Worthless Shakuhachi, Five Songs from the Kanginshu appears on the following albums

	Альбом	Исполнитель
	Voices from Afar - Voices From Within	Сякухати : Christopher Yohmei Blasdel
The Kanginshu is a collection of popular songs compiled in 1518, although it is uncertain who actually collected and edited the songs. As popular songs, they were sung and heard frequently during their day and now provide us a window into the sentiments of the age; sentiments which remain as poignant as ever. The songs in this collection, although conforming to the literary standards of the day, are not stuffy and over-refined; they are free and sometimes very coquettish, if not outright suggestive, much like the songs found in Carmina Burana, for example. The shakuhachi figures prominently in several of these songs. I took five of my favorite ones and, with help from my co-performers, put them to music, both with the original Japanese and their English translations, which were provided by Frank Hoff. 1) "We all need love, just love.../ Dreams dreams, dreams./ Yesterday is long ago for today / Today is once-upon-a-time for tomorrow." 2) "I take the shakuhachi from beneath my sleeve,/ To blow it while waiting./ The wind through the pines/ Scatters flowers as though a dream./ How much longer will I have to play until my heart is quiet again?" 3) "I blow you while I wait/ I blow you later in my disappointment.../ Worthless shakuhachi!" 4) "Beloved boy/ My darling beloved/ You have not rested/ How sleepy you must be/ How sleepy you must be." 5) "My shakuhachi is blameless,/ Yet I toss it at the pillow./ It makes the sound katari as it hits the pillow's wooden rim./ Yet even this sound does not make it less lonely to sleep alone."