About this site

Satsumabiwa

With this project, I would like to tell people in blog form about the Satsumabiwa. This instrument was originally performed by the samurai of the Satsuma Domain, present-day Kagoshima and Southern Miyazaki. Since the end of the nineteenth century, it began to be played throughout Japan and now is being played beyond Japan throughout the world. I am from Ireland. I studied with Yoshinori Fumon (photo) from December 1994 for a number of years in Japan. Here I will narrate how the instrument is played, its music, its history, what players find beautiful about this unique and amazing instrument.

If anybody wishes to use elements of this blog, please drop me a line at ranjo@satsumabiwa.eu

I thank everyone who has supported me and I express my deepest gratitude to my teacher who shared his knowledge and experience so generously with me and asked that I tell the world of the beauty of this narrative art form.

ranjo@satsumabiwa.eu

About the author

Thomas Ranjo　トーマス蘭杖

Thomas Ranjo (Thomas Charles Marshall) was born in Ireland and received his musical education on piano, flute and organ. He was appointed organ scholar to Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1990 and continued his organ studies under Peter Hurford.

In 1994, he travelled to Japan and his journey into the world of Japanese music began. Meeting Yoshinori Fumon in December 1994, he began formal satsumabiwa studies in December 1995. He was granted the satsumabiwa name Ranjo 蘭城 in 1999.

He accompanied Yoshinori Fumon on a lecture and concert tour to the UK and Ireland in 1997, and to the United States in 2000, presenting at SOAS, Cambridge University, UCD, Columbia University, and the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.

In 2001, Ranjo performed Toru Takemitsu’s Eclipse with Uesugi Kodo at the festival “Messiaen et le Japon” at La Grave, Hautee Alpes in July 2001.

In 2005, Ranjo was selected to perform as part of “The Melody of Japan”, a performance given by International and Japanese Musicians and sponsored by The Agency for Cultural Affairs.

In 2004, he was invited to accompany Professor Haruko Komoda with performances at The Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies at Columbia University as well as at the University of Southern California.

He presented and performed at the 29th Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia in 2006.

He returned to Ireland in 2008 due to illness of a close family member. He continued his activities on satsumabiwa while also pursuing studies on organ.

Since his return to Ireland he has continued performing and lecturing with visits to Columbia University, New York, Durham University, UK, Denmark, Italy and at the Animus Conference in Portugal as well as in Japan.

He is Director of Music at St Ann's Church, Dublin and at St Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare.