Gunnar Jinmei Linder, 尺八(Shakuhachi) - Japanese bamboo flute

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Gunnar Jinmei Linder 　(リンデル 儘盟)
Kinko-ryū Shakuhachi Shihan
MA in Kinko-ryū shakuhachi (Tokyo Geidai)
PhD in Japanology (Stockholm University)

Gunnar began to study the shakuhachi after having arrived in Japan in 1985. He was after a short period of time introduced to the master Yamaguchi Gorō (1933–99), the youngest ever designated living national treasure. Yamaguchi-sensei was head of the still active Chikumeisha guild of Kinko-ryū Shakuhachi, the oldest of the existing lineages of shakuhachi.

In 1993 Gunnar received the Japanese Monbukagakushō Scholarship, to study shakuhachi as soloist, at the traditional music conservatoire at Tokyo National University of the Arts (Tokyo Geidai). After two years of studies, Gunnar passed the entrance exam to the Master's program, and finished with an MA degree as shakuhachi soloist in 1997, the second non-Japanese to do so. Gunnar received his traditional license, shihan, and the name Jinmei (儘盟) from Yamaguchi Gorō in the summer of 1998, immediately after the first International Shakuhachi Festival to be held outside of Japan, in Boulder CO, USA. Very sadly, Yamaguchi Gorō passed away only months after that.

From 1997 to 2005 Gunnar was professionally active as performer and teacher of shakuhachi in Japan, but also teaching and performing in Europe and the US.

In 2005, after some 20 years of activities in Japan, Gunnar moved to Europe. He is now actively performing and teaching both privately and through regular workshops in Stockholm, Helsinki, and Paris, as well as other shakuhachi events. He is working as Associate Professor at the Department of Asian Studies, Stockholm University, conducting research in the traditional (or pre- to early modern) genres of Japanese music. Presently he is studying the structure of some Edo-period music genres, as well as the song texts of the chamber music of the 18th and 19th centuries Japan (so-called jiuta-sōkyoku or sankyoku). Gunnar is also occasionally teaching shakuhachi at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (KMH)).
In 2016 Gunnar was awarded the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation for outstanding achievements in international fields, and for the promotion of Japanese culture, teaching Japanese language, culture, and history, as well as a wide array of outreach activities, and the teaching and performing of shakuhachi in Europe.

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