I'm probably the only Shakuhachi maker / teacher that accepts Bitcoin (though my friend Tairyu (npub1kc0…ys32) may have brought the number up to 2...), but I want to go a little further back into history to find connections between this ancient Japanese flute and Bitcoin.
Interestingly - the shakuhachi is a Japanese bamboo flute that was popular with wandering Buddhist monks during the 1600's. Some players were likely Christian samurai as well, fleeing persecution. The government at the time was leaning heavily towards the Authoritarian / Totalitarian side of things.
There was a system called "tonari-gumi" in which you had a small group of people who you were responsible for, i.e., you had to spy on. If anyone was out of line (against the government, etc.), you had to rat each other out. These were the people living right next door to you. Kind of like social media today - the weakest members and sociopaths had an open invitation to rat out and cancel anyone who was on the side of freedom or truth.
So you can't really speak your mind. You are incentivized to lie.
Shakuhachi found a sort of solution. No words, just sounds. True sounds (hence 本音 Hon-On, the name of my studio - it means "true sound" as well as "what you're really thinking / feeling"), seeking truth and communicating feeling one tone at a time, using the unique colors that come out of an imperfectly round stalk of bamboo. Most pieces are not musical in the modern sense. They are sonic prayers. The titles are themes, usually Buddhist, so that they serve as meditations on a concept - Yoshiya explores identity (to me, it echoes God's approval of Jesus - "You are my Son, in whom I am well pleased." - at his baptism). Takiotchi explores death and impermanence (the title suggests a waterfall - to me, the sweat and tears of Christ as he decides to go to his death on the cross.
I appreciate these things as a Christian, and this fits just fine. Buddhists of the time would often help and hide their Christian friends, so that they wouldn't be killed. Shakuhachi players were a community of Buddhists, but it's likely that Christians were often welcomed or hidden among them as well.
The shakuhachi monks - called komoso, and then komuso - were later allowed to travel anonymously between prefectures, though travel was heavily restricted for most. Maybe this is because they were spying for the government, which would be unfortunate - but regardless, even non-spies were given some degree of anonymity and freedom.
Speaking your mind, seeking truth, appreciating privacy, cherishing freedom - all things that are generally appreciated by bitcoiners, and now Nostr. It's a good place to be.
#shakuhachi #Japan #music #hitoyogiri #flute #Buddhism #Government #Totalitarianism #Christianity #philosophy #komoso #komuso
