5s 7

THE MUSIC
AND

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
OF

JAPAN.
 THE KOTO-PLAY EK.
>; an oil-pdintni^ by Kninei,)

.. V

A TE 1 1 Frontispiece,
r\ THE MUSIC
AMD

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS H
OF

JAPAN.
BY

SIR FRANCIS PIGGOTT, KT., M.A., LLM.,

CHIKK JUSTICE OF HONGKONG.

WITH NOTES IIY T. I,. SOHTI10ATK. )

SECOND EDITION

YOKOHAMA :

KELLY & WALSH, LIMITKD,

SHANGHAI HONGKONG SINGAI'ORK.

LONDON :

B. T. BATSFORD, 94 HIGH HOLBORN.

1909.
 YOKOHAMA:
PRINTED BY THE UOX OF CURIOS P. & P. CO.
 A
A
TO MY

FRIEND AND TEACHER

MRS. MAEDA
 Preface which I write to the following pages mast of necessity

be so full of apologies for their shortcomings that I shall reduce it

to the smallest compass possible.

The book contains the results of observations made in leisure

moments in Japan, supplemented by studies made since my return from

the East. I am now painfully conscious how incomplete those observa-

tions must have been. 1 have, nevertheless, some confidence in the

accuracy of the results of my Western studies, because I have had

more than an author's fair share of assistance from others more

competent than 1 to grapple with scientific difficulties.

Sir John Stainer has, with customary kindness, helped me to

unravel some of the mysteries of the Japanese scale: and, though J

have no right to say that my conclusions are justified by his assent to

them, I may plead his help to show that they have not been lightly
arrived at.

Mr. Southgate's erudition and historical knowledge have been

that
placed so unreservedly at my disposal that I cannot but regret

the sheaf of notes with which he has contented himself is of such

modest proportions.
x PREFA CK

Finally, Mr. Daigoro Goh, with Eastern patience, has pruned

away many I hope all of the errors in names, dates, and words

which so easily beset the Western writer on Eastern things.

I have made use of the following authorities :

SiJkyoku-tai-i Slid, by Yamada Ryu, 1781.

Miyako-no-nishiki, by Miyukoji Bungo, 1785.

Scikvoku Ruisan, by Saito Gckkin, 184-0.

Kahu-Ongaku Ryakushi, by Professor Konakamura, 1887.

"MS. Records of Ancient Music," by Abe Suyenuo.
The KneyelojKcdia, Sansai Zuyi'.
Honclvi Ssidan, by Kikuoka Senryo.
"
La Musique de Japon," by M. Alexandre Kraus Fils.

The translations in Japan have all been made by Mr. A. T.

Kawaji, of Tokyo, who has also interpreted a great number of

conversations with various musicians. Mr. Kowaki has assisted me

with many translations in England.

Of the book itself I have but one word to say. It appeared in its

earliest form as a Paper read before the Asiatic Society of Japan, in

January, 1891. I have endeavoured to remove many errors which

existed in that Paper. In its present form it is a contribution, quantum
valeat, to the history of the music and musical instruments of the
world. Among the things which go to make it
up, some, I hope, may
be of interest : some may be merely curious: and some, I venture to

think, will be surprising.

F. T. P.

May, 1803.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PART I.

THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

PACK
Of the teaching of Confucius, and " "
the meaning of music in the Far East
Of modern Japanese music and instruments generally The mythology of

Japanese music : how Amaterasu was enticed from her cave : of the invention
of the Koto and Flute of Japan : of the influence of the Hichiriki : traces of

early music Early historical records : the teaching of the Corcan musicians :

the zeal of the Crown Prince Umayado The establishment of Chinese music in

Japan : the Musical Bureau : the development of the Bugaku dances Linger-

ing traces of the old music of Japan :

primitive sacred music: of the Kagura,
and its modern offshoots Early forms ofJapanese music: the Ro-yei, and the
Ima yd Introduction of the Biwa theSatsumaBiwa.-ofthcHeik&Mono-
:

gatari Influence of the Biwa on the national music the Saiba-gaku, and the :

Dcngaku The Chinese and Japanese dances : the

"
No " dances The early

Japanese Theatre Early Japanese songs: their classification: the Joruri

Alonogatari[A scheme of Chinese and Japanese dances and music A scheme of

Japanese songs Classes of Ha-uta and Ko-uta Different varieties of small

songs] Introduction of the Shakuhachi . . . . . . . . 131

" Ake-no-kane" Koto music:

The modern music of Japan : the Koto-uta: : its

mythical origin Rise of Yatsuhashi : his work : improvements in the Koto:

the Dragon on the Sea-shore [Japanese Musical Degrees] The SamisenThe

Kokyu Japanese singing : a table for the production of sounds : instructions

" "
for Samisen players when performing Joruri Of the Japanese musicians:
their education : examinations : children at school : the course of instruction

and the diplomas : the final ceremony at Enoshima Of the hereditary skill of
the musicians The Temple musicians their executive skill: their training

.....
: : :

their pay and duties : the decadence in modern times 32-51

xii TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PART II.

THE JAPANESE SCALE.

PAGE
Current statements as tothe nature of the scale Meaning of the expression "different
" "
scale "The scientific ratios Chinese intervals The bearings of the scale
" " The sequence
The fifth of China and of Pythagoras Tunings" and scales"

ofnotesin the Japanese scale The normal tuning Thcgapsin the tuning The
two missing notes Harmonizing Japanese music The double pressures. . 55-66

Tunings of the Japanese Koto Tunings of the Chinese Su-no-koto, and of the
Bugaku-biwa 67-68
" " " "
Hirajoshi and its variations Akcbono "Kumoi" and its variations
" " " " "
Han-Kumoi" Ivvato San-sagari roku-a<{ari Conclusions as to the
structure of the tunings, and as to the keys on which they arc based Pcntatonic
character of the music The key sequence; principle of the bridge changes
The "
Transposition equal temperament system of the Japanese Saita-

Sakurai "
in three keys in string notation, and on the staff. .... 69-81

The Chinese scale : ritsusen and ryosen :

analysis of the tunings of the Suno-Koto. 82-84-

Pitch Time Harmony Form : the Dan and Kumi of Yatsuhashi ; analysis of
" " " " " "
Rokudan
"
Uniegae

Kasuga-mode
;

"....... .....
analysis of ; analysis of Matsuzu-kichi and
85-99

General conclusions : the relation of Japanese to Chinese music The modern music
ofJapan : general characteristics of the music : its intervals and phrases : its

structure 100-102
" " "
Hitotsu-toya harmonized '
Saita-Sakurai harmonized . 103-104
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. xiii

PART III.

THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE JAPANESE.

PAGE
Tun KOTO: Historical outline The Yamato-koto Diagrams of hand positions
Measurements of modern Kotos Varieties of Kotos General scheme of

Technical terms used for Koto music Koto notation

development
Facsimile of a page of Koto music, with translation .... 107-134

BIWAS, AND STRINGED

ments Tin-: (iKKKi.xs ........
INSTRUMENTS WITH FRKTS: Varieties of Hi was Measure-
. . 135-142

SAMISENS, PIDDLES, AND STRINGED INSTRUMENTS WITHOUT FRETS: of the

Samisen Varieties THE KOKYU Chinese Fiddles ..... 'Tton/fljgs

143-148

FLUTES, AND BA.MIIOO WIND IXSTKVMEXTS : Varieties of Flutes Tin-: HICHIKIKI

THE
pipes :
SnAKUHACin
scheme of chords
THE Sno
. . ........
Arrangement and measurements of
149-156

DRUMS : I. Plain cylindrical Drums -II. Drums with braces : scheme of Chinese

timeHi. Drums with dumb-bell-shaped bodies, or Tsuzumi. . . 159-171

GONGS -.Varieties of Gongs . . . ..... 172-179

BRASS INSTRUMENTS . . 180

NOTES (BY T. L. SOUTHGATE) . . . 181-188

INDEX . 189-196
 LIST OF PLATES

PLATE I. THE KOTO-PLAYER (Frontispiece).

,, II. THE YAMATO-KOTO : THE YAMAHA-KOTO ...... 114

,, III. TlIE ICHI-OEN-KIX OR Sr.MA-KOTO, AND THE Nl-GEN-KIN: V'ARIOl'S

FORMS OK KOTO TSUMK . . . . . . . .116

,, IV. THE SHO : THE BUGAKU-FUYE, WITH I,ACO_I'EK CASK : THE UTADAIKO :

THE Ko-Tsuzi'Mi . . . . . . . . . 156

,, V. THE WANIGUCHI: THE KEI IN TWO KOKMS, AND THE FURIN: THE

DoBACHI AND MoKU-GYO : THE SuZU. . . . . . .179

 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

ORCHESTRA OF THE CLASSICAL No DANCE

THE ORCHESTRA OF THE MODERN THEATRE
........ UNDRESS
PAGE
19

IN 23
DO

THE DANCE ORCHESTRA

THE CHAMBER TRIO
DO

.........
IN

...
FULL DRESS .
25

28

40

POSITIONS OF THE HANDS IN PLAYING THE YAMATO-KOTO 112

DO DO THE So-NO-KOTO 113

FRONT AND BACK VIEW OF THE SHICHI-GEN-KIN . 118

THE YO-KIN . 121

OLD COREAN KOTOS 122

THE BUGAKU-BIWA
THE GENKWAN .
: THE SATSUMA-BIWA: THE CHINESE BIWA
... . 137
141

THEjAMISEN
THE
THE
.

