Akebono no Shirabe voice of nature, Kinko-ryu Shakuhachi

Akebono no Shirabe 曙調 is a short Honkyoku of the Shakuhachi Kinko-ryu tradition. Honkyoku (本曲, “original pieces“) are the pieces of shakuhachi music played by mendicant Japanese Zen monks called komuso. Komuso played honkyoku for enlightenment and alms as early as the 13th century. Honkyoku is the practice of suizen (“blowing Zen“). In the 18th century, a komuso named Kinko Kurosawa of the Fuke sect of Zen Buddhism was commissioned to travel Japan and collect these musical pieces. Although it is commonly thought that the 36 pieces of the Kinko Ryu Honkyoku repertoire were collected and played by Kinko Kurosawa, these pieces were significantly changed and codified by later generations, including Miura Kindo and others. The essence of Akebono no Shirabe is exactly the same as that of the piece “Hifumi Hachigaeshi“. The key is changed but the melodic movement is almost identical in both pieces. The only difference in the two pieces is that of the key and small embellishments or ornaments. Akebono 曙 means “to tr