Searching by Steven Casano

Searching is a digital release exploring Shirabe and Chōshi—prelude pieces in the shakuhachi honkyoku tradition.

These pieces are not intended as fixed performance pieces, but as acts of searching/tuning: investigating how breath, body, and instrument come into alignment on a given day. Each Shirabe reflects a moment of listening and adjustment, revealing subtle differences in approach, pacing, and tone.

This recording brings together a variety of Shirabe / Chōshi learned over the past 30 years across multiple lineages, offering a rare opportunity to hear their similarities and contrasts side by side. Rather than presenting a single “correct” version, the focus is on process, awareness, and presence.

Searching invites the listener into that same space of inquiry—where sound emerges, settles, and disappears.

Shakuhachi artist Steven Casano (Dai Shihan) explores Japanese koten honkyoku. Founder of The Kōchiku Kai, he bridges Zen breath, ancient lineage, and living sound. Rooted in tradition yet alive in the present, each performance is a spacious, timeless meditation.

stevencasano.com