evidence, please ...

Who created the very first 'Konjiku', or "Root-end", Shakuhachi?

     - When, Where - Why?

Who created the very first 'Honkyoku' - the ascetic shakuhachi solos of the 'komusō'?

     - When, Where - why?

Was the so called 'Fuke Shūmon', "Fuke Sect Religious Denomination", ever
in any way a true, genuine "Sect of Rinzai Zen Buddhism"?

     - No, to be completely honest: That is simply impossible. Forget it.

KOMO-SŌ, FUKE-SŌ, FUKE-KOMOSŌ - or KOMU-SŌ?

     - That's the Question!

The history of the komusō and the so called "Fuke Shakuhachi Tradition" is first of all
a deliberately deceptive pseudo-historical narrative of continuous fabrication and very purposeful falsification of alleged "written evidence", from the very Beginnings till the very Present.

Rōnin KOMUSŌ - Takuhatsu KOMUSŌ - O'Furo KOMUSŌ
- Honkyoku KOMUSŌ - Kabuki KOMUSŌ

     - Do You Know the Difference - How to Distinguish?

KOMO-SŌ

薦僧

Era of the "Mat Monks": c. 1470? to c. 1550

1494:



'Komosō' "mat monk" in 'Sanjūni-ban shokunin uta-awase emaki'.
Date of original: 1494. Kōsetsu-bon edition, detail.
Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo.
Source: Wikipedia, Japan.

FUKE KOMO-SŌ/FUKE-SŌ

普化薦僧 / 普化菰僧 / 普化僧

Era of the "Fuke Mat Monks" / "Fuke Monks": c. 1550 to 1628? (or c. 1640?)


c. 1550-1560:

   

Details from the 'Ryūmon bunko no Setsuyōshū'
Here, for the first time in "recorded history", we see the two characters for the 9th century Chinese Ch'an/Zen monk 'Fuke' to be pronounced as 'Fuke'+'sō', フケ 僧, "Fuke monk",
and presented as being synonymous with 'komo-sō', コモ 僧, "Mat monk".

Library of Nara Women's University
Mid-1500s - precise date unclear

Second half of the 16th Century:



'Komosō' playing a short 'hitoyogiri' flute in a street
Detail of section 4 of the folding screen
'Tsukinami fūzoku-zu byōbu'
"Screen with Genre Scenes of the Twelve Months"
Anonymous, late Muromachi Period (2nd half of 16th century).
Source: Tokyo National Museum

Early Edo/Kan'ei Period before 1630:




Painting of a Parasol-maker & Two Fuke-komosō
by Iwasa Matabei, 1578-1650.

An "important work of art" dating from the early Edo Period,
17th century, before 1630.

Official however highly questionable museological title of the work:
傘張 り • 虚無僧図
'Kasa-hari • komusō-zu',
"Picture of an Umbrella Maker & Komusō".
Source: The Nezu Art Museum, Tōkyō.

KOMUSŌ

Era of the Edo Period "Pseudo-Monks of the Non-Dual & None-ness":
1628? (or c. 1640?) to November 30, 1871


1658:

KYŌ WARABE by NAKAGAWA KIUN



Two wandering vertical flute players in a Kyōto street
Possible very early Edo Period 'komusō' -
"Pseudo-Monks of the Non-Dual & None-ness"?
In: the 'Kyō warabe' by Nakagawa Kiun
The Remembering the Capital Archive, Kyōto

Source URL: Frame 13 in Volume 4 of the 'Kyō warabe'.
Source: The Remembering the Capital Archive, Kyōto.

1661 or 1665:



Two 'komusō' playing, thin vertical flutes.
In: 'Ukiyo monogatari', 1661 or 1665 - Maki/Vol. 4, Story 3.
By Asai Ryōi.
Source: Exact original version unknown.


1690:



Two 'komusō' playing long, thick root-end shakuhachi flutes.
In: 'Jinrin kinmō zu-i', 1690 - Maki/Vol. 2.
By Makieshi Genzaburō & Atsuo Masamune.
Source: The Kyōto University Library.


1791:



Woodcut print of a 'komusō' receiving alms.
In: 'Yamato meisho zue', "Pictures from Famous Places in Japan".
Illustration by Takehara Shinkei, 1791.
Source: The National Museum of Denmark, Department of Ethnography, Copenhagen.
Photo reproduction by John Lee.

1806:



Wood cut print of a 'komusō' by Katsushika Hokusai, 1760-1849.
No. 53, 'Kusatsu', in: 'Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi',
"53 Stations of the Tōkaidō", 1806 edition.
Source: www.hokusai-katsushika.org

1864:



"Japanischer Bettler als Klarinettbläser".
"A Japanese Beggar as Clarinet Player".
Komusō in Gustav A. Spieß, 1864, page 201.

This is but the second oldest known Western picture of a performing shakuhachi-playing beggar lay monk. It was printed from an engraving based on an original photograph taken in 1861 somewhere in Nagasaki in SW Japan by either August Sachtler or John Wilson during the visit there of the official Prussian Expedition to Japan, 1860-61.
Source: Gustav A. Spieß, 1864.

MYŌAN KYŌKAI KOMUSŌ

Era of the Myōan Society "Pseudo-Monks of the Non-Dual & Noneness": 1890 to 1950

Probably around 1900:



Early Myōan Society komusō by an unknown photographer. Possibly around 1900.
Source: flickr.com.

Early 1900s:



Hand-coloured 'Myōan Kyōkai Komusō' photograph by Nobukuni Enami, early 1900s.
Sources: io9.gizmodo.com & pinterest.com.


1924-1927:



Kyōto 'Komusō'
Name of photographer unknown.
Source: https://hznews.hangzhou.com.cn/wghz/content/2019-10/11/content_7282303_0.htm

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POST WW2 KYŌTO MYŌAN-JI KOMUSŌ

Era of the "new" Kyōto Myōan Temple "Pseudo-Monks of the Non-Dual & Noneness":
1950 to the Present

Possibly 1960s-1970s?:



Two 'komusō' in front of the Kyōto Myōan Temple Gate.
Source: myouan-doushukai.org

2009:



A "modern" Myōan komusō at the Himeji Castle Festival in Hyōgo Prefecture, August 1, 2009.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Early 1870s:

The old, worn Kyōto Myōan-ji gate - disassembled sometime after 1871 - can be seen and appreciated within the precincts of the Yūzū Nenbutsu sect's mother temple Dainenbutsu-ji,
大念仏寺, in Hirano-ku, Ōsaka:




The old Myōan-ji gate reinstalled at Dainenbutsu-ji in Hirano-ku, Ōsaka.
Photos: Torsten O., March 13, 2019

1.8 Myōan Taizan-ha shakuhachi made by Ozawa Seizan, 1939-2012

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'MU-KU-TEKI SUI ZEN'
"No-Hole-Flute Breathing Contemplation"

Calligraphy signed 'Myōan Taizan'