Japanese flutes ‘made in Spain’

Inside José Vargas’ apartment, located in the Madrid neighborhood of Chamberí, a row of bamboo flutes rests against the wall, far away from the windows. Too much exposure to the sun and the heat could make them warp and burst.

“I am a guitarist, and I used to work a lot with computers,” explains Vargas. “Once while I was looking for natural sounds to add I began locating ethnic instruments, and I ran into the shakuhachi. I bought one at an online auction, and as soon as I had it in my hands I was shaken by its sound.”

These days, he makes them himself in his workshop in the Gredos mountains, like a rigorous sensei. He even has a Japanese name of his own: Seizan, which means Mountain of the West.

The origin of shakuhachi is unclear. The Japanese instrument is used by Zen Buddhists as an aid to meditation. It is a cult instrument that produces what Japanese monks refer to as “the music within.”

“A sect of Zen Buddhism began using the shakuhachi as a form of meditation, and flute production began inside the monasteries,” says Vargas.

People who make these instruments first spend several years in apprenticeship”

Later, the shakuhachi was disseminated by a group of former samurai who no longer served a lord.

“They were itinerant monks who were allowed to carry weapons, monks of the void who wore a basket on their heads to conceal their identity. They survived through begging, but they were already playing the shakuhachi. At one point, the shakuhachi was banned and the monastic order persecuted. Then, in the late 19th century, permission was requested to use it again within a purely musical context,” explains Vargas, adding that some pop bands are using the sound to add depth to their instrumentation.

In order to learn how to make these five-hole flutes – which measure one “shaku” (an old unit of measurement) plus eight tenths of a shaku (“hachi” means eight in Japanese), for a total of around 55 centimeters – Vargas had to go to Japan, to a workshop that claimed that a shakuhachi could be built in two days.

Vargas had to go to Japan, to a workshop that claimed that a shakuhachi could be built in two days

He arrived at the workshop as “a foreign devil,” and soon figured that he needed to learn directly from a master.

“People who make these instruments first spend several years in apprenticeship,” says Vargas. "I got in touch with Shikuza, who lives in the mountains of Nagano, in a workshop that is accessible via a dirt road. That was 10 years ago. They allow you to work in a slightly irregular manner because you need to learn in a matter of weeks what they took years to master. They are more flexible with foreigners.”

The creation process behind these instruments is not easy. First, the bamboo needs to be pulled out of the earth, not cut. This tree takes 60 years to grow, and the last time it had an ideal size for flute-making was in the 1980s.

“Now we are looking for some that grow on rocky terrain or in dry places, so they’ll be atrophied and good for making flutes,” says Vargas, who either collects the bamboo himself in Japan or asks his master to send it.

I have seen Japanese masters who stopped making them because their nerves got so frayed” José Vargas, flute maker

The next step is cleaning it thoroughly inside and out, then putting it over coals to make it lose its natural oil and green shade, and finally comes the delicate moment of perforation.

“I have seen Japanese masters who stopped making them because their nerves got so frayed,” recalles the Spanish flute-maker. “You can never be absolutely sure that a hole will not turn out badly.”

Crafting a concert-worthy flute, once the bamboo is clean, takes him 10 to 12 hours because he uses machines, not just his hands like the artisans do. His flutes sell for anywhere between €30 and €100.

Now that he has interiorized the Japanese songbook, Vargas is planning to adapt the instrument to Spanish music.

“You can play all kinds of music; I like to transcribe traditional Spanish pieces to play with the shakuhachi,” confesses Vargas. “Now I’m going to take my chances with flamenco.”