Andrew Jilin, 27 of September 2022, Overview
Moscow, Russia
Hello! This is a lecture notes about main genres of music and different types of traditional Japanese musical instruments which I’ve conducted on 27 of September 2022 for international Ikebana club students directed by Ekaterina Seehaus. I showed and played some of some instruments. First of all, I told about the instrument which I’ve been practicing for 16 years already. This is shakuhachi flute.
Shakuhachi is a Japanese end-blown flute that is made of a certain kind of bamboo. This type of bamboo is called madake or the Bamboo of emptiness. Japanese shakuhachi masters harvest it during two or three weeks in winter and spring. Then they dry it on fire and put in a dark ventilated place for at least a year to chuck out all the natural oil from the trunk. Some bamboo blanks may be dried for 5-6 years. Shakuhachi makers use mostly the root end of the bamboo. After the bamboo is well dried shakuhachi maker starts drilling holes and making the special type of whistle on the flute called utaguchu which means ‘a singing mouth’ or literally ‘the song of a mouth’. Traditional shakuhachi has only 5 holes but despite of that it can produce all chromatic scale within 2,5 octaves or even sometimes more.
First this flute was introduced to Japan from China in 7th century. The flute itself was longer and thinner those days and had one extra hole. It was used for court music gagaku, but died out in the 10th century. Eight flutes of that type remain in the Shōsō-in Treasure Repository in Nara. The flute now known as the shakuhachi was developed in Japan in 16th century. It’s much thicker as the old ones, much louder and heavier. This type of flute during mid ages was most notable for its role in the Fuke sect of Zen Buddhist monks, known as komuso ("priests of nothingness" or "emptiness monks"), They used the shakuhachi not for playing music, but as a spiritual tool. Their practice was called “blowing zen” or Suizen in Japanese. They were playing not for entertainment but for enlightenment trying to reach a Buddha in one sound (ichi on jobutsu). Only those samurais who lost their master could join this Komuso sect. Komuso monks were allowed to travel the country at no allowance, they had to cover their faces with a straw basket and thus were widely used by authorities as spies. Also they had a right to beg playing their music. The music of Komuso monks was called honkyoku. It had a deep Buddhist spiritual basis. Some of those pieces describe religious experiences and some just describe the nature. Komuso sect was disbanded and stripped of all privileges in 19th century. All monks were given a status of court musicians, all the temples that belonged to Komuso sect were handed over to other spiritual authorities. Only after a couple of decades Meiji government allowed to play shakuhachi and particularly honkyoku pieces again. Now days the shakuhachi is played all over the world. It’s used in all types of performances and ensembles as a substantive distinctive instrument. There are also other types of flutes in Japanese music. Hichiriki oboe and ryuteki flute for court music, shinobue for folk music and nohkan for Noh theater performances.
Two next instruments I’d like to describe are biwa and shamisen. They are close to each other and very different at the same time. I put them together just because one effected another in the long history of music.
The Biwa is a wooden water drop shaped instrument with a short neck and four or sometimes five strings. It came from China during the Nara period in 8th century. In China this type of instrument was called pipa and it’s still used in traditional Chinese music. Biwa was used mostly for reciting religious texts, prayers or pieces of literature like The Tale of the Heike, a war chronicle from 12th century. Gaku Biwa was used in gagaku court music. Historically the Biwa musicians where blind monks called Biwa hoshi. During hundreds of years they tended to form special kind of semi-religious semi-musical kind of groups with a certain privileges from authorities. The period of never ending wars disrupted biwa teaching and decreased the number of educated biwa musicians. During Meiji period, biwa players lost their patronage. After the WWII thanks to collaborative efforts by Japanese and foreign musicians, music lovers and philanthropists biwa was resurrected and is still in use now days.
There are about 7 types of the instrument. The elder one is gagaku biwa. It’s used to play court music gagaku. Gagaku or elegant music is also the oldest type of music ever known in Japan. First gagaku pieces are dated back to 8th century. Gagaku ensemble also featured bamboo flutes and oboes (shakuhachi, ryuteki, hichiriki), taiko drums, koto and biwa. Also music historians distinguish a goden biwa which used to have one extra string. But this type of instrument died out around 11th century. Also there was a moso biwa used mostly for Buddhist chanting. Middle ages brought new types of instrument: heike and satsuma biwa. Heike biwa derives its name from The Tale of Heike and was used for reciting this war chronicle. The instrument was smaller than the old predecessors. Satsuma biwa was popularized during the Edo period in Satsuma Province by Shimazu Tadayoshi, the ruler of those lands back in the day. This type of instrument had slight differences in construction comparing to all others but still was used for chanting and war chronicles reciting. Modern times and Meiji restoration brought two other types of biwa: Chikuzen and Nishiki. They differ in size and construction, but mostly used for playing 20th and 21st century music. Today biwa is played all over the world in all genre varieties.
