The World Shakuhachi Festival (WSF) is a four-day festival for shakuhachi aficionados from all over the world and is held on different continents approximately every four years.The first World Festival was initiated by YOKOYAMA Katsuya (1934 – 2010) and was held in 1994 in Bisei, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Subsequently the World Shakuhachi Festival took place in Boulder, USA (1998), Tokyo, Japan (2002), New York, USA (2004), Sydney, Australia (2008), Kyoto, Japan (2012), and London (2018).

WSF Texas 2025 continues the tradition established in 1994 of gathering professional and amateur performers, scholars, and enthusiasts of the shakuhachi from around the globe for a festival in the style of an international musical congress. The festival has from its beginning been a rare opportunity in which most of the top players from diverse backgrounds, styles, and guilds in shakuhachi, koto and shamisen get together and perform. The WSF has thus became an established event to listen to and learn from the leading players in the world