The "Ascetic Shakuhachi" Historical Evidence Research Web Pages

WELCOME ☺ INTRODUCTION

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

Introduction & Guide to the Documentation & Critical Study of Ascetic,
Non-Dualistic Shakuhachi Culture, East & West:

Historical Chronology, Philology, Linguistics, Terminology, Etymology, Vocabulary,
Concepts, Semantics, Ideology & Iconology

By Danish/Icelandic Torsten Olafsson, Denmark: Multi Musician, Composer, Lyrics Writer,
Music Publishing Editor, Graphical Designer, Photographer, Web Designer,
Japanologist, Chronologist, Shakuhachi Historian, Translator, Author & Lecturer

From the beginning, active WWW Internet presence since 2003:

An unbiased, non-profit, strictly documentary evidence based research and information endeavour completely independent of any external funding,
totally devoid of self-promoting academic career aspirations and any possible implicated imagined financial profit prospects.

Torsten Olafsson's 1987 master's thesis in Japanology titled
"Early Seventeenth Century Shakuhachi Ideology.
THE KAIDŌ HONSOKU:
A Komosō's Fuke Shakuhachi Credo Dated 1628.
University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 1987."
was published internationally in 2003 by Tai Hei Shakuhachi, c/o Monty H. Levenson, Willits, California.

Torsten Olafsson earned the "Exam. art." degree (English equivalent: B.A.) in Chinese Art
& Culture in 1974, the "Exam. art." degree (English equivalent: B.A.) in Japanology in 1981,
and submitted his internationally recognized academic Japanology master's thesis on the 1628
Kaidō honsoku 'komosō' shakuhachi document in 1987, all c/o the University of Copenhagen,
Eastasian Institute, Denmark.

Academic, truth-seeking credo:

Only objective, unprejudiced, well documented evidential historical facts count and matter ...
- secondarily so, though - maybe just at times - objective and unbiased
educated academic speculation may occasionally be allowed for,
under due responsibility, of course.



Kronborg, Elsinore, North Sealand, a.k.a. "Hamlet's Castle". Photo: Torsten Olafsson

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All the Best - Torsten Olafsson, Elsinore, Denmark, October, 2024.

I Do Have a Fascinating and Important 'Shakuhachi' Story to Tell You.
     I Am Telling It Here, and: I'm Not Lying to You :-)

     Kind Regards, Torsten Olafsson, Denmark, Autumn, 2024

Mid-1620s:



1620s: Two 'Komosō' "mat monks" with thin flues, long swords, and pointed braided hats.

'The' most important pictorial evidence ever in Japanese ascetic shakuhachi history:
Selected detail of Iwasa Matabei's painting of two early Kan'ei Period 'Komosō' "mat monks".
Created not later than 1630 acc. to Japanese art specialists
c/o the Nezu Museum in Tokyo, Japan.

Present owner: National Museum of Asian Art/Smithsonian/Freer Gallery of Art.

1974: Why Did the Nippon Columbia Label Ever Put Out the Album 'Suizen'?

 

A Historic Nippon Columbia triple-LP set, phonogram numbers: KX-7001~3.

Chikuhō shakuhachi performed by Sakai Chikuhō II, assisted by Sakai Shodō on two tracks on LP side 6.
Liner notes, 48 pages, by Kamisangō Yūkō and others, plus shakuhachi music in Western staff notation.

1974: The Nippon Columbia 'Suizen' Triple-LP Set with
     a "Separate Commentary Book" by Kamisangō Yūkō and others.

     Why Did the Nippon Columbia Record Company
     Ever Put Out That 1974 LP Album 'Suizen'?


Link to some music samples and pictures:

Silencia Music Store: 1974 Nippon Columbia 'Suizen' LPs, track list, pictures

ISS/Komuso.com: History


Read more here:

1974: 'Komusō' & 'Suizen'?: The Emperor's New Clothes!
     PART 1
     What Prof. Kamisangō Yūkō Once Precisely Told Us
     about Supposed "Edo Period 'Komusō Suizen' Life"

The Most Recommendable Critical Japanese Shakuhachi Historians -
     Their Fact Finding Researches -
     Online Fact Resource Web Sites & Books

Believe it, or not: There actually exist, and continuously operate, Japanese shakuhachi players and more or less "amateur" historians who do care seriously about what's actually to be observed in the very many ignored documents about shakuhachi history that we know of.

You can find them, online, right out there on the internet - here's an alphabetial list of names, an appetizer, and a webpage link to an overview with links to webpages, for you to experience:

Iida Kyorei, Kishi Kiyokazu, Kunimi Masafumi, Makihara Ichiro,
Shakuhachi Kataha, Yamato Hōmei, Yatō Osamu.

In addition, recommmendable researcher-authors in books and articles:

Hosoka Hiro'oki, Ide Yukio, Mori Hikotarō, Nakatsuka Chikuzen, Ueno Katami,
Yamaguchi Masayoshi.

More may be added.

Read and learn more here:

2024: Most Recommendable Critical Japanese Shakuhachi -
     Historians. Their Fact Finding Researches,
     Online Fact Resource Web Sites & Books

The Sad and Deplorable Legacy of Ethnomusicology:
The "Academic" Field of Ethnomusicology has Never Succeeded
in Thoroughly Investigating the Full Scope and Depth
of Japanese Ascetic Shakuhachi History and Practice.
A Serious Academic Failure!

The Ethnomusicologists’ commitments and promises – links:

"About Ethnomusicology"

Selected quotation:

"1) Employing a global perspective on music (encompassing all geographic areas
and types of music).

2) Understanding music as social practice (viewing music as a human activity that is interrelated with its social and cultural contexts).

3) Engaging in ethnographic fieldwork (observing and participating in music-making and related activities) and in historical research."


Now, please pay special attention to those very last four quoted words:
"... and in historical research."

How can anyone possibly engage and succeed academically in researching the history of the Japanese shakuhachi if they, who ever they are, knows nothing at all about reading and interpreting the wealth of well known preserved available documentary evidence, written in classical Japanese, be it in Japanese "pseudo-Chinese" 'kanbun' - as well as in classical Chinese, not least?

