Welcome to www.torstenolafsson.dk

Japanese bamboo flute
Original Myōan shakuhachi
made by Ozawa Seizan

Shakuhachi studies
History and ideology

What is the meaning of Sui Zen?
Those in Japan who know are few
- most of their word books omit it!
Zen is to open the mind, to intuit
-  Sui is the flow of the breath, the wind ...
Sui Zen: Blown Meditation?
No, Sui is to blow the flute, make it ring!
Zen is the way of the skeptic ... yet,
knowing that sound of the Flute of No Holes
why would one plead for an answer?
     [T.O. 1986]

I have been researching the historical background, ideology and musical characteristics of the Japanese bamboo flute shakuhachi (though somewhat "off-and-on") for more than forty years.
Enrolling at the East Asian Institute, Univ. of Copenhagen, in 1968,
I first studied Chinese language (classical and modern), history, art, philosophy and music theory over a period of six years, obtaining a B.A. degree in Chinese Culture in 1974.
Then followed further studies in the fields of Japanese language (classical and modern), history, art, philosophy and music, and I acquired another B.A. in 1981 - in Japanology.

At that time, having realized from the very beginning that one must go directly to the original sources - textual and pictorial - I now found myself reasonably capable of searching through the incredibly huge 'bulk' of surviving source materials which illustrate and illuminate the unique history and nature of the shakuhachi.

Then, in 1983, having for some time been researching a subject for my Master's thesis in Japanology, in one of my several Japanese source collections I "discovered" a reprint of a hitherto virtually unnoticed 1628 hand-scroll entitled KAIDŌ HONSOKU, produced by the very last generation of the Medieval Japanese ascetic shakuhachi itinerant monks known as komosō, or "mat monks".
While translating the text I soon came to the realization that among all of the numerous known written sources of Fuke Shakuhachi history and ideology the KAIDŌ HONSOKU should in fact be evaluated as the most important and significant of them all.

View a reprint of the Kaidō Honsoku document in PDF-format: 387 kb

The resulting thesis was completed and submitted to the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Letters, in 1987, entitled:

     Early Seventeenth Century Ascetic Shakuhachi Ideology:
     The Kaidō Honsoku.
     A Komosō’s Fuke Shakuhachi Credo dated 1628.
     M.A. thesis in Japanology.
     East Asian Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 1987.
     145 pp., ill.

View the Kaidō Honsoku thesis' list of references (bibliography, 1987/1988) in PDF-format: 713 kb

The complete thesis is available in PDF-format on CD-ROM, enclosed with an introductory article on the subject published by Tai Hei Shakuhachi, Willits, California, 2003:

     Kaidō Honsoku, 1628: The Komosō’s Fuke Shakuhachi Credo.
     On Early 17th Century Ascetic Shakuhachi Ideology.
     24 pp., ill. Edited by Mei Levenson.
     Published by Monty H. Levenson, Tai Hei Shakuhachi, California.

For further information kindly contact Mr. Levenson at
Tai Hei Shakuhachi - www.shakuhachi.com

It should be noted that the KAIDŌ HONSOKU thesis presents not only a full and comprehensively annotated translation of the KAIDŌ HONSOKU text itself but also many references to other significant early sources of Fuke shakuhachi history, including translations from Chinese and Japanese literature, rare pictures, detailed maps, discussions and new theories which have not been presented to the public before, as well as a substantial bibliography and reprints of all the classical Japanese literary sources quoted in the thesis.

Viewing the objective facts as a whole one can only conclude that:

The Chinese Zen monk Fuke (Chin: P'u-k'o Ch'an-shi, 9th cent.) did not play the shakuhachi, nor did he have any disciple(s) who - acc. to the traditional legend - copied the tinkling of Fuke's hand bell on his flute. Neither could the Japanese Shingon monk Kakushin (alias Hottō Kokushi) have learned any sort of "Fuke shakuhachi music" when he studied Ch'an Buddhism in China in the mid-13th century. Only sometime during the course of the 16th century was Priest Fuke "adopted" by the komosō, or "mat monks", as their spiritual ancestor, or "role model".

When these Fuke shakuhachi itinerants produced the KAIDŌ HONSOKU in 1628 they were still referring to themselves as komo-sō (and bo-ro !), whereas the term k(y)o-mu-sō, rightfully to be translated as "non-substantiality-non-duality-monk", was invented afterwards, probably as late as during the 1640's.

Likewise, the long and  thick root-end shakuhachi as we know it today appeared even later, during the last two decades of the 17th century, or so.

Even more important, however, is the fact that - according to the KAIDŌ HONSOKU evidence - the Fuke Shakuhachi mendicants of 1628, the komosō, did indeed not explain their peculiar practice in terms of Japanese Zen philosophy only - rather on the contrary.

Ideas derived from ancient Indian Advaita (or "non-dualistic") Vedanta philosophy and Dhyana Buddhism, Chinese Yin-Yang cosmology, Five Element theory, Taoism and Ch'an Buddhism, combined with Japanese Shingon (Tantric), Tendai and Pure Land Buddhist thought appear as being equally significant - including Shintō!

Furthermore, basic Zen concepts like f.i. zazen, sammai, and takuhatsu angya do not figure in the KAIDŌ HONSOKU at all.
Neither do the terms ichi-on jō-butsu (or "one-sound attainment of Buddha-hood"), onsei seppō (or "musical sermons") & hō-ki (or "Dharma instrument ") - nor the very word Zen . . . , for that matter.
Besides, while actually acknowledging the existence of "16 Komosō branch sects", there is no reference to any actual Fuke Shakuhachi temple organization whatsoever, i.e. in 1628.
Rather on the contrary:

     "And now being deprived of employment anywhere, be it at any
     of  the three barriers of Akama-ga-seki in the Nagato Province,
     Ōsaka-no-seki at the capital, or the the two checking stations of 
     Shirakawa in Ōshū, the Komo who abundantly wander the world, 
     to whom Heaven and Body have the same root and All Creation is
     One Body, have neither confinements or attachments."
          [KH par. 12. Trsl. by T.O.]

These, as well as many other aspects of early Fuke Shakuhachi history and ideology, are being presented, explained and discussed in the thesis as well as in an introductory article published by Tai Hei Shakuhachi, California.

You may read more about the edition via this link:

Monty H. Levenson's Tai Hei Shakuhachi site - USA

Torsten Olafsson