The International Shakuhachi Society

Iwashimizu

岩清水

This is a piece of genre Modern Honkyoku from the Tozan Ryu - 都山流 School. This piece was composed for Shakuhachi by the person Nakao Tozan in 1904.

History (Takahashi Ryozan):

In the middle of autumn the waters begin to swell in Japan and the waterfalls become quite spectacular. The moss on the rocks grows thicker, while the pale sunlight filters through the ancient trees which are losing their leaves. This piece is in three parts: the first one describes autumn deep in the mountains; the second evokes the cascade bounding over the rocks; the third conjures up the foamy waters which form a multitude of rivulets before finally flowing into the river.

Iwashimizu appears on the following albums

	Album	Shakuhachi	Koto	Shamisen
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Collection of Fundamental Tozan Ryu Honkyoku - 01	Yes
	Developments of Japanese Traditional Music Works Interpreted by Yonin no Kai - Vol 1
	Famous Tozan Ryu Pieces	Yamamoto Hozan
	Japan - Shakuhachi and Koto	Kariya Sôzan Chiaki
	Kangetsu	Yamamoto Hozan
TOZAN NAKAO composed this masterpiece of Tozan-ryu (the school of Tozan) at Iwashimizu- Hachimangu shrine in Kyoto in October 1904. This composition is mainly written for solo Shakuhachi, but the third movement is played by ensemble in two parts. The climax of the entire composition is the second movement which requires the interpreter varied techniques. The first movement features the autumnal appearance of Hachimangu shrine in a deep forest, the second movement the scene of spring water's streaming through rocks, and the third movement the scene of streamers' gathering to a river.
	Minyo of Tohoku	Takahashi Ryozan
In the middle of autumn the waters begin to swell in Japan and the waterfalls become quite spectacular. The moss on the rocks grows thicker, while the pale sunlight filters through the ancient trees which are losing their leaves. This piece is in three parts: the first one describes autumn deep in the mountains; the second evokes the cascade bounding over the rocks; the third conjures up the foamy waters which form a multitude of rivulets before finally flowing into the river.
	Shakuhachi - Number 40	Shimabara Hanzan
	Tozan Ryu - Shakuhachi Dai Zen Shu - Vol 1
	Tozan Ryu Honkyoku Instruction Recording - Vol 1 - Disk 2
	Yonin no Kai Ensemble - Japan Sankyoku	Kitahara Kozan II
The composer of this piece, T. Nakao, founded the Tozan school in 1904, the same year the Russian-Japanese war broke out. "Iwashimizu" was strongly inspired by the spring that flows in the garden of the Iwashimizu Shinto temple in Osaka, where the composer used to go ever since he was a child. He expresses in the music the feeling of deep peace that he used to experience there. This piece forms, with two others called "Kogetsu-cho" and "Kangetsu", a triptych that is considered as one of the most difficult works of the Tozan school, especially with regards to its spiritual content.

The International Shakuhachi Society - 2013