Takasaki Itsufū
高崎逸風
Born 1925
Shakuhachi
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Takasaki Itsufū, whose birth name was Takasaki Suekichi, was born in Wakkanai on March 14, 1925. He had been interested in wind instruments since his junior high school days and played the trumpet in a marching band. After graduating from the Nihon University School of Dentistry, he entered Tokyo Medical and Dental University, where he became acquainted with a fellow student of the Ikuta school of koto music. Eventually, she accepted his proposal of marriage, and in 1951, upon graduation, he returned with her to his hometown of Wakkanai to open a dental clinic. Although Takasaki had just entered the workforce, he found himself juggling the three roles of husband, doctor, and business owner. One day, a patient named Sawai, who had come to the clinic for the first time, brought a furoshiki wrapping cloth to the treatment table and placed it on his lap as if it was very important to him. Takasaki recalled, "I was treating him thinking that it must be something very precious, but when I asked him about it, he told me that it was a shakuhachi." Suekichi had been interested in musical instruments since he was a boy, had taught himself to play the trumpet, and his wife played koto. He was so intrigued that he borrowed a shakuhachi from the patient and began trying to play it. When asked, Sawai-san told him that he was a student of Abura Itsuzu of the Kawamoto Itsudō School of the Kinko-ryū. Takasaki made time to visit Abura-sensei immediately and asked to be admitted to the school. When Suekichi Takasaki was introduced to shakuhachi, there were only five or six students attending the classes. Although Suekichi became a student of Abura, his job as a medical practitioner did not allow him to set aside time each week to practice regularly, so he opened his home as a training place and requested to practice with Abura twice a week. Although he had just opened his own practice and was very busy, he was able to obtain his first license in a short time. Unfortunately, about two years after Takasaki joined the school, Abra Itsuzu left Wakkanai. After Abura's departure, the Wakkanai School was taken over by his younger brother, Senzaki Itsurō. Takasaki, along with other colleagues, transferred to Senzaki and continued to play the shakuhachi. With the support of the Ozaki troupe of the Yamada school, which was active in Wakkanai at the time, Takasaki actively participated in ensembles held at the Sugano Hotel and the Civic Hall, and honed his shakuhachi skills.
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| Also Known As 高崎末吉 (Takasaki Suekichi) |
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Teachers
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