Issui Minegishi

Minegishi Issui is the great-great-granddaughter of Tokuhiro Taimu, founder of the Seikyodo Ichigenkin tradition. She received her earliest training from her great-grandmother, Matsuzaki Issui, who was the 3rd hereditary head of Seikyodo and who was also designated by the Japanese government as official guardian of the Ichigenkin tradition, as one of the country’s Intangible Cultural Treasures. In 1988 with the death of her great-grandmother, the young Minegishi succeeded to the position of 4th Iemoto, while receiving further instruction from Saito Ichiyo who was entrusted as her guardian and tutor in the tradition.
Minegishi received a Bachelor’s degree from University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo, and also graduated with the 40th class of the NHK (Japanese National Broadcasting Company) training program for young performers of traditional Japanese instruments. In 1994 Minegishi performed at the Boston Conservatory’s Suelly Hall and at Carnegie Hall, and in 1996 she commissioned and debuted “Words of Poetry and Magic from the American Indian Oral Tradition,” a groundbreaking contemporary work for Ichigenkin and Biwa The following year, her study of the Vietnamese Dan bau (one string zither) in Ho Chi Min City with Nguyen Thi Hai Phuong, helped to further broaden Minegishi’s musical horizons. In 2000 Minegishi was responsible for the training of actors and actresses for the popular NHK television drama series “The Ichigen no Koto.” In the last few years Minegishi has had an active career performing ichigenkin in over ten countries throughout the world. In 2008, Minegishi had the honour to perform for Her Royal Highness the Empress of Japan.

Official blog:ひとつであり、すべてであり 一絃琴・峯岸一水の庵