Every year during this month, I visit Tokyo, and it has become a routine for me—after attending a morning event—to visit Kurosawa musical instrument shop in the Ochanomizu musical instrument shop district; the shop boasts the largest collection of collectible banjos and serves as the exclusive Japanese distributor for C.F. Martin guitar. During today’s visit, I had the unexpected privilege of encountering Mr. Akira Tsumura—renowned for the "Tsumura Collection"—and hearing him speak. He explained that while the core of his collection—consisting largely of four-string banjos—has been transferred to the American Banjo Museum, he is gradually releasing his five-string banjos into the Japanese market through this shop. He mentioned that some 500 (or perhaps 800?) antique banjos dating back to the 1800s are housed in a musical instrument museum in my hometown Hamamatsu. Although his passion for banjos was once centered on the four-string tenor and plectrum banjos of the 1920s, he told us today that he now prefers the five-string banjo—played with fingerpicks—because the sound of each individual string is clearer and more enjoyable to listen to. He came to the shop today to arrange for one of his banjos to be shipped to the United States. After listening to him for thirty minutes, we walked him to his car, which was parked on the street; it was a top-of-the-line Mercedes-Benz driven by a private chauffeur. He is now ninety years old.
What a cool story. Thank you for sharing . Very interesting.
I knew he must be "getting up in age". It was many years ago, when I worked "at the factory" , that we made at least one elaborate banjo for his collection, as I remember it. I think there is a picture in the book. Long time ago, "fuzzy" memories.
There is a partial story of the history of his banjo collection in the Winter 2009 #16 edition of The Fretboard Journal publication. In a posting here quite some time ago, Scott Zimmerman (Desertrose) advised that there is more to tell regarding this. Would love to hear the full story.
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