KEIKIN, KOKIN, AND TEIKIN

SEITEKI
... 1*5
147
15

THE HICHIRIKI, WITH Box AND CLEANING ROD 151

THE SHAKUHACHI, WITH VERTICAL SECTION 152

THE SHONO-FUYE ^ 53

THE BARBARIAN SHO 156

THE 0-DAIKO. KO-DAIKO, AND DAIBYOSHI 157

THE SHOKO, TSURI-DAIKO, AND KAKKO : THE TSURI-DAIKO, DOBYOSHI AND HAKUHAN 161

THE KERO 162

THE HAPPU 16*

THE DA-DAIKO AND NI-DAIKO 165

x vi i i LIST OF ILL USTRA TIONS.
PAGE
THE KAIKO 168

THE UTA-DAIKO, THE O-TsrzrMi. THE Ko-rsuzrMi, AND THE KAGURA-FUYK 109
THE NI-NOTSUZUMI
THE KEI ... 170
17.'!

THE DAI-SHOKO AND NI-SHOKO

THE DOKO : THE KKN: THE Hi .....
. .
174
175
THE SHOKU
THE HYOSHIGI
THE FfKi-Tsrzi'.Mi
: THE
:
(ivo : THE DO-IIYOSHI

THE BYAKTSHI: THE YOTSUDAKK ... .

170
177
17S
THE MOKK.IN
Tim KAIM-A : THE DOKAKU : THE CHAKU.MKKA ....... -179
ISO
 PART I.

THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE

 THE

MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

"Harmony has the power to draw Heaven downwards to the Earth. It

inspires men to love the good, and to do their duty. If one should desire
to know whether a kingdom is wellgoverned, if its morals are good or
bad, the quality of its Music shall furnish forth the answers." CONFUCIUS.

SYNOPSIS.
Of the teaching of Confucius, and the meaning of "music" in the Far
East Of modern Japanese music and instruments generally The mythology
ofJapanese music how Amaterasu was enticed from her cave : of the invention
:

of the Koto nnd Flute of Japan: of the influence of th Hichiriki traces of

:

early music Early historical records: the teaching of the Corcan musicians :

the zeal of the Crown Prince Umayado The establishment of Chinese music
in Japan : the Musical Bureau the development of the Bugaku dances
:

Lingering traces of the old music of Japan primitive sacred music of the
: :

Kagura, and its modern offshoots Early forms ofJapanese music the Ro-yci,
:

and the Ima yo. Introduction of the Biwa the Satsuma Biwa of the Hcikc
: :

Monogatari. Influence of the Biwa on the national music : the Saiba-ffaku,

and the Dengaku.Thc Chinese and Japanese dances: the "No" dances.
The early Japanese Theatre Early Japanese songs their classification: the
:

Joruri Monogataii[A scheme of Chinese and Japanese dances and music

A
scheme of Japanese songs Classes ofHa-uta and Ko-uta Different varieties of
small songs] Introduction of the Shakuhachi.
"
The modern music of Japan: the Koto-uta: Akc-no-kane": Koto music:
its mythical origin Rise of Yatsuhashi: his work: improvements in the Koto:

the Dragon on the Sea-shore [Japanese Musical Degrees] The SamiscnThc

\
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.
Kokvu Japanese singing : a table for the production of soun Is: instructions for
Samisen plavcrs when performing "Joruri" Of the Japanese musicians: their
education: examinations: children at school : the course of instruction and the
diplomas: the final ceremony at Enosliima Of the hereditary skill of the
musicians The Temple musicians: their executive skill: tluir training: their
pay and duties : their decadence in modern times.

say that Japanese music does not lack some reflex of the national grace,
I

IF that it has some prettily quaint flashes of melody which strike the most
inattentive listener at a tea-house festival, that it has some curious phrase-

repetitions which seem to the attentive listener to indicate the possible

existence
of a science of construction, and that generally it is not altogether a concourse
of weird sounds, it will appear to many that I have not merely stated, hut have
overstated, the case in its favour.
From our Western point of view Japanese music has everything against it,
nothing in its favour: we with our majestic Organs, our stupendous orchestras,
our volumes of sound, which set the nerves, even of the unmusical, quivering-'
they with a few pitiful strings strung hy men not very learned in the mysteries
of sound-producing bodies, the snhtleties of varnish, the precedents of "bellies."
Comparison is absurd the tinkling of their Samisens hardly reaches ears
:

accustomed sonorous symphonies from earliest infancy.

to Their appliances 1

are so crude how, with instruments so feeble, can they make that music which
:

beats upon the brain, which so plays on the nervous tissues that their vibrations
fill the caverns of the memory with whispering voices of the past? How,
indeed ! The quality of music is so often lost in the quality of the sound which
makes it. It is the noise and blare of great Organs that have brought to
Western music, perhaps also to Western religions, half their devotees. It is the

\yitcheryofthefiddleand the bow that holds two-thirds of a London audience

in their places.Rob the high art of music of its attendant mysteries of sound,
what is left concerns the musician alone, and with his joy few of the outer
barbarians can intermingle. The " Hallelujah Chorus " on two Flutes (it was
once, as I have heard, so "arranged"), "Pop goes the Weasel," with variations
and orchestral accompaniments is there much doubt which would command the
larger audience? And
yet the childish frivolity of "Up and clown the City
" "
Road would be unaltered, and that wonderful
phrase, For the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth," would still remain the most fitting expression of a
majestic thought.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 3

What Japanese music might have been the Sho, the primeval Organ, had
if

amplified its soft reeds in the East instead uf in the West; whether the "missing
"
notes would have been so deliberately disregarded as, in the popular music,
they seem to have been whether their use would not have taught a larger
;

science and more sweet melody, it is scarcely profitable to enquire we should ;

be led inevitably the larger question whether, had these things been, the
to

Japanese life, and above all the Japanese religion, would have been quite what
they are. The Chinese had been taught by their great philosopher the true
relation of music to life. Pope only caught half the teaching of Confucius when
" Heaven's first law": in full it
he sang of order as ran, and runs thus "There
are two important things which should exist in a well-ordered society rei, :

ceremonial, order; and gaku, music." And the character for gaku, music, is the
same as the character for raku, pleasure whence music came
: to be not only
synonymous with the giving of pleasure to everybody, but its influence was held
in Chinese philosophy to be the chief corrective to undue and ill-regulated
It was but a step from this to the consideration of music as the
pleasures.
divine pleasure, God-given, for the purification of the human heart. So, to the

popular and largest of the Chinese stringed instruments was given a character
tji, which had the same sound as M, kin, "prohibition"; and thence, at
kin,
first, they wove the
idea that its music symbolised the prohibition of anything
" "
impure, until at length
music" came to be actually synonymous with purity
of the human heart."

The Japanese, when the time came for christening as their own the Kin
which they had borrowed from China, chose for it a name, Koto, to which,
" to attach an idea of some-
though it signified merely things," they were able
it to be an abbreviation only,
thing higher than worldly things by imagining
of kamfno nor I koto
"
the oracles of the gods," "the heavenly things "-and
and
hence they, in their turn, came to see in Koto music something supernal ;

and invocation of the

in Koto playing something synonymous with worship
divine advice.

On more sublunary influence, its power to subdue not animals merely,

its
their posiiion by the
but the lower man, Eastern writers love to dwell, proving
of recorded incident. As Congreve wrote that Music's
chapter and verse
wrote that Music can
charms can soothe savage breasts, so the Eastern poet
soften the thoughts even of a stern man. So let it be noted that how dissimilar
there is a link between
soever the sounds of the East and the West may be,
them, riveted somewhere on to the heart of man.
4 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Let us dciil music of this far-oriental people such as we find

then' with the

it, I fed, however, both considerable difficulty and diffidence in laying the
results of my investigations before my readers. An
opinion, which I do in fact
hold, that may be put much higher than
the case in favour of Japanese music
I have ventured to do in my first sentence, should, for full weight to be given to

it, be supportedby a far wider range of examples than it is possible to give at

present. The only completeness at which it was possible to aim was in the
investigation of the rudiments. To the many beauties, and to the great merit,
of the structure which has been raised upon them, only my own ears can
bear witness.
The difficulties which stand in the way of reducing the music into Western
written forms are so great, that, unless Japanese musicians will come and play
to us here in England, accurate knowledge of their art, due appreciation of their
craft, can only come into being in the West very gradually. If the conclusions
at which have arrived are sound, we may look, sooner or later, to have
I

accurate transcriptions which shall lead to fuller knowledge: and I may venture
so far as to say that that fuller knowledge will justify and repay the labour

spent upon its

acquisition. Yet we shall never hear it at its best until the deft
lingers of the native musicians weave their spells for us. Much of the charm of
the music, all its individuality nearly, depend upon its graceful and delicate
phrasing; and though I think that Western notation is capable of expressing
these phrases to one who has already heard them, I feel a little uncertain
whether their more complicated forms could be set down in it with sufficient
accuracy to enable a stranger to interpret them satisfactorily. The Japanese
musician learns this phrasing by ear; by an ear long trained to phrases of a
similar character. My own experience has been that even in the first-grade
tunes it
required twenty or thirty lessons to enable one to grasp the delicate
'nuances of many of the passages.'
Modern Japanese music, a term to be explained more fully hereafter, is

composed almost exclusively for the DS-stringed Koto. For the Kokvu, or
Fiddle, I have not come across any independent music but for the Samisen
:

irreverently called by some the Banjo of Japan, an instrument with which it has
no affinities there exists a small repertoire of songs. For the Shakuhachi a
lipped bamboo pipe there is also a considerable quantity of independent music,
which seems to have come down to the present time from quite different sources
than those from which the Koto music has been derived. The music for the Eiwa
has not altered for over six hundred years. The charming little songs
sung to
the accompaniment of the Gekkin are, I think, almost entirely of Chinese
origin.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 5