That's just impossible, plainly speaking, a fact.

Read more here:

The Failure of Ethnomusicology Regarding the Shakuhachi
- The Sad and Deplorable Legacy of post-WW2 Ethnomusicology

Bruno Nettl: "Reference Tools for Ethnomusicology."
     Ethnomusicology, Vol. 4, No. 3
     Sep., 1960, pp. 133-136.
     Link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/924501

The Three Most "Problematic" Early Shakuhachi Vinyl Albums Ever Published

   

Problematic Vinyl #1: "Music for Zen Meditation".
That U.S. clarinet player Tony Scott & Japanese friends record has absolutely nothing to do with anything like "Zen"!
Made in the U.S.A., 1965.

Problematic Vinyl #2: "A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky".
"Empty Sky" is a really poor, utterly New Age'ish "non-translation" of Japanese 'Ko-kū', 虚空, the very common, widely used and banal interpretation of which is meaningless "emptiness".

You see, in a supposed Zen philosophical context like this, 'Ko-kū' comes from Indian 'Sunyata': "Void" (cf. Nagarjuna, ed.], i.e. "Non-Substantiality", i.e. "Absence of Duality". Period.
Also: Made in the U.S.A., 1969-1970.

Problematic Vinyl #3 - "Suizen", with questionable liner notes by the late Japanese musicologist, Prof. Kamisangō Yūkō.
This is, undoubtedly, the "worst" of these three highlighted early vinyl 'shakuhachi' albums.
Made in Japan, 1974.

1965: Clarinetist Tony Scott & "Music for Zen Meditation"
- How Japanese Music Became US "New Age" Music from Day One

Well 60 years ago by now, the US American Verve record label produced the Western World's
ever first music recordings that also featured the sound of the Japanese bamboo flute named 'shakuhachi'.

Read much more here:

1965: Clarinetist Tony Scott & "Music for Zen Meditation"
- How Japanese Music Became US "New Age" Music from Day One

The Modern Academic Shakuhachi Historian's Dilemma: Fact or Fiction?

Late September, 2024.

How are responsible shakuhachi history and practice researchers, academics, including certified ethnomusicologists, supposed to conclude and act, orally as in writing, when observing stark discrepancies between preserved historical documentary evidence - and what some of them, while also acting as shakuhachi students, are being differently informed by some of their teachers?

Read more here:

The Ethnomusicologists' Shakuhachi Historical Facts
     Ethical Challenge and Dilemma
- Documentary Evidence or Just Hearsay?

"You can't have your cake and eat it (too)," can you - have it both ways? :-)

How Did 9th Century 'Fuke Zenji' Become the Dearly Worshipped Idol
for the Late 'Komosō' and Earliest 'Komusō' Outlaws?

Fuke Zenji' first appeared in a 'Komosō' related context during the mid-1500s - as much as 700 years after his death.

In 1628, he was prominently admired and idolized in a remarkable 'Komosō' credo, the Kaidō honsoku.

Not long after, eventually, the renowned Rinzai Zen monk and temple abbot Isshi Bunshu, 1608-1646 - a very close disciple of Takuan Sōhō, 1573-1645 - made Fuke Zenji the founder of the very early 'Komusō' 'Shakuhachi-rōnin' ex-samurai beggar outlaw "brotherhood" in early Tokugawa Japan.

How could that happen, possibly?

Where Are All the Fascinating, Long Awaited Illuminating Translations?

Throughout now 60 years (!), these are the only few responsible, comprehensive Western translations of central written historical Japanese source documents that shed important light on the shakuhachi flute's past:

1977 - Tsuge Gen'ichi's English translation of the Kyotaku denki completely fabricated mid-18th century "shakuhachi history", with some comments.

1981 - James H. Sanford publishes translations of Ikkyū Sōjun 'shakuhachi' related poetry.

1983 - Andreas Gutzwiller presents translations in the German language of 3 early 19th century essays by Hisamatsu Fūyō, 1791-1871, though without any particularly detailed Japanological annotations.

1987 - Torsten Olafsson presents a Danish university thesis with his full English language translation of the 1628 Kaidō honsoku 'Komosō' credo with comprehensive annotations, comments and contextualization.

1990 - Takahashi Tone presents his Florida University thesis with many translations of the various different versions of the mid-18th century Keichō no okitegaki [a nickname, ed.].

1990 - Robin Hartshorne & Kazuaki Tanahashi's translation of Hisamatsu Fūyō's 1818 Hitori mondō is published in the Annals of the International Shakuhachi Society, Volume I, edited by the late, then president Dan E. Mayers, with no annotations.
A similar English translation of theirs is also featured on the www.komuso.com website, there with detailed comments.

2007 - Max Deeg translates at least part of one classical Japanese text to English.


Since the year 2000 - The only additional translations of classical texts of relevance that have appeared in public are those presented on this very website, zen-shakuhachi.dk, the history of which goes back to 2003-2004.


Where then, might there still be any other important translations and renderings produced by modern, 21st century representatives of the academic field of Ethnomusicology, Musicology and the like?

Here I would like to highlight these two contributions, in particular - by Westerners who read and translated from only 100 years of "modern" language Japanese texts:

Philip Flavin, translator:
Izumi Takeo: Paintings of Bamboo Flutes. A History
     and Genealogy of Shakuhachi Performance.
     Translated from Japanese by Philip Flavin.
     Tōhoku University Press, Sendai, 2016.

Matt Gillan: "Sankyoku Magazine and the Invention of the Shakuhachi
     as Religious Instrument in Early 20th-Century Japan."
     In: Yale Journal of Music & Religion, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2021.
     Link:
"Sankyoku Magazine and the Invention of the Shakuhachi
     as Religious Instrument in Early 20th-Century Japan."


However, obviously otherwise, neither Ethnomusicologists - nor Japanologists, for that matter - have found it worth the necessary quite demanding effort and linguistic, philological dedication to attempt to translate anything substantial, at all, that might possibly contribute further to a desired deeper and wider appreciation of actual ascetic shakuhachi history - without any bias, partisanship, "rallying around the flag", mere wishful thinking, or just: downright history fabrication and falsification fraud.

