Introduction to Japanese Music

Week 5 - Shakuhachi

• Mitsuhashi Kifu, Art of Shakuhachi, Vols. I & II (Celestial Harmonies, 2002)

• Explorer Series: Shakuhachi Music - A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky (Nonesuch, 2007)

• The International Shakuhachi Society -www.komuso.com

Origins

• Imported with the gagaku ensemble

• Bamboo flute

• Hitoyogiri

• Komuso shakuhachi

The Instrument

• One shaku eight hun

• Utaguchi – blowing edge

• Five finger holes,

reduced from six

Playing the Instrument

• Basic scale produced is min’yo

• Classic honkyoku often use conjunct tetrachords, flattening tones to produce minor 2nd intervals

• Part-holing; embrouchure changes

Scales…

Scale and pitch

• Miyako-bushi scale

• Nuclear tones g-c-f

• (Rough) semitones over g and c

• Free rhythm, or strong rubato

Hitoyogiri

• From 13thC…

• Sarugaku, blind monks

• Flourished in 17thC, early sankyoku

• Hitoygiri largely gone by early 19thC

Tenpuku

• Another form of shakuhachi

• Kyushu, Satsuma

• Short solo pieces, originally song accompaniment

The Fuke sect

The Fuke sect

• Komuso – warrior monks

• Fuke and Zhang Bai

• Imported to Japan by Kakushin

• Fuke sect established mid-17thC; travelling monks and masterless samurai

Honkyoku

• The music of the komuso

• Religious pieces for meditation, Fuke sect

• Mukaiji, Kokuji, Kyorei

Form and Structure

• Constructed from successions of melodic fragments and patterns

• Length determined by player’s breathing; each segment played in a single breath

• Tempo gradually increases

Notation

• Classic honkyoku notation use katakanasymbols to show fingering

• Fuke notation used only eight symbols

• Modern systems offer pitch, technique, rhythmic information…

Kinko-ryu

• Kurosawa Kinko (1710-1771)

• Kinko-ryo founded in 18thC Edo

• After abolition of the Fuke sect, Kinko players abandoned religious element for entertainment

• Kinko pieces played as duets; arrangements for ensemble

The end of the Fuke sect

• Fuke sect retained their monopoly on shakuhachi playing

• Myoanji temple, amongst others, maintain honkyoku playing as religious practice to the present day

Gaikyoku

• Shakuhachi used in sankyoku, the three-instrument ensemble of Edo period

• Jiuta and sonkyoku arrangements

• In practice from 17thC

• Shakuhachi replaced kokyu and hitoyogiri

Folk music

• Shakuhachi accompanying song

• Since late 19thC

Shin Nihon Ongaku

• Tozan, Ueda, Chikuho schools – non-religious honkyoku

• Often for two or more flutes, or ensembles

• Western influence – particularly Chikuho-ryu