A list of traditional Japanese music events, businesses, and shakuhachi web sites.

Chikuho Ryu (English and Japanese)
Home page for the Chikuho school of Shakuhachi. With options to buy cds, scores, or have remote training.

Chikumeisha
The Chikumeisha was established as a body of professional shakuhachi performers in 1921, centered around Shiro Yamaguchi. When he passed away in November 1963, his son Goro Yamaguchi continued in his father's footsteps and further developed the tradition. Regretfully, Goro Yamaguchi passed away on January 3, 1999, due to illness, but his disciples who had been studying his art have continued the Chikumeisha guild since. By means of their various activities they are trying to stay in touch with those who want to learn about and study the wonderful art forms our teachers transmitted. They would happy to hear from anybody who is interested.

Chikuyusha
A Kinko school founded in 1894 by KAWASE Junsuke I. Published music for the first time in the modern "Futoten" style in 1903.

European Shakuhachi Society
Membership of the ESS is open both to players of the shakuhachi and to non-players who are interested in the music of the shakuhachi in all its forms. 

Since the ESS is not affiliated with a particular school or aesthetic direction, its members represent a broad cross-section of styles and genres of shakuhachi.

Supporting ESS through joining is a means of helping maintain a coordinating resource of the shakuhachi in Europe. 

The benefits of membership include access to information about shakuhachi events and tuition throughout Europe and beyond, as well as discounted participation fees at events such as the European Shakuhachi Summer Schools.



Become a member and learn about upcoming events on the European Shakuhachi Society website at ESS

Join the ESS Shakuhachi Forum

Visit our mailing group

Join our Facebook group.

International Shakuhachi Kenshukan (Japanese)
Established by the late Yokoyama Katsuya and run by his senior students.

Japanese Music Institute of America
The Japanese Music Institute of America (JMI) was founded as a nonprofit educational organization in 1981 by present day director and president, Masayuki Koga. JMI has a clear goal and an enthusiastic approach based on a belief that there are many people who love music, yet do not know how to play well, or how to enjoy practice. There is a satisfactory answer for them: a method to help them experience the happiness of playing music.

Kyo Shin An Shakuhachi Dojo
James Nyoraku Schlefer holds two Shi-Han (Master) certificates, and one Dai-Shi-Han (Grand Master) certificate, and is well respected as a teacher in both the U.S. and Japan. He has been passing on shakuhachi tradition for nearly twenty years and devotes many hours each week to teaching. Nyoraku Sensei’s dojo is in Park Slope, Brooklyn, near Prospect Park, where he often teaches lessons when the weather is nice. Students at all levels, from beginners to professional musicians, are welcome to come to the dojo, which offers weekly lessons; workshops and master classes with prominent teachers; and student recitals. Instruments are available and sheet music is provided. Lessons are only taught in person, and one-on-one.

Students learn in the Japanese style, facing the teacher and first singing then playing the music together. Historically, traditional music was taught entirely by rote, with the student copying everything the teacher played by ear. At Kyo-Shin-An, the spirit of this method is maintained but with contemporary modifications, such as using notation, and with comments and suggestions to improve playing.

In the course of study, students learn to play 41 pieces of honkyoku (Zen Buddhist traditional music), 45 sankyoku pieces (chamber music played with koto and shamisen), and numerous folk songs. Upon completing this curriculum, a licensing course (which involves playing the music upside down and “teaching” it to the teacher), and a public performance, students will earn a Jun-Shi-Han Associate certificate and receive a Japanese name.

Nyoraku Sensei is a Grand Master of the Jin Nyodo lineage, having learned from Kurahashi Yoshio, Mitsuhashi Kifu, Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin, and Keisuke Zenyoji, all of whose teachers learned from Jin Nyodo. Jin Sensei’s honkyoku repertoire draws from several traditional lines; Kinko-ryu, Kinpu ryu, and Fuke Meian.

Shakuhachi study is challenging. It is at once humbling and inspiring. The rigor of shakuhachi practice is matched only by the satisfaction of being with a great sound.

Kyo-Shin-An Arts
Kyo-Shin-An Arts is a contemporary music organization with a mission to bring Japanese instruments – specifically koto, shakuhachi and shamisen – to Western classical music. KSA works in partnership with established chamber ensembles, orchestras and great individual performers to bridge two musical cultures. Concerts feature a blend of KSA commissions, other World, American and NY premieres, traditional and contemporary music for Japanese instruments and Western repertoire. Founded in 2009, Kyo-Shin-An Arts presents its NYC chamber music season at the Tenri Cultural Institute in Manhattan.

Seattle Shakuhachi Society
The Seattle Shakuhachi Society is primarily a way for people who live in and near Seattle to find out about local shakuhachi-related events such as concerts, visiting teachers, workshops, and so on. Most of their members play the shakuhachi at least a little bit, but that's not a requirement. They also maintain a mailing list.

Shakuhachi Roots - Bamboo Harvesting Trip and Pilgrimage to Japan
Alcvin Ramos places importance not only on playing shakuhachi, but also on experiencing the beauties of Japanese culture first hand within Japan herself; and most importantly making one's own, individual jinashi Shakuhachi. Every other year in late autumn, Alcvin arranges a trip to Japan pilgrimaging to sacred sites, studying with master teachers, and harvesting bamboo. Participants spend two or more days harvesting amongst the fresh air and beauty of Japan's mountainous countryside. During the field trip, members are trained how to select, harvest, and dry bamboo for making their own shakuhachi. Other activities on the trip include visiting Kyoto Meianji, Koukokuji in Wakayama and other sacred shakuhachi places of Japan.

Shin Tozan Ryu Shakuhachi (Japanese)
Shin Tozan Ryu Shakuhachi

Tozan Ryu (Japanese)
Home page for Japan's most popular school of shakuhachi music.

Ueda Ryu (Japanese)
The Ueda Ryū was founded in Kansai by Tozan player Ueda Hōdō and his brother Chikudo after Hōdō was expelled from the Tozan school in 1917 for playing his own compositions at Tozan recitals. Ueda Hōdō had previously succeeded Nakao Tozan in 1971 as the head of a Tozan study group (kai) within Myōan-ha called Kyochiku-zenji Hōsan Kai (1951).