Christopher Yohmei Blasdel ranks in the top tiers of Japanese musicians, maintaining a balance between traditional and Japanese music. Born in Texas, he traveled to Tokyo in 1972 and began studies under shakuhachi master and Living National Treasure the late Goro Yamaguchi. In 1982, he received an MFA in ethnomusicology from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts. In 1984,Yamaguchi awarded him with a "shihan" shakuhachi teaching license and professional name,Yohmei. Based in Japan, Blasdel performs throughout Japan, Asia, Europe and the Americas, working with various musicians, dancers and poets. His discography includes several CDs of traditional and contemporary music and a collaboration of shakuhachi and poetry with distinguished American poet Sam Hamill. Blasdel composes and performs music for NHK television documentaries and various films. He is the author of "The Shakuhachi, A Manual for Learning" (Ongaku no Tomo-sha,1988), the foremost English language book about the shakuhachi. Blasdel teaches shakuhachi at the Asahi Culture Center and is a part-time lecturer at International Christian University and Temple University in Tokyo. He was co-organizer for the World Shakuhachi Festival '98 held in Boulder,Colorado and artistic director of the Fukuoka Gendai Hogaku Festival. His book, "Searching for the Single Tone"( originally published in Japanese under the title "Shakuhachi Odyssey," Kawade Publishers, 2000), details his experiences learning and playing the shakuhachi and was awarded the prestigious Rennyo Award for non-fiction.