The words written in Chinese characters, or kanji, on either side of my
photograph both say "Reibo," though with different characters and
meanings. To me they represent two fundamental aspects of playing
shakuhachi honkyoku. Those on the left, written by Jin Nyodo, use the
character for "bell" plus the character "bo" meaning "to seek or yearn
for," whereas those on the right, written by Furuya Teruo, use the
character for "spirit" along with bo. The former is much more common,
and is said to refer to the story of the spiritual ancestor of all
shakuhachi players, Fuke Zenji, who, rather than play a flute, rang a
bell to awaken others to the teachings of the Buddha. The character rei
on the right, meaning spirit, has been simplified, but originally
consisted of the characters for rain (still extant in the simplified
version), plus a pictograph of raindrops falling on dancing shamans. So
rather than the concept of an inner spirit, or external spirits, it has
the sense of the spiritual power one conjures through a practice
such as the playing of honkyoku.
For me, honkyoku playing at its best embodies both aspects of reibo
depicted above. In societies with a strong metaphysical heritage, even
if that heritage is dying out or is not intrinsically relevant to a
practice such as playing honkyoku, it seems that the metaphysical tends
to outweigh the physical aspects of playing honkyoku. In other words,
players focus more on the "spiritual" side of playing to the detriment
of developing their technique and sound. Yet Fuke Zenji no doubt did
not use a broken bell, and so when playing honkyoku it is important not
only to develop one's spirit, but also to be able to produce a clear,
powerful tone, as well as to have an instrument that can carry that
tone.
The purpose of this website, then, is to provide the tools, in terms of
guidance and instruments, to make that goal achievable by anyone
willing to devote the effort. For me, the journey on that path has been
thus far extremely rewarding, and I hope it can be as well for all who
choose to follow it...
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