Kaoru Kakizakai is an internationally renowned player and teacher of the shakuhachi

Shakuhachi

The is a Japanese end-blown flute. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but versions now exist in ABS and hardwoods. It was used by the monks of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism in the practice of...

, a traditional vertical bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 of Japan

Music of Japan

The music of Japan includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern. The word for music in Japanese is 音楽 , combining the kanji 音 with the kanji 楽...

.

Kakizakai studied under and recorded with Yokoyama Katsuya

Yokoyama Katsuya

was an internationally renowned player and teacher of the shakuhachi, a traditional vertical bamboo flute of Japan.Katsuya Yokoyama is one of the greatest masters of the shakuhachi in Japan today...

. He graduated from the NHK

NHK

NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

 Traditional Music Conservatory and was a past winner of the Kumamoto All Japan Hogaku competition. Kakizakai has performed widely in Japan and abroad, including as shakuhachi soloist in Toru Takemitsu

Toru Takemitsu

was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...

's November Steps

November Steps

is a musical composition by the Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu, for the traditional Japanese musical instruments, shakuhachi and biwa, and western orchestra...

with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. As of 2006, he is a research fellow at the Tokyo College of Music

Tokyo College of Music

was founded as in Kanda, Tokyo in 1907. It is the oldest private music school in Japan.- History :The founder , Yonejirō Suzuki, introduced European classical music into the Empire of Japan....

. He is also full-time instructor for the International Shakuhachi Kenshukan and NHK Culture Centre, and President of the International Shakuhachi Kenshu-kan Chichibu School and Higashi Yamato School.
He is a member of the regular faculty of the Shakuhachi Summer Camp of the Rockies in Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 (USA).

External links

• Biography: Kakizakai Kaoru at The International Shakuhachi Society