"Three Years on a Stone": Learn Japanese Philosophy Through Shinobue

“石の上にも三年 - Ishino uenimo san nen” means "3 years on a stone"

Even a cold, hard stone will give you warmth and goodness if you sit on it for 3 years. That's the culture shinobue was born in. Japanese culture values patience and humility greatly. Learning how to play the shinobue is the journey of a lifetime. Let's not be so focused on the results. Enjoy the shinobue way of life.

Learning to play the shinobue takes time, and that’s not a popular statement.

In our fast-moving society, everyone wants everything quick.

If I made a YouTube video titled "How to Play the Shinobue Like a Pro in 30 Minutes!!!," it would probably attract a lot of views.

Believe me, I started playing the shinobue at age 54 with the goal of performing professionally within a year, so I prioritize results.

However, it’s crucial to be patient and focus on building a solid foundation rather than seeking quick results.

In fact, building a solid foundation from the start is the QUICKEST way to master the shinobue.

My shinobue journey

When I started studying with my teacher, Bunta sensei, guess what I played for the first four lessons?

A plastic bottle.

He taught me much more than how to blow the plastic bottle to make a sound. There were specific ways he wanted me to do it!!

I felt like I was being trained to become a professional plastic bottle player. 😅

And even after a solid month of blowing nothing but a cheap used plastic bottle while my beautiful Shoji shinobues sat on the table, if I started playing the shinobue badly, my teacher would ask me to go get the plastic bottle, and the rest of the lesson would be done with the plastic bottle again!!!! 😫

With the plastic bottle, he was teaching me how to avoid blowing with my mouth, but to bring up the warm breath using my core muscles.

Once we finally stopped using the plastic bottle, I played ONE NOTE for months at a time.

Our lesson went like this.

I would play a song.

He'd tell me that I had learned the song correctly.

Then he would ask me to play one note from the song.

For the rest of the lesson, we would work on that one note.

So basically, he was telling me although I had learned the song's notes and rhythm correctly, my tone was not good.

And I knew that even if I learned 100 songs, if my tone was not good, all 100 songs would sound bad.

So we built my foundation one note at a time.

I am not making this up when I tell you I learned ONE SONG with Bunta sensei that first year.

When he finally said we won't play this song any more, instead of saying "You can play this well, let's move on", he said "We will come back to this again later." 😅

And the next year, again, I learned one song.

And the third year, I learned yet another song.

One song a year with Bunta sensei.

I handle all the songs I upload to YouTube on my own; I don’t work with Bunta sensei for those.

With Bunta sensei, it’s all about building a solid foundation.

I get that practicing one note for months and only finishing one song a year might sound pretty boring to a lot of people.

With my students, I help them play many songs while we work on fundamental skills too.

But I don't just teach my students how to play songs after songs without dealing with fundamental skills head-on.

If you learned 100 songs, I'm sure you learn how to play more efficiently and indeed you should be better than you were at song #1.

But if you do not address the topics like embouchure, posture, diaphragmatic breathing head-on, just learning new songs after new songs will not teach you how to play the shinobue.

There are many teachers who just teach you how to play songs without really addressing those fundamental topics.

When I was teaching voice, it was the same thing. There were many voice teachers who just teach you songs.

As I said, if you learned 100 songs, I'm pretty sure you do get better.

But I didn't have time to wait for 100 songs and I didn't want to just HOPE that I would be better.

In fact, many people develop bad habits playing a bunch of songs without building fundamental techniques.

Then you would have to go back and re-learn things, which takes even longer!

So although starting with an empty bottle and building one note at a time sounds like forever, it is the quickest way.

And after you sit on a stone for 3 years, you realize how much you've come.

When I meet Bunta sensei once a year for an in-person lesson, he always tells me "上手くなったな〜！”（umaku nattana!) which means, "You've learned and become a good player!"

Just to hear him say that, I still practice one note for hours.