Endō Yoshihiro is travelling from Japan to teach min’yō style.

Endō Yoshihiro (Shakuhachi name: Chikuhō, Min’yō name: Shōfūzan) began studying Kinko-ryû Shakuhachi in 1958 at the age of 20 under Kusano Reifû. In 1961, he began working for Toshiba where he entered a Min’yō Shakuhachi club and learned from Mikado Kintō and Yokoyama Buzan.

In 1975, he founded his own Min’yō group, Sōfûkai, which celebrated its 35th anniversary last year and now has nearly 100 members. Endo Chikuho has been awarded the highest teaching license from the Japan Folk Song Association but despite being settled as a successful Min’yō Shakuhachi player and teacher, in 1986 he began studying koten honkyoku with Okuda Atsuya.

Between 2001 and now, he has been teaching Shakuhachi to middle school students including such Min’yō pieces as Kokiriko-bushi, Sōran-bushi and Esashi oiwake. Five of his female students who graduated this year achieved the unusual accomplishment of being able to perform both Min’yō and koten honkyoku.

Kodama Hiroyuki, also known as Chiku Za, began studying koten honkyoku playing on jinashi Shakuhachi (hotchiku) with Okuda Atsuya in 1989. Very soon after, he found the Shakuhachi to be his path in life and also quickly became Okuda’s main student. Chiku Za also studied jinashi Shakuhachi making with Murai Eigorō for many years and moved with his family to the mountains in Nagano, where he is also able to harvest his own bamboo, to devote his life to Shakuhachi playing and making. In view of his renown, he receives many Shakuhachi players at his home who wish to learn how to make Shakuhachi and learn about honkyoku. Chiku Za continues to perform koten honkyoku and make jinashi Shakuhachi from his home in the mountains.

There is a rare chance to learn from Chiku Za at the SOAS Summer School 2011, which offers two 2-day workshops on how to make your own jinashi Shakuhachi (hotchiku) with Chiku Za, assisted by José Vargas and Philip Horan.

Hazuki studied Kinko-ryû Shakuhachi in Tokyo with Ryumei Matsuyama, a disciple of Goro Yamaguchi, and Enka (Japanese ballads) Shakuhachi with Jun Mori.

After learning Kinko-ryû Honkyoku (music played by Japanese Zen monks called komusô), she started to work as a Shakuhachi player in an Shakuhachi in enka club in Tokyo and has performed in numerous concerts as a soloist and as a member of a Japanese traditional instrumental band.

Her mastery of the Shakuhachi is evident on the CD, "Geisha vs Ninja", the soundtrack for the movie of the same title. Now she lives in Northern Ireland and plays as a soloist.

Michael Soumei Coxall studied Shakuhachi in Japan for many years under the legendary Kinko-ryû master and Living Cultural Treasure, the late Yamaguchi Goro and still continues his studies with Mizuno Kohmei and Sugawara Kuniyoshi in Japan. Michael was awarded his Shakuhachi Shihan (Master’s Licence) in 2007 and the professional name of Soumei.

Michael taught full time at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, from 1986 to 2009 and is interested in both traditional and contemporary Japanese music. As well as teaching, he has performed widely in the UK and Japan and is the founder member of the London Hogaku Ensemble, has featured in numerous solo and ensemble performances with the Anglo-Japanese Collective and as an accompanist in recitals with visiting traditional Japanese performers in the UK including Kikuchi Teiko, Matsumura Kohmei and Nagai Seiho.

He is currently also a member of the sankyoku ensemble in London, “Hibiki”, and was the resident Shakuhachi teacher in the SOAS Japanese Music Society. Michael was the co-organiser of the First Pan-European Shakuhachi Summer School with Koto and Shamisen held in London in 2006. He is also a member of the Chikumeishakai. Michael now divides his time between the UK and Japan.

Kiku Day is a Shakuhachi player from Denmark with American, Russian, Japanese and Irish roots. She gave up her studies in classical Western music on flute to study the traditional repertoire of the mendicant Zen Buddhist monks, honkyoku with Okuda Atusya in Japan for 11 years.