All the while 'Suizen' Was Not "An Edo Period Term", Then What Term
     Might "IT" Have Been?

Yes, it has been convincingly established online, on Facebook, that 'Suizen' was "not an Edo Period Term" [Kiku Day, ed.]!

In a most authoritative 2000 book of hers, the late, renowned Japanese Prof. Tsukitani Tsuneko stated that she knew nothing (at that time) regarding the origin of the term 'Suizen'.

Seven years later, in 2007, Prof. Tsukitani is reported to have stated that 'Suizen' is a "post-Edo period creation" [Kiku Day, ed.].

Then, in his 2014 thesis, SOAS PhD Christian T. Mau quoted the then 41st Kyōto Myōan-ji 'Kansu', Kojima Hōan, for explaining that it was Yasuda Tenzan, 1909-1994, who "coined", invented, created, the new term 'Suizen' while he served as the first chief Zen monk of that newly revived temple in the period 1950-1953.

So, what possibly did Edo Period 'Komusō' use as a Japanese term for their very frequently and fiercefully claimed "shakuhachi meditation practice" - if anything, ever at all, actually?

A short history of 'Suizen' in Japan that was first publicized here on this website quite many years ago:

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.

Torsten Olafsson, September 24, 2024.

Ethnomusicology in the West has a Serious Problem:

     The so-called "academic" field of Ethnomusicology
     is suffering from a serious problem,
     with regard to Japanese music history research,
     not least that of ascetic shakuhachi history.

How can anyone acquire a Masters degree, a PhD: a Doctor of Philosophy degree, in Ethnomusicology, specializing in Japanese music, including 'shakuhachi' history, without actually knowing pretty well how to read and interpret classical Japanese
- and classical Chinese - documentary evidence material?

That, of course, should not be possible!

Learn more about official modern, present-day Western "Ethnomusicology" here:

"Ethnomusicology Definition, History & Theories"

How "Old" is "Ancient"? Are So-called 'Shakuhachi Honkyoku' "Ancient"?

The answer is very straightforward and simple:

No, 'shakuhachi (hon)kyoku' music pieces are in no way "ancient"!

So-called "Shakuhachi Honkyoku" - NB: only referred to once in 1694,
and first again in 1847! -
are certainly not in any way "ancient".

Here's a definition according to Wikipedia - anything "ancient" ends before the year 500 CE,
in 476 CE, in fact, with the fall of the Roman Empire in Southern Europe:

"Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity.
The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script.

Ancient history covers all continents inhabited by humans in the period 3000 BC – AD 500, ending with the expansion of Islam in late antiquity."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_history

The first time that Edo Period 'shakuhachi kyoku' music titles were ever recorded in print was in 1732, in a document titled Shakuhachi denrai-ki.

1732: The Fascinating Shakuhachi denrai-ki Document.
     Early Edo Period 'Shakuhachi' Music History.
     The Oldest Known List of 'Komusō' Melody Titles

However, the first ever known piece of shakuhachi music presented and preserved in actual notation is dated 1769 (Tsukitani, 2000, page 61).

2000: Tsukitani Tsuneko, Overview of Titles and Notations
- Never Were There Any 'Honkyoku' in the Edo Period, only 'Kyoku'!

Only thereafter do many more titles of 'shakuhachi kyoku' suddenly appear in writing.

That means, logically, that the whole repertory of preserved pieces of Edo Period 'shakuhachi kyoku' is not any older than that of "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America" that was agreed upon, adopoted and signed on July 4, 1776.

That was only a quarter of a millenium ago - about 250 years at the most, so:


Not "ancient" at all •

What is "History"? What is "A Historian" - What is: "A Scholar" ... ?

"Historians who study non-English speaking regions must learn and use foreign languages."

"Historians who write history emphasize the value of primary sources, that is those sources actually dating from a particular time period, while understanding the limitations of such sources."

Source: www.valdosta.edu - see link below


According to the website www.valdosta.edu - highlighted statements, see link below:


"What is History? How do Historians study the past as contrasted with Non-historians?

History is the study of change over time, and it covers all aspects of human society.

Political, social, economic, scientific, technological, medical, cultural, intellectual, religious and military developments are all part of history.

Usually professional historians specialize in a particular aspect of history, a specific time period, a certain approach to history or a specific geographic region.
- - -
History is an intellectual discipline practiced by historians who try to make sense of the past.
- - -
Historians who write history emphasize the value of primary sources, that is those sources actually dating from a particular time period, while understanding the limitations of such sources.

Non-historians read books or watch documentaries, while historians do that plus go to archives in search of original records.

[Historians who study non-English speaking regions must learn and use foreign languages.]
- - -
Historians who write list all the sources that they have used in footnotes and bibliographies in their works.

This helps other scholars who are interested to find those sources, and it shows that the writer is careful, thorough, and honestly giving credit for the origin of the writer’s information.

Providing footnotes and a bibliography is how historians demonstrate their methodology and support their conclusions.
- - -
Historians must work to recognize the difference between facts and interpretations in their field.

Historiography refers to the history, philosophy and methodology of history.

Historians must be familiar with the historiography of their particular area of study.
- - -
Historians try to understand their topics in the context of how and why people of that era thought and behaved, and not how people think and act today."

Read more here, about "non-historians", also: www.valdista.edu

When and How Were 'Suiteki shugyō', 'Suishōzen', 'Suizen',
"Shakuhachi Zen", and "Zen Shakuhachi", Degraded and Ridiculized Into
New Age Shakuhachi Theosophism, Holism, Healing, Mindfulness
- and Now: Just Downright Utter Western Style Meaninglessness?

2000: Tsukitani Tsuneko - There Were No 'Honkyoku' in Edo Times

2000: Tsukitani Tsuneko, Overview of Titles and Notations
- Never Were There Any 'Honkyoku' in the Edo Period, only 'Kyoku'!

2000: Tsukitani Tsuneko '(Hon)kyoku' Book,
     English Summary

Are "Scholars" Known to be Questioning 'Komusō Suizen'?

