Home People Pieces Recordings Bibliography Schools Glossary Sites & Events Teachers Join the ISS Log In

Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky, A

Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky, A

Yamaguchi Gorō
Nonesuch Records - H-72025
1988

Track Title Kanji Length Artist
1  Play Button Sokaku Reibo 巣鶴鈴慕 12'49 Shakuhachi: Yamaguchi Gorō
Depicting the Cranes in Their Nest - is one of the Thirty-Six Classics of Kinko Kurosawa, who was inspired by a musical piece of the Fuke priests that depicts the affection between cranes and their offspring. In arranging the original into his own composition, Kinko Kurosawa used special finger-techniques called takane and korone to express respectively the joy of the child when he leaves the nest, and the sorrow of the parent.
2  Play Button Kokū Reibo 虚空鈴慕 14'56 Shakuhachi: Yamaguchi Gorō
Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky - of the Kinko school, is one of the three oldest pieces, known as the koden-sankyoku, of the fuke shakuhachi tradition. Respected as sacred pieces, these are the most difficult to play in the repertoire, since they are so profound in religious expression. Koku-Reibo is said to have been originally composed by a Zen priest named Kyochiku when he attained enlightenment in a dream; in the Fuke shakuhachi, it is called simply Koku, The Empty Sky, portraying a happy, peaceful feeling of awakening. Kinko Kurosawa heard this music in one of the temples at Nagasaki in Kyushu. He was very much moved by its depth and clarity, and arranged it into a musical piece which is to this day the most played piece of all the repertoire of shakuhachi music.