Book review: Playing a Shakuhachi with 5 Tones by Daisuke Kaminaga

The book's cover shows the author in a dynamic mid-air pose. The other items are unrelated: they're a DVD (Ishikawa Method Daily Practice of Shakuhachi) and CD (Fukuda Rando's Excellent Pieces for Shakuhachi) which I may review in future.

The original name of the book is 尺八を 五つの音だけで 吹く本 and the author is 神永大輔 Daisuke Kaminaga. So what attracted me to the book was the artiste himself who's a member of the WagakkiBand.  The book is fully in Japanese so be prepared. I took the plunge with some basic knowledge of kana and kanji input method (similar to Chinese pinyin), and much help from Google.

For those rushing to know my conclusion, here's a brief:

The book is suited for intermediate students who wish to expand their repertoire of playing techniques for contemporary music. There's an assumption that the reader has sufficient knowledge of basic music theory, e.g., reading staff notation. The gem of this book is the inclusion of some original pieces by the artiste, both the audio tracks and scores. The book is geared towards Tozan-ryu techniques so do not expect coverage of traditional Kinko styles. It's obvious he is advocating the continuation of shakuhachi as a versatile modern instrument.

Let's start off with the print quality. It's a large format book that's slightly bigger than A4. Thick paper is used and the binding allows the book to lay flat, which is great for propping up on a stand. It comes with a CD that provides demo clips of exercises, and also the performance of Daisuke's compositions.

Chapter 1 serves as a refresher on the basics such as posture and embouchure. However he has deployed some metaphors to help illustrate breathing methods which I found refreshing, as I had not encountered these elsewhere whether online or in books. 

In Chapter 2, we're given a broad stroke introduction to the pentatonic notes of various Japanese scales. Consolidating and comparing them gives greater clarity.

Chapter 3 covers ornamentation techniques for articulation and accentuation of notes. He advisee on how to integrate these into performance.

Further on in Chapter 4, there is elaboration on application of ornaments, including trills and vibrato that are unique to the shakuhachi. Some of these ornaments are specific to Sankyoku ensemble playing and come from the Tozan-ryu tradition. There's even a section on imitation of Celtic style music.

The gems are in Chapter 5 where eight original pieces in staff and Tozan-ryu notation are presented. They are all meant for the 1.8 shakuhachi so it's more accessible for beginners with only one flute on hand.

Overall I'm satisfied with the content of this book even though most material are not new to me after having had regular lessons for 1.5 years. The audio demos are a useful reference for verifying that one can reproduce the same tone patterns described. Personally the focus on Tozan-ryu methods and inclusion of Tozan scores are a bonus, but that may not appeal to those learning other styles. The vibrant, exciting book cover reflects the content well, this is not a book for traditional/classical honkyoku enthusiasts. The objective of the book is clearly to encourage players to experiment and evolve the culture of shakuhachi performance.