Indeed So - Click and Read More, Right Here

Debunking Claims and Flawed Beliefs about
     Edo Period 'Komusō Suizen' -
- Do Some "Scholars" Really "Debate" Such Issue?
- Who May Those "Critical Scholars" Be?

And, this one also, of course:

2021, May: Oliver Aumann, Japanologist and Itchō-ken Player
     on 'Komusō', "Meditation", and 'Suizen'

Upcoming Web Page Now in the Making:
"The 'Komusō' Brotherhood Century in Japan, 1763-1871"

It Won't be Long - Stay Tuned :-)

1763-1871: If Anything Like a "Fuke Sect" Ever Existed,
     It Would Only Have Lasted a Single Century, or So
     Were There Ever Really Numerous So-called "Fuke Temples" in Japan?

普化宗

In order to deserve and enjoy any status as an "actual sect" more than just one or a few "temples" are required, just as followers of such a movement should also recognize themselves as being declared and registered members of such an organization.

As for the early mid-to late 1600s' 'Komusō' that certainly does not appear to have been the case.
The earliest surviving documents only witness the existence of Reihō-ji, Myōan-ji, and Ichigetsu-ji.
That is the case, the reality, all until to mid-1700s, or even later.

Then it is as everything suddenly "exploded" with regard to the number of listed 'Komusō' hide-outs that should probably not be called "genuine temples", at all.
All of those listed disappeared forever after 1871, with the snap of a finger, a stroke of a writing brush!

It is still so, if not "a mystery" as such, it has not so far been explained why there would suddenly have been such a dramatic boom and influx of fresh ex-samurai 'shakuhachi-rōnin' in the ranks of active 'Komusō' shakuhachi playing beggars.

Do remember: 'Komusō' were never ever genuine, formally ordained Zen Buddhist monks, only "half lay, half monk" beggars who kept their hair long, not shaving their heads like all Buddhist monks do.

In 2000, the late Prof. Tsukitani Tsuneko presented the following numbers of "Fuke Temples" evidenced and named in preserved Japanese documents (selected examples):

1763 - Kyōto Myōan Temple scroll: 72 entries

1795 - Kyotaku denki kokujikai: 55 entries

1797 - Dōshō denrai: 75 entries

1813/1816 - Shakuhachi hikki: 87 entries (or possibly, rather: only 67 entries?)

Early 1800s - Kinko techō: 64 entries


However, of course: This recorded alleged network of "Fuke temples" never covered all of Japan, entirely.
So, just forget it - 'Komusō' really never "flourished all over the whole of Japan"!


With but two or maybe three possible exceptions in Kyūshū in the South, the listed localities are only placed in the Central and Northern parts of Honshū, the main island of Japan.

This map illustration designed by Steve Weiss in collaboration with Kurahashi Yoshio shows only 26 so-called "Suizen Temples of Japan".



Of course, as you should be well aware of by now, if not before, there has only been one "Suizen temple" in Japan, ever, namely the Kyōto Myōan Temple, and that was indeed only since the year 1950. Period!

WARNING! When It Comes to Any Matter Regarding Shakuhachi History,
Ideology, and Practice Facts, East and West
- Do Stay the Farthest Away Possible
From These Particular Wikipedia.org Web Pages and Their Like:

Wikipedia, English: "Shakuhachi"

Wikipedia, English: "Komuso"

Wikipedia, English: "Puhua" (Fuke Zenji)

Wikipedia, English: "Myōan-ji"

Origin of the 'Komusō'?

Had There Not Been an Invasion of Christian Catholic Missionaries Since 1549,

and Those Hundreds of Thousands of Their Fanatically Devoted Japanese Christian Converts in Early 17th Century Deeply Xenophobic Japan,

There Would Never Have Existed a Single 'Komusō' on the Isles of Japan:

No Distorting Falsification of History; No Long, Thick "Root-end" Bamboo Flutes ...

No Invented "Fuke Temples" & "Fuke Sect" - No 'Fuke Shakuhachi' ...

No So-called 'Honkyoku' "Music" Pieces - No 'Hōki' - No "Shakuhachi Zen" ...

No So-called 'Suizen'!

That is the Story to be Told and Clarified Right Here.

The 1795 'Rōnin Komusō' Kyotaku denki Legitimization Conspiracy
     Rendered in Extraordinarily Seductive Illustrations:
     The Kyotaku denku kokujikai

Kyotaku denki kokujikai Illustrations

To the left you see 9th century Fuke Zenji ringing his hand bell -
to the right: Fuke's alleged, invented Chinese townsman who is claimed to have composed
the music piece titled 'Kyorei' - but the 'shakuhachi' shown there
is certainly not a 9th century Chinese flute
but a typical Japanese root-end flute that only appeared toward the end of the 1600s.

Did an Edo Period 'Komusō' Ever Sit Down and Rest?
Did He Ever Remove His 'Tengai' and Show His Face?
Not Least: Did He Ever Really "Meditate"?

1851-1852:



Two 'Komusō' crossing the treacherous river Tenryū at the locality Mitsuke.
From the series "Fifty-three Stations of Tōkaidō".
Wood-cut print by Utagawa Hiroshige, produced in 1851-52.

1810:



By Katsushika Hokusai, "The 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō", Number 49: 'Saka-no-shita'.
This is actually the one and only known image of an Edo Period 'Komusō'
pictured as seated, resting on a veranda, during a stopover, while his 'tengai'
is placed on the veranda, not covering his head
as we otherwise always see in all the numerous known published pictures.

Four Historical Shakuhachi Pictures That You Should Not Trust in
as Reliable Documentary Evidence of 'Komo-sō' and 'Komu-sō' Reality

1795, Kyotaku denki kokujikai: Early 9th century Fuke, ringing his bell, and alleged
'Kyorei' "composer", Chōhaku, with his supposed "Chinese shakuhachi".

How come that the illustration shows a typical late 18th century root-end 'shakuhachi',
not some original 9th century Chinese vertical flute with 6 fingerholes?

