2003 Sakurai-Kohno "Maestro" SP/CSAR (ex John Dearman)

This 2003 Sakurai-Kohno “Maestro” is a pre-owned classical guitar with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, made in Tokyo, Japan, by Masaki Sakurai and owned from new by John Dearman of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.

The Sakurai-Kohno “Maestro” Concert Guitar

Designed by Japan’s most recognized luthier, Masaru Kohno, this instrument is a first-rate concert guitar, and after Kohno’s passing in 1998, it continued to be made by Kohno’s nephew Masaki Sakurai. For many years this has been the top model of this workshop’s output and features their best materials, inlay work and craftsmanship. Sakurai-Kohno guitars have been played over the years by Oscar Ghiglia, Eduardo Fernández, Shin-ichi Fukuda and even Sharon Isbin and Julian Bream, among others.

Ex John Dearman, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet

This particular guitar has had only one owner to date: Grammy award-winning member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, John Dearman. Here are his reflections on this very instrument:

We started touring regularly in Japan beginning in the mid-90s. It was a real golden age for guitar recitals there, all of the top guitar players were going there to play in the fabulous concert halls. And the fans were just about the most enthusiastic we ever encountered. There were sometimes 100s of people waiting for autographs after the concerts.

Around 2001-2 we had a concert in Tokyo after which we met Masaki Sakurai, the nephew and principal successor of Masaru Kohno, Japan’s pre-eminent guitar maker. Sakurai-san was extremely kind, a gentle soul. He was a fan of the quartet and asked if he could build 4 guitars for us and Scott and I took him up on the offer. The guitars were delivered in 2003, and Scott and I decided that we would each take a box, unopened, and that way there would be no “discussion” about who got which guitar!

I’ve really loved this guitar as it’s unlike anything else I’ve ever owned - such pure and focused sound, ample power - you can really drive the string - perfect balance, and excellent playability. Much like I imagine it would be like to have had an exceptional traditional guitar, maybe even something approaching that of a Bouchet. I was raised on Spanish and American guitars so for me it was that “other” kind of sound.

- John Dearman, November 2025

Woods, Sound and Condition

The rosewood sides and back on this instrument are stunning and the spruce top is perfectly quartersawn with plenty of silk. Playability is excellent. Tone is lovely with very, very good volume. We would recommend this guitar to anyone, including a performing musician or recording artist. There is virtually no playing wear on this guitar – for being over 20 years old, it is in pristine condition.

Orfeo No. 15: The Guitar in Japan

Masaru Kohno: Japan’s Great Guitar Maker

Not only the most important luthier to emerge from Japan, Masaru Kohno (1926–1998) is also one of the best worldwide. He was born in 1926 in Mito City, Japan, and in 1948 he graduated from the Tokyo College of Arts and Crafts with a degree in woodcraft. It was during this time that he became interested in guitar construction, and in 1960 he traveled to Spain to learn the craft. Kohno apprenticed for six months at the workshop of Arcángel Fernández in Madrid, and although neither could speak a word of the other’s language, they managed to communicate – Kohno’s apprenticeship consisted mostly of sitting in the back of the shop and quietly, but attentively, observing the master at work. Upon his return to Tokyo he established his own workshop and quickly gained recognition among Japanese guitarists. His international debut came in 1967, when he was awarded the Gold Medal at an international guitar-making competition in Belgium, judged by, among others, Ignacio Fleta, Robert Bouchet, Joaquín Rodrigo and Alirio Díaz. Since then, many players of world renown have used Kohno guitars, among them Julian Bream, Oscar Ghiglia and Sharon Isbin.

Masaki Sakurai (1944–2025) and the Sakurai-Kohno Workshop

Kohno’s nephew Masaki Sakurai was born in Tokyo on May 10, 1944, and joined his uncle’s workshop in 1966. In 1988 he won First Prize at the 4th International Guitar Making Competition in Paris. After Kohno passed away in 1998, Sakurai took over the workshop, carrying on its legacy under the name Sakurai-Kohno, and the guitars built since have maintained the high levels of quality, precision craftsmanship, meticulous attention to detail and beauty of tone that made Kohno guitars world renowned. Masaki Sakurai passed away in 2025 at the age of 81. GSI is proud to be the only dealer in the USA for guitars from the Sakurai-Kohno workshop.

So Kimishima: The Next Generation

So Kimishima, Masaru Kohno’s grandson, has been a member of the Sakurai-Kohno workshop since 2007, where he worked and trained with Masaki Sakurai. Although clearly influenced by the designs of both Sakurai and Kohno, he infuses his own personality into his guitars, which are based largely on the sound of Masaru Kohno’s guitars from the 1950s and 1960s. One feature sets his work apart from other Kohno and Sakurai models: he uses different bracing designs according to the tonewood of the top, nuancing each soundboard to its inherent strengths.