Koto music is written. It has been many times stated that there is no
notation but the music is so complicated that it would pass the wit of man to
:

do without some form of musical writing. The error, however, is perhaps not to
be wondered at it has arisen from two causes.
; In the first place the books are
never used except for reference by the majority of professional musicians
:

indeed they could not be used, for they are blind, music being one of the
recognized professions of the blind. And secondly, the written music is the
exclusive possession of the professionals of the highest rank. Except by very
special dispensation no pupil is ever allowed to learn in any other way than
by listening, watching, and committing to memory. Hence a curious little
social custom has arisen it is considered
:
quite impolite for a guest to require
pressing if she is asked to play the Koto: she cannot have forgotten to bring
music which she never possessed. The Samisen songs, on the other hand, are
written and carried with the instrument in its case.
The Koto notation, which I shall explain in due course, is simple but
sufficient; the numbers of the strings only being given. On account of the
gaps in our diatonic scale which exist in the normal tuning of the instrument,
I think it is easier for Europeans to learn the Koto by adopting this notation,

translating the Japanese numerals into Arabic, than by writing out the melodies
on a stave. Yet even for a European, more curious to know and understand
than to play, the rigid rule I have referred to above will not be relaxed until
he has made considerable pi-ogress. The books will remain sealed even to him :

if he wants to write the tunes down he must do it for himself and invent some

system of notation of his own.*

I have indicated briefly the different kinds of music now existing in Japan.
There is one other, which is not less interesting than the rest: the ancient
form of which, chiefly as an accompaniment to the various styles of classical
it,

dance, has been preserved for centuries, and which is still performed with the
same profound solemnity as in old days. Such purity could only have been
achieved by the Japanese method, which obtains in everything, of making
the profession hereditary, and thus keeping the scores and the traditions in
certain families.
Performed by an orchestra of Shos, Flutes, Hichirikis, Drums, and
to Western ears,
Gongs, this ancient music it is which sounds so gruesome
and to which Japanese music owes much of its bad reputation.
It is far, however, from being formless and void. It has a venerable

the period of reliable chronicles into the

history, which goes back through
hid herself in a cave and
mythical ages, when the Sun-Goddess Amaterasu
6 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

the world saw the light of her countenance no more. Then it was that the
eight million deities came to
entreat her return to the world, her fair dominion:

yet all their many prayers failed, until one God, wiser than his fellows,
took from among them six long-bows ;
he bound firmly together,
these

and, setting them with their backs upon the ground, gently twanged their
The Mythology of strings. Then he brought to the cave's mouth the fair
Japanese Music.
Ame-no-Uzume, her hair tied with the trailing vines of Hikage-
kazura, gathered from the mount Ame no Kaga Yama, the sleeves of her
raiment girded with links of evergreen twigs of Ame no masaki, a halberd
in one hand and a bundle of bamboo branches in the other. And Ame-
no-Uzume, as the murmurings of the bow-strings rose and fell, waved her
bamboo branches to and fro and as the rhythm grew her body moved
;

in cadence, and her voice mingled with the strains, until the Goddess,

gently drawn, inquisitive, came forth at last from out the gloomy depths of
her cave. Some say that Ame-no-Uzume added to her incantation the
"
words Momo, chi, yorodsu," asking the Gods, in her vanity, whether her
charms were not all-potent the Gods shook the heavens with their mirth,
;

and this noise it was that drew the Goddess from her hiding-place.
Thus was light restored to the world, and music and dancing were given to
it for its delight. And the all-wise Gods had taken precautions that the
light, should be restored, should never again be hidden. Amatsumora,
if it

the ironsmith, had made a magic mirror, emblem of all purity, and it was
hung at the entrance to the cave. The Goddess could never hide that face
again which she then saw for the first time in all its radiant splendour.
Tradition holds that these were the very words of the incantation :

Hito, fata, miyo, Gods, behold the cavern's mouth,

Itsu, muvu, nana, Comes thence the majestic Goddess ; Rejoice !

Ya, kokono, tan, Shall not joy now fill all our hearts ?

Momo, chi, yorodzu. Are not my charms all-powerful ?

In more prosaic fashion, and with

miyo divided, this gives the numerals-

One, two, three, four,

Five, six, seven,
Eight, nine, ten,
Hundred, thousand, ten thousand.

The Yamato-damashi, the nationalist spirit which is

responsible for much
that is good and much that
is evil in the nation's
history, finds herein the most
true account of the origin of the Koto of the Yama to Koto: and indeed
Japan,
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 7

its six long notches are there to this day to bear witness to it. The classical
"
botanist, when he called that Kadzura tree K. j&ponica," emphasized another
of the long-to-be-remembered incidents of that eventful day, for which service
the Yamato-damashi is duly grateful.
"
The Encyclopaedia, Sansai Zuye All things in heaven and earth and the
"
human brain set out and illustrated has christened Ame-no-Uzume the
"Japanese Apollo"; is "the deity who invented music and gave
she it to

humanity." To her is ascribed also the invention of the only other national
" Bird
instrument, the Yamato Fnye, or Flute of Japan otherwise called the :

"
from Heaven Ame no Tori Faye which she made from bamboo gathered
on the "Mountain of the Heavenly Fragrance," Ame no Kaga Yama, whence
had also come those Kadzura vines which bound her hair: a trio of things
celestial (Ame no), the mountain, the bird, and the Goddess. She added, so
they say, the strains of this heavenly reed to the music of the bow-strings before
the cave, while the Gods, creating then the principles of time, beat the measure
upon the mother of all the Castanettes.

Probably owing to its divine origin, the Flutes have always been regarded
as most sacred instruments. They are preserved with peculiar veneration, and
for an extraordinary number of years many of those now in use are said to be
:

over a thousand years old. A list of the Temple Flutes was kept at Court, and,
like most of the old instruments, they were known by special names: "The
"
Snake-charmer," Green Leaves," "The Fisherman," are among those which
are still preserved.
Not until the twenty-second year of the Emperor Jimmyo A.D. 835 does
the Japanese Orpheus appear upon the scene; not mythical at all, however, but
very practical, in the person of a nobleman of the Court,
who had for his Lute
that most villainous of vile-sounding instruments, the Hichiriki. Yet, so they

say, he played it so sweetly

that one who had burglarious designs upon his
property, hearing, went in unaccustomed
innocence away. May-be the kindly
of
mists of time have somewhat clouded the true perception of the burglar's state
mind. He must have fled in frightened horror; for, of all the gruesome sounds
ever invented by man, the Hichiriki gives forth the most unearthly.
-

Then there is the story of the pirate who was vanquished, not by valorous
his intended
deeds, but by the music of this wild reed coming from the decks of
his sails the other way in a vain attempt at
prey, which caused him to bend
in
flight. This, indeed, is a true story, for that same Hichiriki is still treasured
the land, wrapped in silken cloths in its fan-shaped box, whereon its name is
written largely and legibly Kaizoku maru whichmeans " The Pirate."
 8 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Possibly, too, it was the soul of this very Hichiriki which was enrolled among
the heavenly beings, and to whose honour a temple was built in Banshiu, the
" "
province of Harima, and called Hichirilci no Miya -The Temple of the
Hichiriki." A .strange fate has, however, intercepted worship at the shrine,
for a great rock has from the mountains in front of the doorway so
fallen
that none can enter, and none have been able to remove it.
This terrible instrument, called sometimes the "sad-toned tube," in spite of
those sweetly potent sounds which tradition ascribes to it, is the diapason of the
old classical orchestra the cacophony of the music must be visited on its head,
;

and not, as is too common, on that of the much-maligned Sho. This "octave
mixture," as it may be called, is
guilty, it is true, of strange chords; but it is
innocent of harsh sounds, and is, comparatively speaking, quite "bird-like,'' as
the Japanese say. "Its music," 'Says the poet, "is like the wind of spring
murmuring in rocky caves; the very nightingales come to listen and to sing."
The historian has been at pains to collect, in chemists' language, "traces"
of music in the earliest of recorded times. He them in the weird
finds
hullaballoos of the funeral ceremonial of the hero Amewaka, which lasted eight
days and nights, and at which "musical instruments were certainly used." He
finds them, too, in the time of the great first Emperor of Japan, Jimmu Tenno
about six hundred and sixty years before Christ who stands, as the Japanese
consider, in spite of ourown scholarly opinion to the contrary, in the border-
land between mythology and history. The Imperial troops went to battle
shouting, as other warriors have done in other countries and earlier ages; but
these songs of war are declared to have been in regular and metrical form.

