Of all Japan's own instruments, the shakuhachi, a simple five-hole, end-blown flute made from the root end of a bamboo stalk, has achieved the greatest success beyond these shores.
End-blown flutes of several kinds were introduced from China during the Heian Period (794-1185) as part of the gagaku court orchestra. Subsequently it fell out of use in this context, however, and the Heian shakuhachi music is essentially lost. The music that has won so great a following today is based on the repertory of the medieval wandering flute-monks, the komuso, who by the 17th century were organized into a mendicant Zen order which used the instrument as a form of meditation.
At the same time it developed an amateur following which practiced it purely for musical enjoyment, and the 20th century saw a great deal of new composition for the shakuhachi in various styles.