 

Left:1799: Incorrectly and misleadingly executed rendering of a supposed 15th century 'Komosō'
"mat monk", by Ban Kōkei, in his book 'Kanden kōhitsu'.
Right: 13th century?: Extremely incorrectly dated copy of an actual early 1660s 'Komusō'
illustration seriously misleadingly published by Wong Wah-sang in a 2014 article of his.



1795, Kyotaku denki kokujikai: Completely out of proper chronological context 'Komusō' picture.
Left: Fabricated 14th century 'Kyomu' figure however pictured
as a late 18th century 'Komusō' beggar "monk".
Right: 'Kyōfū', another of 'Kyotaku denki kokujikai's
completely fabricated, non-historical persons.

"The Persecution of the Catholic Christians in Japan
During the Middle Years of the Seventeenth Century."

穴吊るし

ANA-TSURUSHI - "Hole Hanging"

 

The 'ana-tsurushi' method of inquisitioning and torturing stubborn and resisting Japanese Christian converts, intensifying in the 1630s and 1640s
Image sources: Facebook and Wikipedia

Quoted from the opening section of a 1942 article by Edward Hagemann:

“About three hundred years ago, in 1640, Japan took the last and most effectual step to eradicate all Western influence from her people.

The year before, 1639, the last definite decree had been enforced forbidding all commercial intercourse to the Portuguese.

By this means all further contact with the Western world had been stopped, and no more Christian missionaries could be sent to Japan.

But in Japan itself, despite the ban on Christianity, there were still some hundreds of thousands of Christians.

These had to be exterminated, and everything that savored of foreign influence removed.

In 1640 the office of the inquisition was erected to carry out this policy.”

Source:
Edward Hagemann: "The Persecution of the Christians in Japan
     in the Middle of the Seventeenth Century."
     Publ. in Pacific Historical Review
     Vol. 11, No. 2, June, 1942, pp. 151-160 (10 pages)
     Made available byy: University of California Press
     Link to online PDF file: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3633765

Excerpt from a book review by K.S. Latourette, 1941:

" - - - The attempt of the Tokugawa to rid the realm of the obnoxious foreign faith led not merely to drastic measures which drove Christianity underground, but was the major cause as well for the prolonged segregation of the empire from intercourse from the West except for the limited trade through the Dutch at Deshima. - - - "

The book reviewed:
Gustav Voss & Hubert Cieslik (trsls.): Kirishito-ki und Sayo-yoroku:
     Japanische Dokumente zur Missionsgeschichte
     des 17. Jahrhunderts (English).
     Sophia University, Tokyo, 1940, 229 pages.

Link to the review:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-asian-studies/article/abs/kirishitoki-und-sayoyoroku-japanische-dokumente-zur-missionsgeschichte-des-17-jahrhunderts-by-gustav-voss-and-hubert-cieslik-tr-tokyo-sophia-university-1940-viii-229-p-275-750/F61F3E46BED9A5D2116C89A6210A307E

1614 to 1664: From 'Ko-MO-sō' to 'Ko-MU-sō'

薦僧/菰僧 - 虚無僧

1614 to 1664: From 'Ko-MO-sō' to 'Ko-MU-sō' - When That Actually Happened
     The Broader Context - Essential Documentary Evidence Observed & Recognized

The very last sincerely practicing pseudo Buddhistic 'Fuke Komo-sō' expressed themselves utterly comprehensively in a unique 'shakuhachi rōnin' credo dated 1628, the Kaidō honsoku.

The very first credibly recorded and named, also pseudo Buddhistic 'shakuhachi rōnin' 'Komu-sō', ever was so addressed only just after 1640, and not later than 1646.

His name was given as 'Sandō Mugetsu', in a letter composed by distinguished Rinzai Zen abbot and artist Isshi Bunshu, 1608-1646.

Whatever else you are being told, over and over, and yet again? Ignore it!

Chronology of Texts, Quotations, and Illustrations
India, China, Japan, and the West - 2004 to 2024

When, now 20 years ago, in 2004, the present website project was first launched online, the skeleton that it was build on was a timeline, a chronology for ascetic shakuhachi history related facts, events, and references to be added and presented, as they materialized during the many years of ongoing research.

Editing and reworking the original 12 web pages, they have now been reloaded with new file names.
There are likely still to be links to external internet web places that do no longer work anymore, after so many years.
That's the reality on today's internet.

Countless Shakuhachi Players & Fantasy "History" Tellers
     Are Still Lying to You, Non-stop. Period.
     The Kyotaku denki Debunked, Again, Again - and Again!

This declaration will be updated continuously. Torsten Olafsson, June 25, 2024.

No – Early 9th century Buddhist monk Fuke Zenji never inspired any Chinese flute player to create any melody imitating his beggar’s bell. Period.

No – Neither, of course, was Fuke Zenji a "shakuhachi teacher", himself. Period.

No – The invented "tune", later referred to as 'Kyorei', never survived for twelve generations till the mid-13th century. Period.

No - Shinchi Kakushin, a.k.a. Hottō Kokushi, never learned 'Kyorei' during his Zen studies in China. Period.

No – Shinchi Kakushin is never ever reported to have played any type of 'shakuhachi'. Period.

No – 'Shi-koji', "Four Buddhist Laymen", never accompanied Kakushin on his return to Japan in 1354. Period.

No – Never existed "Four Buddhist Laymen" ever had any followers. Period.

No – Shinchi Kakushin never had a devoted Japanese disciple named 'Kichiku'. Period.

No – Shinchi Kakushin never "established" 'Sui-shō-zen' nor 'Sui-zen' practices
in the 13th century. Period.

No - Never existed 'Kichiku' ever composed neither 'Mukaiji' nor 'Kokū'. Period.

No – Never existed "disciple" 'Kichiku' ever had any disciples, no followers. Period.

No – None of Kakushin or Kichiku’s never existed "disciples" ever founded the Myōan Temple in Kyōto. Period.

No – The samurai leader Kusunoki Masakatsu was definitely not Japan’s first 'Komusō'. Period.

No – 'Kichiku' - who "miraculously" turned 'Kyochiku Ryōen Zenji' - did not found the Kyōto Myōan Temple. Period.


