Nothing Stands Between You and the Bamboo
From my hands to yours, each bamboo flute I craft is a living conversation with nature, carrying depth and beauty that endures. My dedication as a Daishihan — ‘senior instructor’ — of the shakuhachi ensures the meeting of breath and finely honed bamboo. Unadorned and uncoated, nothing stands between you and the pure voice of the bamboo — the grove reborn as a choir.
— Josen Jon Kypros
(NB: I’m still in the process of settling into my new home here in France. I expect to have shakuhachi for sale within the final quarter of this year, 2025.)
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Where the Story Begins — Harvesting Bamboo
Every journey from plant to palm starts here, in groves of bamboo. Join me in this video as I harvest root end pieces for my shakuhachi — the first step in a collaboration with the living earth.
Bamboo Flute Types
Below, you’ll discover the bamboo flutes I bring to life, beginning with my shakuhachi. Each type posseses its own voice and purpose.
Shakuhachi
Shakuhachi
Dynamic & enigmatic, the shakuhachi may be the most demanding of all flutes, yet it offers unmatched depth and nuance — subtleties close to the human voice. Particularly, it demands great control and mastery of the challenging meri-kari pitch-bending techniques. For those who seek a lifelong discipline, the shakuhachi becomes a profound path of sound, silence, and practice.
Why Bamboo Flutes, Uncoated and Unadorned
I first took up the craft of bamboo flutes at fifteen, not knowing it would shape the rest of my life. I’ve wandered many paths — from the warm gleam of urushi lacquer to creating the world’s first resin replicas of jinashi and jimori — the Bell Shakuhachi. Yet every path has led me back to the source: bamboo, in its purest form.
Uncoated, unadorned, it speaks in a voice that is wholly its own — offering not just tone, but deep connection. In return it asks for almost nothing, only simple, mindful care. Again and again, bamboo whispers the same truth: less is more.
What I love most is its variety. No two stalks are alike; each imbued with a different resonance, a different mood. Together they become a choir, a gathering of voices that is never the same twice. This is not an accident of nature but its very essence — life showing itself in a thousand forms.
Words can point toward this, but they fall short. A single breath through raw bamboo tells the story better than I ever could.