Traditional Japanese musical instruments

Traditional Japanese musical instruments
Kitagawa Utamaro, "Flowers of Edo: Young Woman's Narrative Chanting to the Shamisen", ca. 1880

Traditional Japanese musical instruments comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments.

Contents

String

Plucked

  • Biwa (琵琶) - pear-shaped lute
  • Ichigenkin (kanji: 一絃琴) - one-string zither
  • Koto (, ) - long zither
  • Junanagen (十七絃) - 17-stringed zither
  • Taishogoto (大正琴) - zither with metal strings and keys
  • Kugo (箜篌) - an angled harp used in ancient times and recently revived
  • Sanshin (三線) - three-string banjo from Okinawa
  • Shamisen (三味線) - A banjo-like lute with three strings, the shamisen was brought to Japan from China in the 16th century. Popular in Edo's pleasure districts, the shamisen was often used in Kabuki theater. Made from red sandalwood and ranging from 1.1 to 1.4 meters long, the shamisen has ivory pegs, strings made from twisted silk, and a belly covered in cat or dog skin. The strings, which are of different thickness, are plucked or struck with a tortoise shell pick.
  • Yamatogoto () - ancient long zither; also called wagon ()
  • Tonkori (トンコリ) - plucked instrument used by the Ainu of Hokkaidō

Bowed

- bowed lute with three (or, more rarely, four) strings and a skin-covered body

Wind

Flutes

Japanese flutes are called Fue. there are eight different flutes

Reeded Instruments

Free reed mouth organs

  • Shō () - 17-pipe mouth organ used for gagaku
  • U () - large mouth organ

Horns

  • Horagai (法螺貝) - seashell horn; also called jinkai (陣貝)

Percussion

An ornately painted tsuri-daiko, used in gagaku music

Drums

Other

  • Hyōshigi (拍子木) - wooden or bamboo clappers
  • Mokugyo (木魚) - woodblock carved in the shape of a fish, struck with a wooden stick; often used in Buddhist chanting
  • Shōko (鉦鼓) - small gong used in gagaku; struck with two horn beaters
  • Sasara (ささら) - clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord
    • Ita-sasara (板ささら) - clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord
    • Bin-sasara (編木, 板ささら; also spelled bin-zasara) - clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord
  • Kokiriko (筑子, こきりこ) - many people confuse the kokiriko with the sasara and sasara are often sold outside Japan under the name kokiriko. In fact, the kokiriko is a pair of sticks which are beaten together slowly and rhythmically.
  • Kagura suzu - hand-held bell tree with three tiers of pellet bells
  • Kane () - small flat gong
  • Shakubyoshi (also called shaku) - clapper made from a pair of flat wooden sticks

Other

See also


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