History becomes more interesting, though the Western scholars will not yet
let be called reliable, at the beginning of the third century after Christ,
it

concerning the reign of the Empress Jingo Kogo, who conquered Corea. Before
setting forth on her victorious journey, she worshipped, as in private and in
public duty bound, at the ancestral shrines and all the authorities agree, to the
;

intense gratification of the Yamato-damashi that the instrument used to ,

accompany the was in very deed the Yamato Koto. Takeno-uchi, the
rites
minister in attendance on the Empress, is said, by one more circumstantial than
his fellows, to have played the instrument on the occasion.
The Yamato Koto and the Yamato Fuye, the Koto and Flute of
Japan,
alone among early instruments are indigenous to China, with
Japan. its
instruments and its music, occupies almost the whole and
ground: they were,
from earliest times, borrowed and Even the
appropriated by the Japanese.
Empress Jingo, though she set forth to war with the sound of national music
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. <)

in her ears, included both musicians and musical instruments in the tribute
to be paid by Corea after its conquest. These Corean musicians are said to
have been the first to direct attention to the importance of selecting well-
seasoned wood for the bodies of instruments bv the eagerness
/ o with which
they rescued from the furnaces of the s;ilt manufacturers on the coast the
timbers of ashipwrecked vessel. Musical preserve with much
histories

particularity both the date 2 .)1 (

A. n. and the name
of the ship "The
Kareno." Afterwards, ;is communication between the Islands of Dai Nippon
Kirly Hixtaricai find the on the mainland became more frequent, all the
Kingdom
B:eo:-d. Chinese instruments and music which Corea possessed, together
with expert musicians in great numbers, passed into and influenced Japan. More

especially in the Soshun era 5KS A.D. young men were chosen for the musical
profession, to learn their art at the feet of the Coreans, and to study specially the
Kakko, the .Drum of Southern China. Fifteen years later, in the Suiko era, three
famous musicians, Mimashi, Nakavoshi, and another whose name has perished with
him, came from Kutara, an independent province of Corea, to teach the use of
many instruments and much novel and delightful music. Two years later, a great
1

number of students, went to China to enquire for themselves at the seat of learning.
At the beginning of the seventh century musical progress received a great

impetus from the zeal of the Crown Prince Umayado. This illustrious Prince,
called after iiis death Sliotoku-laishi" Prince of the saint-like virtue" is the

hero of all the chroniclers. He is described as the first architect, the first

civilizer of
law-giver, the first to study the art of boat-building, the first true,
and the Ko-tsuzuiui the shoulder
Japan. lie also invented the O-tsuzuini
and the side Drums of Japan: the invention being, however, more properly
described as an adaptation and modification of the old Tsu/umi of China. He
is said also to have introduced Indian music into the country; but neither at
this time, nor a century later, when Indian dancers were brought over, did
Indian music ever obtain much popularity in Japan.
The Kutara musicians speedily came under Prince Umayado's notice ;

and his influence enabled them to found their school in the village of Sakurai,
in the Yamato province.
In the of the Emperor Temmu
reign 673 A.D. both Corean and Chinese
musicians are found playing in the Imperial Gardens, Chinese
Fstabl!slimenlofch;nese
music having by that time long been firmly established in Music in Japan.

Court favour. And again, at thfe close of the century, its

was still in the ascendant, for Chinese musicians and dancers

popularity
of the Empress Jitd.
invariably performed at the banquets
10 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

In the years of the next century the Emperor Monmiu developed

first

so great a taste for the foreign music, that to be learned in it \vas to be in

the height of fashion and all who were, and all who would be, in the highest
;

circles, devoted themselves eagerly to its study. To encourage an art which

found such eager students the Emperor established a Musical Bureau, and
constituted part of his household.
it as Yet even here history is caught
repeating herself: the Emperor Mommu doing
no more for Chinese music than
had been done ages before for the national music by his great predecessor and
first of his line. For, says the Yaniato historian, did not the greatest of
Emperors, Jimimi Tenuo himself, order the Lady Sarume to attend to all the

musical affairs of his Court ?

"
The new Musical Bureau was christened "Gayaku Rio : Gn meaning
"tasteful," and therefore, in old days as in new, an equivalent to some-
thing but lately introduced from foreign parts. It grew yearly in importance.
In 7^4 A.D., iu the reign of the Emperor Shomu, there were under its direct
control thirty-nine principal Chinese musicians, eight from Corea proper,

twenty-six from Kutara, four from Shinni, and sixty-two from Dora:
Kutara, Shinra, and Dora being the three independent provinces of Corea.
The instruments in use were the Hichiriki, the Flutes, the Sho, the Gongs,
and the various Drums, large and small.
The work of the Bureau was the development of the study of the
chief
classical Chinese dance the Bugaku and of its more popular companion,
the Sangaku, of which more hereafter. It may be noted here that the Bugaku
in its original form performed on State occasions at the Palace in
is still

Tokyo. The
dancers, many them lineal descendants of the musicians of
of
the Bureau, have a special establishment near the Kudan, where they
practise,
and twice or three times in the year give full-dress entertainments, attended
by the members and household of the Imperial family: and, more often still,
private performances in the presence of the Empress.
For a
full century the work of the Bureau is unrecorded. The year
9.35 however, marks a distinct step forward.
A.D., The Emperor Jimmyo,
himself a musician of no mean order, sent commissioners to China to make
further enquiries. They returned with fresh stores of knowledge, and brought
back a new instrument the Biwa which
figures largely in the history of
Japanese music proper. It was in this reign that the noble Hichiriki player
unconsciously melted the heart of his burglarious visitor : so wide indeed was
the spread of musical culture.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 11

Such in briefest outlinewas the advent of Chinese music into Japan. Not
all the Yatnato-damashi in the world could resist it. So potent was it, that it
seems almost to have crushed Japanese music, as in those days everything
Chinese crushed everything Japanese, out of existence. What with travelling
students, and commissioners, and Bureaux, and rnusicianly Emperors, the
Yamato-damashi could scarce console itself with the memories of the good
old days, four centuries before, when the Emperor Inkyo gave Lingering Truces
r ii' 1 1* T^
i i j.i\r i of the Old Music
a great least, and hi in.se! i played the Koto the true i amato of Japan.

Koto. But the Priests remained faithful, and the national music was heard
in Temples at festivals, such as the Daijo-c the grand harvest feast.
the
And even the Emperor Mommu, though he devoted himself, perhaps too much,
to advance the prosperity of his new Bureau, did not omit the annual custom--
" "
dating from the time of Onin, when the shipwrecked Kareno gave its
timbers to the musicians of summoning the Nam band to the ceremonial
banquet at the Palace to play the old melodies with which, to the accompani-
ment of Koto and Flute Yamato both the tribute of fish and mushrooms
had been brought to the
Sovereign. Only in very troublous times, subsequently,
was this venerable custom discontinued. The continued service of the two
national instruments in the Temples earned for them the epithet knni-'t divine:
and thenceforward they were known as the Kami Koto and Kami Ftn/e. The
songs which they accompanied were divided into two classes: the 0-ttta, or
"grand singing," in which the chorus sang sitting, and the T<t-c]i,i-nt<> or ,

"standing singing," during which they stood on the steps of the Temple.
From these forms of primitive sacred music the Kagura Kami Asolii, the
divine playing or true Temple music seems to have been developed, which
has lasted through many centuries to the present day.

When the Court was at Nara, a special chamber the Seishido was set

apart in the Palace for the performance

of the Kagura and ever since the time ;

of the Emperor Ichijd 987 A.D. this music has been the special accompani-
ment to the worship of the Sacred Treasures the ceremony of the JVaishi-dokoro.
The performance took place in the garden of the Treasures, the musicians being
ranged on either side, the hereditary conductor standing between
them in the
fullest of full dresses, and wearing his swords. The instruments used were the
Yamato Koto, Yamato Fuye", and Hichiriki. The more celebrated Temples, at
Ise and Kyoto for example, had each their special version of the music.
Tradition bases the music of the Kagura on the very strains which
Amaterasu in the earliest year found so soul-compelling. The performance is
intended, in fact, to preserve the incidents of the cave in pious memory.
 1'2 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

The darkness of tha world and the at length yielding typified by dawn were
the hours during which, in former times, it took place from ten at night till :

four in the morning. A fire of sticks was kindled in front of the Treasures, as
the had been kindled before the month of the cave.
fire And the presence of
the Gods themselves was something more than symbolized in the presence of the

Emperor with all the nobles of his Court. The music itself is divided into
inauv parts, each of them intended to signify some scene of the Drama of the
Entreat v. Thus among the main divisions there are "The Illumination," and
and the smaller sections are called tori mono " the things to
" "
The Assembly ;

be brought," as "the bow," "the gohei," "the stick," "the sword," "the

spear," "the bamboo leaves," and "the Kadzura bough."

The following arc two verses of the song of the Kagura in the first the allusion is to the
;

Kadzura hough which Atne-no-Uzutns held in her hand when she danced before the cave.

Miy.itnii ni uvi Th( ,

uutumn ]lai | is surc ] y fa l]j ng
Anirc furur&ji
, on the Miyama mountain, for the
1 ova rn;i mini

Mwiki no knxnn, I
mro Kadzura trees 0,1 the Toyania

Irotsnki ni kcri. -'ire

changing their colour.

vSVfs.-i no h:i ni It is pleasant to gather together

Yuki furi-tsumont
no vo ni
I'ltvii
"

, lying thick on the leaves of the

Toyo no nsobi o
SKitnijfii t.tnoshiki. young Rainhoos.