Biwa is generally played with a big moon shaped wooden pick called bachi. And this circumstance makes biwa related to another musical instrument that I adore so much. The shamisen!
Shamisen (or sangen) was introduced to Japan in late 16th century. But we have to move some 100 years back to Okinawa. Back in the day Okinawa was called Ryukyu kingdom and it was independent from Japan. Chinese ships with merchants in addition to the goods brought an instrument called sanxian to the Okinawan islands. The body of this instrument was covered by snake skin and instruments varied in sizes from 1,5 meter to 50 centimeters in length. Due to unknown circumstances Okinawan musicians took the smallest one and started to play Okinawan songs on it. They took the form of the instrument but filled it with their own unique content. And this form of instrument was called sanshin. By the way sanxian, sanshin and sangen are spelled the same with two syllables: “san” means three and “gen” means string. Sanshin arrived to Japan in late 16th century. Musicians from Japanese islands have made several changes in construction of instrument. Originally sanxian and sanshin were played by a special type of claw on the fingers of a player. The claw was replaced by a moon shaped bachi like the ones on biwa but a bit smaller. Second, as Japan islands did not have as much snakes as Okinawa had another change was made. This information will offend the feelings of animal rights activists. But Japanese masters replaced snake skin with either cat or dog skin. Cat skin was especially famous for its pure and clear sound while dog skin is better for harsh style of playing. Also the instrument became a bit bigger than its Okinawan predecessor. Repertoire has also changed because Japanese musicians tended to adopt the use of instrument concerning musical tastes of domestic audience of those times. So again they took the form and filled it with unique endemic content.
Types of construction reflects styles of music played on shamisen. Instruments with a thin neck or Hosozao are used in music called Nagauta or Long Song. Nagauta style is a part of kabuki theater. Those songs were performed during kabuki pieces. Actors used to sing lyrics and dance along with the music of shamisen, flutes and drums. Nagauta shamisens are also very often seen on flea markets in Japan and on eBay, Aliexpress and Avito internet markets all over the world. The next type of shamisen is Chuzao or the instrument with a midsize neck. It’s a bit thicker than the Nagauta. This shamisen is more like a universal instrument suitable for almost all genres of music. Originally it’s used for one of the most diverse genres of traditional music – jiuta. This is the music from Kamigata area which is now called kansai region – Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe, Japan’s midland. This music was performed mostly by musicians from a special musical guild called Todoza. In the middle ages in Japan blind men could have only a very narrow range of legal professions: masseurs, acupuncturists or musicians. So if a male went blind he could have only one of those three jobs. Jiuta music was mostly instrumental except for some songs on waka poetry. Later some other instruments joined jiuta ensemble – koto and the only bowed Japanese instrument kokyu which was later suppressed by a shakuhachi flute. The third type of shamisen is Futozao or fat neck. Futozao shamisens were used in such genres as puppet theater bunraku, folk songs all over the country (minyo music) and Tsugaru music. Tsugaru shamisen is the most recent variation of this instrument. It has a very bold neck and body, thick strings and a special kind of a bachi (pick). Tsugaru shamisen was developed in the end of 19th century by a blind person called Nitabo who was a shamisen scholar back in the day. He has developed some brand new style of playing the instrument and carried it through his life and passed it to his students. There is a historical cartoon called Nitabo about the life of a musician. Shamisen and especially Tsugaru shamisen is very popular around the globe today. It’s used in all types of music from traditional to electronic and avant-garde and noise.
Another string instrument that I’d like to describe is koto.
