The () is a Chinese plucked string instrument. In ancient China, the term came to refer to three different musical instruments: a

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 ...

and two different types of harp. Today, usually refers the modern '' concert harp'', which was invented in the last century. refers to an extinct vertical angular harp, and to an extinct

arched harp An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vault ...

. However, it should be remembered that during the Tang dynasty, the term was also used as a general term to describe string instruments from the other countries that played in the Chinese court. It may not have meant a specific type of instrument at that time.

History

There were three types of variations of the name, and scholars have been working to match them to musical instruments. The variations are ''wo konghou'', ''shu konghou'' and ''feng shou konghou''.

Wo konghou

With the () (literally "horizontal )," there have been two lines of thought; neither has been proven. One use of ''wo konghou'' could have been applied to a fretted bridge zither whose strings were plucked with a slender bamboo stick). The other possibility for the wo-konghou is as an angular harp turned on its side to function as a horizontal harp.

Zither

The zither form was first mentioned in written texts in the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC). It is one of the oldest

Chinese musical instruments Chinese musical instruments are traditionally grouped into eight categories known as (). The eight categories are silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and skin; other instruments considered traditional exist that may not fit these group ...

, similar to the Korean '' geomungo''. The was used to play (court music) in the Kingdom of Chu. During the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

(206 BC–220 AD) the was used in the genre. It is no longer used in traditional Chinese music.

Horizontal harp

In 1996, horizontal angular harps from the 5th century B.C. were found in Zagunluq village, Qiemo county, Xinjiang autonomous region, China. The harps bear close resemblance to harps from Pazyrk,

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

and

Olbia Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called ''Olbia'' in the Roman age ...

. Archeological finds show details of construction; for instance, the soundboxes were carved from

diversiform-leaved poplar ''Populus euphratica'', commonly known as the Euphrates poplar, desert poplar, diversiform-leaved poplar, or poplar diversifolia, is a species of poplar tree in the willow family. Description The Euphrates poplar is a medium-sized deciduous ...

. The finds are evidence of contact between Xinjiang and Altai,

and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

region. The finds show a pre-

kongyou, that may date as far back as 1000 B.C.: that date is speculative and needs more evidence.

Shu konghou

The () or vertical first appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD). It can be divided into big and small varieties. The playing of the was most prevalent in the Sui and Tang dynasties. It was generally played in rites and ceremonies and gradually increased in popularity among the ordinary people. It is also the most common type of in Chinese cultural relics, murals and poetry. The Chinese harp refers to this kind of .

Feng shou konghou

The ''feng shou konghou'' (, literally "phoenix-headed ''konghou''"), an arched harp, was introduced from India in the

Eastern Jin Dynasty Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

(317–420 AD). Beginning in the Sui Dynasty (581–618), it was also used in (banquet music). The instrument became extinct sometime in the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

Modern

The modern appeared in the 20th century and is different from the ancient . Its shape is similar to Western

concert harp The pedal harp (also known as the concert harp) is a large and technologically modern harp, designed primarily for use in art music. It may be played solo, as part of a chamber ensemble, or in an orchestra. It typically has 47 strings with seven ...

s. Modern concert ''konghous'' may be contrasted from the Western concert harps by looking at the strings, which are folded over on the ''konghou'' to make two rows. This allows players the use of "advanced playing techniques", including

vibrato Vibrato ( Italian, from past participle of " vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms ...

, bending tones and

overtones An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...

. Paired strings on opposite sides of the instrument are tuned to the same note. They start from a tuning peg and travel over two bridges on opposite sides of the instrument, down through the playing area and are then fixed at the far end to opposite sides of a freely moving lever. Depressing the lever changes the pitch in one of the strings in the pair, raising the pitch of the other. The two rows of strings also make it easier to play swift rhythms. Today, the classical is usually referred to as in order to differentiate it from the modern .

In other places

Korea

In Korea, like China, the names for the harps started as terms for nonspecific foreign stringed instruments. The ''konghou'' was adopted in Korea, where it was called ''gonghu'' (hangul: 공후; hanja: 箜篌), but its use died out (although it has been revived by some South Korean musicians in the early 21st century). There were three subtypes according to shape: *''Sogonghu'' (hangul: 소공후; hanja:

小 Radical 42 or radical small () meaning "small" or "insignificant" is one of the 31 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals total) composed of three strokes. In the ''Kangxi Dictionary'', there are 41 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radic ...

