Template:Short description Template:About Template:Italic title Template:More citations needed Template:Infobox Instrument
The Template:Nihongo is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The Template:Transliteration is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime during the Nara period (710–794).
Typically Template:Convert to Template:Convert in length, the instrument is constructed of a water drop–shaped body with a short neck, typically with four (though sometimes five) strings.
In Japan, the Template:Transliteration is generally played with a Template:Transliteration instead of the fingers, and is often used to play Template:Transliteration. One of the Template:Transliteration's most famous uses is for reciting [[The Tale of the Heike|The Tale of the Template:Transliteration]], from the Kamakura period (1185–1333).
In previous centuries, the predominant Template:Transliteration musicians would have been Template:Nihongo, who used the Template:Transliteration as musical accompaniment when reading scriptural texts.
The Template:Transliteration's Chinese predecessor was the Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), which arrived in Japan in two forms;Template:Explain following its introduction to Japan, varieties of the Template:Transliteration quadrupled. Guilds supporting Template:Transliteration players, particularly the Template:Transliteration, helped proliferate Template:Transliteration musical development for hundreds of years. Template:Transliteration performances overlapped with performances by other Template:Transliteration players many years before Template:Nihongo3,Template:Explain and continues to this day. This overlap resulted in a rapid evolution of the Template:Transliteration and its usage and made it one of the most popular instruments in Japan.
In spite of its popularity, the Ōnin War and subsequent Warring States Period disrupted Template:Transliteration teaching and decreased the number of proficient users. With the abolition of Template:Transliteration in the Meiji period, Template:Transliteration players lost their patronage.
By the late 1940s, the Template:Transliteration, a thoroughly Japanese tradition, was nearly completely abandoned for Western instruments. However, thanks to collaborative efforts by Japanese musicians, interest in the Template:Transliteration is being revived. Japanese and foreign musicians alike have begun embracing traditional Japanese instruments, particularly the Template:Transliteration, in their compositions.
While blind Template:Transliteration singers no longer dominate the Template:Transliteration, many performers continue to use the instrument in traditional and modern ways.
HistoryEdit
The Template:Transliteration arrived in Japan in the 7th century, having evolved from the Chinese bent-neck Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang-zh),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> while the Template:Transliteration itself was derived from similar instruments in West Asia. This type of Template:Transliteration, known as the Template:Transliteration, was later used in Template:Transliteration ensembles and became the most commonly known type. However, another variant of the Template:Transliteration – known as the Template:Transliteration or the Template:Transliteration – also found its way to Japan, first appearing in the Kyushu region. Though its origins are unclear, this thinner variant of the Template:Transliteration was used in ceremonies and religious rites.
The Template:Transliteration became known as an instrument commonly played at the Japanese Imperial court, where Template:Transliteration players, known as Template:Transliteration, found employment and patronage. However, following the collapse of the Ritsuryō state, Template:Transliteration employed at the court were faced with the court's reconstruction and sought asylum in Buddhist temples. There, they assumed the role of Buddhist monks and encountered the Template:Transliteration. Seeing its relative convenience and portability, the monks combined these features with their large and heavy Template:Transliteration to create the Template:Transliteration, which, as indicated by its namesake, was used primarily for recitations of The Tale of the Template:Transliteration.
Through the next several centuries, players of both traditions intersected frequently and developed new music styles and new instruments. By the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the Template:Transliteration had emerged as a more popular instrument, a cross between both the Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration, retaining the rounded shape of the Template:Transliteration and played with a large plectrum like the Template:Transliteration. The Template:Transliteration, smaller than the Template:Transliteration, was used for similar purposes.
While the modern Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration both originated from the Template:Transliteration, the Template:Transliteration was used for moral and mental training by samurai of the Satsuma Domain during the Warring States period, and later for general performances. The Template:Transliteration was used by Buddhist monks visiting private residences to perform memorial services, not only for Buddhist rites, but also to accompany the telling of stories and news.
