The or ''tsuzumi'' is a hand drum of Japanese origin. It consists of a wooden body shaped like an hourglass, and it is taut, with two drum heads with cords that can be squeezed or released to increase or decrease the tension of the heads respectively. This mechanism allows the player to raise or lower the pitch of the drum while playing, not unlike the African

talking drum The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitc ...

and the Indian Dhadd. There are two basic techniques when playing a tsuzumi; holding the cords slack and hitting the drumhead on the very center, or squeezing the cords and hitting the drumhead closer to where it meets the wooden body. The former produces softer ''pon'' and ''pu'' sounds, whereas the latter produces higher-pitched ''ta'' and ''chi'' sounds. Because the practice of hitting a drumhead on the very center may result in hindering the sound by causing vibration radiating on two opposite sides of the drumhead to cancel out with each other, the tsuzumi is tuned with tiny leather patches applied on the inside of the heads, much like the larger '' shime-daiko'' that accompany the tsuzumi in

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 ' ...

and

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 though ...

theaters. It is also notable that the ''tsuzumi'', being a more delicate instrument compared to the ''shime-daiko'', is further fine-tuned on-site depending on ambient temperature and humidity using pieces of

washi is traditional Japanese paper. The term is used to describe paper that uses local fiber, processed by hand and made in the traditional manner. ''Washi'' is made using fibers from the inner bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub (''E ...

paper moistened with the player's own saliva. Care for this instrument is peculiar in that the drum heads must be exposed to a certain level of moisture to produce a desirable sound. Before playing the tsuzumi, the player will breathe directly onto both heads. Sometimes he will even take some saliva and apply it to the head of the drum. The quality of sound of the drum will depend on how much moisture is in the atmosphere where it is being played. To make sure the drum heads are moist, the player will breathe into the drum head at intervals when he is not playing. However, if the heads become excessively moist, they may become too slack to be played properly, and may develop noticeable ripples on the surface, further compromising the sound quality. Each drumhead is crafted with a piece of foal skin sewn onto an iron ring. Then a thick layer of reinforcement is added on the back, and finished with ''

urushi ''Toxicodendron vernicifluum'' (formerly ''Rhus verniciflua''), also known by the common name Chinese lacquer tree, is an Asian tree species of genus ''Toxicodendron'' native to China and the Indian subcontinent, and cultivated in regions of C ...

'' lacquer and gold leaves. The sew marks are also covered up with ''urushi'' lacquer, which provides both decoration and further reinforcement to the drumhead. In contrast, the drumheads used for the '' ōtsuzumi'' are made of thick horsehide, and are never decorated, as they are meant to be consumables. The wooden body is carved out from a single block of cherry wood, and is decorated with urushi lacquer and gold leaves in the '' maki-e'' style. The hemp cords were dyed previously in

vermillion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It is v ...

, although other dyes are used today due to its toxicity. Thanks to the meticulous measures gone through to craft them, a set of drumheads combined with the wooden body, when properly cared for, is said to last for centuries; it is not uncommon for professional players to use instruments made 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 characte ...

or Muromachi period. New instruments on the other hand might require years, or even decades, of use to be broken in. Only the cords holding the instrument need to be regularly replaced as they fray over time. The ''tsuzumi'' plays roles in both

and

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 though ...

theater music, but it is also used in , or Japanese folk music. It is often played with its bigger counterpart, the (lit. large ''tsuzumi''; also called ). Thus the ''tsuzumi'' is also referred to as the , or "''small tsuzumi''." The East entrance gate at JR Kanazawa Station was built to look like the tsuzumi.

References

* Yokoyama, A (2010)
"Glass gives new sheen to traditional Japanese music"
''Reuters'', Retrieved on 2010-01-26

External links

''Tsuzumi'' Video
{{Authority control Japanese musical instruments Drums