Since her return to Europe. Day has dedicated her life to the potential use of jinashi Shakuhachi. Several composers from different parts of the world have written for her, among others: Takahashi Yūji, Roxanna Panufnik, Vytautas Germanavicius, Gabriel Erkoreka, and Yumi Hara Cawkwell. She has performed with performers such as Fred Frith and Joëlle Léandre, and as a soloist with Odense Symphony Orchestra and with the Nonsuch Choirs at such venues as Purcell Room, Southbank Centre and St John’s, Smith Square.

Day has PhD in ethnomusicology from SOAS, University of London where she teaches Japanese music and continues to research into the development of the jinashi Shakuhachi in the 20th century and contemporary performance possibilities of this wonderful instrument.

Véronique Piron, flautist, discovered the sound of the Shakuhachi in 1992, first in the context of improvisation.

She started in France with Yoshikazu Iwamoto and, awarded a research grant Lavoisier from the French government, she worked in Japan with Teruo Furuya and Katsuya Yokoyama, who gave her her Shakuhachi Shihan (Master's Licence) in 2002.

In Japan she also worked on Shinobue and nohkan with the eminent flautist Kohei Nishikawa who participated in her CD recording "Nipponflutes". Together they are working on a project of collaboration in Europe since 2008.

Véronique Piron performed widely including at the International Shakuhachi Festivals in Tôkyô and Sydney. She regularly plays with the local Koto and Shamisen players in France and Belgium, and is working at present on new projects: a program of creation with the pianist Lydia Domancich in Brittany where she lives, and a meeting with the music of the Middle East.

She has been teaching Shakuhachi and Japanese Music since 1996 in France (Paris, Rennes) and in Brussels for diverse public, both as a Conservatorium teacher and as an independent, and has recently achieved a Professor's Licence (Conservatorium) for Traditional Music.

Horacio Curti encountered the Shakuhachi for the first time on the Indian Himalayas. Fascinated by its sound, he decided to go to Japan where he started his studies under Kakizakai Kaoru focusing on the koten honkyoku repertoire. Horacio received his Shakuhachi “shihan” (Master’s license) from Yokoyama Katsuya in 2004.

Besides his work with koten honkyoku , he started researching contemporary forms such as "free improvised music" collaborating both with musicians and dancers, with poetry and theatre, and especially with "western classical contemporary music" both as a solo performer and as part of the ‘Mei Trio’, premiering several compositions.

Horacio has performed and taught in Argentina, Belgium, Holland, Japan, Spain and the USA.

He completed his studies in Ethnomusicology in 2005, specialising in Japanese music practice and at present he is a professor at the "Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya" and at the "Institut del teatre de Barcelona".

After several free improvised music recordings, his first solo album, `ichi`, was released in 2009 by the Spanish label Agharta Music.

More information at www.Shakuhachi.es.

Daniel Seisoku Lifermann started learning Shakuhachi in 1983 whilst visiting Japan and subsequently studied with Franck Noël, a student of Yokyoyama Katsuya, in France. From 1989 to 1997 he studied under Iwamoto Yoshikazu and also with Gunnar Jinmei Linder. Since 1999, he has been a follower of Fukuda Teruhisa, a student of Miyata Kohachiro, and is the founder of the Hijiri School / Sainte-École), and with whom he regularly organises intensive courses. In 2008, Daniel was awarded the title of Dai Shihan and the name of “Seisoku” (breath of wisdom).

Since 1988, he has been teaching Shakuhachi and, in 1994, founded the French association “La Voie du Bambou”, to spread the wings and practice of Shakuhachi. He works tirelessly to share what he has received from his various masters and performs regularly in concert.

Philip Horan lived in Japan from 1999-2001 where he studied Tozan-ryû Shakuhachi. He completed a Masters in Ethnomusicology at the Irish World Music Centre in Limerick in 2002. He also makes and performs on his own Shakuhachi. He regularly performs Irish and Japanese music with Junshi Murakami (Irish harp). Recent performances include the World Shakuhachi Festival in Sydney in 2008, the National Theatre in London and the Irish “Festival of World Cultures”.

Website: www.Shakuhachizen.com.