Much
of the old ceremonial has
to-day passed away the lire, indeed, is still :

kindled, but the time has been changed to more convenient hours, for the
Princes of the Blood may not
sleep during the celebration of the rites. Thus
the tradition of the darkness has been but the of the
forgotten especial sanctity
;

occasion is still maintained. It runs risk of

being marred by the devices of the
modern side of life: the conclusion of the
performance in the Palace at is Tokyo
telegraphed to Kyoto.
The modern offshoot of the Kagura is the short benedictory dance of
"
the scarlet ladies," with their and waving of
jangle of bells fans, familiar to all
visitors to the Nikko
Temples. For a few rin the pilgrim gets his blessing,
and passes on before it is half finished to look at the famous Nikko
Cat ;

only the more pious of the country-folk linger till the last of the old
lady's
sedate steps have been This dance, which does not
accomplished. occupy
more than thirty seconds, is a
very abbreviated form of the Dai dai Kagura,
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 13

the Grand Kagura, upwards of two hours, and is only performed

wliich lasts
in return for some special offering to the Temple. This is more properly
"
called Ya otome mai "the dance of the eight virgins and is not the true
form of the old dance, whose name it commonly hears. It is performed hv

the full staff of eight dancers, who attend daily at the Temples to perform
to those who need their shortened ministrations. A much longer benedictory
measure is gone through by each of the dancers in turn. It is
accompanied
by a big Drum, two large Kakko, and Flutes. The Drums are different
a
from those used in the Bugaku orchestra.
Independently- of this Temple music, short compositions, called Iio-yei, in
wliich Chinese poetry was used, made their appearance at a very early
period. Being more easily remembered than the classical music, they acquired
some popularity, especially among the educated classes. It is very uncertain
what their form was; but some definite form they must have had, the
chronicler mentioning a collection of ninety ro-yei, made "and published"
about the year 1070."
A rival of the Ro-yei is heard of in the Engi era, called the Imaijo, or
" Traces of both have entirely vanished. This Engi
present style of song."
era, which extended from 1)01 to \Y1'1 A.D., was the Golden Age of old
Japan. Poetry, music, dancing, the arts and the sciences, all flourished under
the genial influence of the Court. For the delectation of the courtiers a
band of female musicians and dancers was established, the dancers numbering
one hundred and forty. By this band the taste of the musical world in its
lighter phases was practically regulated ;
ithave existed side by side
seems to

with the already ancient Musical Bureau, which still had the Chinese classical
dances under its especial protection. The band could make or mar a musician's
fame success and popularity for a new composition were attained only by
;

performance by these Court musicians. The chief Chinese orchestral instru-

ments in use at period were the following.
this For the Sogaku, the Chinese
orchestralmusic which included the accompaniments to the Bugaku and
Sangaku dances, and a certain amount of music performed without dancing
the Hichiriki, the Flute, and the Sho, which supplied the harmonies ;

the Taiko, or big Drum, in different Kakko, or small drum,

sizes ;
the
and the Shoko, a small and very acute Gong. For the private per-
formances in the Palace the Kagen-yaku the Drums and Gong might be
omitted: but stringed instruments were added, the So-no-koto the only
form of the Chinese Koto which obtained a footing in
Japan and the sonorous
Biwa. In addition to these, for the modern forms of Kagura already noticed,
 14 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

the drains were changed to a big Drum without braces O-daiko ;

;md a
time
larger Kakko (1-kakko, or Daibyoshi, the "grand beater.''

We must now revert to the introduction of the Biwa into hirodudionof

about (
.)oo A.D., as this instrument had a most im-
Japan,
portant influence on the growth
of modern Japanese music.
As came from China it was a ponderous instrument, very rich and
it

sonorous in its tones. The heavy bacfii was grasped (irmly in the hand, and
~was~3Tagge3~sTowly across the four strings, making
harmonious open chords,
emphasizing the measure of the stately dance. As it was used then, nine
centuries ago, so it is .used now its original form preserved with
: the same

religious CM re that has preserved the music which came with it, and the dances
which it helped to accompany. But like all things else from China that came
within the sphere of Japan's eclecticism, when it was put to Japanese purposes
it underwent a transformation. While preserving its essential qualities of rich
tone and open harmonies, and though still a massive instrument that must rest
on the ground, its Chinese and somewhat uncouth solidity gave place to
something lighter, more graceful, more refined. The shape of the bnchi was
altered so as to obtain freer and more rapid sweeps over the strings; a fourth
fret was added, and all the frets were raised. The linger pressing the strings
behind the frets could produce five semitones in succession without touching
the neck, and the strings passing over their broad flat edges gave forth strange
bird-like trills, which, though they were unclassic in Chinese music, were
utilized to the full in the music which was specially written for it by the

singers of Satsuma, where it made its home, and whence

derived its name, the it

Satsuma Burn,. It was essentially a harmonic, and not

a melodic, instrument :

and its open chords made it admirably suited to the accompaniment of long
heroic recitations and ancient songs of love and war, which are dear to the soul
7
of Japan. The chief among them is the famous He/fee Alonoyatari, along, long
story, taking some hours in the reciting, which kills of the conflict between the
Heike and the Genji clans, of the discomfiture of the Heike, and the drowning of the
infant Emperor Antokuv.This story was first shaped, as they say, by, the blind musi-
cians who with the infant. Emperor's followers to Kagoshima, in the province
fled

of Satsuma it was handed down as the Saga of the war, and sung long afterwards
:

to incite the descendants of the defeated clansmen to admiration and revenue.

r>

To chanted story of that struggle, famous and Eastern-world renowned

this to
the simple descriptive music, centuries old, increasing in vigour as the battle

waged, sinking into slow melancholy cadences with the retreat of the vanquished,
the people listen still in rapt attention, in a solemn
Japanese silence. For is it
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 15

not told by one of the few remaining lineal descendants of the pupils of the
still

blind priest Jo-ichi, who had it from the blind Ichi-botoke, himself a pupil of
the man who, in 1445, gave it its present form? Of Ichi-botoke it is said that
he sang with so sweet a voice that it seemed scarcely human the common people :

thought in listening that he was indeed divine, that Buddha had reappeared.
The accompaniment is of the simplest nature merely rhythmical beats on the
;

lower strings, with occasional taps on the wood, slowly drawn open chords, or a
series of rapid sweeps to and fro over all four strings, finishing with an up-stroke
on the fourth, with a pause to allow the trill of the string to he heard. The
dexterity with which these rapid passages are executed astonishes, but their
simple appropriateness gives the whole composition, without exaggeration, a
charm which not all ancient music, even in the West, can be said to possess. It

is rugged, as such ancient music must be almost devoid of melody.

; One short
lilting phrase,
which has without doubt descended to the modern music of the
Samisen, alone dwells in the memory; and this, so far as my explorations extend,
occurs in nearly every composition.
So the family history of the Biwa is characteristic of allthe imported
instruments. The Chinese instrument was preserved, but there grew up by its
side the Japanese instrument that sprang from it. From its use exclusively in
the orchestra of the Bugaku dancers, the old Biwa came to be christened the
Bugaku Biwa ;
but in Japan the Satsuma Biwa is the Biwa proper it is often ;

"
called the Heike-biwa."
Thechroniclers note the formation of a special band of blind Biwa players,
drawn, it seems, entirely from Kagoshima, for the service ot the Court There
were thus three distinct branches of music competing for popular favour three
bands of musicians specially under the Imperial patronage: the Gaga ku Rio,
the Bureau with its Chinese and Corean musicians, which preserved the imported
music in all its classical rigidity the Court band of female dancers and
;

musicians, to whose hands the development of the national dances was confided ;

8
and the band of Biwa players.
Much of the modern song music for the Samisen owes its origin to the Biwa
nf the nus ic and there is no doubt that, in its descriptive methods, it had
i
;
BLVM on tlie . . . .

also an important influence on the national dance music.

National music,
Inspira-
tion for the dances was sought in the common incidents of daily life. The
characteristic features of the incident were reduced into rhythmic form and ;

this was surrounded with the stereotyped common forms of dance movement and

gesture, just as one would make a phrase the subject of a musical composition,
weaving with it the commoner forms of musical expression.
16 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Thus the national Saiba-gaku (Saibara in the vulgar tongue), invented in

the Engi era 901 A. D. and which remained famous and popular for many
years after, was based on the
peasants' songs they trudged over the
as
mountains with the pack-horses, bringing tribute to the Emperor. This dance,
with fifty-three varieties of songs, is said to have been " established as music by
Imperial order/' and was for a long time performed annually at the Palace. It
is
occasionally, though rarely, heard now.

The following are two verses of the song of the Saiba-gaku. There is a curious construc-
tion in the poetry, which involves the repetition in the third line of the subject of the second.

Idewaga koma wa Oh, my ponj-,

Hayaku yuki-kose Matsuchi yama, Hasten past the Matsuchi mountain;
Awart Matsuchi yama war!'. Oh, fair Matsuchi mountain!

Ao-yagi wo Weeping willow-lree,

Kata-ito ni yoritc okc ya Twist thy single silken strands into a perch
Uguisu ni okc ya. Whereon the nightingale may perch.

