Watazumi Doso Roshi (1910 - December 14, 1992) was a master of the end-blown Japanese 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. He studied Rinzai

Rinzai school

The Rinzai school is , one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.Rinzai is the Japanese line of the Chinese Linji school, which was founded during the Tang Dynasty by Linji Yixuan...

 Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

, attaining the title of roshi

Roshi

is a Japanese honorific title used in Zen Buddhism that literally means "old teacher" or "elder master" and sometimes denotes a person who gives spiritual guidance to a Zen sangha or congregation...

. In the 1950s, Watazumi assembled the Dokyoku Honkyoku

Honkyoku

Honkyoku are the pieces of shakuhachi or hocchiku music played by mendicant Japanese Zen monks called komusō. Komusō played honkyoku for enlightenment and alms as early as the 13th century. Honkyoku is the practice of suizen...

 repertoire of pieces.

Watazumi played the unlacquered hocchiku

Hocchiku

, sometimes romanized as hocchiku or hochiku, is a Japanese end-blown flute , crafted from root sections of bamboo. After cleaning and sanding, the heavy root end of the bamboo stalk reveals many small circular knots where the roots formerly joined the stalk...

, in contrast with the modern 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...

, stressing that to truly understand nature and oneself, one had to use an instrument of the most raw and natural origin. This belief inspired him to create and lead the Watazumido (or "Way of Watazumi") school of spiritual discipline. He frequently performed on quite large bass instruments. Watazumi was also referred to as Watazumi-do Shuso (also spelled Watazumido Shuso or Watazumido-Shuso), "shuso" meaning "head student," a Zen term referring to the student selected by the Zen master to instruct the other students.

In addition to the hocchiku, Watazumi used and recommended the Jo stick

Jo (weapon)

A is an approximately 1.276 m long wooden staff, used in some Japanese martial arts. The martial art of wielding the jō is called jōjutsu or jōdō. Also, aiki-jō is a set of techniques in aikido which uses the jō to illustrate aikido's principles with a weapon. The jō staff is shorter than the bō...

 for exercise, invigoration, and strengthening.

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."

Filmography

• Sukiyaki and Chips: The Japanese Sounds of Music. Produced and directed by Jeremy Marre
  Jeremy Marre
  Jeremy Marre is a television director, writer and producer who founded Harcourt Films and has worked extensively around the world. Many of his films are on musical subjects....
  
  . A Harcourt Films production for Channel Four.

See also

• Buddhism in Japan
  Buddhism in Japan
  The history of Buddhism in Japan can be roughly divided into three periods, namely the Nara period , the Heian period and the post-Heian period . Each period saw the introduction of new doctrines and upheavals in existing schools...
  
  
• 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...
  
   (famous student of Watazumi Doso Roshi)
• Fuke Zen
  Fuke Zen
  Fuke Zen or the Hottô Ha , was a distinct and ephemeral derivative of Japanese Zen Buddhism which originated as an obscuration of the Rinzai school during the nation's feudal era, lasting from the 13th century until the late 19th century...
  
  
• List of Rinzai Buddhists
• The Sacrifice
  The Sacrifice
  The Sacrifice is a 1986 film, and the final film by Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky, who died shortly after completing it.-Synopsis:...
  
    : A Swedish film (1986) directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
  Andrei Tarkovsky
  Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
  
  .

External links

• Watazumi biography and recordings at The International Shakuhachi Society web site