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Though formerly popular, little was written about the performance and practice of the Template:Transliteration from roughly the 16th century to the mid-19th century. What is known is that three main streams of Template:Transliteration practice emerged during this time: Template:Transliteration (the lowest level of the state-controlled guild of blind Template:Transliteration players), Template:Transliteration (samurai style), and Template:Transliteration (urban style). These styles emphasized Template:Nihongo – vocalisation with Template:Transliteration accompaniment – and formed the foundation for Template:Nihongo styles of playing, such as Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration.<ref>Allan Marett 103</ref>
From these styles also emerged the two principal survivors of the Template:Transliteration tradition: Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration.<ref>Waterhouse 15</ref> From roughly the Meiji period (1868–1912) until the Pacific War, the Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration were popular across Japan, and, at the beginning of the Shōwa period (1925–1989), the Template:Transliteration was created and gained popularity. Of the remaining post-war Template:Transliteration traditions, only Template:Transliteration remains a style almost solely performed by blind persons. The Template:Transliteration is closely related to the Template:Transliteration and, similarly, relies on an oral narrative tradition focusing on wars and legends.
By the middle of the Meiji period, improvements had been made to the instruments and easily understandable songs were composed in quantity. In the beginning of the Taishō period (1912–1926), the Template:Transliteration was modified into the Template:Transliteration, which became popular among female players at the time. With this, the Template:Transliteration entered a period of popularity, with songs reflecting not just The Tale of the Template:Transliteration, but also the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, with songs such as Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration and Hill 203 gaining popularity.
However, the playing of the Template:Transliteration nearly became extinct during the Meiji period following the introduction of Western music and instruments, until players such as Tsuruta Kinshi and others revitalized the genre with modern playing styles and collaborations with Western composers.Template:Citation needed
TypesEdit
There are more than seven types of Template:Transliteration, characterised by number of strings, sounds it could produce, the type of plectrum, and their use. As the Template:Transliteration does not play in tempered tuning, pitches are approximated to the nearest note.
Classic Template:TransliterationEdit
Template:TransliterationEdit
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The Template:Nihongo, a large and heavy Template:Transliteration with four strings and four frets, is used exclusively for Template:Transliteration. It produces distinctive Template:Nihongo and Template:Nihongo. Its plectrum is small and thin, often rounded, and made from a hard material such as boxwood or ivory. It is not used to accompany singing. Like the Template:Transliteration, it is played held on its side, similar to a guitar, with the player sitting cross-legged. In Template:Transliteration, it is known as the Template:Nihongo.
Template:TransliterationEdit
The Template:Nihongo3, a Tang variant of Template:Transliteration, can be seen in paintings of court orchestras and was used in the context of Template:Transliteration; however, it was removed with the reforms and standardization made to the court orchestra during the late 10th century. It is assumed that the performance traditions died out by the 10th or 11th century (William P. Malm). This instrument also disappeared in the Chinese court orchestras. Recently, this instrument, much like the Template:Transliteration harp, has been revived for historically informed performances and historical reconstructions. Not to be confused with the five-stringed variants of modern Template:Transliteration, such as Template:Transliteration.
Template:TransliterationEdit
The Template:Nihongo, a Template:Transliteration with four strings, is used to play Buddhist mantras and songs. It is similar in shape to the Template:Transliteration, but with a much more narrow body. Its plectrum varies in both size and materials. The four fret type is tuned to E, B, E and A, and the five fret type is tuned to B, e, fTemplate:Music and fTemplate:Music. The six fret type is tuned to BTemplate:Music, ETemplate:Music, BTemplate:Music and bTemplate:Music.
Middle and Edo Template:TransliterationEdit
Template:TransliterationEdit
The Template:Nihongo, a Template:Transliteration with four strings and five frets, is used to play The Tale of the Template:Transliteration. Its plectrum is slightly larger than that of the Template:Transliteration, but the instrument itself is much smaller, comparable to a Template:Transliteration in size. It was originally used by traveling Template:Transliteration minstrels, and its small size lent it to indoor play and improved portability. Its tuning is A, c, e, a or A, c-sharp, e, a.
