2021 Masaki Sakurai "PC" SP/CSAR

This 2021 Masaki Sakurai “PC” is a classical guitar with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, made in Tokyo, Japan; Alexander Milovanov plays Villa-Lobos on it in the videos above.

The “PC”: Paris Competition

Sakurai named the “PC” after the Paris Competition: its design is that of the guitar with which he won First Prize at the 4th International Guitar Making Competition in Paris in 1988. The headstock and rosette suggest Robert Bouchet, and the thick maple binding recalls the early Madrid school; together they make a tasteful, modern-looking guitar.

Neck and Sound

The double ebony reinforcing strips in the back of the neck allow for a very accurate set-up, so the action is low and easy without buzzing, and the stiffer neck also improves sustain. Clear and clean, the spruce top still has plenty of depth and warmth. The guitar has the power for any concert setting, solo or in an ensemble.

Label and Condition

There is a minor ding behind the bridge, at the high E string. Its “Masaki Sakurai” label from Kohno Guitar Manufacturing reads Model “P.C.”, 2021, and carries his signature. We can recommend it to anyone looking for a top-quality concert instrument.

Videos

In the videos above, Alexander Milovanov plays Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Études Nos. 2 and 3 on this guitar.

Read and Watch More

In the videos above, a documentary portrays Masaki Sakurai at work, and Shin-ichi Fukuda plays Bach on one of his guitars (“The Luthier and the Guitarist”). 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”.