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This is a Koten piece in the Takuhatsu style from the Kinko Ryű school .

History (from Singer, John)
This piece is named after the high ranking Shakuhachi Master (Shinanban) of Ichigetsu-Ji Temple "Ginryu" who transmitted this piece to Kinko Kurosawa I. It is said that "Ginryu Koku", although basically a subdued piece, has a special quality of elegance.

Ginryu Koku appears on the following albums:

Album	Shakuhachi	Koto	Shamisen
Complete Collection of Honkyoku from the Kinko School - Vol 2 - Disc 3  (Listen)	Aoki Reibo II
Kinko Ryu Honkyoku - 7  (Listen)	Aoki Reibo II
Kinko Ryu Shakuhachi Koten Honkyoku  (Listen)	Notomi Judo I
Music of the Shakuhachi  (Listen)	Samuelson, Ralph
Koku (Empty Sky) is one of the profoundly spiritual pieces of the shakuhachi tradition and one of a core group of three sacred pieces. It is said to have been given by the Buddha to the monk Kochiku (13th century) in a dream. Ginryu Koku is the special version of Koku which Kinko Kurosawa colleted from a priest named Ginryu.
Shakuhachi no Shinzui-Shakuhachi Honkyoku - 09  (Listen)	Yamaguchi Goro
Zen Music - VI  (Listen)	Yamaguchi Goro
This is an arrangement of 'Koku', one of the oldest three pieces in Fuke sect shakuhachi. It was used as a ceremonial music. The original composition was being transmitted a Ichigetsu-ji Temple in Musashi. A man called Ginryu is said to have arranged it into the form as heard in this recording and taught it to Kinko Kurosawa (1710-1771). Some people say that this piece depicts the flight of crying ryu, a fictitious, felicitous animal venerated in China and Japan. There is a piece, of which title resembles to this: 'Ryugin Koku'. But it is a different piece, in which 'ryugin' simply denotes a tonal scale, shimomu-cho. 'Ginryu Koku' belongs to the Seventeen Ura Pieces in the repertoire of Kinko-ryu Honkyoku. Kaede (counterpart) and solo as performed by Judo Notomi is to be heard from the left and Honte (principal part) by Goro Yamaguchi from the right.