2026 Masaki Sakurai "Special" CD/AR

This 2026 Masaki Sakurai “Special” is a new classical guitar with a cedar top and African rosewood back and sides, completed in the Sakurai-Kohno workshop in Tokyo, Japan, under the supervision of So Kimishima.

Completed under So Kimishima’s Supervision

Masaki Sakurai passed away in 2025, and this guitar was completed in his Tokyo workshop under the supervision of So Kimishima – Masaru Kohno’s grandson, who had worked and trained alongside Sakurai since 2007. It carries the workshop’s “Masaki Sakurai” label for the “Special” model, dated 2026.

The “Special”: A Step Above the Concert-J

Sakurai’s “Special” goes a step beyond his “Concert-J” classical guitar, with finer detailing in the purfling and rosette and a more select choice of materials – here, African rosewood for the back and sides. Its back and sides are made thick, and the neck is reinforced with two ebony strips, so it is a very stable instrument, even when traveling.

Rosette, Bridge and Headstock

Look closely at the photos: the mosaic rosette and the purfling around the top are finely detailed, the tie block of the bridge is framed in bone with rosewood inlays, and the rosewood head veneer has a slender, multicolored center stripe. Like every instrument from this workshop, it is a beautiful, classic design – perfectly executed.

Sound and Playability

The two ebony strips keep the neck stiff, which helps the sustain, and allow a very accurate set-up – a low, easy action without buzzing. The cedar top has a warm, fat sound while keeping the clarity and balance of its spruce counterpart, and there is plenty of power for any concert situation, ensemble settings included. Overall, a very charming instrument which we can recommend to anyone looking for a top-quality concert guitar.

Videos and Further Reading

Above you can watch a documentary on Masaki Sakurai, and Shin-ichi Fukuda playing Bach on a Sakurai guitar in “The Luthier and the Guitarist”. For more on Japanese guitar making, see Orfeo No. 15, “The Guitar in Japan”: it can be read online and is included in the print edition “Orfeo Magazine, 11-15”.

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”.