Hocchiku
Hocchiku (also, hochiku or hotchiku) is a Japanese end-blown flute, crafted from root sections of bamboo. After cleaning and sanding, the heavy root end of the bamboo stalk reveals many small circular knots where the roots formerly joined the stalk. The same part of the bamboo plant is also used to produce the shakuhachi but, unlike the shakuhachi, the hocchiku's inside (bore) and outside surfaces are left unlaquered and its mouthpiece is not inlaid. The membranes at the nodes inside a hocchiku bore are generally left more intact than those of a shakuhachi. Together, these characteristics make for a visibly and audibly raw and organic instrument. Hocchiku are sometimes referred to as jinashi nobekan, meaning "without laquer, one-piece" (hocchiku are not cut in two pieces for crafting or storage, unlike shakuhachi).
Hocchiku have four holes down the front for fingers and one hole on the back for the thumb of the upper hand. The instrument is capable of a range of at least two octaves, and more if well crafted and in the hands of an experienced player. Hocchiku can be fashioned to any length, suitable bamboo permitting, with longer instruments having their frequency range shifted proportionally lower. Hocchiku are typically, though not always, longer than shakuhachi. They are almost always thicker and heavier.
The techniques for playing hocchiku are similar to shakuhachi techniques, although the sound resulting from hocchiku is more fragile and possibly less well tuned to musical scales than the refined shakuhachi. The angle of the utaguchi, or blowing edge, of a hocchiku is closer to perpendicular to the bore axis than that of a shakuhachi. This property, along with the unlacquered bore, results in a rough and breathy timbre. Because of its extremely natural construction, the hocchiku is commonly used for Suizen (blowing Zen meditation) and for playing traditional honkyoku. Since hocchiku are not generally tuned to a standard musical scale, they do not commonly accompany other instruments.
Famous hocchiku players
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Categories: Japanese instruments | Woodwind instruments | End-blown flutes