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Introduction to Japanese Music - Week 5
- 1. Introduction to Japanese Music Week 5 - Shakuhachi
- 2. • 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
- 3. Origins • Imported with the gagaku ensemble • Bamboo flute • Hitoyogiri • Komuso shakuhachi
- 4. The Instrument • One shaku eight hun • Utaguchi – blowing edge • Five finger holes, reduced from six
- 5. 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
- 6. Scales…
- 7. Scale and pitch • Miyako-bushi scale • Nuclear tones g-c-f • (Rough) semitones over g and c • Free rhythm, or strong rubato
- 8. Hitoyogiri • From 13thC… • Sarugaku, blind monks • Flourished in 17thC, early sankyoku • Hitoygiri largely gone by early 19thC
- 9. Tenpuku • Another form of shakuhachi • Kyushu, Satsuma • Short solo pieces, originally song accompaniment
- 10. The Fuke sect
- 11. 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
- 12. Honkyoku • The music of the komuso • Religious pieces for meditation, Fuke sect • Mukaiji, Kokuji, Kyorei
- 13. 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
- 14. Notation • Classic honkyoku notation use katakana symbols to show fingering • Fuke notation used only eight symbols • Modern systems offer pitch, technique, rhythmic information…
- 15. 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
- 16. 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
- 17. 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
- 18. Folk music • Shakuhachi accompanying song • Since late 19thC
- 19. Shin Nihon Ongaku • Tozan, Ueda, Chikuho schools – non-religious honkyoku • Often for two or more flutes, or ensembles • Western influence – particularly Chikuho-ryu
Editor's Notes
- [Play Mukaiji – Art of Shakuhachi]
- Imported with the gagaku ensemble. Several types of instrument, including 20th century developments – the fuke or komuso shakuhachi is the typical one. There was also the hitoyogiri, a short instrument from a single bamboo segment, which has died out since the seventeenth century. Made of bamboo – examples from the Todaiji temple made of jade, stone and ivory, but carved to look like bamboo. Pre-20thC, made of one long piece. By the tenth century, the shakuhachi had disappeared from gagaku.
- Name comes from the traditional length of the flute – one shaku and eight hun (ten to a shaku). Particular type of blowing edge, or utaguchi. Five finger holes, reduced from the original six of the imported instrument.
- The basic scale is the same as the min’yo folk scale used across Japan, equivalent to our pentatonic minor: d-f-g-a-c. However, classical honkyuko (shakuhachi solo pieces) use conjunct tetrachords, often flattening the f and/or a by a tone or semitone. This is achieved by part-holing and changes in embrouchure.
- Ryo and ritsu came from gagaku – the addition of chukyoku, or miyako-buyashi, came through shomyo. Miyako-buyashi is a representation of conjunct tetrachords with flattened seconds as the intermediate tones (d-eb-g-ab-c) – this is also known as the ‘in’ scale The common pentatonic folk scale – the same as the western pentatonic minor – is known as yo, or more often min’yo – this is also tetrachordal, but with different intermediate tones (d-f-g-a-c)
- Most classical honkyoku are played in the miyako-bushi scale (similar to chukyoku scale of Shomyo), with nuclear tones g-c-f and semitones above g and c. These vary in intonation between players, and often the semitones are flat. Honkyoku pieces are mostly in free rhythm, sometimes using a rubato meter almost as an effect or evocation of something (perhaps folk music). Other features – long notes using different timbres, swelling notes and releasing to showcase the different sounds of the flute. Often use of ‘ending’ grace notes. [Play Echigo Reibo]
- From the 13thC, the shakuhachi appears as an instrument played by blind monks and in early theatre, sarugaku (precursor to No?) It seems likely that this was the hitoyogiri shakuhachi. This tradition flourished in the 17thC, with short solo pieces, song accompaniment, and in the early instrumental trio known latterly as sankyoku. By the early 19thC, this music was essential gone, and has largely remained so, other than historical reconstruction.
- There was also the Tenpuku tradition, which existed separately in Kyushu (around Satsuma). Different instrument; Seven known pieces, all short solos, though some original were song accompaniment.
