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The Shakuhachi is a Japanese bamboo flute, and it came to the Japanese islands in the eight century.
Some sources have it that it was known in Japan already in the late sixth or early seventh century.
These historical records are, however, much later (13th century), and can not be regarded as historical proof.
The Shakuhachi was used as a musical instrument in the court music (8-9th centuries), and in popular festival and theatre music from the nineth to the seventeenth centuries.
It is referred to as an instrument used in the court music again in the early sixteenth century, but the same source, a treatise on the court music with the name Taigen-shō (1512), claims that festival musicians regarded the Shakuhachi as their instrument.
Towards the end of the seventeenth century, in 1677, a group of masterless samurai, so-called rōnin, successfully demanded an official acknowledgement of a Rinzai Zen Buddhist sect, later known as the Fuke sect.
The rōnin "monks" made claims that the sect had roots going back to a master of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, Fuke. This Fuke Zen-ji was contemporary with the better known Rinzai (d. 866; Linji in Chinese).
They even lived in the same city, and Fuke is mentioned in Rinzai Roku (Linji Lu in Chinese), a compilations of sayings and stories relating to Rinzai, written by his students.
The samurai monks also used a thirteenth century monk, who studied in China between 1251 and 1254, in order to support their own legendary origin.
The music that developed during this era of religious shakuhachi does not have any relation to sutras or other Buddhist writings.
On the other hand, the religious content, according to the practitioners, is to achieve a meditative state, a meditation by blowing, known as sui-zen in Japanese, and from there attain the ultimate enlightenment.
Personally, I would say that the music that developed during the years from the seventeenth century up to 1871, when the sect was abolished, does have a strong meditative character. It is great music.
The relation to any formalised content of a Buddhist sect is, however, not there to be found.
You can read more about the Shakuhachi, its history and characteristics as a musical instrument, by accessing the pages at my site: www.shakuhachi.bz
There you find updated information about my performances and teaching activities, and you can also listen to samples of Shakuhachi music from some of my CD's.