Next month, we are setting of for a one year long cycle tour
heading for Greece !
After ten years of intense family, professional and community life, as well as building and gardening works in our new land, a big break was needed.
My shakuhachi-making activity will of course be put on hold, but the instruments available in stock can be bought and will be sent by the friends who will be occupying our house.
All you have to do is contact me by e-mail and payment can only be made by bank transfer.
On the other hand, accessories (beginners’ manuals, bags) and bamboo for making instruments will not be available.
I will remain available by e-mail only.
Thomas – June 2023
Quite surprinsing how the traditional new year wishes aren’t joyfull as usual;
adding “…” or formulas like “despite…” reflecting the uncertainty of the times…
Nevertheless, I wish you all a year richer in freedom and joy (we still have some power on that hopefully !)
This years, no changes on prices at Atelier Chikudo.
Some available shakuhachi have discount prices for this new year !
I decided to stop making students model in order to focus on traditional shakuhachi and restaurations.
So my advice for beginners with low budget is to acquire a Shakuhachi YUU which is made from ABS resin copied from a good quality ji-ari shakuhachi. It is the best Price/quality ratio possible…
…but not from bamboo !
You can order them from Ebay, Amazon or directly from the website :
https://shakuhachiyuu.com/
Thomas
Here are some news on the way I’m working since September resumption of work.
This year, we are back with my wife on the renovation work of our future home; therefore, I have less time to be in my workshop (frustrating…!)
As I have some customers waiting for new instruments, the last ji-nashi made in September were already sold before I could even upload them on the website…
I’m also working (since springtime) on several ji-ari shakuhachi very time-demanding and I want to keep priority on those rather than on student models that I’m being always asked for.
(I decided to stop the making of the student shakuhachi for next year).
In order to keep a certain amount of shakuhachi available on my website, I decided to restore more vintage flutes to save some time for my own making. I try to select those shakuhachi in order to keep a wider variety of prices.
Soon I will be able to start making shakuhachi from the Madake bamboo harvested in Japan last year…
Thanks for following and supporting my work.
Thomas
After the first week in Tokyo, I stayed three weeks in Yufuin, a famous thermal town of Oita-ken in northern Kyushu.
In order to meet local people to help me organising madake bamboo harvest, I worked as a volunteer in an associative restaurant. That was for me the ideal place to get the good contacts and to be again in the rural daily life of Japan that I love so much (including of course the daily bath in Onsen !)
Thanks to the help of Ryuji, owner of Harappa cafe, I could start harvesting from the first days and then on all the days off following…
During my days in the bamboo grove of the small Tsukahara village on a high plateau above Yufuin, I could meet many of the neighbours and had great exchanges with them. I thank them all for their support and generosity.
For instance, I found myself introducing shakuhachi and it’s construction in the small village school, met a ceramist whom deceased husband was making shakuhachi with that same bamboo I was harvesting; she offered me some of his dryed bamboo. I also met a carpenter specialist in moving minka houses (traditional thatched roof farms) who offered me a bunch of 300 years old susudake (smoked bamboo) and most of all, I met the Yoshioka family with whom I spent great moments.
That was a lot of work to select, dig out, clean and prepare the bamboos and then build the woden boxes to send them to France by ship…
When my mission was finished and the two 30 kilos boxes of fresh bamboo shipped; I found some time to visit Beppu’s bamboo-craft centre dedicated to bamboo weaving, a tradition very alive in the area. I am fascinated with this craftsmanship for years; so I was happy and honoured to stay for hours watching at a masterclass given by a master specialised in the “freestyle” baskets.
Then, I was back in Tokyo for a last day at my capoeirists friend’s place before leaving Japan, the heart full of gratitude, a bag full of tools and materials and an empty wallet !
When back in France in Paris, I of course found my train reservation cancelled and no trains to go back home…but this is another story.
Welcome in France !
I wish that beauty, arts, music, knowledge and wisdom
enlighten your life in 2020
May Benzaiten guide you.
During this one month trip in Japan, I had several goals focused on shakuhachi and bamboo. I fulfilled all those missions and came back home rich with meetings, experiences and contacts, well fed to dedicate myself to my art.
On the first week in Tokyo, I had a very busy program quite exhausting with the tiredness and jet lag !
3 days of workshop with the shakuhachi maker Takahashi Toyomi whom I met in London WSF2018. He is student of Miura Ryuho one of the best renowned maker these days.
Thanks to him, I could solve several technical problems accumulated in my years of making shakuhachi by myself. He taught me in particular the making of the brazed silver rings for the joints which I had already experimented since a while. It is a meticulous and time consuming task…
This stay at Takahashi sensei’s workshop was very cheering for me as his feedbacks on my work and the quality of my instruments were very positive.
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On my birthday, I was lucky to find myself in a small bar in Waseda area were happened the monthly “strange instrument party”… a nice time of laughs and improvised music as a birthday present (Thanks to Mutsumi !)
I spent most of that week in Kichijoji where I was praying daily Benzaiten goddess (of arts, musique and knowledge) in its dedicated temple in Inokashira park. I have to say that I felt very well guided thanks to her during this study trip.
In this same park, I met Fura-san, “dharma bum” (cf. Jack Kerouac), author, compositor and street musician with whom I shared music and spiritulity; he had led me to Kataha-san dedicated in komuso shakuhachi, mastering Myoan, Futaiken and Kimpu-ryu styles and living nearby. We had a short but interesting time to share our passion about shakuhachi.
The day before leaving to Kyushu, after a big shopping time in Mejiro shakuhachi (specialised shop in Tokyo), I went for shakuhachi lessons to Dr Mizuno Kohmei’s house in Kokubunji. He is the headmaster of chikumeisha branch.
Then I flew to Oita-ken a northern Kyushu prefecture famous for its Onsen (hot springs) and bamboo crafts. The plane was pretty small and flying at lower altitude, I was lucky on that sunshiny day to fly over mount Fuji admiring it’s crater; a very good sign for the rest of the journey…!
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I am leaving soon for a one month trip in Japan !
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The plan is :
One week in Tokyo where I will learn more about Ji-ari making with shakuhachi master craftsman Takahashi Toyomi and take lessons with Mizuno Komei (headmaster of Chikumeisha branch). I will also visit specialized shops (such as Mejiro) and maybe meet some lacquer master…
Then three weeks in north Kyushu (I don’t like staying over a week in a big city !) where my mission will be harvesting Madake bamboo which is abundant there.
I will be back to the rural side of Japan that I loved so much during my bicycle trip in 2010 (already 9 years…!)
So if you were planning to buy one the shakuhachi currently instock, please do that before November the 7th (I will leave the 10th) or wait until mid-December…