History (Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin):

San'ya (Futaiken) appears on the following albums

	Album	Artist
	Castles In the Sky	Shakuhachi : Allen Nyoshin Steir
	Jin Nyodo No Shakuhachi 03	Shakuhachi : Jin Nyodo
Futai-ken: SAN'YA 2-shaku 1-sun 9 min. 57 sec. 1. About the title: Please consult the section on San'ya in "Commonly Used Titles" and then the separate article "Different Pieces with the Same Title; Identical Pieces with Different Titles." Futai-ken was a komuso temple in the town of Masuda on the outskirts of Sendai. According to the principle of "one temple: one melody," only Reibo was passed on as its seikyoku ("true piece"). But in addition this San'ya and Tsuru-no-Sugomori were also handed down as junkyoku ("associated pieces"?). Jin Nyodo received this piece from Konashi Kinsui. 2. Structure of the piece Broadly speaking it is constructed in three sections: [Takeshirabe - Takane -Musubi], but it can be further analyzed as follows. Takeshirabe - The long takeshirabe can be divided into two parts, a ki ("opening") in the RO-range (first octave) and a sho ("succession"?) in the KO-range (second octave). It could be considered to have elements of both a shirabe and a honte. The ki opens with a short, low prelude of three kyosui breaths, then proceeds to low and gentle soko-yuri playing (see Special features of the piece) which seems to flow from the depths of the earth, all the while conveying a deep feeling of loneliness as it climbs somberly toward the middle range. The sho serves as a developmental section for the ki which has risen to the KO-range: in it the sense of sorrow grows more intense. Takane - This section can be broken down into three parts: [Takane - Takanegaeshi - Ten]. It begins with the takane melodic pattern common to all Tohoku style pieces which basically centers on the Ko-no-hi and ha tones. In each melody the breaths are extremely long and there is a composed dignity. In the kaeshi ("return") the takane melody is repeated almost exactly but slightly shortened, only the last three breaths serve as a linking melody to the ten. The ten is a short modulating (tencho) section with a koro-koro melody repeated three times. Musubi - A short musubi of five I breaths eases the weight of the piece and ends it tranquilly. 3. Special features of the piece: The unique playing technique called soko-yuri is used throughout the piece. This relies on spreading and narrowing the aperture of the lips and is one type of yuri, although it is different from the kind of yuri where the head shakes. When the lips are narrowed the sound lowers somewhat, and because of this wave of rising and falling pitch it yields a special tonal feeling which swells up from the bottom (soko) of the earth. This soko-yuri technique is employed only in the pieces of Futai-ken and Shogan-ken. This one piece can perhaps be called the highest summit among San'ya compositions, and we can feel a deep religiosity in the sorrow and desolation expressed in it.
	Ki-Sui-An Honkyoku Vol 2	Shakuhachi : Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin
	Koten Shakuhachi Gaku Zen Shū - 4	Shakuhachi : Takeuchi Shikō
	Michi	Shakuhachi : Tokuyama Takashi
This piece comes from the city of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture. Futaiken is the name of a small temple founded by a former ninja named Bassho. The shakuhachi - playing komuso monks are often romantically linked with ninja or spies. The large basket worn over the head of the komuso provided a convenient guise of anonymity. Komuso have the ill-founded reputation as notorious eavesdroppers. No doubt this is due to the suspicion that they are actually spies masquerading as harmless monks. Bassho was in fact a spy in the service of Masamune Daimyo. Due to his outstanding service, Bassho was rewarded with a quiet place to live in Sendai. Disliking the noise and commotion of urban life, Bassho founded the temple of Futaiken in the countryside near Sendai. Futaiken is home to two wonderful shakuhachi pieces: Sanya and Reibo. Both have similar tuning, beginning with takeshirabe, chuon (middle sound) gradually develops to koon (the higher register), There is a legend associated with Sanya that is taken from the Kojiki, Japan's book of origins. It seems that a god of light retreats to a cave in anger and seals it with a stone. Once in the cave, however, the god changes his mind about remaining inside. He rolls away the stone and emerges from the cave only to discover that the world is dark without his presence and that now all light emanates from the cave. This image of the light slowly illuminating the world in a joyous manner is projected in the music.
	Reibo - In memory of the bell	Shakuhachi : Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin
This version of the honkyoku "Sanya" comes from Futaiken, a temple in the area of Sendai, which lies five hours north of Tokyo. It is said that playing Sanya is helpful in easing childbirth.
