The Sakuhachi Master

The Sakuhachi Master

This is Hideyuki Ueno, a sakuhachi – Japanese bamboo “flute” – master.

Ueno performed the first in a series of concerts called Tapestry, featuring sacred music.

His performance started at 5 pm. I had gone out in the morning and reached home just after 4pm. I was tired and I wondered if I should rush down in a cab, or take my time and simply catch his second performance at 6pm. At about 4.50pm, I decided to take the cab.

It was well worth the rush and the expense. The performance, mostly accompanied by three younger sakuhachi players, was truly masterful.

There were not a lot of photo opportunities though. From the front, the lower half of the body, including part of the right hand, was usually blocked by the music stand. From the side, it didn’t look too great.

Anyway, I shot some… and for the second set, I secured a seat right up front directly facing the master, having decided to forget about side views.

Before I knew it, I had taken over 100 shots. This was the last… and certainly “not least”.

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As I researched for this article, I learned that sakuhachi actually means “one foot eight inches” which is the starting length for these bamboo flutes. But nowadays, even shorter lengths adopt the same generic name.

While the sakuhachi looks like a recorder, it is a “flute” because the player blows over the mouthpiece, and not into it as is the case of a recorder.

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Tapestry. The Concourse at The Esplanade. 1 May 2009.

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