Tôsha Suihô: 四季の笛 (Die Vier Jahreszeiten In Kyoto) (1983)

Certain albums linger in your mind for certain reasons. Tôsha Suihô’s 四季の笛 (Die Vier Jahreszeiten In Kyoto) or Four Seasons In Kyoto is one that I can never forget. The premise for its creation was simple: master flautist Tôsha Suihô travels to various sites in Kyoto and records himself performing within the environment he’s in. What happens, though, is that the very human platitudes — on life, death, and our relationship with this earth — he somehow touches on, remain deeply profound and profoundly apparent. 四季の笛 (Die Vier Jahreszeiten In Kyoto) is, for me, the perfect embodiment of what environmental music stands for.

Originally, Tôsha Suihô went to each site with a preconceived composition in mind, only to actually listen to his environment and be moved to respectfully, artfully, perform with it, rather than to it. Many of these sites were temples he was given rare access to or far flung nature trails on the way to them. Whenever possible, Tôsha ventured into spaces where he tried to escape man-made, industrial sound. Even then, he’d have to record at times around midnight to avoid nearly inescapable aviation and urban noise pollution, which introduced another level of emotion into his playing. However, once situated where he needed to be, that’s where we begin to hear this, his story. These are all things you’ll hear captured on 四季の笛 (Die Vier Jahreszeiten In Kyoto).

A profound meditation on many things 四季の笛 (Die Vier Jahreszeiten In Kyoto) is an album you can listen to all the way through, but (I think) better serves you as a meditative, auditory practice. I’ve heard different sections, in different seasons, and each time I’m informed or reinforced differently by something in this album. Perhaps some bird song. Perhaps some windy, wet brook. Perhaps some far off chant. There’s always something very approachable but decidedly multi-layered about such a simply recorded work. It’s something I’d rather let Tôsha Suihô, and the liner notes of the original recording, give you a sense of. In the end, it’s just one person’s beautiful conversation with the world around him, as it motions to the cycles in his and everyone’s life.

Introducing Tôsha Suihô

Tōsha Suihō played a major role both in the musical accompaniment in Kabuki Theater and Nagauta singing, that is, both in classical Japanese music, as well as in the performance and composition of modern Japanese music.

From the age of six he learned the flute playing with his father Tōsha Shuho and in 1957 became a private student of Tōsha Rosen, the head of the musical family Tōsha, where he appropriated classical Japanese music. So he has always devoted himself to the flute playing.

In his youth he was fortunate enough to learn various classical Japanese musical instruments and traditional forms of singing from numerous first-class music teachers. This has deepened his understanding of classical Japanese music and given him a modern, vivid breath, which accommodates his idiosyncratic style

In compositions and performances of modern Japanese music, he has developed the possibilities of the flute and created a musical world that brings a great conception and the finest emotions to harmony

Today Tōsha Suihō is physically and mentally at the peak of his creative power and has achieved in composition and performance perfected maturity. We have seized the opportunity and made this record in which the result of forty years of flute playing is summarized.

The change of the four seasons, which accompanies human life in a varied way, has long exerted a great influence on the arts as well. In European music there are numerous works depicting the season or the sight of nature, such as Tchaikovsky or Vivaldi

Even Japanese love this nature and therefore have a well-developed absorption capacity for it. Tōsha Suihō has returned to the bosom of nature and has expressed his emotion directly with the flute. These pieces are the sum of Tōsha’s music. It seems necessary to revisit the connection between “nature and music” in modern Japanese music. The beauty and charm of these pieces lies in the flute’s fusion with nature.

In 1981, he visited the places intended for sound recordings (most of them in Kyoto), consulted with staff and then composed them.

From May 1982 to April 1983, the recordings were made.

Tōsha has tried to compose pieces in which the life of the flute is expressed through the emotions of the changing seasons.

Because Tōsha Suihō has sought the conversation with the sounds of nature, he made the recordings in each season and at the relevant place. To avoid the sounds of cars and planes he recorded sometimes around midnight. Because the recording lasted over a year, more and more pages were filled detailing plane flight plans.

– Nippon Columbia (Liner Notes to 四季の笛 (Die Vier Jahreszeiten In Kyoto)

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The Making of 四季の笛 (Die Vier Jahreszeiten In Kyoto

Before recording this record, I visited several places in Kyoto. Without this project, I would not have seen many of these places. During the daytime, when tourists go there, I could not have had this experience. The dawn in Myōōdō Temple on Mount Hiei or the deep night in Gyokuhōin of Myōshinji Temple surpassed all my expectations. Everywhere I’ve been touched by the many-colored breath of nature, the sound of wind, the murmur of water and the chirping of insects.

The varied, fertile nature and the historic city of Kyoto have created this record together.

If I went to one of these places with a certain melody and a certain idea in my mind and performed the composed piece there, something was wrong. I gave up the previous tune and played what I could think of, only then did a living sound come out. I felt painfully how powerless the piece I have come to think of is the greatness and richness of nature. This year, I have become aware of my existence between the endless sky and the varied place Kyoto. A great benefit to me was to realize that not only music, but also my life as a human being with nature must become one, a part of nature.

– Tōsha Suihō

Editor’s Note: On the following pages you’ll find a translated version of Tôsha Suihô’s journal explaining the background story behind each track. Within each page you’ll find each page devoted towards a specific season. 

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