This was the last (but not least !) of the shakuhachi brought back from London; it was entrusted to me by Jose Vargas a shakuhachi maker friend from Madrid. This repair was very challenging for me and a way to prove that even the worse splits can be repaired.
Here it is in the condition when I received it; it’s an old 2.6 kinko ji-ari very well crafted :
After a few days in warm humid atmosphere, the split was reduced from 6 to 2mm but not entirely closed. So I used hose clamps which enabled to close it some more before complete binding.
Finally, I couldn’t reduce the split less than a millimetre on its worse parts so I infiltrated glue in it. Then I had to reshape the joint which was completely deformed and fill all the gaps in the bore with ji before complete lacquering with several layers of strong urushi.
It is very pleasing for me to be able to give its voice back to a nice shakuhachi; in a way I feel I’m honouring the maker’s work.
I hope that for a next badly cracked shakuhachi, I would be able to close completely the splits…