- Fuke sect had komuso, warrior monks, who played the instrument. Their playing was the equivalent of chanting or meditating. The legend goes that a Chineseman, Fuke, preached while shaking a bell. Another man, Zhang Bai, made a flute (or ‘empty bell’, in the text of the book from the late 18thC) to imitate him; Many years later, the monk Kakushin imported both the sect and the instrument to Japan. Komuso started as komoso, so named for the straw mats they slept on as itinerant musicians. The Fuke sect was then established in the mid-17thC; its ranks were drawn from both these travelling monks, and a large number of masterless samurai left without masters or wars by the start of the Tokugawa reign. The government granted the komuso of the Fuke sect a monopoly on shakuhachi playing, and utilized them as spies with basket-heads. Malm cites it as possibly the only time in history that instrument design has been heavily influenced by the need for self-defense.
- The music of the komuso is known as ‘honkyoku’. These were religious pieces used by the Fuke sect in their different temples. There are more than 150 pieces extant – only 30 or 40, according to another source? Plus 36 Kinko-ryu pieces; some may be the same melodies with different names, or vice-versa. Regional styles of playing, and the place where a given piece comes from, are considered important. Three core pieces of the sect are Mukaiji, Kokuji, and Kyorei… they were alleged composed by Kichiku, a disciple of Kakushin. [Play Kyorei]
- Honkyoku are built from successions of melodic fragments or patterns, and the length is determined by the player’s breathing. Each segment of the piece is to be played in a single breath; therefore, the length of notes will be shortened or extended to fit. As with other Japanese genres, tempo very gradually increases over the course of a piece. The Ashgate Companion offers four structures: binary (moving high-low-very high-low in register); arch (low-high-like) likened to a mountain, and the most common form; four-part (an expansion of binary); and dan structure, with sections of consistent length and nature. There are other structures to be discerned in various pieces.
- Classical honkyoku notation uses a kind of fingering system, with a variety of symbols used to represent different fingerings. These are known as katakana characters. These vary from school to school, and give little other information apart from phrase markings. The first fuke notation, based on these hitoyogiri katakana, used eight symbols. Modenr systems developed by individual schools offer far more information as regards to rhythm, technique, special fingerings, and show pitches rather than fingerings.
- Kurosawa Kinko developed a form of art music, based on the music of the Fuke sect. In the 18thC, Kurosawa Kinko started the Kinko-ryu (school) of honkyoku in Tokyo. Once the Fuke sect was abolished, these Kinko players abandoned the religious element of the music, and exists until today as concert music, entertainment. Kinko-ryu developed the practice of playing duets, with two melodies simultaneously, rather than solo or unison pieces as before. From the Meiji period and the loss of the Fuke sect’s power, Kinko-ryu led the way in arranging shakuhachi pieces for ensemble playing. Various other schools were also rapidly established, and made their own arrangements for sankyoku of jiuta (popular song) and other melodies. 36 traditional Kinko pieces. [Play Shika no Tone – spotify]
- The Fuke sect has a monopoly on the instrument, which was forbidden to be played elsewhere; this was, however, somewhat ignored. The Myoanji temple in Kyoto, as well as several other temples in parts of the country, maintain the playing of honkyoku as religious practice to the present day.
- Sankyoku is the ensemble of koto, shamisen and shakuhachi – this will be covered further in another lecture, but for now it’s good to know that this is the other main place where shakuhachi is found in Japanese music. This was in practice right from the seventeenth century.
- Shakuhachi has been used since the end of the 19th century to accompany folk song.
- Modern schools such as Tozan, Ueda and Chikuho compose non-religious honkyoku. These pieces are rarely solo works, but often have parts for two, three or four flutes. Others have ensemble parts. These works may show Western influence – particularly in the Chikuho-ryu, which also includes Western instrumentation. These are good examples of the movements for new Japanese music in the early part of the 20thC; written by composers using the instruments and traditions of Japanese styles, but incorporating western influences, styles and instruments. 20thC saw seven and nine holed shakuhachis invented, to fit better with Western ensembles.