Antique Japanese horagi (conch shell trumpet)

''Horagai'' () (or ''jinkai'' ) are large

conch shell Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snail, sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high Spire (mollusc), spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point a ...

s, usually from ''

Charonia tritonis ''Charonia tritonis'', common name the Triton's trumpet or the giant triton, is a species of very large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Charoniidae, the tritons. Reaching up to two feet (or 60 cm) in shell length t ...

'', that have been used as

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

s in Japan for many centuries. The instrument, which has served a number of purposes throughout

Japanese history The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new invent ...

, has been given a number of Japanese names depending on its function. Special schools still teach students to play the traditional music associated with the conch.

Instrument

Unlike most shell trumpets from other parts of the world which produce only one pitch, the Japanese ''hora'' or ''horagai'' can produce three or five different notes. The different pitches are achieved using a bronze or wooden mouthpiece attached to the apex of the shell's spire. At freezing temperatures (often encountered in the mountainous regions of Japan) the lips may freeze to the metal surface, so wooden or bamboo mouthpieces are used.

Historical usage

Religion

The conch is used by

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monks for religious purposes. Its use goes back at least 1,000 years, and it is still used today for some rituals, such as the ''

omizutori ''Omizutori'' (), or the annual, sacred water-drawing festival, is a Japanese Buddhist festival that takes place in the Nigatsu-dō of Tōdai-ji, Nara, Japan. The festival is the final rite in observance of the two-week-long Shuni-e ceremony ...

'' (water drawing) portion of the

Shuni-e The is a ceremony held each year at certain Buddhist temples in Japan. The name comes from its observance in the second month of the lunisolar calendar. Today, the service is usually held in either February or March, depending on temples. One of ...

rites at the

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Nara, Nara, Japan. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year ...

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

. Each Shugendō school has his own conch shell melodies. The ''hora'' is especially associated with the ''

Yamabushi are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese Taoist elements. Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or ho ...

'',

ascetic Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

warrior monks of the

Shugendō is a highly syncretic religion, a body of ascetic practices that originated in the Nara Period of Japan having evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn from local fol ...

tradition. The ''

yamabushi are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese Taoist elements. Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or ho ...

'' used the trumpet to signal their presence (or movements) to one another across mountains and to accompany the chanting of

sutra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...

Military

In war, the shell, called ''jinkai'', or "war shell", was one of several signal devices used by Japanese feudal warriors known as

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

.''Warriors of Medieval Japan'', Stephen Turnbull, Osprey Publishing, 2007 P.106
/ref> A large conch would be used and fitted with a bronze (or wooden) mouthpiece. It would be held in an

openwork Openwork or open-work is a term in art history, architecture and related fields for any technique that produces decoration by creating holes, piercings, or gaps that go right through a solid material such as metal, wood, stone, pottery, cloth, l ...

basket and blown with a different combination of "notes" to signal troops to attack, withdraw, or change strategies, in the same way a

bugle The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, normally having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure. History The bugle developed from early musical or communication ...

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

was used in the west. The trumpeter was called a ''kai yaku'' ( 貝役). The ''jinkai'' served a similar function to

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and bells in signaling troop formations, setting a rhythm for marching, providing something of a heroic accompaniment to encourage the troops and confusing the enemy by inferring that the troop numbers were large enough to require such trumpeters. Many ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

s'' (feudal lords) enlisted ''yamabushi'' to serve as ''kai yaku'', due to their experience with the instrument. The sound of ''jinkai'' is often used in motion pictures and television dramas as a symbolic sound effect indicating an impending battle, e.g., ''

The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 epic period action drama film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Ken Watanabe in the t ...

'' or the 2007 Taiga drama ''

Fūrinkazan , is a popularized version of the battle standard used by the Sengoku period ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen. The banner quoted four phrases from Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'': "as swift as wind, as gentle as forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable a ...

'', but both of these screen renditions use deep, resonating monotones, not the melodic tones that ''yamabushi'' used for relaying messages.

References

*Clark, Mitchell (2005). ''Sounds of the Silk Road: Musical Instruments of Asia''. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts Publications. *Turnbull, Stephen (2002). ''War in Japan: 1467–1615''. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.

External links