Akikazu Nakamura

Akikazu Nakamura is a unique shakuhachi player who makes use of circular breathing based on his own distinctive method, missoku (“esoteric breathing”), a method of breathing with ancient origins in Japan. He mastered this method over many years through his own single-minded effort and it enables him to make free use of harmonics. He has also mastered the technique of playing and singing different melodic lines at the same time. The core of his work as a musician involves the collection, analysis and performance of shakuhachi music handed down in pre-modern times by the mendicant Zen monks known as komusō, but he is also active in a wide range of musical genres including rock, jazz , contemporary classical music, improvised music and cross-genre collaboration. He has been sponsored by many organizations including the Japan Foundation in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to perform at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Lincoln Center in New York, the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York, and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. He has published several books in Japanese including Missoku de karda ga kawaru (Changing the body through ‘esoteric breathing’) (Shinchōsha), Baion ichion, kotoba, karada no bunkashi (Single harmonics, words and the body: A cultural record) (Shunjūsya ), Ano hito no koe wa naze tsutawaru no ka (Why does his voice travel ?) (Gentōsha Education), and Nihon ongaku no kōzō (The structure of Jaanese music) (Artes Publishing). He will release his first English book, Breathing with Missoku (O-books), this December.