Roshi (November 20, 1911 - December 14, 1992) was a master of the end-blown Japanese
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...
flute. He studied
Rinzai Zen, attaining the title of .
Born as Tanaka Masaru, he was also known as Tanaka Fumon, Itcho Fumon, Watazumi Fumon, and Watazumi Shuso.
Watazumi played unlacquered instruments that he referred to as
hotchiku, in contrast with the modern
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 . , stressing that to truly understand nature and oneself, one had to use an instrument of the most raw and natural origin. From this grew what he called ''Watazumidō'' "Way of Watazumi".
In addition to hotchiku, Watazumi used the
jō for exercise, invigoration, and training.
Quotations
* "It's fine that you are all deep into music. But there's something deeper and if you would go deeper, if you go to the source of where the music is being made, you'll find something even more interesting. At the source, everyone's individual music is made. If you ask what the deep place is, it's your own life and it's knowing your own life, that own way that you live."
* "When you hear some music or hear some sound, if for some reason you like it very well; the reason is that sound is in balance or in harmony with your pulse. And so making a sound, you try to make various different sounds that imitate various different sounds of the universe, but what you are finally making is your own sound, the sound of yourself."
* "He who blows Ro 10 minutes every day can become a master."
Works
*''The Mysterious Sounds of the Japanese Bamboo Flute'',
Everest Records 3289
**''The Art of the Japanese Bamboo Flute''. Album. Legacy International - CD 306. (Reissue of Everest 3289)
*''Sokoinrancho''. Album. Philips - PH-7503. 1970.
*''Rinbo Yondai''. Album. Philips - PH-7520. 1974.
Rinbo Yondai
International Shakuhachi Society.
*'' The Sacrifice''. Film soundtrack. 1986.
*''Sukiyaki and Chips: The Japanese Sounds of Music''. Produced and directed by Jeremy Marre. A Harcourt Films production for Channel Four.
See also
* Buddhism in Japan
Buddhism was first established in Japan in the 6th century CE. Most of the Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185－1333). During the Edo period (1603–1868), Buddhism was cont ...
* Katsuya Yokoyama
was a Japanese musician who played the ''shakuhachi'', a traditional vertical bamboo flute.
Early life
He was born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1934 and studied Kinko-ryu and Azuma styles of music with his father, Rampo Yokoyama, and grandfather, ...
, a famous student of Watazumi Doso
* Fuke-shū
* List of Rinzai Buddhists
* ''The Sacrifice'', a Swedish film featuring the music of Watazumi Doso
References
External links
Watazumi biography and recordings
a
The International Shakuhachi Society web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watazumi Doso
1910 births
1992 deaths
Performers of Buddhist music
Shakuhachi players
Rōshi
Rinzai Buddhists
Japanese Zen Buddhists
20th-century Japanese musicians
Musicians from Fukuoka Prefecture
20th-century Japanese flautists