Template:TransliterationEdit
The Template:Nihongo, a Template:Transliteration with four strings and four frets, was popularized during the Edo period in Satsuma Province (present-day Kagoshima) by Shimazu Tadayoshi. Modern Template:Transliteration used for contemporary compositions often have five or more frets, and some have a doubled fourth string. The frets of the Template:Transliteration are raised Template:Convert from the neck allowing notes to be bent several steps higher, each one producing the instrument's characteristic Template:Transliteration, or buzzing drone. Its boxwood plectrum is much wider than others, often reaching widths of Template:Convert or more. Its size and construction influences the sound of the instrument as the curved body is often struck percussively with the plectrum during play.
The Template:Transliteration is traditionally made from Japanese mulberry, although other hard woods such as Japanese zelkova are sometimes used in its construction. Due to the slow growth of the Japanese mulberry, the wood must be taken from a tree at least 120 years old and dried for 10 years before construction can begin.
The strings are made of wound silk. Its tuning is A, E, A, B, for traditional Template:Transliteration, G, G, c, g, or G, G, d, g for contemporary compositions, among other tunings, but these are only examples as the instrument is tuned to match the key of the player's voice. The first and second strings are generally tuned to the same note, with the 4th (or doubled 4th) string is tuned one octave higher.
The most eminent 20th century Template:Transliteration performer was Tsuruta Kinshi, who developed her own version of the instrument, which she called the Template:Transliteration. This Template:Transliteration often has five strings (although it is essentially a 4-string instrument as the 5th string is a doubled 4th that are always played together) and five or more frets, and the construction of the tuning head and frets vary slightly. Ueda Junko and Tanaka Yukio, two of Tsuruta's students, continue the tradition of the modern Template:Transliteration. Carlo Forlivesi's compositions Boethius ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) were both written for performance on the Template:Transliteration designed by Tsuruta and Tanaka.
These works present a radical departure from the compositional languages usually employed for such an instrument. Also, thanks to the possibility of relying on a level of virtuosity never before attempted in this specific repertory, the composer has sought the renewal of the acoustic and aesthetic profile of the Template:Transliteration, bringing out the huge potential in the sound material: attacks and resonance, tempo (conceived not only in the chronometrical but also deliberately empathetical sense), chords, balance and dialogue (with the occasional use of two Template:Transliterations in {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), dynamics and colour.<ref>ALM Records ALCD-76</ref>
Modern Template:TransliterationEdit
Template:TransliterationEdit
The Template:Nihongo, a Template:Transliteration with four strings and four frets or five strings and five frets, was popularised in the Meiji period by Tachibana Satosada. Most contemporary performers use the five string version. Its plectrum is much smaller than that of the Template:Transliteration, usually about Template:Cvt in width, although its size, shape, and weight depends on the sex of the player. The plectrum is usually made from rosewood with boxwood or ivory tips for plucking the strings. The instrument itself also varies in size, depending on the player. Male players typically play Template:Transliteration that are slightly wider and/or longer than those used by women or children. The body of the instrument is never struck with the plectrum during play, and the five string instrument is played upright, while the four string is played held on its side. The instrument is tuned to match the key of the singer. An example tuning of the four string version is B, e, fTemplate:Music and b, and the five string instrument can be tuned to C, G, C, d and g. For the five string version, the first and third strings are tuned the same note, the second string three steps down, the fifth string an octave higher than the second string, and the fourth string a step down from the fifth. So the previously mentioned tuning can be tuned down to BTemplate:Music, F, BTemplate:Music, c, d. Asahikai and Tachibanakai are the two major schools of Template:Transliteration. Popularly used by female Template:Transliteration players such as Uehara Mari.
Template:TransliterationEdit
The Template:Nihongo, a modern Template:Transliteration with five strings and five frets, was popularised by the 20th-century Template:Transliteration player and composer Template:Nihongo. Its plectrum is the same as that used for the Template:Transliteration. Its tuning is C, G, c, g, g.
