Traditional Japanese musical instruments explained

Traditional Japanese musical instruments, known as in Japanese, are musical instruments used in the traditional folk music of Japan. They comprise a range of string, wind, and percussion instruments.

Percussion instruments

also spelled – clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord

• - Hand cymbals
• – wooden or bamboo clappers
• – pellet drum, used as a children's toy
• – small, ornately decorated hourglass-shaped drum
• – hand-held bell tree with three tiers of pellet bells
• – small drum used in
• – small flat gong
• – a pair of sticks which are beaten together slowly and rhythmically
• (also called) – clapper made from a pair of flat wooden sticks
• – woodblock carved in the shape of a fish, struck with a wooden stick; often used in Buddhist chanting
• – hand drum
• or (Japanese: 大磬) – singing bowls used by Buddhist monks in religious practice or rituals
• – hourglass-shaped double-headed drum; struck only on one side
• – clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord
• – a lithophone either bowed or struck
• – small drum played with sticks
• – small bronze gong used in gagaku; struck with two horn beaters
  • – drum on a stand with ornately painted head, played with a padded stick
• – small hand drum

String instruments

Plucked

Zithers

• – monochord
• – the 17-string koto
• – a long zither
• – ancient long zither; also called

Harps

• – an angled harp used in ancient times and recently revived
• – a zither with metal strings and keys

Lutes

• – a pear-shaped lute

Other

• or
• – an Okinawan precursor of the mainland Japanese (and Amami Islands)
• – a banjo-like lute with three strings; brought to Japan from China in the 16th century. Popular in Edo's pleasure districts, the is often used in kabuki theater. Made from red sandalwood and ranging from long, the has ivory pegs, strings made from twisted silk, and a belly covered in cat or dog skin or a synthetic skin. The strings, which are of different thickness, are plucked or struck with a tortoise shell, ivory or synthetic ivory pick.
• ([[wikt:トンコリ|トンコリ]]) – a plucked instrument used by the Ainu people of Hokkaidō

Bowed

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

Wind instruments

Flutes

Japanese flutes are called . There are eight traditional flutes, as well as more modern creations.

• – vertical bamboo flute
• – transverse bamboo flute used for Noh theater
• – transverse bamboo flute used for
• – transverse bamboo flute used for, Shinto ritual music)
• – transverse bamboo flute used for ; similar to the
• – vertical bamboo flute used for Zen meditation
• – transverse folk bamboo flute
• – globular flute made from clay
• – a flute developed by Ishida Nehito with bow hair on it to accompany the .^[1]

Reed instruments

• – double-reeded flute used in different kinds of music

Free reed mouth organs

• – 17-pipe mouth organ used for gagaku
• – large mouth organ

Horns

• – seashell horn; also called

Other instruments

• ([[wikt:ムックリ|ムックリ]]) – jaw harp used by the Ainu people
• – general name for the jaw harp, also known as the in the Edo period

See also

• Music of Japan

Bibliography

• Book: Gunji. Sumi. Johnson. Henry. A Dictionary of Traditional Japanese Musical Instruments: From Prehistory to the Edo Period. 2012. Eideru Kenkyūjo. Tokyo. 978-4-87168-513-9. .

Notes and References

1. Web site: 素麺箱玲琴・弓笛製作 of 胡弓・大胡弓・玲琴・クーチョー・雛胡弓など多彩な胡弓を奏でる胡弓演奏家石田音人 胡弓奏者石田音人の音楽活動を紹介. nehito.com. ja.