The same idea seems in later times to have led to the reduction into regular
forms of the humming accompaniments to daily occupations, and to which
characteristic names were given." Thus there is "
Clia-tsumi nta, the Tea-
"
pickers' Song"; Marl utn, the Song of the girls playing at ball "; Ta-uye uta,
the "Rice-planting Song;" Usn-hilci uta, the "Mortar
Song," sung by two
girls pounding rice or tea in a mortar, to the rhythmical beat of the pestle and ;

Bon-odori nta, the moonlight dance of fisher peasants in July, when the boys and
"
girls danced through the village shouting, Come and join the dance," and,
perpetually adding to their numbers, finished their frolic on the sea-shore. So
again the same idea has led to the invention of many of the charming geisha
dances of the present day the most graceful among them all, the "Bleachers'
:

dance," is known probably to all who have travelled in Japan the dexterous ;

waving of the long strips of white cotton, the characteristic poses of the three
girls, dwell in the memory as the most of recollections
delightful a whole among
world of delights.
So, going back again into the regions of antiquity, we find almost an epoch
of musical history marked
by the introduction of such a song and dance the
Dengaku the song of the which was " ordered to be established
rice-planters,
as music." To the
accompaniment of Flutes and the Drums Taiko and O-tsuzumi,
the Dengaku lived in Court favour until the close of the twelfth
century, when,
in the time ofYoritomo, theSarugaku, the purest form of the No dance of the
present day, was established. The rice-planters' dance fled to the provinces,
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 17

reappearing intermittently in more modern times. It is said to have been

performed at Mito two hundred years ago, by, it is almost needless to add,
descendants of the original dancers and yet a.gain, only a hundred years ago,
;

in Kishin and still later for a period at Nikko, on the occasion of the festival
;

of the Shogun lyeyasu. But, with Japanese particularity, the historian adds
that at Nikko they did not perform the true Dengaku ;
for the Kakko, the small
stand-drum, was added to the orchestra.

It will be convenient in this place to trace the distinction between

The Chinese awlChinese and Japanese dancing, both being current to-day. The
Japanese Dance*,
dances and music which came from China were of two kinds: the
severe classical Bugaku, to which reference has been made; and the Saiigaku
'' " '

literally leisure dance," or leisure amusement. This was of a light

character, and the popular taste the severe Chinese mind
more appealing to :

"
attributing its
invention, sort of way, to the
in a general foreign barbarian."
The music was used chiefly to accompany comic acting and acrobatic perform-
ances. In the Musical Bureau, both Bugaku and Saiigaku were studied, but
they were performed by different bodies of musicians.
On the other hand, the Dengaku was purely Japanese in its origin ;
and so
also was its rival the Sarugaku. In the intervals of the Sarugaku light comedy

pieces were performed, called Kidgen and these seem gradually to have
;

supplanted the Chinese Saiigaku, which after a time went out of vogue. The
"
word Sarugaku, however, dropped the ru," and was very easily confused with
Saiigaku; and, although the two dances had no connection, the old Chinese
word came to be applied to the newer Japanese dance, which thenceforward was
called "Sarugaku" or
"Saiigaku" indiscriminately.
In much Bugaku remained as the amusement of the Court,
later years the

the Sarugaku of the Shogun and Daimyo, the most wealthy of the nobles having
their own theatre and dancers, together with a costly wardrobe of sumptuous
brocade and embroidered dresses. In the present day, the Sarugaku and

Kiogen dancers, like Bugaku dancers, have

the their home in Tokyo ;
their
"
theatre adjoins the "Maple Club Koyo-kwan Shiba Park, where they
in

give frequent performances. Six or eight pieces of each class are given, the
at ten in the morning and lasting till six in the
performance beginning
evening.
Both Bugaku and Sarugaku are popularly called No dancing the word no ;

Strictly speaking, however, the No dance

is a
signifying ability in any art.
still later development of Sarugaku, standing midway between the old and the
modern Japanese dances. Just as the old Japanese dance infused a little life
18 THK MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

mid fiction intoChinese methods, so the No infused still more vigour

the old
into the Saiugaku, and incorporated the ideas and spirit of the times.
The Sarugaku appears to have achieved popularity rapidly, though
invention was slow. By the middle of the thirteenth century no more than
sixteen pieces had been invented
standard approved. and The orchestra
consisted only of the Yoko Fnye, the Flute, and three Drums the Utadaiko,

O-lsu/umi, and Ko-tsu/umi. There was also a voice part, the song itself
being called utal. Later, these utn'i were composed separately, and were
recited without music. A collection of two hundred was published about the
vear If) ()(), most of them composed by Se-ami, son of Uizaki Iro, buffoon to the
Sho^im Ashikaga. The son of Se-ami, Oto-ami, founded the now-existing
house of Kan/i, which is in fact the true and original family of No dancers.

Four other ancient houses are still flourishing, but they date only from the later
years of the sixteenth century. The Kiogen, or light interludes, were
invariably unaccompanied. The later varieties of the No seem to have had no
larger orchestra than the classical models, that is, Flute and Drums. In one
instance only, the boys' Fan-dance Enneii Cymbals were added. In
brass
the modern No dance, however, the orchestra composed of three Samisens in
is

unison, with the <)-tsuzuini and Ko-tsuzumi, and one reciter.

The accompanying illustration shows the classical No orchestra in full-dress.
The black lacquer cap "yeboshi"is never removed even before persons of
the highest rank.
The separate utnl which have been referred to were composed chiefly by
the priests the words were based upon the Buddhist books, and the performance
:

much resembled the Temple incantations. They were, moreover, invariably

written with a double meaning, and were used as an indirect means of conveying
instruction to the people, a notion derived from the old Chinese priesthood.
The performance of the Sarugaku indeed at one time passed almost entirely
into the hands of the priests: and many of the Temples used it as a substitute
for the
Kagura, maintaining special performers for the purpose. In the
same way the words of the comic Kiogen were invariably written with
double meanings, but with a view to imparting a different kind of informa-
tion to a different class of people. The Daimyo living in their palaces,
secluded from the commoner branch of humanity which served them, and
surrounded by a band of attendants through whom information filtered but
slowly, and purged of all unpleasantness, knew but little of the smaller matters
which were going on outside. Special information as to any hardship which
the people were suffering, or wrongs which needed redress, was
conveyed to the
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 21

Prince's ear by a dexterous use of the second

meanings. The subtle play of
meaning is a thing which delights the Japanese mind, and one with which they
are very familiar; and it is said that these comedies
rarely failed in giving
the necessary information to the lord for whose amusement
they were provided.
It is to be noted that women
took part in the dancing of the No. They
are now indeed banished from the Japanese stage; but they hold an important
position iu its history.
Okumi of Izumo, a young female Temple dancer, is the reputed inventor
of the Kabuki, the Buddhist incantation and dance, accompanied The e
,

Kirly Japane!
by Flute and Drums. Leaving the Temple she performed the Theatre.

dance on a small stage in Kyoto; gradually enlarging the scope of the

incantation, as well as its character, she developed it into a sort of play, in the

performance of which she took the men's parts, while her husband, Sanjiro,
took the women's. The new plays grew in popularity, until the Government,
in 1043, suspended them on account of their immoral tendencies. Okumi then
substituted a dance by boys, who played both main and female parts; but this,
in 1607, was in turn suspended by the Government.
its
Finally, the system of
licensing theatrical performances was adopted, the licence being confined to
pieces in which all the characters were taken by men, and this system remains
to the present day, so far as the theatre proper is concerned. Popular taste
remained satisfied with the early orchestra down to the middle of the seven-
teenth century: 1040 the Samiscn was first used in the Theatre to
about
accompany the incidental songs. It was introduced by the founder of the
now-existing house of Kineya.
The Orchestra of the Modern Theatre is composed of two Samisens, one
Flute, and three Drums the Uta-daiko, ()-tsnzumi, and Ko-tsn/umi the ;

Samisens having been added to the orchestra of the No. There are also two
" "
reciters. It is called theHayashi-kata," the accompaniment party." The
illustrations show this orchestra- both in undress and in full dress. The latter
"
is called the orchestra which appears"; the full dress being
I)e<ja iari,"
worn on certain special occasions, when it appears on the stage in short one-act
pieces, and occasionally in scenes in longer plays, by way of accompaniment to
soliloquies or solo dances. In ordinary cases, however, the orchestra is behind
the scenes, and the full dress is not worn.
The Female Orchestra, " Shita kata" for accompanying dancing, is com-
posed of the same instruments, but without reciters. From the illustration
it will be seen that the O-tsuzumi and the Ko-tsuzumi are
played by the same
performer, as the music does not require these two drums at the same time.
22 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Enri v Japanese
r
^ gradual growth of music apart from dancing lias been
e
Song*. chronicled with a refinement of precision and discrimination
peculiarly Japanese. Apart from the number of Japanese names which it

would involve, would be impossible to attempt even a partial description of the

it

classifications, which are based on lines quite unfamiliar to us. Solemnity and
lightness, loudness and softness, the greater or sparing use of large intervals
:

these are some of the characteristics which differentiate one class from another.
The composer who used a different characteristic from his predecessor in popular
favour is invariably said to have invented a "new kind of music." Thus we
" "
find that the new music of theKwanyei and Slioho eras, invented by Satsuma
Jdun of Izumi, was of a "very sober, decent kind," his themes being the valour
and deeds of the ancient heroes. Satsuma Joun had a pupil Toraya Genjitsu,
who, having settled in Yedo, made a reputation by inventing music of a less
solemn kind. His pupil was Inouye Harima, a learned man and fertile com-
poser. His most celebrated pupil was Takemoto Chikugo, who is handed down
to fame as the inventor of" an entirely new class of music made by mixing all
the others up together." He also is celebrated as the inventor of the "Gidayu-
bushi," the music for the marionette stage which he had set up in Osaka.
The marionettes achieved a great popularity, Takemoto being assisted by
" " -
Chikamatsu Monzayemon the Shakespeare of Japan who supplied the books
of the words. But the music was somewhat loud and vulgar. Miyako Itchu of
" " "
Kyoto therefore invented softer songs Jtchu-bushi"; but these, as well as
"
the Bungo-bushi" so called after their composer, Miyakoji Bungo, degenerated
into indecency, and were suppressed by the Government. They were afterwards
started afresh in Yedo by Miyako Bunyemon but he found their music too soft
;

and languorous for popular taste. He therefore made a new departure with the
'

and presently Tomimoto Buzen, a performer of the Tokiwazu, in-

Tokiwnzii ";
vented the songsnamed after him, the "Toniimoto-btishi"; and Kiyomoto Enjusai,
in the Kwansei era, invented his "
songs, the Kiyomoto-bushi "; and Uji Kadayu
of Kyoto invented his, the "
Kadayu-bmhi "; and Fujimatsu, a descendant of
"
Miyakoji, invented his, the fujimatsu-bushi "; and so the classification goes on,
ad infinitum. The " Shinnai," invented by Tsuruga, a pupil of Fujimatsu, were
songs of a low order and an indecent character the music is described as "very
:

sweet and bird-like." These, however, like their "

predecessors, the softer
"
songs of Itchu, were condemned by a troublesome Government. All these,
however, really belong to one class, the " Joruri," so called after the first of the
"
kind, the Joruri Monogatari." This had sprung in direct succession from the
famous " Heike Monogatari," to which reference has already been made, the
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 27

Samisen being substituted, in accompanying, for the Biwa. Like the Heike
song, the Joruri was a recitative accompanied by solemn open chords and
descriptive music; it dealt, however, with a softer theme than war and defeat the

prayer of aged parents to the Gods fora child the answer to the prayer and
:

birth of a daughter: the naming of the child Joruri Hi/me, "the maid from
Paradise ": the youth and maidenhood of the lovely girl and the love for her of
:

Yoshitsune.

The softer ideas of the Joruri Monoy atari thus led to the development of the
numerous subordinate classes already mentioned. They led, too, to the
creation of another distinct class of songs. In the Keicho era, about
1620, Sawazumi, a very skillful Biwa player, departed from the strict
tradition of his profession, and sought fresh fields of fame in Samisen playing
and the study of the uta'l of the Sarugaku dance. A
combination of the Joruri
recitation and these uta'i occurred to him, and his novel compositions led to
the invention of the Ha-uta and Ko-utn, short poems or proverbial sayings which
became very popular during the Ashikaga dynasty from these again developed
:

"
the Naga-uta, or long songs," which included many classes they were first :

composed by Tobaya Tanyemon of Tokyo, in the Enkyo era, about 1744. Two
of the composer's many pupils founded two
existing families of musicians.
still

In the Bunroko era, 1592 A.D., many varieties of Ko-uta, especially the
"Ryutatsu-bushi" prevailed they were
:
accompanied by the Samisen and Shaku-
hachi. The Samisen was then fast becoming the popular instrument which it is
at the present day.

In following list are given all the varieties of the songs which
the

sprang from the Joruri Monoyatari, as indicated above these songs are:

"
generically termed Joruri-bwhi." The Encyclopaedia gives them as springing
" and number of them as
immediately from the Gidayu-bushi," the greater
having been, like those, specially composed for the performances of the
marionettes. Out of the somewhat long list, although many are still heard
occasionally, the only survivors in popular favour at
the present time are the
"
two forms of "Gridayu-biis/ti," the /Shinnai," which seem to have braved the
storm of Government indignation, and the "Tokiwazu."

I have added, further, a of the songs which come under the head of
list

"Ha-uta" and "Ko-uta": and, also, for convenience of reference, a tabular

scheme of songs, showing the chronological development of the songs, as well as
a similar scheme for the Chinese and Japanese Dances.
28 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

A LIST OF VARIETIES OF "JORURI-BUSHI" WHICH SPRANG FROM THE

"JORURI MONOGATARI."

Joun-bushi : the "New Music" composed by Satsuma Joun of Izumi in the Kwanyei and
Shoho eras.

Gcnjitsu-bushi the songs invented by Toraya Genjitsu of Yedo, pupil of Satsuma Joun.
:

Harima-hushi the songs invented by Inouye Harima, a pupil of Toraya Genjitsu.

:

Kndavn-bushi, c. 1070 the songs invented by Uji Kadayu of K}'Oto.

:

Gidayn-bushi, 1675: the music for the marionette stage invented by Inouye Harima's pupil,
Takemoto Chikugo at Osaka, whose professional name was Gidayu.
The Harima-bushi seem to have been characterised by a long droning intonation :

while the Kadayfi-bushi were precisely the reverse, being sung with a short crisp accent.
Takemoto Chikugo combined both these qualities in his songs. Between 1712 and
1731, two varieties were introduced by two of Gidayti's pupils the first, pathetic songs :

written by Takemoto Harima, known to the profession as Gidayu the Second the ;

other, songs in a lighter vein, composed by Toyotaki Wakatayu. Roth are still extant.
Buttya-bushi, 1081: marionette music invented by Oka mo to Bunya, a pupil of Yamamoto
Tosanojo, and a singer of Gidaya-bushi. His songs went out of fashion in 1704.
Itchu-bushi, 1688: marionette music priest Miyako Itchu, also a pupil
composed by a of
"
Yamamoto Tosanojo, who was a famous
singer of the Joruri Alonogatari."
Bungo-bushi, 1710 : derived from the Itchu-bushi \>y Miyakoji Bungo, a pupil of Itchu.
Tokiwazu, 1736 the ultimate development of the Bungo-bushi, invented for the marionette
:

stage by Miyako Bunyemon of Yedo.

Kato-bushl, 1710 invented by Kato Tojuro, the son of a fishmonger, whose fondness for
:

drove him to bankruptcy. His songs are still heard occasionally.

saki'

Fujimatsu-bushi, 1744 derived from the Bungo-bushi by Fujimatsu Satsuma, a pupil of

:

Bungo.
Tomimoto-bushi, 1748 derived from the Tokiwazu by Tomimoto Buzen, a pupil of
:

Bunyemon. His songs are still extant.

Shinnai-bushi, 1751 indecent songs invented by Tsuruga Shinnai, a pupil of Fujimatsu,
:

which seem to have been revived in a purer form after their condemnation by the
Government.
Sonohachi-bushi ',
1751 : derived from the Bungo-bushi by Miyakoji Sonohachi, and still

occasionally heard.
Kiyomoto-bushi, 1804 : derived from the Tomimoto-bushi by Kiyomoto Enjusai.

A LIST OF VARIETIES OF " "

HA-UTA" AND KO-UTA."

Ryutatsu-bushi, 1592: short songs for the Samisen, composed by a priest named Ryutatsu,
who afterwards became a merchant-chemist : afterwards sung with Samisen and
Shakuhachi.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 29

Rosai-bushi songs for Satnisen and Koto, composed of 31 characters, developed out of the
:

preceding by a priest named Rosai their date is uncertain, but they were still in vogue :

at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

"
Naga-uta long songs," so called because they were lengthened developments of the
buslii :

songs included the Ryutasu and Rosai class. They were composed by Ukon Genzaemon,
in

and are described as " very soft."

Shiba-kaki bushi, 1655 :
songs and comic dances of a low character, in which the gestures
were made chiefly with the hands. They went out of fashion in 1683.
Okazaki-bushi, 1(5(51 :
songs and step-dances of a low character, still extant.
Magaki-bushi, 165S to 171.S: songs of the " Shim-machi," or Osaka Yoslmvara.
Doti'-bushi, 1(561: songs sung outside the Yoslmvara at Ycdo.
Kaga-bushi, 1(558 to 1674 :
songs of the Kaga province based on the Ryutatsu and Rosai.
Doncn-bushi, 16.S4 :
songs to accompany dances.
" "
Nage-bushi, or Tsugi-bushi, 1684: small songs popular in Kyoto up : and down songs.
Kokon-hushi, 1688 songs composed by the actor Kokon
: Shinzacmon.
Komui'O-biishi, c. 1688 according to some, songs sung before the Daimvo during their pro-
:

gresses to Yedo according to others, songs sung bv the hetto as their masters were
:

going to the Yoshiwara.

Osaka ko-uta : songs of Osaka, accompanied by Samisen and Koto.
" "
D&ijin-mni-no~kotita, 171(5 the rich man song and dance.
:

Sazanza :
vogue in 151)6.
songs in

Hosori songs in vogue in 1(5(51.

:

"
Kamignta-uta song of the Kaniigata," i.e. Osaka and Kyoto.
:

Tor/of uta the wandering minstrels' songs.

:

Ron-odori uta moonlight dance of peasants on the sc-a-shore in July.

:

"
Yotsudakc uta a song accompanied by the Yotsudake, or four bamboos."
:

Cha-tsumi uta tea-picking song. :

Marl uta the girl's ball song.

:

Sumivoshi-orfori uta : the chant of the priest of the Temple of Sumivoshi when accompanied
by his umbrella-bearer.
Ta-uyc uta : the rice-planting song.
Usu-hiki uta : the pestle and mortar song, sung by two girls pounding tea or rice.

