2017 Masaki Sakurai "Special" CD/CSAR

This 2017 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.

The “Special”

The “Special” is a step up from the “Concert-J” in its detailing – especially the purfling and rosette – and in its choice of materials. Its back and sides are thick, and with its double-ebony reinforced neck it is a very stable guitar to travel with. Sakurai learned the craft from his uncle, Masaru Kohno, and although the influence is clear, he put his own personality into his guitars; this one shows a beautiful, classic design, perfectly executed.

Sound and Playability

Two ebony reinforcing strips in the back of the neck make a very accurate set-up possible – a low, easy action without buzzing – and the stiffer neck improves sustain as well. Warm and fat in sound, the cedar top loses nothing in clarity or balance. Its power is enough for any concert, including playing in an ensemble.

About the Label

On the “Masaki Sakurai – Kohno Guitar Manufacturing” label: Model “Special”, 2017, signed. A very charming concert guitar, and one we can recommend without reservation.

Videos and Further Reading

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 devoted its issue No. 15 to the guitar in Japan. You can read it online, and it is also part of the print edition “Orfeo Magazine, 11-15”, available at GSI.

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”.