Controlling onset of San No U ( hole 3 only in Kan )

Hi Garyc,
I'm not entirely certain of the note you are talking about. In my experience (limited though it may be to the kinko style) san no u isn't a dai kan note, but rather a kan note. If we are talking about the same thing, then you should be playing that note kari and with some strength. Therefore, the transition from U dai meri which of course is a deep meri note the same in pitch to re and played with less force, to san no U requires that change in head position from dai meri to kari and a change in air flow from medium soft to strong. In my experience, that's how to do it.

Jeff thanks for your reply, my post was in error , the phrase is in kan I should have translated it as shown below. Sorry for any confusion it caused .

phrase #10 (kan) : close 4,Chi (meri )-----Atari(4)--- open close 4 ,U ( 1and3 ) ---san no U(3)( dai Kari )-----Tsu (meri) ------ lower head at end

The version and notation of Koku I'm trying to play is Jin Nyodo, San no U kan has dai Kari to the right and what looks like yowai or weak to the left. In later occurrences of the phrase it's U dai meri then San no U dai Kari as you indicated.

I know Notation can be only and indicator. But I still have an abrupt San no U note no matter how I close hole 1, after reading your note I tried closing hole 1 in meri pos then moving to Kari which does seem to provide a controllable raise in pitch at the start of San no u, is this how you play it ? Close the move to Kari or close and move to Kari at the same time. I'm not sure if a pitch raise in san no U is the transistion I'm hearing on recordings, but it does have give me some control, if that's the right way.

Garyc, I'm not versed in Jin Nyodo style playing, but I play san no U directly without a すル。 Maybe somebody better versed in the style can shed some light on your problem. Without seeing you play it, it's very difficult to assess the problem. If you could upload a short video, or even an audio clip, it might be of some use.

I thought abrupt on set of San no U might be intrinsic to shakuhachi or a common issue, but if it's just my technique then its sounds like it might only be solved 1x1 with a teacher. I was hoping it was yet another mysterious qwerk of shakuchachi others have solved and could share.
Jeff thanks so much for your input.

Garyc, in the sequence I think you're referring to if you play U closing holes 2, 4, and 5 and then for San no U also close 1 you should be able with some practice to hear a better transition.