Myoan Shakuhachi: February 2014

Monday, February 17, 2014

Tsunoda Rogetsu 1951; Ichoken Temple

Tsunoda Rogetsu; 2nd from right, bottom row. Student of Higuchi Taizan, teacher of Watazumi.
Left to right, front to back:
①磯一光の母(mother of Iso Ikko)
②磯一光(Icchoken 20th)
③磯施行(Segyo 19th Ikko's father)
④津野田露月(Tsunoda Rogetsu = teacher of Ikko)
⑤一光の弟(brother of Ikko)
⑥一光の姉(elder sister)
⑦一光の妹(younger sister)
rebuild Icchoken 1951 Iso invite teacher Rogetsu
move now in Saikoji Temple since 1957
Icchoken 21th 磯譲山玄定Iso Jozan Genjo(Ikko's husband)
22th 一潮玄明Iccho Genmyo(their son) Information provided by Yushin, thanks!

Icchoken is a name of Fuke sect Komuso temple which is located in Hakata. During the Kanei era (1624-1643), Ichio from Kyoto, Myoan Temple came down to Hakata and started his Komuso life in Entsu temple which at the time did not have a priest. Since then, Icchoken has become the first Komuso temple in Chikuzen (Northern Kyushu).

During the time of Ikku Ⅴ, he asked the domain for an estate in Yaguramon (Gion) and named it “Entsuji Icchoken” which was later renamed “Fumonzan Icchoken.” In the 4th year of the Meiji era (fiscal year 1871), Icchoken could not be spared from the abolishment of Fuke sect. However, Icchoken revived in Daijojimaecho (Reizen) in the 26th year of the Showa era (1951), which was then moved to Saiko Temple in a sub-temple of Rinzaishu Myoshinji sect, Shofukuji.

In the main hall, we have enshrined a statue of the patriarch of Fuke sect “Fukezenji*” and a statue of Komuso “Kusunoki Masakatsu”. Although Fuke sect had vanished from the public, its tradition has been inherited and it has been designated as an intangible cultural heritage of Fukuoka with the name of “Icchoken Denhocchiku” (Komuso’s shakuhachi that has been handed down to Icchoken) since the 40th year of Showa.

Masaharu Fujita: 1916 - May 14th 2002

Fujita Masaharu was an extraordinary shakuhachi player/teacher. As was often the case with shakuhachi players of his time, he studied multiple shakuhachi traditions: He began with Tozan and studied Jiuta and Nagauta, later he became interested in Myoan Shinpo-ryu. He visited many shakuhachi teachers across Japan and studied/collected many honkyoku pieces. Among those legendary teachers was Yamaue Getsuzan in Saga, Japan who was a student of Katsura Shozan and one of the very few successors of the Myoan Shinpo tradition. Fujita visited Yamaue over 100 times in a very rural part of Saga in the Yamaguchi prefecture where Yamaue lived and was very inspired by these visits. Fujita had become so close to the Yamaue family that he received a phone call from Yamaue's wife when Yamaue passed away. Fujita Masaharu was also a composer and prolific shakuhachi maker who composed about 60 pieces, made over 500 Jinashi flutes, and left 450 scores (collected and transcribed pieces) in 50 volumes. Fujita passed away on May 14th in 2002 at the age of 86.