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Fumon told me that he was to perform with shakuhachi player Christopher Yohmei Blasdel at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.

There needs to be improvisation [or sokkyosei 即興性]. Without this, the music is dead.

Singing Satsumabiwa became an adventure in the completest sense of the word. The first song Fumon began to teach me was Horaisan.

He plays the first phrase on the instrument, I attempt to follow, gritting my teeth at the pain in my shoulder from holding the instrument