Besides: No - Historical 'Komusō' are nowhere at all reported to have practiced any form of "shakuhachi meditation".

No - 'Suizen' was not practiced by historical 'Komusō', whatsoever.
Period!

NEWS BOARD - EARLY JUNE 2024

New Translation by Shawn Renzoh Head: "THE TRUE KOMUSO"

June 6, 2024

Annotated English translation of an essential article by Makihara Ichiro once published
in Hōgaku Journal, Japan.

Shawn Renzoh Head: "The True Komuso"

 

Left: 'Kyo-mō-sō', 虚毛僧, 1690 - Right: 'Komo-sō', 薦僧, 1695

Enjoy tne study of many more historical post-1640 shakuhachi related pictures here

"Historical Truth" - According to Edgard W. Pope, 2000:
" ... the business of historians is to construct
the truest versions [of history] possible."

"The existence of different versions of history, then, does not show that all versions are equally valid, or equally biased. What it shows is that there is an ongoing tension between historical evidence and the biases of historians, and that the writing of history requires a constant effort to set aside one's biases when looking at the evidence.

While "absolute" historical truth may be an unattainable (indeed indefinable) ideal, it is clear that some versions of history are more true than others, and that the business of historians is to construct the truest versions possible."

Quoted from:

Edgar W. Pope: "The Shakuhachi, the Fuke-shū, and the Scholars : a historical controversy."
     In: Journal of Hokusei Gakuen Women's Junior College 36, 31-44,
     Hokusei Gakuen University, Sapporo, 2000.
     Link: "The Shakuhachi, the Fuke-shū, and the Scholars : a historical controversy"

Hottō Kokushi a.k.a. Kakushin Did Not "Invent" 'Suizen',
     Nor Did He "Invent" 'Suishō-zen!

Shinchi Kakushin, 1203–1298, played absolutely no role in shakuhaci history, whatsoever!

Read in more detail on this web page:

Hottō Kokushi a.k.a. Kakushin Did Not "Invent" 'Suizen',
     Nor Did He "Invent" 'Suishō-zen'!

Overall Conclusion that has Manifested Itself
as a Result of the Present now 50+ Year Long Lasting Research Endeavour

The asserted history and alleged characteristics of Ascetic Shakuhachi Practices in Japan have been most purposefully constructed, fabricated, falsified, ever since the earliest beginnings.

This constantly ongoing activity of deliberate source falsification, forging and fanciful "history" 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, "history" writers, ethnomusicologists, book editors and publishers - besides a wide variety of enough so sincerely devoted shakuhachi "admirers", generally speaking.

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 - the multitude, comprehensiveness and complexity, inapproachability and degree of difficulty of which is not only aweinspiring but verily terrifying.

Carried by and on the Internet, especially, lies and untruths have been spreading like wildfire over the last 10 to 20 years, in particukar, and even more increasingly so.

In words attributed to Mark Twain a.o., paraphrasing the Roman poet-philosopher Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) who lived about 2.000 years ago, and many others since then:

"A Lie Is Halfway Round the World Before the Truth Has Got Its Boots On."

Virgil's original saying: "Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius ullum."
In Book IV of the Aeneid, a worldfamous Roman work in Latin created between 19 BCE and 29 CE.

Suggested link: https://interestingliterature.com/2021/06/lie-halfway-round-world-before-truth-boots-on-quote-origin-meaning/#

The Financial Times' "loose" translation: "Rumour — no other evil travels more quickly."
Link: https://www.ft.com/content/52770ebe-2393-11e8-add1-0e8958b189ea

Re-edited, expanded and reposted statement -
Torsten Olafsson, Elsinore, Denmark, February 29, 2024

'Shakuhachi Rōnin', 'Komosō', 'Fumi-e' - and 'Komusō' "life" only after 1640

尺八浪人 - 薦僧 - 踏み絵 - 虚無僧

Shakuhachi playing masterless samurai, then 'shakuhachi-rōnin' 'komosō' mat monks,
the trambling on a Christian image to reject Christianity,
and the very first "Pseudo-monks of the Non-Dual & None-ness" in mid-1600s century Japan.

Like all other Japanese natives without exception, beginning in 1629 shakuhachi-playing 'Fuke'komosō', masterless 'rōnin' samurai, had to confirm every year that they were not Christian converts in hiding.

All Japanese were not only "required", but forced, to be registered members of one particular established Japanese Buddhist sect. That is the subject of yet a new more intensified, ongoing research, fact-finding and information endeavour.



Painting of a 'fumi-e' inquisitional ceremony by Keiga Kawahara, 1786–1860?, a citizen of Nagasaki, created sometime around 1826.

Source: National Library of the Netherlands.

"Shakuhachi Zen" & "Zen Shakuhachi"?
- These Expressions are Quite Simply Only Western Post-WW2 Inventions!

'Zen to shakuhachi: Kankei ga zenzen nai!'

     - "Zen and Shakuhachi?: There Is No Connection at All!"

     - Yoshida Mitsukuni, 1921-1991.
Former professor at Kyōto University, Japan: Dept. of Japanese Arts & Aesthetics.
Private conversation, Kyōto, March, 1977.

'Zen' & "Shakuhachi" - and 'Suizen' - acc. to Bob Berlin-Grous & Monty H. Levenson, 2019:

"If viewed only in terms of the political, sociological, and even musical history, the connection between shakuhachi and Zen may indeed seem rather superficial.”



     Source: Bob Berlin-Grous & Monty H. Levenson:
     The Sound of Bamboo: Blowing Zen & The Spirit of Shakuhachi.
     Tai Hei shakuhachi, Willits, CA, USA, 2019.

'Zen' & "Shakuhachi Meditation" – and 'Suizen' - acc. to Oliver Aumann, Japanologist & Itchōken Tradition player:

“There are no traditional texts in the Fuke-sect that would systematically explain how to meditate.”

“The term seems to be relatively modern, but has become a kind of motto for the modern Komusō.”

“In many cases suizen refers to nothing more than a ceremonial playing within a temple, with certain strict formalities.”

