Komuso Shakuhachi

In many samurai or Ninja films, their appear strange and solitary figures whose faces are completely concealed by a large basket-like hat. They are called komuso (Monks of Emptiness). They travel from place to place on a pilgrimage and play a Japanese flute for religious mendicancy.

The komuso belonged to the Fuke-shu, a small subsect of Zen Buddhism. They regarded their music a vocal expression of the ineffable essence of Zen enlightenment. The komuso disappeared during the Meiji-Reformation in the last century when the new government abolished the Fuke-shu. In the time since their abolishment, the secretive characteristics of this group have been lost. Because of this historical loss, we are unable to completely understand the komuso’s reality.

On the other hand, use of the SHAKUHACHI, their flute, survived the strong westernization policy of Meiji government. Its use as a religious instrument was converted to a musical one using a western scale and played in ensembles, a practice which was originally prohibited.

Today, the obsession with "modernization" has declined, and in the hands of contemporary musicians, the traditional style of playing the SHAKUHACHI has become very popular. SHAKUHACHI music uses many notes which do not fall within the temperament. It makes active use of the blowing sound considered to be non-musical in European classical music. At times, the most important element of the performance is actually the silence between the notes.

However, these features of classical SHAKUHACHI music are not novel at all when considered in a religious context where the spiritual state of selflessness and the concentration of the mind are the primary objectives.

This spiritual state of selflessness was the basis of the life motto of the komuso "Coming from nowhere, going to nowhere like the wind." Today this music is appearing to those hemmed in by their material world.