柿堺香

Kakizakai Kaoru was born in 1959 in Chichibu, Saitama. He took up the shakuhachi in his early twenties and became a student of Yokoyama Katsuya, one of the great players of the 20th century, with whom he also recorded. He graduated from the NHK Traditional Music Conservatory and won the Kumamoto All Japan Hōgaku competition.

He teaches at the Kokusai Shakuhachi Kenshūkan, the international shakuhachi school founded by Yokoyama, and has played Takemitsu Tōru's November Steps as soloist with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Students from around the world know him from festivals and summer schools abroad. His recordings of classical honkyoku include Koten Shakuhachi (2003) and Koten Shakuhachi 2 (2009).

On Kotone he shares three classical honkyoku he chose himself.