Katsuko Teruya Katsuko Teruya is a master of the kutuu (Okinawan koto) and has been Kariyushi Kai's kutu instructor since 1993. She began studying the kutu in Okinawa under Nae Kochi, the Senior Headmaster of the Naha Koyokai in Okinawa. In 1954 she moved to Hawai'i and continued her kutu study to earn the Senior Teaching Certificate in 1965. In 1975 she established the Hawai'i chapter of the Teruya Sokyoku Kenkyukai, and in 2003 established the North American chapter of the organization. She is presently based in Los Angeles, California where her teaching studio is located. Teruya sensei has performed in concerts as lead kutuu performer with various groups and schools in Okinawa, Hawai'i and California. In 1994 and 1997, she was named master kutuu teacher for the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts' Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. In 1999 she was a recipient of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program as master kutuu teacher. In January 2001, she was one of three Okinawan artists representing the traditional Okinawan performing arts at the Getty Center's Sounds of L.A. Teruya sensei was also a recipient of the 2001-2002 Durfee Foundation Master Musician Fellowship and an awardee of their master/apprentice program for 2004. At present, she is in the process of spreading her teaching base to include students in San Diego and further east to New Mexico. Teruya sensei is presently recording classical Okinawan kutu pieces for a CD which Kariyushi Kai plans to distribute in 2004.