Jon Kypros is a shakuhachi teacher and crafts-person. He’s the creator and maker of the Bell Shakuhachi and the author of Your Shakuhachi Journey. Over the years, Jon has helped countless people around the world to enjoy this wonderful instrument while continuing to explore its inexhaustible depths for himself.
Crafts-person of Jinashi and Jimori
Jon handcrafts jinashi and jimori. To do so, he first harvests all of his own Japanese madake bamboo. Because of the inherent difficulty and rarity of such instruments, Jon’s focus is primarily on producing affordable replicas of his finest works so that virtually everyone can enjoy them. The first such replica is the Bell shakuhachi which he crafts from his bamboo eco-composite material. To that end, Jon’s goal is to do his part in making this practice more accessible and inclusive.
Shakuhachi Lessons
As mentioned above, Jon has taught lessons to countless students from around the world over video chat. Many start learning from him with his free beginner’s shakuhachi course. Jon combines live lessons and mp3 or video assessments of his students playing to provide them with the most thorough, holistic distance learning experience he can.
Reibo – The Bell
The name of this website, and of the Bell shakuhachi, comes from the honkyoku Reibo (鈴慕) which translates as “yearning for or missing the bell”. In this case, the bell is that of the Chan monk Fuké (Puhua c. 770-840~60 AD). Legend has it, he would ring his bell in the village as a call to enlightenment or awakening. The sound of a bell is heard in the present, interrupting discursive thoughts to let clear reality slip in, if even just for a moment. The Komuso monks expressed this in their saying ichi-on jobutsu, which means, “one sound, Buddahood”. Serendipitously, the shape of the root-end of the shakuhachi also resembles a bell.
