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Kokû (Fudaiji) 虚空 “Empty Sky“ Honkyoku Description: This is a piece of genre Koten from the Fudaiji School. Written by 13th century priest Kyochiku Zenji, who heard this music in a dream. This long piece is played by two shakuhachis and a gong at Meianji, Kyoto, originally the headquarters of the Fuke sect. It was composed by a priest named Kyochiku in the 12th Century while meditating at a temple in Nara. In a dream he found himself floating in a boat. Suddenly thick mist rolled down the sky and blocked his view of the moon. On hearing the moving melody of a flute, he reached out for his favorite bamboo flute to accompany the ethereal melody. The music is long and simple, and the listener is expected to forget everything and “sleep in nothingness.“ This piece is considered as one of the most ancient in the repertoire for shakuhachi. Its title identifies it as a musical evocation of Sunyata (Vacuity). As he plays, the musician tries to attain a state of selfless detachment where he is no longer enslaved
