日本民谣 即兴 Japanese folk song Improvisation br 即兴尺八演奏者：长谷川 将山 Hasegawa Shozanbr br This folk song, created during the Bakufu Period of the late Edo dynasty, with its very distinct regional tonality and pleasantly mellow melody, has been enjoyed by many all around the world. The brilliantly colored yet short-lived cherry blossom served as a basis for the aesthetics of “mono no aware” (“the pathos of things” or “an empathy toward things”). The shakuhachi (a Japanese longitudinal end-blown bamboo flute) evokes an image of a gentle yet powerful wind rushing down from the sky, and through a quiet thicket of trees. The elegant sound of the guzheng is like the spring sun as it bathes the cherry blossoms in its warmth and light. Inevitably, the blossoms eventually waver and begin to shed their petals on the ground, and with a spring rain they are silently washed away.