     Source: Former Oliver Aumann 'Komusō'/Shakuhachi website, last visited in 2021.

Original URL/link to web page, now apparently closed:

On "Meditation"


“For the historical Komusō, a substantive relationship with the Zen school is scarcely verifiable, and for the modern Komusō, the term "Zen-Buddhist" is simply inaccurate."

     Source: Former Oliver Aumann 'Komusō'/Shakuhachi website, last visited in 2021.

Original URL/link to web page, now apparently closed:

On "Zen Shakuhachi"

'Zen' & "Shakuhachi" - and 'Suizen' - acc. to Christian T. Mau, PhD, 2014:

- - - “Thus, suizen, very fundamentally means blowing (the shakuhachi) meditation."

"As an activity and concept, it is not only inextricably linked to the shakuhachi in general, but especially to Myōan Temple, as the large stone marker on the grounds bears testimony to.”

"As surprising as it may sound to those already familiar with the expression, however, the word's coinage is less than a century old, thus often rendering its usage somewhat anachronistic when applying it in connection with pre-20th century practice."

“Thus it is frequently used indiscriminately — apparently without knowledge of its origins” — leading De Ferranti, as one example, to report that "[b]y the seventeenth century the Fuke sect of Zen had institutionalized the practice of suizen.
(De Ferranti 2000:71; see also Kamisangō 1988:97,125; Lee 1998:149–150)."

“The problem here is that, while the manner of using the shakuhachi may well have been institutionalised and identified with the Komusō of the Fuke sect, there certainly does not seem to have been a dedicated term applied to the instrument's usage in this context."

     Source: Christian T. Mau PhD thesis, 2014, p. 115.
     Link: Christian T. Mau 2014 SOAS thesis, PDF file

1977 & 1978: The Legacy of the Late Myōan Taizan-ha
     'Suizen' Players/Teachers Yoshimura 'Fuan' Sōshin
     & Ozawa 'Zetsugai' Seizan - and Hisamatsu Fūyō's
     Sincere Ascetic Shakuhachi Credo 200 Years Ago

禅尺八 - 吹禅 - 'ZEN SHAKUHACHI' & 'SUIZEN'

修養の尺八 - 'SHŪYŌ no SHAKUHACHI'

"The Shakuhachi of Self-cultivation/Self-discipline/Mental Training"

The Myōan Taizan-ha Way of Authentic Shakuhachi 'Suizen' Asceticism
represented by Yoshimura Fuan Sōshin, 40th 'Kansu' of Kyōto Myōan-ji.


明暗寺四十世　芳村普庵宗心

MYŌAN-JI YONJŪ-SE YOSHIMURA FUAN SŌSHIN




Yoshimura Fuan Sōshin - 1904-1998

1977, August 9 - YOSHIMURA FUAN SŌSHIN:



Yoshimura Fuan Sōshin's letter to Torsten Olafsson, August 9, 1977, page 2


此れは明暗尺八吹奏と言ふ物でわ有りません。

決定された吹奏法と言ふ物は御在いません。

唯、私の言えまするは素直な心で、
唯、一心に吹くるが私の心です。

技功を弄して、上手に吹くとか、
大いにならして、人に聞かせ様等
と言ふ我の心を持って吹くるは
一番悪い人間の心だと
私は考えて居ります。

技功によって変わった音を出す人も有りますが、
明暗寺尺八吹奏は自分の心に音を聞かせて
自分がその音によって、心を修めるるが
私の禅尺八の有り方と考えて居ります。

なかなか言葉では表現出来ませんが、
つまり禅尺八としての尺八は唯々
心を素直に持って, 我の心による
技功に成らない様、修養の尺八です。

此の修養の毎日の積み重ねが
自分と言ふ人間の心に成ります。

何るも、自然にさからうるは悪いるです。
自然に副って、道をあやまらぬ様にと
私は日々心がけて居ります。


"Myōan Shakuhachi can not be likened to the playing of an ordinary wind instrument.

Such thing as a fixed way of playing does not exist.

What I can say is, plainly, that I am only concerned with directing my blowing
towards my own Self - with a gentle mind.

It is my opinion that people who trifle with skill of playing and "play well"
- who exercise exceedingly intending to impress the listener and the like - that way of blowing with an egocentric mind represents the worst of human attitudes (that I can think of).

There are people who produce changing sounds depending on technical skill,
but as for the shakuhachi practice of the Myōan Temple, I believe that the ideal way of Zen Shakuhachi
is to let one's true Mind listen to the sounds and to cultivate one's own Self
in accordance with those sounds.

I can not easily express this in words but to practice the shakuhachi of 'Zen Shakuhachi' is indeed a way of mental training and self-cultivation that is practiced with an open and humble mind and does not develop into technical skill with a selfish attitude.

The accumulation of this daily practice will, eventually,
bring about the realization of the true Self of one's Human Nature.

It is, in any case, wrong to act against Nature.

I am devoting myself every day to follow Nature and not to be mistaken about the Way."

     Yoshimura Fuan Sōshin, Myōan-ji, August 9, 1977.
     Private correspondance. Trsl. by Torsten Olafsson.

Read more about Yoshimura Sōshin at www.komuso.com, link:
https://www.komuso.com/people/people.pl?person=982

明暗尺八 - MYŌAN SHAKUHACHI
明暗雙雙 - MYŌAN SŌSŌ - "The Myōan Pair"
法器 - HŌKI - "Instrument of the Buddhist Law"


小沢絶外盛山

1978 - OZAWA ZETSUGAI SEIZAN



Detail of a letter of recommendation for T.O.
written by Ozawa Seizan in Spring, 1978
See translation below ...

当明暗尺八は、普化宗に属じ日本古耒の伝承されじ
尺八お法器として、明暗双々円通無碍の実力を修得じ、虚に帰して、精神の修養を高めんとするしので有る。 これを吹禅と稱する。

"Myōan Shakuhachi is related to the Fuke Sect of Shakuhachi and it has as its purpose to employ the ancient Japanese shakuhachi flute as a Dharma instrument [hō-ki] in order that one understands the Ultimately Adual Nature of the 'Bright' and the 'Dark' [Myō-An] and experiences the Essence of Non-substantiality [kyo] through Self-Cultivation.

