Shakuhachi
Sinuous bamboo bell
Meticulous form for air
Breath turned sonic
One sound
Jon Kypros is a shakuhachi teacher and crafts-person. He’s the inventor of the Bell Shakuhachi and the author of Your Shakuhachi Journey. As a teacher, Jon passes down the honkyoku which originate from the Komuso monks. Over the years, Jon has helped countless people around the world to enjoy this wonderful instrument while continuing to explore its seemingly 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 ever more accessible and inclusive.
Shakuhachi Teacher – Lessons and Courses
Courses are the skeleton, the structure. Live lessons are the heart
As mentioned above, Jon has taught lessons to countless students from around the world over video chat. Moving forward, Jon plans to offer a growing number of comprehensive online courses, such as the free beginner’s shakuhachi course. Jon combines these in-depth courses with live lessons and mp3 or video assessments to provide the most thorough, holistic 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 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.
