Honkyoku Shakuhachi Pieces

To begin learning Honkyoku, see my Shakuhachi Note Charts, and then, Your First Honkyoku Kyorei.

Honkyoku 本曲, the most venerated pieces of shakuhachi music, were primarily composed by anonymous Komuso 虚無僧 monks and are considered to be spiritual. They often have themes from. Both Honkyoku and the various practices or methodologies of playing them have elements from Buddhism, especially Shomyo Buddhist liturgy 声明, Shinto 神道, and Shugendo 修験道 or more broadly Shugyo 修行 or ascetic training or discipline. The ‘genre’ is thought to have originated from the Southern island of Kyushu, Japan. Over time, distinct regional styles of Honkyoku developed across Edo period Japan. While many Honkyoku are thought to have been lost, the surviving pieces comprise the largest body of solo wind instrument music in the entire world.

Honkyoku – behind the name

The word Honkyoku can refer to a single piece or to the genre as a whole. The Kanji for Hon is 本, the image of a tree with branches spreading above and roots below. Finally, Kyoku 曲 can be taken as, ‘piece/composition/music’.

What makes Honkyoku unique

Honkyoku are unique in a number of ways. Firstly, they are mostly solo pieces with pauses of silence between phrases. Furthermore, the majority of Honkyoku don’t have a strictly set rhythm nor strong melodic structures. Of course, composers of Honkyoku were broadly influenced by Wagaku 和楽 or ‘Japanese music’, which in turn was influenced by music from China and Korea. However, the scale or modes which are used in Honkyoku, often called the ‘Koto scale’, is endemic to Japan.

Honkyoku are also highly nuanced, making it virtually impossible to transcribe them to staff notation. In fact, even the traditional shakuhachi Katakana systems of notation cannot convey many of the subtleties found in Honkyoku. For example, it would be like trying to infer or convey the accent of a regional dialect through written text alone. For this reason, the passing down of Honkyoku must occur between teacher and student.

Honkyoku from the Edo period

Below are the six main surviving Edo period schools or styles of Honkyoku (there are additional Edo period Honkyoku which survive outside of these schools or styles). Virtually all other schools and ‘sects’ of Honkyoku stem from these six in some way, by varying degrees. Of course, these six were based upon previously existing styles of Honkyoku, many of which are lost to time, tracing all the way back to Kyushu.

Note that Honkyoku styles went from just being associated with specific Komuso temples to being Ryu or ‘schools’ with a founding Iemoto, Soke, or ‘Headmaster’ (to better understand this shift, see the Shakuhachi History page).

Honkyoku originated from the southern Island of Kyushu and then, more or less, migrated northwards. Thus, the list also begins in the geographical south and moves north.

• Kyushu-Kei 九州-系
  Honkyoku from Kyushu which is said to be the birthplace of Honkyoku. From various Komuso Fuke shu temples such as Icchoken aka Itchoken.
• Myoan Shinpo Ryu 明暗真法流
  Honkyoku from Myoanji temple, Kyoto. Also known as Kyu or ‘Old’ Myoanji. Shinpo Ryu uses a largely different set of Katakana for its notation (prior to Taizan’s Myoanji which has none of the Honkyoku from Kyu Myoanji).
• Kinko Ryu 琴古流
  Honkyoku from Kanto region, Edo/Tokyo, in addition to Honkyoku from across Japan collected by Kurosawa Kinko (1710 – 1771). Primarily from the Komuso Fuke shu head temple Ichigetsuji, Edo (also the off-shoot Ikkan Ryu)…
• Fudaiji Temple 普大寺 (Seien Ryu 西園流)
  Honkyoku from Fudaiji Temple 普大寺, Hamamatsu and Nagoya. These are the Honkyoku Higuchi Taizan first learned in his hometown and which he eventually used to form the basis of his ‘Myoan Taizan Ryu’ or ‘Myoan’/’Meian’, as it’s commonly referred to, after moving to Kyoto.
• Oshu Kei 奥州-系
  Honkyoku from the former Oshu region which included Echigo Myoanji Den 越後国 明暗-伝, Northern Japan: significant influence on Watazumi, and thus his student Yokoyama Katsuya.
• Kinpu Ryu (aka. Nezasa-ha) 錦風流 / 根笹派
  Honkyoku from Aomori prefecture in the far North which was founded by still active Samurai. Kinpu Ryu has a distinct pulsing breath called Komi buki.