箜篌; literally "small harp")photo
/sup> The ''sogonhu'' was a vertical angular harp, one small enough to be carried in the musicians hands while playing. *''Sugonghu'' (hangul: 수공후; hanja: 豎箜篌; literally "vertical harp")photo
/sup> This is the same harp as the shu konghou and looks like vertical harps from ancient Assyria. *''Wagonghu'' (hangul: 와공후; hanja: 臥箜篌; literally "lying down harp") The ''wagonhu'' today is designated for arched harps that have the appearance of the arched harp from Myanmar, the saung.

Japan

In Japan, the ''wo-konghou'' (fretted zither) was called ''kudaragoto'' ( 百済琴 / くだらごと), and the ''shu-konghou'' (angular harp) was called ''kugo'' ( 箜篌 / くご). These instruments were in use in some Togaku ( Tang music) performances during the Nara period, but seem to have died out by the 10th century. The ''kugo'' (

angular harp Angular harp is a category of musical instruments in the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification. It describes a harp in which "the neck makes a sharp angle with the resonator," the two arms forming an "open" harp. The har ...

) has been revived in Japan since the late 20th century, and the Japanese composer Mamoru Fujieda has composed for it.

Tomoko Sugawara Tomoko Sugawara is a harpist from Tokyo, Japan who grew up playing classical and Irish harp before learning to play the kugo or angular harp. With Swedish professor Bo Lawergren, whom she met at a kugo museum exhibit in Nara, Japan she engin ...

commissioned a playable ''kugo'' harp from builder Bill Campbell and earned an Independent Music Awards nomination for her 2010 album, ''Along the Silk Road'', playing traditional and newly written works for the instrument.

Gallery

File:唐箜篌抚琴模印砖.jpg, alt=stone tablet depicting two figures playing instruments, Konghou (left) and

guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and Scholar-bureaucrats, literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinemen ...

, Tang dynasty (618–907), unearthed in

Jiuquan Jiuquan, formerly known as Suzhou, is a prefecture-level city in the northwesternmost part of Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It is more than wide from east to west, occupying , although its built-up area is mostly located in i ...

. Museum of

Gansu Province Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibeta ...

. File:Konghou from silk painting by Qiu Ying, "Spring Morning in the Han Palace".jpg, alt=sitting Asian woman in fine dress plays, ''Konghou'' from silk painting by

Qiu Ying Qiu Ying (; 1494 – 1552)Cihai page 211. was a Chinese painter of the Ming dynasty who specialised in the ''gongbi'' brush technique. Early life Qiu Ying's courtesy name was Shifu (), and his art name was Shizhou (). He was born to a peasan ...

(1494–1552), "Spring Morning in the Han Palace" File:Vertical Konghou (10096201556).jpg, alt=instrument on display, Vertical ''konghou'' File:Ancient Chinese instrumentalists.jpg, alt=drawing depicting band of ten playing traditional instruments, Ancient Chinese instrumentalists File:鳳首箜篌 .jpg, alt=Base is an egg-shaped-prism soundbox, neck arches over it and then recurves, the end carved in a bird head. Painted all over with a pattern of brown-edged pale green feathers between squares outlined in yellow rubification-like dots; the diagonal axis of the squares parallel to the edges of the structural members, to give a diamond patter. Strung with red, green, and white strings in varying shades. In a museum case., Phoenix-headed konghou (a type of harp), Tang dynasty (618-907). Presumably a reconstruction. File:Harp Player in a Pavillion - Qiu Ying.jpg, Woman playing ''konghou'', details of a painting by

, Ming Dynasty File:Mingrenwu58a.jpg, Konghou in women's sketching in Ming Dynasty File:Color-painted Relief Scene of Musicians Playing (Five Dynasties,China).jpg, konghou in color-painted Relief Scene of Musicians Playing (Five Dynasties,China)

References

External links

''Konghou'' photo.
CUHK.edu
Page with ancient picture of Konghou.
{{Traditional Japanese musical instruments Chinese musical instruments Harps Chinese words and phrases Angular harps