- Types of Biwa, Japanese traditional instrument.jpg
Template:Transliteration and their plectra
Styles of Template:Transliteration musicEdit
The Template:Transliteration, considered one of Japan's principal traditional instruments, has both influenced and been influenced by other traditional instruments and compositions throughout its long history; as such, a number of different musical styles played with the Template:Transliteration exist.
- Template:Nihongo3: In Template:Transliteration, musical instruments usually serve as accompaniments to vocal performances, which dominate the musical style, with the overwhelming majority of Template:Transliteration compositions being vocal.<ref>Dean 156</ref>
- Template:Nihongo3: Template:Transliteration was usually patronized by the imperial court or the shrines and temples. Template:Transliteration ensembles were composed of string, wind, and percussion instruments, where string and wind instruments were more respected and percussion instruments were considered lesser instruments. Among the string instruments, the Template:Transliteration seems to have been the most important instrument in orchestral Template:Transliteration performances.<ref>Garfias, Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition 16</ref>
- Template:Nihongo3: While Template:Transliteration was not used in Template:Transliteration, the style of Template:Transliteration singing is closely tied to Template:Transliteration, especially Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliterationstyle Template:Transliteration singing.<ref>Matisoff 36</ref> Both Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration are rooted in Buddhist rituals and traditions. Before arriving in Japan, Template:Transliteration was used in Indian Buddhism. The Template:Transliteration was also rooted in Indian Buddhism, and the Template:Transliteration, as a predecessor to the Template:Transliteration, was the principal instrument of the Template:Transliteration, who were blind Buddhist priests.
Template:Transliteration construction and tuningEdit
Generally speaking, Template:Transliteration have four strings, though modern Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration may have five strings. The strings on a Template:Transliteration range in thickness, with the first string being thickest and the fourth string being thinnest; on Template:Transliteration, the second string is the thickest, with the fourth and fifth strings being the same thickness on Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration.<ref>Minoru Miki 75</ref> The varying string thickness creates different timbres when stroked from different directions.
In Template:Transliteration, tuning is not fixed. General tones and pitches can fluctuate up or down entire steps or microtones.<ref>Dean 157</ref> When singing in a chorus, Template:Transliteration singers often stagger their entry and often sing through non-synchronized, heterophony accompaniment.<ref>Dean 149</ref> In solo performances, a Template:Transliteration performer sings monophonically, with melismatic emphasis throughout the performance. These monophonic do not follow a set harmony. Instead, Template:Transliteration singers tend to sing with a flexible pitch without distinguishing soprano, alto, tenor, or bass roles. This singing style is complemented by the Template:Transliteration, which Template:Transliteration players use to produce short glissandi throughout the performance.<ref>Morton Feldman 181</ref> The style of singing accompanying Template:Transliteration tends to be nasal, particularly when singing vowels, the consonant {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, and syllables beginning with "g", such as Template:Nihongo and Template:Nihongo. Template:Transliteration performers also vary the volume of their voice between barely audible to very loud. Since Template:Transliteration pieces were generally performed for small groups, singers did not need to project their voices as opera singers did in Western music tradition.
Template:Transliteration music is based on a pentatonic scale (sometimes referred to as a five-tone or five-note scale), meaning that each octave contains five notes. This scale sometimes includes supplementary notes, but the core remains pentatonic. The rhythm in Template:Transliteration performances allows for a broad flexibility of pulse. Songs are not always metered, although more modern collaborations are metered. Notes played on the Template:Transliteration usually begin slow and thin and progress through gradual accelerations, increasing and decreasing tempo throughout the performance. The texture of Template:Transliteration singing is often described as "sparse".
