Chakra Crystal Therapy

The Shakuhachi is one of the instruments that are geisha is traditionally trained to play. The shakuhachi is a Japanese end-blown flute. Originally introduced from China into Japan in the 8th century, it underwent resurgence in the early Edo period. The Shakuchahi is traditionally composed of bamboo. However, versions of the Shakuchahi today are also available in ABS and hardwoods. The instrument was originally used by the monks of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism, to practice suizen. Suizen is a blowing meditation. The name “shakuhachi” means “1.8 shaku,” which is a reference to its size. The word is composed of two words; shaku – an archaic unit of length which is equal to 30.3 centimeters, and hachi – literally means 8, however in this context it means eight sun, or tenths of a shaku. The instrument is usually made from the root end of a bamboo culm. They are extremely versatile instruments. Players on the professional level can produce almost any pitch they wish to, and play a wideselection of original Zen music, ensemble music with coto, biwa, and shamisen (other traditional Japanese instruments that a geisha learns how to master), folk music, jazz, and other modern pieces. The shakuhachi owes its subtlety to its rich tone coloring and its ability for variation. Different fingerings, embouchures and amounts of meri can produce notes that are of the same pitch, but with little or dramatic differences in the tone coloring. The hose can be covered partially and pitch varied a bit or by a lot by changing the angle that the player is blowing on it at. The honkyouku (pieces of shakuchachi music) pieces rely heavily on this aspect of the instrument. The Shakuhachi may be compared to a recorder; however, unlike a recorder, wherein the player blows into a duct and has limited pitch control, the shakuhachi player blows as if blowing across the top of an empty bottle. Therefore, the shakuhachi has substantial pitch control. The five finger holes are tuned to thepentatonic scale. These holes have no half tones, but using the meri and kari techniques (techniques where the blowing angle is adjusted to bend the pitch downlward and upward), the player can bend each pitch as much as a whole tone or more.