Because of a grant from the Center for Asian Studies, I was able to attend Shakuhachi Camp of the Rockies in June of 2019. The camp consisted of lessons, masterclasses, and evening performances of the Shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute. I have been playing the instrument for the last 5 years and attended both as a participant and as a researcher. During free time, I interviewed 9 participants about their experiences with gender and the Shakuhachi as well as talked with other participants about gender issues. I would like to thank any donors who made this research trip possible as it has laid the groundwork for a future dissertation topic.
The idea for research came when a female shakuhachi player expressed her concern over a competition in which she felt she was at a disadvantage due to her gender. The other performers were male and the performance was not a blind performance. She felt the judges stereotyped Shakuhachi perfermores to be male. This got me thinking, does gender affect shakuhachi practice and performance?
As mentioned earlier, while at camp I was able to perform interviews with both male and female participants. As this was the beginning of a deeper study that will hopefully become my PhD thesis, participants answered fifteen questions which often lead to additional discussions about participants’ past as well as interactions with gender. As a result of these discussions, I have added additional questions for future research. I was also able to build a network of first hand informants as well as recommendations by those informants as to who I should seek out and interview for future research.
Participants in this study expressed one of two understandings of gender in the Shakuhachi world. Participants who performed solo or with only a few other shakuhachi artists were less aware of gender issues. Participants who learned and performed in Japan or had
teachers who did, expressed ways they had seen gender stereotypes play out. Those who wanted to practice Shakuhachi for personal growth and betterment were less aware of gender issues in Shakuhachi. Practitioners who worked to be more professional players expressed observing more gender issues.
As well as the performance level, the gender of the informant also affected perception of gender issues in the Shakuhachi world. Male participants tended to be more aware of traditional stereotypes while female participants expressed being welcomed into the shakuhachi world (at least the world they knew, lessons and Shakuhachi Camp of the Rockies). Several female participants said their first encounter with gender bias came as a result of their teacher providing insight into the world of professional Shakuhachi performance. Informants also shared that they believed Shakuhachi in the United States differed from Shakuhachi in Japan as far as gender roles went. One male informant pointed out that several years ago he traveled to Japan to perform with many others on the Japanese national theater stage. As an Anglo-European outsider, he was positioned on the side of the stage, not in the middle of the stage with male Japanese performers. There was one female performer and she was positioned on the other side of the stage, affording her “outsider” status as well.
I plan to continue this research over the next three to four years and hopefully craft additional questions which can become my PhD dissertation. I plan to travel to Japan to complete more interviews as well as make postings on prominent Shakuhachi facebook groups and message boards (European Shakuhachi Society for example). I will be spending the next year or two developing contacts and questions so I can spend some time doing fieldwork after my classes are finished. I would like to say thank you again for the opportunity to study gender and Shakuhachi.