Playing Samisen, Tsudzumi, Fuye and Taiko

Traditional Japanese musical instruments, known as in Japanese, are musical instruments used in the

traditional folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. They comprise a range of string, wind, and percussion instruments.

Percussion instruments

*; also spelled – clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord * – wooden or bamboo clappers * –

pellet drum Pellet drums, or rattle drums, are a class of membranophone, or drum, characterized by their construction and manner of playing. They have two heads (either a single double-headed drum or two hemispherical single-headed drums joined together with ...

, used as a children's toy * – small, ornately decorated hourglass-shaped drum * – hand-held bell tree with three tiers of pellet bells * – small drum used in * – small flat gong * – a pair of sticks which are beaten together slowly and rhythmically * (also called ) – clapper made from a pair of flat wooden sticks * – woodblock carved in the shape of a fish, struck with a wooden stick; often used in Buddhist chanting * – hand drum * or () – singing bowls used by Buddhist monks in religious practice or rituals * – hourglass-shaped double-headed drum; struck only on one side * – clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord * – a lithophone either bowed or struck * – small drum played with sticks * – small bronze

gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

used in gagaku; struck with two horn beaters * * – drum on a stand with ornately painted head, played with a padded stick * – small hand drum

String instruments

Plucked

Zithers

* – monochord * – the 17-string koto * – a long

zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat ...

* – ancient long zither; also called

Harps

* – an angled

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

used in ancient times and recently revived * – a zither with metal strings and keys

Lutes

* – a pear-shaped lute

Other

* or * – an Okinawan precursor of the mainland Japanese (and Amami Islands) * – a banjo-like lute with three strings; brought to Japan from China in the 16th century. Popular in Edo's pleasure districts, the is often used in

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

theater. Made from red sandalwood and ranging from long, the has ivory pegs, strings made from twisted silk, and a belly covered in cat or dog skin or a synthetic skin. The strings, which are of different thickness, are plucked or struck with a tortoise shell, ivory or synthetic ivory pick. * () – a plucked instrument used by the

Ainu people The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Y ...

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

Bowed

* – a bowed lute with three (or, more rarely, four) strings and a skin-covered body

Wind instruments

Flutes

Japanese flutes are called . There are eight traditional flutes, as well as more modern creations. * – vertical bamboo flute * – transverse bamboo flute used for

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

theater * – transverse bamboo flute used for * – transverse bamboo flute used for , Shinto ritual music) * – transverse bamboo flute used for ; similar to the * – vertical bamboo flute used for Zen meditation * – transverse folk bamboo flute * – globular flute made from clay * – a flute developed by Ishida Nehito with bow hair on it to accompany the .

Reed instruments

* – double-reeded flute used in different kinds of music

Free reed mouth organs

* – 17-pipe mouth organ used for gagaku * – large mouth organ

Horns

* – seashell horn; also called

Other instruments

* () – jaw harp used by the Ainu people * – general name for the jaw harp, also known as the in the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

* . {{DEFAULTSORT:Traditional Japanese Musical Instruments * Japanese music-related lists

Instruments Instrument may refer to: Science and technology * Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft * Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific lab ...

Lists of musical instruments