Fuke (Pu’hua 770-840 or 860) sounds a bell (taku) and
chants.
Chohaku uses a bamboo pipe to imitate the sound of Fuke’s
bell, and creates the piece Kyotaku (“Empty Bell”).
16 generations later, the Japanese monk Kakushin (Hotto
Kokushi) travels to China,
learns Kyotaku, and returns to Japan
in 1254. He builds Saihoji (later known
as Kokokuji) at Yura and introduces the shakuhachi piece Kyotaku to Japan.
Kichiku (Kyochiku Zenji) becomes a pupil of Kakushin. He dreams the sounds of what he transcribes
as the two shakuhachi pieces Mukaiji (Flute in a Misty
Sea) and Kokuji (Flute of
Emptiness).
After Kakushin’s death, his pupil Myofu builds the Kyoreizan
Myoanji temple at Shirakawa in Kyoto. Kyochiku Zenji becomes the temple’s first
abbott. By the late 18th
century, there are more than 70 komuso temples throughout Japan.
In 1705, Myoanji takes control over all the komuso temples
west of the Kansai region, along with the main temple
Kokokuji. Myoanji establishes a strong relationship to
stand up to temple ranking system of the Bakafu and to Ichigetsuji in the Kanto
region.
When the Tokugawa central government (Bakufu) in the mid
1800s showed signs of weakness under pressure from the outside world to open
trade, komuso began to lose their self-discipline: there was an increase in
bogus komuso resorting to violence, extortion and vandalism. The Bakufu at this time pass laws revoking
their privileges and prohibiting begging.
Myoan monk Ozaki Shinryu (1820-88) and his pupil Kondo
Soetsu (1821-67) side with the imperial
faction to “expel the barbarians”. As a
result, the 33rd kansu (head of Myoanji) Kanmyo Gendo is thrown in
jail. Shinryo is also arrested and
confined. The new government abolishes the
Fuke sect in October 1871. The 34th kansu of Myoanji, Jishosakuhi, is forced to return to secular life. Sacred items and documents of Myoanji are
moved to the Zennein temple inside the precincts of the Rinzai temple
of Tofukuji in Kyoto.
Religious mendicancy is authorized once again in 1881,
resulting in a resurgence of komuso.
Tofukuji burns down this year, and the need to rebuild the temple was one
of the reasons the komuso are allowed to resume their activities in 1883, which
later results in the formation of the Myoan Society in 1890. Katsuura Shozan (1856-1942) becomes head of
the Kyoto branch. Shozan brings 63 honkyoku which constitute the
repertory of the Myoan Shinpo school, 45 of which he has learned directly from
Ozaki Shinryu.
Higuchi Taizan (1856-1914) first studies shakuhachi with Kanemoto
Seian, a clansman from the Owari fief who had studied with Gyokudo Baizan at
the Fudaiji temple in Hammamatsu. He brings
the 11 Seien honkyoku he had learned to Kyoto
in 1885. Taizan is nominated as
shakuhachi instructor for the Myoan Society in 1890. Taizan masters honkyoku of various lineages
including the Kinko, Kyushu, and Oshu traditions. Of the 11 pieces associated with the Fudaiji
temple, he scarcely modifies the three pieces Choshi, Renbo-nagashi, and Akita
Sugagaki. He slightly edits the pieces
of Shizu, Takiochi, Koro-sugagaki, Mukaiji, and the first half of Koku. The pieces that he extensively re-notates are
Tsuru no sugomori, the second half of Koku, and Kyorei. Taizan begins studying
with Araki Kodo I in 1894, and learns and adapts several pieces from Takigawa
Chuka including Kadobiraki, San’ya-nagashi (renamed Yoshino no kyoku) and San’ya
sugagaki (renamed Shin’ya no kyoku). In 1895 he learns from Iso Itcho at the
Itchoken komuso temple in Hakata in Kyushu the pieces
Kumoi no kyoku, Azuma no kyoku and Sashi.
Taizan had generally finished his work on consolidating the repertory
around 1902, with finalized forms nearing completion around 1913. Taizan modifies existing honkyoku by either
change of title, division of the pieces,
addition of introductory sections, the addition or removal of certain musical
figures, and the extensive omission of melodic figures. Taizan fully engaged in the task of
rearranging the music on the basis of a clear awareness of overall musical
structure. After Taizan’s death, his
pupil Kobayashi Shizan (1877-1938) becomes the 36th kansu, while
Taizan was recognized as the 35th kansu and the first to re-assume
the role after it lapsed with Jishosakuhi in 1871. Shizan further consolidates the repertory
handed on to him by his teacher and lays down the method of performance,
thereby establishing the Taizan school as a vehicle for transmission of the
honkyoku handed down at the Myoanji.
In March 1950, Myoanji is granted permission to re-establish
itself as the headquarters of the Fuke sect, with the Myoan Society as its
parent body. The principle of
generation-to-generation instruction from master to pupil for the transmission
of the Myoanji honkyoku is authorized in 1961, and a Myoan Instructors Society
is formed, consisting of qualified instructors with their own teaching
facilities. A kansu is elected as
necessary, to further the perspective of Taizan as a reflection of his guidance
for a direct transmission in a spirit of sincerity, for the elevating insights
of Suizen practice.
