Special Orders
Example 1: Shakuhachi and Scripture
Recently I've been working on using maki-e (art made though a multi-stage process involving scattering metal powder over a special type of urushi) techniques to write scripture on shakuhachi. This shakuhachi has John C.H. Wu's (a Chinese Christian who was friends with Thomas Merton, and shared his affinity for Zen) Classical Chinese poetic translation of Psalm 148, a poem bringing all of creation under God, uniting all people regardless of sex or status. The skin (bark?) of the bamboo was damaged, making it perfect for this project - the skin was sanded off so that the urushi would soak in to the surface. After several coats, the psalm was painted on, embossed with tin powder, and then finished off with urushi. It's for sale - please contact me if you are interested.
Similar things can be done with other scriptures, or shorter sayings. Feel free to ask me if you like the idea but don't know what to put on your shakuhachi. Shorter sayings or verses from Lao Tzu or Confucius would also be nice. I have seen older shakuhachi with just one line of characters on the back, something that functions as a personal aim, such as what goes on the you-facing part of the rakusu used in zazen. This sort of work can be done on any shakuhachi.
The above example uses tin, an everyday metal that produces a rougher, metallic effect. Gold and Silver are also available; these produce a much finer, smoother finish.
Example 2: Custom job on an old shakuhachi.
I enjoy doing custom artwork with shakuhachi flutes. I recently came across an old shakuhachi that played well, but didn't look so good on the outside. It was lacking a mouthpiece, and the original maker had filled in some concave sections on the surface with brown resin; it also didn't have any urushi inside, which makes the shakuhachi more prone to cracking, and makes the sound a bit unstable (the bare bamboo takes on extra moisture as you play, creating uneven changes in turbulence and temperatures inside), which can be kind of distracting. I had been looking for something that I could offer to one of my students inexpensively, though, and this seemed to fit the bill. Here's what it looked like before.
After Custom Work
First I added a proper mouthpiece, and put several coats of ro-iro urushi inside. I then used traditional techniques using ji and urushi (only on the outside; the flute is still purely ji-nashi) to cover up and smooth over the root end section of the bamboo. I coated the entire flute with translucent, ultra-hard Japanese urushi, and finished off the root end with shu-iro urushi, giving it a deep, earthy dark red tone. I also gave the root end a silver leaf accent.
Many older flutes have a similar urushi coating on the root end. Again, according to my grand-teacher Deiko, the urushi coating on the flute is not only a great aesthetic accent, but also gives the flute excellent protection against cracking. This shakuahchi will not need to be oiled. The silver leaf, though, was my own idea.
Send me a message on the contact form if you would like a custom shakuhachi - something like this, or something else altogether. I specialize in traditional Komuso sizes, from 1.8 - 2.1 (including 2.0 for Kinpu-ryu), but will make up to a 2.4 upon request, subject to bamboo availability. Other options include name engraving, decorative binding, etc. I'd also be happy to meet you on skype to discuss what you'd like.