José Vargas has been a professional guitarist and musician since 1982 and was introduced to the Shakuhachi in 2004 through Antonio Olías and Kodama Chikuza. He also studies with the Chikumeisha teacher, Tanaka Komei and with Okuda Atsuya on frequent visits to Japan. José also became interested in jinashi Shakuhachi (hotchiku) making and took lessons in Japan from John Kaizan Neptune and Kodama Chikuza. He acted as an Assistant to Kodama Chikuza in the 2010 Madrid Jinashi Shakuhachi Making Workshop and will be assisting again on the ESS Summer School at SOAS this year.

Kitamura Keiko was born in an area of Hiroshima prefecture known for producing Japanese traditional instruments. Her early years were spent studying Koto and Shamisen in Fukuyama under the tutelage of her aunt Kitamura Kyoko who is an Ikuta-ryû master of the famous Miyagi-ryû. Keiko achieved the status of Ikuta-ryû Master herself in 2001.

Keiko has performed all over Japan and around the world, including at the Sydney Opera House, London’s Excel Motor Show, British Museum, Royal Opera House, UK Japanese Embassy, Standon Calling Festival and Dublin’s 2010 Festival Of World Cultures. She has been living in the UK for a number of years now and is currently performing live with Jah Wobble’s Nippon Dub Ensemble, an Anglo-Japanese crossover project also heard recently on BBC Radio’s “World On 3”. Keiko has played and taught regularly with the Japanese Music Society based at SOAS.

Onishi Masako started playing the piano at the age of 4 but became fascinated by the Koto and began studying it with the Seiha-ryû Koto school in Japan aged 12. After moving to Australia, she joined the renowned Sawai International Koto School and studied with the legendary Koto player and school founder Sawai Kazue, as well as with several of her protégés including Odamura Satsuki, Takezawa Etsuko and Kitai Saeko. She has played extensively in Australia with performances at many venues including the Sydney Opera House and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre with Sawai Kazue. Currently residing in London, she has taught the Koto at the Japanese Music Society based at SOAS, has performed at various venues including Asia House, given concerts and collaborated with a number of musicians on the new stage musical concept Kuroda. Now, she performs mainly with the London based ensemble Hibiki, teaches privately and enjoys exploring contemporary Koto music.

Chiara Terzuolo started playing the gagaku-style Koto while interning as a miko (shrine maiden) at a major Shinto shrine in Tokyo. After graduating from Lawrence University, she received a Fulbright Fellowship to research on traditional Japanese music and while based at Kobe University, she studied Koto under Yokoyama Kayoko. Currently, she is a MMus Performance student at SOAS and continues her training in both Koto and Shamisen

David Hughes was raised in the USA but now lives in England, where for 22 years he taught Japanese music and ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (SOAS).

During more than ten years in Japan, he has been closely involved in the traditional folk song world not only as a researcher, but also as a singer, shamisen player and as a judge at folk song contess.

His book “Traditional Folk Song in Modern Japan” (Global Oriental, 2008; with CD) is the only major survey of the subject in English.

Yoshie Asano Campbell was born near Tokyo and began following in her father’s footsteps by singing traditional folk song (min’yō) at the age of 11. When she was 19, she moved north to Akita, a treasure house of min`yō and spent 6 years as a disciple of Asano Umewaka, one of Japan’s most revered folk singers and Shamisen players and also a renowned teacher. Umewaka gave his family name as an "art name" to a small number of his best students, including Yoshie.

Yoshie has performed widely in Japan and overseas as a singer and a dancer with her teacher’s troupe, and in 1986, she won a major national contest.

Marriage brought her to Glasgow in 1998 and, while raising a family there, she has continued to perform Japanese dance at various events.

This will be her first chance in many years to showcase her wonderful singing style which is very true to the songs of northeastern Japan in which she specialises.

Sylvia was born in London and trained and performed with the legendary D’Oyly Carte Opera Company in the 1960s.

Later, her career as an English teacher took her to Japan, where she began to learn traditional folk songs and folk Shamisen.

She has taken part in various national folk song competitions in Japan - one of the few non-Japanese to do so - and has been a guest singer at the famous national Esashi Oiwake contest.

Adrian Bain enjoys playing the Shakuhachi and maintains the ESS websites.