	Sui Zen - Blowing Meditation on the Shakuhachi - 01	Shakuhachi : Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin
The second version of Sanya, Futaiken Sanya, is played here on the same length instrument, a 1.9. Futaiken is one of the 16 "flavors" of Zen, or one of the 16 lines of Meian (the oldest style) shakuhachi playing. This piece comes from a komuso temple in the town of Masuda on the outskirts of Sendai prefecture. Futaiken was both the name of the line and the name of the temple. It was founded by the monk, Bassho, who is said to have retired from service as a spy for the Masamune Daimyo. There are three pieces attributed to this temple, a version of Sanya, a version of Reibo, and another called Tsuru No Sugamori, which means "crane leaving the nest." There are many different versions of all of these pieces from different temples. There is a tradition of having one special piece for each temple. Futaiken Sanya is known as a junkyoku or "associated piece" of this temple, as opposed to a seikyoku, which is the "true piece." The true piece associated with Futaiken is Reibo, which will be played later. Jin Nyodo received Futaiken Sanya from Konashi Jinsui. The music has a very deeply religious, spiritual feeling, and also expresses a special kind of sorrow. There's an almost ghostlike, haunting stark quality to the sound. The Japanese term, wabi sabi, expresses the correct feeling toward the solitariness and simplicity of things or people. Simplicity and poverty are valued and appreciated simply for their being. One grain of sand is not just alone, for it contains and represents the essence of the beach. One bonsai, or miniature tree is also a great forest. To the Japanese, sabishi, which we might translate as "lonely," actually means "solitary." This carries a different connotation, and doesn't have the same emotional feeling. It's not lacking something by being by itself. It has a proper dignity in its being. The shakuhachi is said to have a wabi sabi feeling. The sound is coming from a bamboo grove; it is a microcosm of nature. Its essence encapsulates all experience in the same way that a portion of a mandala contains the essence of the whole. Futaiken Sanya employs a technique called yuri, which can be produced by a side-to-side head movement, or, more properly, by opening and then narrowing the lips. "Soko" here refers to the depths of the earth; the sound should seem to circle from the heavens to the depths. This piece has a soko yuri or very large side-to-side movement. Soko yuri is only used in pieces from the Futiken and Shoganken temples, and can be heard here in Futaiken Reibo and Shoganken Reibo. Futaiken Sanya starts, like many honkyoku, with a take shirabe section. This also is called take no shirabe, which literally means "clearing the bamboo." This prepares the flute, player and listener for the main part of the piece, the honte (hon means original) section. The next section is the takane, which means "high sound," builds to the climax, and then there is a resolution section, or musube, which literally means "to fold everything up." Usually these four sections give the sense of an arc, a common theme in Japanese esthetics, called Jo Ha Kyu form. The "Jo" starts things, the "Ha" literally means "fast, running toward explosion," and the "Kyu" is a dropping off, or resolution. The piece usually starts in a low register, then goes high, and becomes low again. Japanese classical music, in its most typical form, also has a slow section, then a high, faster middle section, and a slow later section. Jo Ha Kyu esthetics are found in many Japanese arts; in Kabuki plays, Noh theater, and Bunraku puppet performances there are usually three acts, containing an "arc upon arc" structure. Similarly, within each sound, there is a similar type of arc, as its natural form. A sound played using sasabuki note form swells and then gets small. Sasabuki, means shaped like a sasa or "bamboo leaf." Another commonly-used note shape is kusabibuki, a funnel shape, beginning large and ending in silence. The silence is known as ma. Ma, or absence of sound is a very important, integral part of the composition. How one sound ends and the next begins determines the experience of the ma in between. For example, if you play a kusabibuki ending with a ma silence, and then start a sasabuki, and taper it into the ma, the silences will sound very different. Shakuhachi notation can indicate the shape of the notes. Playing from Western musical notation will not produce the same feeling. A very profound feeling is obtained by "playing the ma," focusing on the silence in a certain way. How do you play silence? Both Zen philosophers and Gestalt psychologists have noted that what goes before and what goes after characterizes the nature of an experience. Everything occurs in context. If a tone starts off soft and goes to loud, and then quickly goes to another sound, the unrespected silence will have a quality that is "all over the place," and not give a peaceful feeling. Whereas, a note resolved to a small sound would naturally lead to a silence that could be played. "Nothing" is an important thing in itself. Japanese music, as other Japanese arts in general, reflects and imitates nature; it very natural. It has often been observed that Japanese esthetic uses the right side of the brain, and Western culture relies primarily on the left side. Right-hemisphere processing is less scientific, analytical, mathematical or logic-oriented, but it is more holistic, intuitive and nature-oriented. This right-hemisphere orientation is more prevalent in Asian cultures. Ask a Japanese music master to explain how to play a note, and the response most likely would be to "make the music beautiful or natural." There is no verbal analysis. A Western musicologist might respond to the same question by producing and discussing a computer generated analysis of the waveform. The spirit of the sound is given top priority in Japanese music in general, and in shakuhachi music most specifically. How you end the sound, begin the sound, and especially the texture of the sound, the timbre, the tone color, are very important. How much breath? How much tone? How pure to make the sound? What about the technique? Does it swell or get soft? Ultimately, one sound is what is the hardest to play. Kurahashi Yodo said that his goal was to play the one perfect sound that would cause world peace. In terms of Mahayana Buddhism, his goal was to become a bodhisattva, an enlightened individual who would wait until the rest of the world was saved before he would enter into Nirvana. Kurahashi Yodo included many similar sayings in the Chinese texts prefacing and following his copies of Jin Nyodo's music. Much of this writing is quite scholarly, employing old Chinese ideograms that most modem Japanese would be unable to read, as they are neither kanji nor kana letters. "Chiki Soku Zaku Kosoku Seshki" means the material world; "Kisoku" means spiritual breath; the full phrase means that the material world is the infinite world and the infinite world is the material world. Another commentary, "Kensayjogutu." may be simply translated as, "See your true self become Buddha." Some people have said that this piece, with its sense of deep religiosity transcending sorrow and desolation, represents the highest summit among Sanya compositions.
	Traditional Music For Two Shakuhachi	Shakuhachi : Juerg Fuyuzui Zurmuehle