The plectrum also contributes to the texture of Template:Transliteration music. Different sized plectrums produced different textures; for example, the plectrum used on a Template:Transliteration was much larger than that used on a Template:Transliteration, producing a harsher, more vigorous sound.<ref>Morley 51</ref> The plectrum is also critical to creating the Template:Transliteration sound, which is particularly utilized with Template:Transliteration.<ref>Rossing 181</ref> What the plectrum is made of also changes the texture, with ivory and plastic plectrums creating a more resilient texture to the wooden plectrum's twangy hum.<ref>Malm 21</ref>
Use in modern musicEdit
Template:Transliteration usage in Japan has declined greatly since the Heian period. Outside influence, internal pressures, and socio-political turmoil redefined Template:Transliteration patronage and the image of the Template:Transliteration; for example, the Ōnin War of the Muromachi period (1338–1573) and the subsequent Warring States period (15th–17th centuries) disrupted the cycle of tutelage for Template:TransliterationTemplate:Citation neededTemplate:Efn performers. As a result, younger musicians turned to other instruments and interest in Template:Transliteration music decreased. Even the Template:Transliteration transitioned to other instruments such as the Template:Transliteration (a three-stringed lute).<ref>Gish 143</ref>
Interest in the Template:Transliteration was revived during the Edo period (1600–1868), when Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan and established the Tokugawa shogunate. Ieyasu favored Template:Transliteration music and became a major patron, helping to strengthen Template:Transliteration guilds (called Template:Transliteration) by financing them and allowing them special privileges. Template:Transliteration players and other musicians found it financially beneficial to switch to the Template:Transliteration, bringing new styles of Template:Transliteration music with them. The Edo period proved to be one of the most prolific and artistically creative periods for the Template:Transliteration in its long history in Japan.
In 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate collapsed, giving way to the Meiji period and the Meiji Restoration, during which the samurai class was abolished, and the Template:Transliteration lost their patronage. Template:Transliteration players no longer enjoyed special privileges and were forced to support themselves. At the beginning of the Meiji period, it was estimated that there were at least one hundred traditional court musicians in Tokyo; however, by the 1930s, this number had reduced to just 46 in Tokyo, and a quarter of these musicians later died in World War II. Life in post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods.<ref>Garfias, Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition 18</ref>
While many styles of Template:Transliteration flourished in the early 1900s (such as Template:Transliteration between 1900 and the 1930s), the cycle of tutelage was broken yet again by the war. In the present day, there are no direct means of studying the Template:Transliteration in many Template:Transliteration traditions.<ref>Ferranti, Relations between Music and Text in "Higo Biwa", The "Nagashi" Pattern as a Text-MusicSystem 150</ref> Even Template:Transliteration players, who were quite popular in the early 20th century, may no longer have a direct means of studying oral composition, as the bearers of the tradition have either died or are no longer able to play. Template:Transliteration still retains a significant number of professional and amateur practitioners, but the Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration, and Template:Transliteration styles have all but died out.<ref>Tokita 83</ref>
As Template:Transliteration music declined in post-Pacific War Japan, many Japanese composers and musicians found ways to revitalize interest in it. They recognized that studies in music theory and music composition in Japan almost entirely consisted in Western theory and instruction. Beginning in the late 1960s, these musicians and composers began to incorporate Japanese music and Japanese instruments into their compositions; for example, one composer, Tōru Takemitsu, collaborated with Western composers and compositions to include the distinctly Asian Template:Transliteration. His well-received compositions, such as November Steps, which incorporated Template:Transliteration with Western orchestral performance, revitalized interest in the Template:Transliteration and sparked a series of collaborative efforts by other musician in genres ranging from J-Pop and Template:Transliteration to Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration.<ref>Tonai 25</ref>
Other musicians, such as Yamashika Yoshiyuki, considered by most ethnomusicologists to be the last of the Template:Transliteration, preserved scores of songs that were almost lost forever. Yamashika, born in the late Meiji period, continued the Template:Transliteration tradition until his death in 1996. Beginning in the late 1960s to the late 1980s, composers and historians from all over the world visited Yamashika and recorded many of his songs; before this time, the Template:Transliteration tradition had been a completely oral tradition. When Yamashika died in 1996, the era of the Template:Transliteration tutelage died with him, but the music and genius of that era continues thanks to his recordings.<ref>Sanger</ref>
RecordingsEdit
- Silenziosa Luna – {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} / ALM Records ALCD-76 (2008).
See alsoEdit
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
Template:Traditional Japanese musical instruments Template:Lute Template:Authority control