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    Musical Instrument of Japan

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    Jethro Briza Ganelo
    This document provides an overview of four traditional Japanese musical instruments: 1) The shakuhachi, a Japanese flute traditionally made of bamboo and used for Zen Buddhist meditation practices. It has four front holes and one back hole and is held vertically. 2) The koto, Japan's national instrument which is a large string instrument placed on the ground and plucked. It comes in 13, 17, 20, 21, or 25 string varieties and is made of kiri wood. 3) The sanshin, a three-stringed instrument from Okinawa with a twangy sound compared to Caribbean island music. It is often compared to the banjo but is plucked instead of str

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    Musical Instrument of Japan

    Uploaded by

    Jethro Briza Ganelo
    127 views3 pages
    This document provides an overview of four traditional Japanese musical instruments: 1) The shakuhachi, a Japanese flute traditionally made of bamboo and used for Zen Buddhist meditation practices. It has four front holes and one back hole and is held vertically. 2) The koto, Japan's national instrument which is a large string instrument placed on the ground and plucked. It comes in 13, 17, 20, 21, or 25 string varieties and is made of kiri wood. 3) The sanshin, a three-stringed instrument from Okinawa with a twangy sound compared to Caribbean island music. It is often compared to the banjo but is plucked instead of str

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    This document provides an overview of four traditional Japanese musical instruments: 1) The shakuhachi, a Japanese flute traditionally made of bamboo and used for Zen Buddhist meditation practices. It has four front holes and one back hole and is held vertically. 2) The koto, Japan's national instrument which is a large string instrument placed on the ground and plucked. It comes in 13, 17, 20, 21, or 25 string varieties and is made of kiri wood. 3) The sanshin, a three-stringed instrument from Okinawa with a twangy sound compared to Caribbean island music. It is often compared to the banjo but is plucked instead of str

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    127 views3 pages

    Musical Instrument of Japan

    Uploaded by

    Jethro Briza Ganelo
    This document provides an overview of four traditional Japanese musical instruments: 1) The shakuhachi, a Japanese flute traditionally made of bamboo and used for Zen Buddhist meditation practices. It has four front holes and one back hole and is held vertically. 2) The koto, Japan's national instrument which is a large string instrument placed on the ground and plucked. It comes in 13, 17, 20, 21, or 25 string varieties and is made of kiri wood. 3) The sanshin, a three-stringed instrument from Okinawa with a twangy sound compared to Caribbean island music. It is often compared to the banjo but is plucked instead of str

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    MUSICAL INSTRUMENT OF JAPAN

    Shakuhachi

    One of the most popular traditional Japanese instruments is the


    shakuhachi. Better known as the Japanese flute, this instrument
    has been used by Zen Buddhists as a spiritual tool for meditation
    practices known as ‘suizen’ (吹禅). Held vertically, the shakuhachi
    has four holes on the front and one on the back and is traditionally
    made of bamboo. Used for meditative purposes, shakuhachi music
    was originally used for personal spiritual enlightenment rather than
    public performance. Today, however, you can see monks play honkyoku, or traditional shakuhachi
    repertoire, in concert.

    Koto

    Regarded as the national instrument in Japan, a koto performance


    needs to be on your must-see list. The koto is a string instrument
    that is placed on the ground and plucked and is similar to the Korean
    gayageum and Chinese zheng. Traditionally, the koto comes in two
    varieties, a 13 -string type and a 17-string type. Now, you can find
    some with 20, 21, or 25 strings! The koto is very large — usually about 180 cm (about six feet!) long —
    and made of kiri wood. The music made from the koto is said to be romantic. Notable koto artists
    include Yatsuhashi Kengyo, Tadao Sawai, and Kazue Sawai.

    Sanshin

    The island music of Japan is quite different than that of the Caribbean.
    The sanshin, a string instrument made with snakeskin from Okinawa,
    has more of a twang to it than the laidback beats you might normally
    associate with island life. ‘Sanshin’ translates to ‘three strings’, and
    this instrument has just that. You have the male string, the middle
    string, and the female string, with the male string producing the
    lowest notes and the female string producing the highest. The sanshin is often compared to the banjo,
    but unlike the banjo, it is plucked. The sanshin can be heard in traditional Ryukyuan folk music or at
    graduations and other special ceremonies in Okinawa. Interestingly, sanshin scores use chinese
    characters as notes.

    the Yoshida Brothers have brought more personality to their


    music and style to bring shamisen music into the modern
    century. In fact, their song “Kodo” was seen in Nintendo Wii
    ads in North America in 2006.

    Biwa

    Another Japanese instrument you need to hear is the biwa. The


    biwa is a short-necked lute played with a large plectrum known
    as a bachi. Traveling biwa players known as biwa-hoshi were
    popular for some time. The music accompanied stories, the
    most renowned of which was The Tale of the Heike. Used in gagaku (traditional Japanese court music)
    since 7th century, the instrument eventually lost popularity with the influx of modern music during the
    Meiji Era. The biwa has many variations, but typically has three to five strings and four to six frets. The
    most famous is the satsuma biwa. In recent years, musicians have tried to revitalize the instrument by
    incorporating it into Western music. One such composer, Toru Takamatsu, incorporates the biwa into
    Western orchestral music with compositions like “November Steps”.
    MUSICAL INSTRUMENT OF CHINA

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