This [practice] is called 'Suizen'."

     By Ozawa Seizan, 1939-2012, Myōan-ji, 1978, in a letter
     of recommendation to the author. Trsl. by Torsten Olafsson.




Ozawa Seizan Sensei, 1939-2012
Photo: Torsten Olafsson, Spring, 1978

Read more about Ozawa Sensei at www.komuso.com, link:
https://www.komuso.com/people/people.pl?person=1617

An INTERESTING BACKGROUND PERSPECTIVE:

In a publication dated 1818, titled Hitori-goto, 独言, Hisamatsu Fūyō, 1791-1871, a renowned representative of the early Kinko-ryū Shakuhachi tradition, expressed the following:

「初心より美敷音のむまみを修行すべからず、
音艶むまみは出来るを好んで出かすを嫌ふ。」

'Shoshin yori, utsukushiki oto no mumami o shugyō subekarazu.
Ne-en mumami wa dekiru kononde, dekasu o kirau.'

"From the beginning (lit. with a beginner's intention), do not (ascetically) practice
the "tastefulness of a beautiful sound".
I dislike it when people please themselves with putting out tasteful "sound gloss"."
Trsl. by T.O.

That is what Hisamatsu Fūyō expressed in humble writing at the time when the ‘Kinko-ryū’ tradition of shakuhachi asceticism had not yet changed, metamorphosed, into a sophisticated, technically demanding "shakuhachi 'honkyoku' concert performance art form".

In 1983, Andreas Gutzwiller published this translation in German, in his book "Die Shakuhachi der Kinko-Schule”:

"Man darf nicht von Anfang an danach streben, einen schönen Ton zu erlangen,
und es ist verdammenswert, wenn jemand es liebt, einen glanzvollen Ton hervorzubringen."

Wolfgang Fuyūgen Heßler presented his English translation like this: "One must not deliberately strive from the beginning to achieve a beautiful tone.
It is disgraceful when someone loves to produce a splendid tone."

Source: http://komuso.ch/?page_id=313&lang=en

And, in 2010/8, Matt Treyvaud contributed with this rendering of his in English:

"As a beginner, do not strive for the (m)umami of beautiful sound.
It is pleasing when polish and (m)umami emerge from (dekiru) the sound;
to force them out (dekasu) is disagreeable."

Source: http://no-sword.jp/blog/2010/08/umami.html


By the way, Matt Treyvaud also cited Hisamatsu-san for this exchange of his
in the 1823 Hitori-mondō, 独問答:

問 普化禅師はいかなる人ぞ
答 知らず禅家の知識に問へ

"Q: What kind of person was Master P'ǔ-huà [Fuke] ? 普化?
A: I don't know. Ask a scholar at a zen temple."

In other words, we should probably surmise that Hisamatsu-san was not himself a Zen monk.
Nor, that he was himself a wandering mendicant 'Komusō'.

Editorial note as of February 3, 2024 - Updated on the 6th:

No Field, no Chapter nor Aspect of All Time Recorded World Wide Music "History"
has Ever been More Fabricated, Falsified, Forged, Utterly Distorted
and Misrepresented than that of "the" Japanese 'Shakuhachi' Flute,
the 'Komusō' Pseudo "Monks", and the Fully Fancified Practice
of So Called "Zen Shakuhachi Meditation".

The term, concept and whole idea of 'Suizen', 吹禅, that was only defined and presented as late as in or soon after 1950 by Kyōto Myōan-ji abbot Yasuda Tenzan, has now, since 1974,
been reduced and completely distorted to being nothing but a simple banal and meaningless promotional New Age & Mindfulness business slogan exploited by countless self declared Western "romantic bamboo flute meditation therapy actors"
- or even academically approved ethnomusicology M.A.s & Ph.D.s, for that matter -
who do not even know how to read neither modern nor classical Japanese texts, including 'kanbun', and cannot relate to and quote from any of the actual very many existing available documentary evidence sources, at all.

PICTURES on the WEBSITE FRONT PAGE:

1951: "Forget (about) Dualistic Light & Dark Oppositeness" -
- A Calligraphic Statement by Tanikita Rōan Muchiku, 1875-1957

明暗双忘 - MYŌ AN SŌ BŌ

LIGHT DARK PAIR FORGET



In 1949, Tanikita Muchiku, 1878-1957, was appointed new 'kansu', "guardian", and "37th head",
of the Kyōto Taizan-ha Shakuhachi Tradition at the new, soon afterwards to be restored Myōan temple in SE Kyōto, in 1950.

This four character calligraphy of his, dated Autumn, 1951, Shōwa 26, 'Aki', (to the left of the four characters), reads in Japanese, 'Myō An Sō Bō', literally "Light Dark Pair Forget(fulness)".

An interpretive English translation could very well read as this:
"Forget (about) Dualistic Light & Dark Oppositeness".

To the left of the dating you read 'Kyorei-zan Myōan-ji' and 'San-jū-nana-se Rōan Muchiku'.

Source:

Inagaki Ihaku, Izui Seizan & Takahashi Ryochiku, editors:
     Myōan sanjūnana-sei Tanikita Muchiku-shū.
     Taizan-fu shūi. Tanikita Renzō, Kyoto, 1981.


Interestingly so, on Myōan-ji's official website, Tanikita Muchiku is in fact being presented as
琅庵無竹居士, 'Rōan Muchiku Koji'.

A 'koji' is only a "devoted Buddhist lay practitioner", simple as that.
Not an "abbot", not a "Zen priest" - just a very sincere Buddhist commoner!

Direct link to web page: Myōan-ji's Traditional Genealogy



Tanikita Muchiku


 

Left: 'Suizen' calligraphy by Yasuda Tenzan, 1950 or very early 1950s
Right: Yoshimura Fuan Sōshin's 'Suizen ichi-nyo' CD front cover, released 1995
'Suizen ichi-nyo' cover calligraphy written by Yasuda Tenzan, n.d.