Hōzan Yamamoto (山本邦山, ''Yamamoto Hōzan''; October 6, 1937 - February 10, 2014 in

Ōtsu 270px, Ōtsu City Hall is the capital city of Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 343,991 in 153,458 households and a population density of 740 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . History Ōtsu is ...

Shiga prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to th ...

) was a Japanese

shakuhachi A is a Japanese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

player, composer and lecturer. Yamamoto started playing the Japanese bamboo flute shakuhachi at the age of nine. He was initially taught by his father and then by Chozan Nakanishi. After graduating from

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

Junior College of Foreign Studies in 1958, he participated in

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's World Folk Music Festival and graduated from Seiha Music College in 1962. Together with koto player Shinichi Yuize and

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was a British film director and producer. He made his theatrical film debut with ''The Hunger (1983 film), The Hunger'' (1983) and went on to direct highly successful action and t ...

, he recorded the album

Music for Zen Meditation ''Music for Zen Meditation'' is a 1964 album by jazz clarinetist Tony Scott. The album is considered to be the first new-age record. ''Music for Zen Meditation'' is mostly improvised by Scott, Shinichi Yuize ( koto) and Hōzan Yamamoto (shakuh ...

in February 1964. After forming the widely acclaimed "Shakuhachi Sanbon Kai" trio in 1966 with Reibo Aoki and Katsuya Yokoyama, he electrified the conservative traditional scene by applying his talents to a variety of crossover collaborations. These have led him to work with such world-renowned musicians as

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...

Helen Merrill Helen Merrill (born Jelena Ana Milcetic; July 21, 1929) is an American jazz vocalist. Her first album, the eponymous 1954 recording ''Helen Merrill (album), Helen Merrill'' (with Clifford Brown on EmArcy), was an immediate success and associat ...

Gary Peacock Gary George Peacock (May 12, 1935September 4, 2020) was an American jazz double bassist. He recorded a dozen albums under his own name, and also performed and recorded with major jazz figures such as avant garde saxophonist Albert Ayler, piani ...

and

Karl Berger Karl Hans Berger (March 30, 1935 – April 9, 2023) was a German-American jazz pianist, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. He was a leading figure in jazz improvisation from the 1960s when he settled in the United States for life. He founde ...

, and also with flute colleagues

Jean-Pierre Rampal Jean-Pierre Louis Rampal (7 January 1922 – 20 May 2000) was a French flautist. Rampal popularised the flute in the post–World War II years, recovering flute compositions from the Baroque era, and spurring contemporary composers, ...

and Chris Hinze. In 1980 he was invited to the renowned

Donaueschingen Donaueschingen (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Eschinge'') is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the States of Germany, federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar ''Districts of Germany, Kreis''. It ...

music festival with his trio. He recorded music for the movie ''

Samurai Reincarnation is a 1981 Japanese dark fantasy film written and directed by Kinji Fukasaku and starring Sonny Chiba, Kenji Sawada, and Hiroyuki Sanada. It is based on the novel of the same name by Futaro Yamada. The film was nominated for three Awards of ...

'' film and the album ''Masters of Zen: Shakuhachi & Organ'' with

Wolfgang Mitterer Wolfgang Mitterer (born 6 June 1958 in Lienz, East Tyrol) is an Austrian composer and musician (organ, keyboard). Biography Wolfgang Mitterer studied with Otto Bruckner in Graz in 1977, and then from 1978 to 1983 at the University of Music and ...

. Through the 1970s and 1980s until his death he led the shakuhachi world receiving innumerable honors, including Japanese Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Education Ministerial awards for his performances, recordings (numbering in the hundreds) and compositions. He served as lecturer at the

Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music or is a school of art and music in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, crafts, inter ...

and as head of the Hozan-kai Shakuhachi Guild. In 2002 he was designated Living National Treasure of Japan. In 2004, he was awarded a

Medal with Purple Ribbon are medals awarded by the Emperor of Japan. They are awarded to individuals who have done meritorious deeds and also to those who have achieved excellence in their field of work. The Medals of Honor were established on December 7, 1881, and were ...

. In 2009, he was awarded an

Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

. On February 10, 2014, he died at a hospital in Tokyo.

Discography

* 1964 Music for Zen Meditation * 1968

Oriental Bossa Sounds a Union of Koto, Shakuhachi and Big Band The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

(琴, 尺八, ビッグ・バンドによるスタンダード・ボッサ) * 1969

Harlem Nocturne "Harlem Nocturne" is a jazz standard written by Earle Hagen (music) and Dick Rogers (lyrics) in 1939 for the Ray Noble orchestra, of which they were members. The song was chosen by the big-band leader Randy Brooks the next year as his theme song ...

* 1970

Hibiki - Contemporary Music for Japanese Traditional Instruments Hibiki is a Japanese word which can be translated as "echo" or "resonance" among other meanings. It may refer to: People *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese long jumper *Reine Hibiki, a Japanese illustrator whose work includes art for ''Maria-sama ...

(響 - 和楽器による現代日本の音楽) * 1971 '' Ginkai'' (銀界) (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

apan Apan is a city and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 346.9 km2. Overview-Twin Towns-sister Cities As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 39,247. It was a ...

with

Masabumi Kikuchi was a Japanese jazz pianist and composer known for his unique playing style. He worked with many diverse musicians, including Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, and collaborated with Gil Evans and ...

, Gary Peacock and Hiroshi Murakami. recorded in 1970. * 1974 Keden (怪顛) * 1974 Kyorai (去来) * 1975

Bamboo Suite Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in the case of ''Dendrocalamus sinicus'' ha ...

(竹の組曲) * 1975

Breath Breathing (spiration or ventilation) is the neuroscience of rhythm, rhythmical process of moving air into (inhalation) and out of (exhalation) the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the Milieu intérieur, internal environment, mostly to flu ...

* 1978 Kangetsu (寒月) * 1985 Again and Again with

* 1986 Saichi * 1986 Hozan Yamamoto vs Four Men * 1990

Sankyoku ''Sankyoku'' (Japanese: 三曲 / さんきょく) is a form of Japanese chamber music played often with a vocal accompaniment. It is traditionally played on shamisen, koto, and kokyū, but more recently the kokyū has been replaced by shakuh ...

* 1996 Mugenkai - Ginkai II (夢幻界 - 銀界II) * 1996

Works of Hozan Yamamoto Works may refer to: People * Caddy Works (1896–1982), American college sports coach * John D. Works (1847–1928), California senator and judge * Samuel Works (c. 1781–1868), New York politician Albums * ''Works'' (Pink Floyd album), a Pink ...

(山本邦山作品集) * 1997 Otoño * 1998 Amigos * 2000 Fascination of the Shakuhachi (尺八の魅力)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamamoto, Hozan 1937 births 2014 deaths 20th-century Japanese composers 20th-century Japanese male musicians 21st-century Japanese composers 21st-century Japanese male musicians Japanese male composers Living National Treasures of Japan People from Ōtsu, Shiga Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon Shakuhachi players Academic staff of Tokyo University of the Arts 20th-century Japanese flautists 21st-century flautists