1) About the very first meeting with Mr. Tsujimoto

(Sumino)I had thought Mr. Tsujimoto’s music was fabulous. I heard almost every performance of his in the Gaspar Cassado International Violoncello Competition. Besides, I sometimes went to his concerts, visited him in music shop fairs, and at some other events I had chances to get in touch with him directly or indirectly.

2) What gave you the idea to loan him the bow?

(Sumino)It is now a sort of common to loan an instrument from a big foundation to a musician, but I have rarely heard about loaning a bow, about which I got curious and I felt it might be worthwhile doing it.
Giving an example from my business field, thinking of a car race, the key to shorten time is tires.
An engine is to an instrument what tires are to a bow. Changing tires is the best shortcut for the best result. Of course, there is still a question if the player can command the good bow or not.
Mr. Ko Iwasaki, my cello teacher, is always saying that a bow is more important than an instrument.
Having such a concept like this, I happened to be given a chance at a music shop in Chicago to play with a bow which a renowned player had once loved and used. Besides, I found that excellent bows which renowned players in history had used were on the market.
Then, I came up with the idea to let an excellent player, like Mr. Tsujimoto, use an excellent bow. What sort of sound would be produced? It must be excellent. I thought it would be a good chance. An excellent bow should be played by a more excellent player than me.
Honestly, I also have a little scheming idea that the worth of the bow will be higher if I loan it to an excellent player like Mr. Tsujimoto.

3) Mr. Tsujimoto, what did you think of loaning the bow when you first heard about it?

(Tsujimoto) I was in trouble with a Lamy bow that I had used too much and the bow was not functional enough. Then I heard from Mr. Sota Nakazawa, President of Nippon Violin, that Mr. Sumino would like to loan me an excellent bow. I got delighted very much. A bow is consumable, which is different from an instrument, and more fragile than people think. Actually loaning a bow is not common.
I was really excited when I heard the bow was a Tourte, a celebrated bow.

5) After loaning the bow to Mr. Tsujimoto, did you go to any of his concerts?
What did you think then?

(Sumino)When I listened to the sound in a concert, I was amazed. I thought it was the best and impeccable matching (with the Stradivarius).
To change the subject, I have listened to many younger players in their teens, of which performances are highly skillful as if they had reached somewhere high. However, few of them may think what their own sound is. It may be difficult until they reach the age of thirty.
When some of such young players learn how important “sound” is, they may hope to change the bow to use. Others may start to think about sound just because they have grown up enough to choose a bow at their own will. In either way, they may find that a different bow makes a substantially different sound. By loaning a bow to such a young player, I think I can give him/her a chance to be aware of it.

6) We Nippon Violin offers matching services called “Nippon Violin Society” to connect an owner of an excellent instrument and a musician. What do you think of it?

(Tsujimoto) In particular, there are many talented young cellists, but many of them cannot buy a good instrument. We live in the time when an ordinary family (where the father is an average company worker, for example) can hardly buy a good cello. Some dozens of years ago, they could get a good bow, but the prices of bows have been and are still going up and such a family cannot catch up with them.
In such time like today, it is very good to meet a person who will support a musician by loaning an instrument or a bow. There are many families who just hold excellent instruments in their houses though they have never played them. It is very good to set up meeting points to loan or sell/buy them inexpensively.
Whether younger than or near my age, sound-sensitive players can produce very good sound even if their instruments are not good enough. If an excellent instrument is matched for a player, any player will produce some level of good sound with the good instrument, but the question is if we can extract the player’s potential fully or not. Those who can expose their potential with such a good instrument may be sound-sensitive or have their own sounds as if their voices. I hope you will try to find players of such potential.
In many cases, a player gain patrons after he/she gets high social reputation, but I heartily hope people will start supporting sound-sensitive younger players before they stand on their feet.

7) May I have some words each from you about what you hope for in the future?

(Tsujimoto) I wish I could use the bow (loaned to me now) for longer. A bit joke (He smiled).
With a wider view, it is better for me to return the bow to Mr. Sumino and he will loan it to a younger player, but I hope to play with it a little longer.

(Sumino)Privately I have loaned bows to Mr. Haruma Sato and Mr. Michiaki Ueno (Both are cellists) besides Mr. Tsujimoto. Of course, I need manage fund (to purchase bows) and it is not an easy work, but there are still some players I would like to loan bows to if I could obtain good bows in the future.
With longer expectation for the future, I hope the level of the cello music in Japan will go up with such support.

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation. It was very nice talking with you.