Photo: dad1.jpg

Looking at this photo reminds me of Masa's hands.  I've long been
fascinated by the way some people use their hands.  Not the clumsy,
fumble-fingered folks (among whom I so often find myself), but the really
nimble, creative people for whom the use of their hands is their primary
means of creating their life.

I sat next to Masa for years, watching his fingers on his flute.  Often it
was the only way to figure out what he was doing (like when he would say,
"I'll play and then you repeat what I played").  There was a grace in
the way Masa used his hands.  Mary Lu Brandwein once observed that when
Masa played the shakuhachi, each note he played got his full attention.
Not even the shortest notes were "throw away" sounds.

The same was true of the way Masa moved his hands.  Whether playing his
shakuhachi or the shamisen, picking up a pencil, handing you a cup of
tea or accepting payment for the lessons, there was a reverence for what
he was doing that Masa observed with his hands, and no gesture was too
small to deserve that attention.

We can see that in this photo.  There is a softness in the way he holds
the flute, and a relaxation in the way his fingers rest over the holes
that exemplify his mastery.