Seikado / Kitahara 1.8 Nobekan

Beautiful Seikado 1.8 nobekan jiari. Based on the deep golden brown patina and hand-carved stamp, I’m guessing this is one of the earlier flutes by the Kitahara family, and probably 80-90 years old. There is also a second, engraved marking a couple of inches below the thumb hole: The top kanji is “Getsu” and the bottom kanji might be “Hou”?

The bamboo is striking and feels smooth and velvety in the hands. Buffalo horn Tozan inlay, bamboo ring insert at the kanjiri, two polished urushi bindings (over inlaid nylon) to fully secure a very fine hairline crack above #4. Bamboo is dense and stable with no issues, otherwise.

Some bore enhancements were recently done by Perry Yung and the flute now plays with excellent response, and beautiful tone, well into the upper dai kan octave. Meri’s are full and easily accessible, ro’s are very nice! Tuning is good, with the usual subtly flat tsu and sharp chi for the era, both easily adjusted for, if desired.

This flute has been well played for almost a century, and rightly so… it is a great shakuhachi! Comes with silk flute bag and leather ut cap.