Click on the picture to listen to the piece

Click here for a description of how to play the piece the Kyotaku way.

The picture on the left is a typical example of how the Kyotaku music is written.

The notes are read from top to bottom and from right to left. 

At the bottom of the page is a fingering chart for Kyotaku. Normaly we play just two octaves on Kyotaku. The lower octave is called otsu and is written in black. The higher octave is called kan and is written in red. Notes partially red and partially black are played meri. It is possible to play in the third octave as well, but this is rarely done. In common shakuhachi playing this is used more frequently.

The dots are breathmarks. So the length of a line is determined by the length of ones breath.

In Kyotaku playing emphasis is on natural in- and outbreath, which gives it the nice, serene and warm sound.