2015 Masaki Sakurai "Special" CD/CSAR

This 2015 Masaki Sakurai “Special” is a classical guitar with a cedar top and CSA rosewood back and sides, made in Tokyo, Japan, with a cedar top over CSA rosewood.

Sakurai’s “Special”

Compared with the “Concert-J”, the “Special” has more elaborate purfling and rosette work and more carefully chosen materials. Thick back and sides and a neck reinforced with two ebony strips make it very stable – a good guitar for travel. Although clearly influenced by his uncle, Masaru Kohno, Sakurai also infused his own personality into his guitars, and a modest look at this one reveals a beautiful, classic design – perfectly executed.

Sound and Playability

Sakurai reinforced the back of the neck with two ebony strips: the neck stays stiff, which helps the sustain, and the set-up can be very accurate, with a low, easy action that does not buzz. The cedar top delivers a rich, warm quality of sound and still keeps the clarity and balance of a spruce guitar. Whether solo or in an ensemble, it has all the power a concert asks for.

Label

On the “Masaki Sakurai – Kohno Guitar Manufacturing” label: Model “Special”, 2015, signed. All in all, a charming and very fine concert guitar.

More to Watch and Read

The videos above are a documentary on Masaki Sakurai and his workshop, and “The Luthier and the Guitarist”, in which Shin-ichi Fukuda plays Bach on a guitar made by Sakurai. Orfeo Magazine No. 15 tells the story of the guitar in Japan. Read it online below, or get the print edition with issues 11 to 15.

Orfeo No. 15: The Guitar in Japan

Orfeo Magazine, 11-15 (print edition)

Masaru Kohno (1926–1998)

Kohno, Sakurai & Kimishima are three generations of one Tokyo guitar-making family. Masaru Kohno – Japan’s most important classical guitar maker, and one of the best worldwide – was born in 1926 in Mito City. In 1960 he traveled to Spain and apprenticed for six months with Arcángel Fernández in Madrid; back in Tokyo he established his own workshop, and in 1967 he was awarded the Gold Medal at an international guitar-building competition in Belgium, judged among others by Ignacio Fleta, Robert Bouchet, Joaquín Rodrigo and Alirio Díaz. Julian Bream, Oscar Ghiglia and Sharon Isbin are among the many players of world renown who have used Kohno guitars.

Masaki Sakurai (1944–2025)

Born in Tokyo on May 10, 1944, Masaki Sakurai joined the workshop of his uncle, Masaru Kohno, in 1966. Among many other accomplishments, in 1988 he was awarded First Prize at the 4th International Guitar Making Competition in Paris, France. Mr. Kohno passed away in 1998, and the workshop was taken over by Sakurai, who carried on its legacy under the name Sakurai-Kohno. The guitars built since he took over have maintained the high levels of quality, precision craftsmanship, meticulous attention to detail and beauty of tone that have made Kohno guitars world renowned. Masaki Sakurai passed away in 2025 at the age of 81 (read our tribute).

So Kimishima (born 1983)

So Kimishima, Masaru Kohno’s grandson, studied at the Musashi Institute of Technology in Tokyo and joined the family workshop, where since 2007 he has worked and trained with his uncle, the great Masaki Sakurai. His guitars are based largely on the sound of Masaru Kohno’s guitars from the 1950s and 1960s, with design ideas and techniques learned from Sakurai, and he uses different bracing designs according to the tonewood of each top. In 2021 he announced his own model, the “Stella”, followed by his flagship “Sol” and its sister model “Luna”.