{"id":19,"date":"2012-01-20T06:39:10","date_gmt":"2012-01-20T06:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/?page_id=19"},"modified":"2024-04-17T18:01:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T18:01:23","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"Alcvin Ry\u016bzen Ramos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics --><br \/>\n<script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.googletagmanager.com\/gtag\/js?id=UA-108358646-1\"><\/script><br \/>\n<script><br \/>\n  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];<br \/>\n  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}<br \/>\n  gtag('js', new Date());<\/p>\n<p>  gtag('config', 'UA-108358646-1');\n<\/p>\n<p><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Biography<a href=\"http:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/aboutimage1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-30\" style=\"border: 2px solid black;\" title=\"aboutimage1\" src=\"http:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/aboutimage1-216x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"216\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/aboutimage1-216x300.png 216w, https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/aboutimage1.png 235w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 216px) 100vw, 216px\" \/><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Alcvin was born in Japan, attended school in the States, and now lives in the rainforests of BC, Canada. In high school, Alcvin first heard the sound of the horizontal Japanese bamboo flute (yokobue) in the Akira Kurosawa film, RAN, played by master <em><strong>Hiroyuki Koinuma<\/strong> <\/em>and was deeply inspired to study shakuhachi. After studying Eastern Religions and Philosophy in University Alcvin returned to Japan to study shakuhachi for several years. Through his work with the shakuhachi, Alcvin has had the opportunity to travel through Asia, Australia, Europe, Canada and America learning about various cultures and arts. The shakuhachi continues to lead him to more adventures to fascinating and beautiful places and people through the playing and creation of music.<\/p>\n<p>In 2001, he received his shihan (master) license from one of the great shakuhachi masters of Japan, the late\u00a0<em><strong>Katsuya Yokoyama<\/strong><\/em> (founder of the International Shakuhachi Training Centre and brainchild of the World Shakuhachi Festivals) via one of his most exceptional students, <em><strong>Kaoru Kakizakai<\/strong><\/em>. Alcvin also studied jinashi shakuhachi playing intensively with <strong><em>Atsuya Okuda<\/em><\/strong> of the Zensabo since 2000. He is currently studying hitoyogri (ancestor of the modern shakuhachi) with <strong><em>Takeo Izumi<\/em><\/strong> in Kyoto.<\/p>\n<p>In November of 2008, Alcvin received an honourary Dai Shihan license along with a new name, \u201cRy\u016bzen\u201d (Dragon Meditation) from another one of Japan\u2019s most virtuosic players and teachers, <em><strong>Yoshinobu Taniguchi.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Alcvin is the first Canadian, and one of only a handful of non-Japanese, to receive this esteemed honour.<\/p>\n<p>Alcvin has also studied shakuhachi construction techniques with Shugetsu Yamaguchi, Murai Eigoro, Kinya Sogawa, Kobayashi Shomei, and John Kaizan Neptune and is currently, studying jiari shakuhachi construction under the legendary craftsman, Miura Ryuho in Akita Prefecture.\u00a0 Alcvin\u00a0produces finely crafted jinashi (hocchiku) zen flutes and shinobue. With an intimate knowledge of the koten honkyoku (traditional solo Zen-inspired pieces) and the structure of the flute, each of Alcvin\u2019s flutes is made especially for honkyoku and musical playing. Ramos believes that honkyoku expresses and utilizes the total spirit-sound of the shakuhachi.<\/p>\n<p>Alcvin also\u00a0plays\u00a0the <em><strong>Tsugaru<\/strong> <strong>Shamisen,<\/strong>\u00a0and <strong>shinkin<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/em>three-stringed lutes,\u00a0which adds a deeper dimension to his understanding and enjoyment of the folk music of Japan. He also studied biwa for a year with\u00a0<em><strong>Yukio Tanaka<\/strong><\/em>, leading student of the late Satsuma Biwa master, Kinshi Tsuruta.<\/p>\n<p>Alcvin is also the inventor of the otherworldly\u00a0<em><strong>Tenkan,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>overtone flute which is a hybrid of the shakuhachi and didgeridoo.<\/p>\n<p>Alcvin has taught and performed all over North America, Europe, and Japan and pursues an active solo as well as collaborative career and has shared the stage with many distinguished artists from around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Every few years,\u00a0Alcvin takes shakuhachi students to Japan for the <em><a href=\"http:\/\/alcvin.ca\/japantrip\/\"><strong>Shakuhachi Roots Pilgrimage<\/strong> <\/a><\/em>where they harvest bamboo for making shakuhachi and to visit sacred places around the country in order to deepen the understanding of the instrument.<\/p>\n<p>Alcvin presently resides on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia where he teaches and makes bamboo flutes and <a href=\"_wp_link_placeholder\" data-wplink-edit=\"true\"><strong><em>Sunroot Pendants<\/em><\/strong><\/a> and jewellery.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong> \u201cFor me shakuhachi and bamboo are paths of\u00a0transformation that elicits a metabolic expression and the conviction that music \u201cshould not be frozen or unchanging once it is completed but should be apprehended instead as a thing \u2013 or process \u2013 that evolves from past to present and from present to future.\u201d Another way to express this process is a symbiotic relationship between time and space, and one\u2019s immediate environment. Shakuhachi is my bridge to the world of music, with bamboo being the vessel of sound, and vibration which is a portal, a gateway into seeing deeper into oneself which opens doors to other physical and spiritual realms.\u201d \u2014 Alcvin Ry\u016bzen Ramos<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Biography Alcvin was born in Japan, attended school in the States, and now lives in the rainforests of BC, Canada. In high school, Alcvin first heard the sound of the horizontal Japanese bamboo flute (yokobue) in the Akira Kurosawa film, RAN, played by master Hiroyuki Koinuma and was deeply inspired to study shakuhachi. After studying&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":84,"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4731,"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions\/4731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alcvin.ca\/ryuzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}