Koto has a long history in Japanese traditional music. Several different types of instruments under this name exist. This instrument was derived from older types of zithers like Chinese zheng. Koto dates back to the fifth century or even earlier. First kotos in Japan had much less strings then it has now. The number of strings increased during years and centuries. In 20th century the biggest bass koto designed by Miyagi Michio had 80 strings. In early days all string instruments where called koto. But as a number of different instruments grew some new names were established. Five or six stringed instruments that had different names were called the wagon, instruments derived from Chinese qin were called kin, other types of instruments were called So or gaku so. There is a rare type of kin koto still in use to our days called ichi gen kin or one string kin. It has its own repertoire and playing technique. Modern koto originates from gakuso koto type. Back in early centuries koto was used for court or ceremonial music gagaku. In midcenturies koto was in use in rich houses and was kind of elegant and romantic instrument. The most notable koto performer of midcenturies was Yatsuhashi Kengyo. He was a very talented blind koto player and in fact he is called now the father of koto. He has changed the tuning of the instrument and adopted it to the tastes of the day. Also he has changed the repertoire of the instrument which used to include some 6-10 songs before his improvement. The most known piece of his is Rokudan no Shirabe or “The piece in 6 parts”. The name Kengyo was then transformed into a music degree given to notable koto performers. The last person who was honored by this degree was Miyagi Michio also a blind koto player. He was one of the first composers who combined Japanese and Western music at the binging of Meiji Era (mid and late 19th century). Miyagi was said to be responsible for keeping koto and traditional music alive during vast westernization of Meiji Era. He has also composed around 50 new pieces of music for koto and other instruments along with Haru no Umi being the most popular among them. Haru no Umi means The Spring sea. Two other composers to be mentioned here are Tadao Sawai and Kimio Eto. They both have successfully and skillfully combined a long lasting Japanese musical tradition and Western culture.
In terms of construction koto belongs to zither family. But to put it simple koto is a long hollow deck with 13 strings and bridges played by claws. The body is called qin and made out of Japanese Paulownia wood. Claws are called tsume, musicians put tsume on thumb, index and middle fingers. Form of tsume claws differ from school to school. By the way they have two most significant koto schools in Japan: Yamada and Ikuta. Both of them have slightly different claws and playing techniques. Bridges are called Ji. Each string has its own Ji. By moving those bridges back and forth musicians change the tuning of the instrument. Strings are made out of some type of nylon though back in the day they were made of silk. Nowadays we have about 10 basic tunings for koto and some tunings designed exclusively for some pieces. Koto is vastly used all over the world now in all genres of music.
And now for something completely different – the world of percussion instruments.
Taiko actually is the word for all types of drums in Japan but outside of japan this word is used to refer a specific type of drums called wadaiko or literally “the Japanese drum”. All taiko drums are wooden but the process of making the drum depends on prefecture and area. Also all drums are covered by animal skin. Taiko drums are deeply rooted in Japanese folk culture though they were brought from China no later than 6th century. Drums were widely used in all part of life: in theatre, for military purposes, in religious ceremonies, in festive activities both in cities and villages. Almost all sorts of traditional music incorporate drums. They are used in court music gagaku as a main rhythmical instrument. Smaller drums are used in Noh and Kabuki theater. Also big taiko drums are a part of Shinto religious rituals. You can find a drum in almost any Shinto shrine in Japan. Martial art sessions in some schools are also accompanied by drums. In past times taiko drums were also used to praise kami gods and were part of festive activities also. But now we have taiko ensembles which serve non-ceremonial but strictly musical purposes. Usually those taiko performances as opposed to ritual or theatrical playing called kumi-daiko. This term was introduced by Daihachi Oguchi. Oguchi was a jazz musician. When he discovered traditional taiko music he tried to adopt taiko drums to a reality of those days and created a band called Osuwa Daiko. This band was probably one of the first ones in after war Japan combining ritual taiko style and modern rhythms. Another band to be mention here is Ondekoza. It’s founder Den Tagayasu has gathered around him a bunch of young people willing to lead a taiko style life. He took them to Sado island to study taiko deeply. After years of training they’ve started the Ondekoza band. They’ve traveled all around the world several times. After playing with Ondekoza for a decade Marco Lienhard (taiko and shakuhachi master) has formed his own band Taikoza. Za in Japanese means guild so Taikoza means taiko drums guild. This band is still active now and after recovering from pandemic resumes shows. Other famous bands of that type are Kodo and Yamato.
All drums are categorized in three main types based on construction. Byō-uchi-daiko is the category for drums where the skin of a drum is nailed to its body. These drums are usually untunable and quite big in diameter. Drums of this category are very loud and have a deep low frequency sound. They sound like a thunder. Shime-daiko drums usually have the skin placed on iron or steel rings and have a rope tuning system. Some of them have bolt systems attached to the drum body. Shime-daikos are not as big and smaller in sizes. Ropes or bolts are used for tuning the drum head. The sound of shime drums lies in mid frequency diapason and is more similar to European drum set. The third type of drums is called Tsuzumi. Usually it’s referred to as a hand drum. It’s widely used in theater – Noh and Kabuki to name a few. The sound of tsuzumi drums is very high and sonorous or ringing.
Now taiko drums are played all over the world. Almost each country or big city has its own taiko ensemble. Moscow for example counts four different taiko groups from big to small. Japanese taiko drums are used in all styles of music now: from traditional to rock and noise-avant-garde.
Thanks for reading.
Contact me on andrewjilin@yandex.ru