Stepan Osipov

Stepan Dmitrievich Osipov is a maker of Yakut khomuses and a blacksmith from the village of Khampa in the Vilyuysky District. His interest in the khomus began in childhood, when he attended a club and learned to play. At fourteen, Osipov joined the “Khomus” studio, where he studied for four years under Petr Fedotovich Osipov—Tölön Uus. There were also blacksmiths among his ancestors on his mother’s side, so he sees his craft as a continuation of a family tradition.

Osipov makes khomuses and Yakut knives. He believes that a maker must be able to play the khomus himself: only then can he truly hear the instrument and assess the result of his work. He considers the reed the most difficult and critical part of the design, since the clarity and expressiveness of the sound depend largely on how it is made and hardened. Alongside conventional steel, Osipov uses bolguo—traditional Yakut bloomery iron smelted from local ore.

In 2015, Osipov received a Third-Degree Diploma at the “Khomus 2015” Sakha Republic competition, and in 2022 he took second place in the modern steel khomus category at the Ysyakh of Olonkho. In 2024, he was awarded the title of Master of Folk Arts and Crafts of the Vilyuysky District. In July 2026, Osipov took first place at the Sakha Republic competition “The Miracle of the Birth of a Khomus”, whose participants made instruments in the traditional forms and proportions of Semyon Gogolev’s khomuses.

The “Ongkhoy” khomus represented in the catalogue has a dense, slightly muted sound, a stable reed and responds equally well to strikes in either direction. It is a versatile instrument suited to a wide range of playing styles.

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