Kiku Day is an ethnomusicologist and shakuhachi player. She was the prime force behind the creation of the European Shakuhachi Society and the European Shakuhachi Summer School in 2006. She served 10 years as the chairperson for the European Shakuhachi Society and served as the chair of the Executive Committee for the 7th World Shakuhachi Festival held at Goldsmiths, University of London and the one-day academic conference Shakuhachi Symposium held at SOAS, University of London and later at Texas A&M University in 2025. She is also the behind of the World Shakuhachi Day on October 8, organising it together with the Myoan-ji kansu (shakuhachi leader) Seian Sakai Genshin.
Kiku studied the traditional shakuhachi repertoire, honkyoku, with Okuda Atsuya in Tokyo for eleven years before returning to Europe and have been dedicated to the dissemination of the traditional music as well as creating a contemporary repertoire for the jinashi shakuhachi ever since. Kiku specialises in playing long chokan flutes and have made some of the shakuhachi she plays – from harvesting the bamboo to making them.
Recently, she has earned a Kaiden certificate from Myoan-ji, having studied with the kansu Sakai Seian Genshin. This is one of the few temples left today that has a history from the Edo period.
Kiku performs all over the world in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Royal Festival Hall. She has taught shakuhachi both individual and in group lessons for more than 25 years. Kiku is also a scholar and has published several articles on the shakuhachi.