Isi'-ondo uta, the Ise song: the guests are seated in the room, the dancers and the orchestra

Koto, Samisen, and Kokyu being on gallery running round the room, which is gradually
raised during the performance.

Kivari: the name given to the workmen's shouting at the matsuri, and at the feast held when

the foundations of a new building have been laid.

The form of the song is supposed to have originated 400 years ago the old bell of the :

Kenjugi Temple at Kyoto had fallen into the river, and the coolies when they were
dragging it out were told each to scream his own name in chorus.
According to another story, Nobunaga the Shogun ordered the coolies who were
dragging the stones for the foundations of his castle to scream together, but anything
thev liked.
 g

-
r-

W S EH
t/)
W
z
 \

THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 31

The Shiikuliuchi, introduced intofrom China by /n trod.uction -of the

.Japan
tihakuhaehi.
Prince Tsuneyoshi as far back as the year seems to have
1 )>&"),

been treated from the first as a solo instrument, with the one exception already
noted, that it was sometimes used in accompaniments with the Samisen it ;

figures nowhere in the orchestra. Its use in the country, and the great admira-

tion which the beauty of its tone evokes

the Japanese, are not the least
among
curious of the problems which the study of the music of the country presents.
How the Shakuhachi can have given pleasure to people who delighted in the
gruesome (Ironings and wailings of the Hichiriki how the Hichiriki can have been
:

tolerated by ears which had once listened to the mellow notes of the Shakuhachi,
are questions of musical pathology which it is not given to us to understand.
The two instruments are, indeed, at the opposite poles of sound. possibleNor is it

to say that the Shakuhachi the only beautiful sounding instrument in use
is ;

the pipes of the Sho give delicate notes of no little beauty, if they are used alone;
but, unfortunately, they never are used alone, such is the contrariety of this
music. The greater Drums, too, are full and rich-toned ;
and the tones of the
Temple Gongs float through the air in the gentlest of musical miirnuirings.
The tones of the Shakuhachi have woven pleasant fancies round its early
history. So sweet were they that they travelled from the cave of its hermit
inventor, through the still midnight ether, straight to the Emperor's Palace.
They mingled with his dreams, telling as in a song where the magician dwelt
whose slaves they were. On the morrow the Emperor sent to find him, and lo I

the dream was true.

By way of more sober and veracious history, I have yet in my mind the
memory of a dark night, when we sat on the verandah of a tea-house in the
mountain village of Chiuzenji the hike was lit by a thousand candles stuck on
;

to slight of wood, votive offerings drifting slowly over the water into
rafts
the pilgrims who had launched
eternity, and bearing on their way the prayers of
them to the shrine on the opposite shore. And there suddenly came across
the waters the soft clear tones of this simple pipe, which filled me in those
earliest of days in Japan with wonder that any sound so sweet should come out
of this very Galilee, so they say, among the unmusical nations.
Thus can be traced, but with, I fear, too much infusion
far, as clearly as it
of uninteresting detail, and reference to names unknown and things not very
intelligible without example and illustration,
the history of old Japanese music:
old as to origin, but still practised, still performed,
its and still listened to
with intelligent interest by large audiences of all classes. I must turn now to

the modern music of the country.

 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

rite Mufic The modern music is practically synonymous with Koto

ofjiifmn. music. Genericiillyit is called Koto-uta songs for the Koto ;
in it we find a more clear expression of the Japanese character. Freed from
the weight of Chinese influence: freed from the inharmonic chords of the
Slid, the imperfect lipping of the Flutes, and the coarse discordance of the

Hichiriki, and dependent entirely on stringed instruments, it acquired a more

definite intonation than the classical music, and developed distinct melodies,

recognisable even to Western ears, which are characterised by the grace and
minute quaintness of the national idea. Exceptions to this are indeed numerous :

many even among the more elementary compositions, fail altogether of

significance to us but this seems to be due, not to fault on either side, but
;

to those fundamental differences of idea which must inevitably exist between

two entirely distinct races differences of idea which find expression not in
their music alone, not in their arts alone, but in every phase of their thought
and existence. 10 Of this unintelligible music 1 may give one example in the
following tune called "Alce-no-kane" the "Bells at Dawn."

AKE-NO-KANE-(TiiE BELLS AT DAWN).

Andante.

t
g33^^-g=pl ^
TT~ "^f ^ g^i
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 33

I do not imagine that this little piece will find many admirers it is not ;

indeed a fair example of the better qualities of the music, some at least of which
"
will be found in the four examples given later "Hitotsu-toya," Saila-Sakurai,"
" "
Matsiizu-kis/ii," and "Kasuya-nidde and with regard to these, and the
;

many others which resemble them, among the popular songs, the point which
seems to me of interest is that there is so much in them which not only is easily
retained by Western memory, but which distinctly satisfies the canons of
Western taste. Many are the little haunting melodies one hears tinkled in the
street; many a one even commends the whistling Briton.
itself to Is not this

indeed, as one has somewhere said, one of the tests of the true inwardness of
music? This incomprehensible music must, however, not be confused with the
more rigidand complicated forms of Koto composition, classical music as it may
be aptly termed. This is no more to be called incomprehensible than the rigid
and classical compositions of the West. It is distinctly of a high quality; it is

based on an elaborate system of form to be presently examined but it requires ;

close attention, some musical training, and at least intelligent understanding

to appreciate it. Unfortunately, the circumstances under which we are
accustomed to listen to this music arc! not too favourable to very close attention :

it comes but as the interlude to a Japanese feast occasionally something

:

specially bright and sparkling divides attention with the other graces of the
feast, and secures a meed of applause but this is; all, the same piece is rarely
heard a second time, and there is no intelligible score available at which the
foreigner can refresh his memory. So the thing passes it has brightened a ;

few moments of the evening, and has fulfilled the end for which it was created.
But the science of its creation, the dexterous skill of its execution, pass
unheeded, or, if noticed hastily, are as speedily forgotten. To the Western
musician there is another serious impediment to the spontaneous appreciation
of this Koto music in the absence of strongly marked and regular accent.
"
It flows on the even tenour of of interpolated
its way, graces," full of
full

but the accent falls a little

quaint "accidentals," full of curious rhythm,
promiscuously, and our notion of regular time is apt to be not a little shocked.
And yet, strange to say,
it appears perhaps to be strangest thing of all
the;

when one discovers it, the music is built upon a regular scheme of "two-four"
time, and the necessity of keeping time is dinned into the pupils as remorselessly
in the Japanese as in the Western schools.

~-^.There are then classical compositions, as well as popular songs, in modern

Koto music. The songs are not Jittered by formal rules, but there is KoioMuxic.
a strong tendency to run to eight-bar phrases. The classical compositions are
IP
34 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

most rigid rules. They are divided into two classes dan and
subject to the
:

" "
knmi. The dan steps are progressive studies without singing, built on

leading themes, increasing gradually

in complexity. The number of the steps
" "
varies from five to nine :thus there are pieces named Go-dan," Roku-dan"
" "
"
Shic/ii-dan," Hachi-dan," Ku-dan" the five, six, seven, eight, and nine
" Each dan is of bars, two crotchets to the bar.
steps." composed fifty-four
" "
The Kami are songs with elaborate accompaniments, the parts corresponding
with the verses of the poem they also are built on leading themes, giving
;

"
the effect of airs with variations." There are four verses at least, but
generally a greater number. Each verse is divided into eight sections, and
each section into eight bars the length of the parts, sixty-four bars, is thus
;

greater than the length of

the dan.\ The bars are called hyoslii, like the bars
of the Chinese music, and, as I have said, though our ears do not catch it
at once, except for an occasional rubato passage, time is kept rigidly throughout
the performance. Directly, indeed, the original intimate connection between
the two music is realised, it becomes evident that, however the
classes of

Japanese offspring may have wandered from the austere courses of its Chinese
parent, it could never shake itself free of the rigid time principle which
characterised its ancestor a void formlessness, which we are so apt to imagine
:

the leading feature of Japanese music, was the very last thing which was likely
to come over it. I reserve, until I have described the Drums, a fuller ex-

planation of Chinese time.

The story of the rise of this modern Koto music takes us back through
some few centuries, to the time when angels and the higher powers were wont
to visit the islands of Japan.
Among the many things which stand out of the haze of time more or less

distinctly there is one

interesting point very much in doubt: Which of the
many forms of the Chinese Kin, or Koto, came first to Japan, and the manner of
its coming. The Sd-no-kolo is the one now in use in the Bugaku orchestra but ;

a more cumbersome instrument, the Hitsu-no-koto, is

pointed to as the one which
first came over the seas so delicate a matter can be decided
;
only by the
researches of Japanese experts. The current story, given even by the sober-
minded and accomplished Yamada Ryu in his "Short Outlines of the So-no-
koto and its Music," surrounds the
coining of the instrument with clouds, and
mountain-tops, and lovely ladies.
There was in old time more
particularly, in the reign of the Emperor
Temmu, 673 A.D. a Court lady, the Lady Ishikawa Troko, who, for her
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. :;:>

Origin f the Koto health's sake, had left Imperial service for awhile to
the
reside in Kinshiu. Wandering one day on the slopes of the
mountain Hikosun to gather flowers, her footsteps strayed or a soft influence

crept over her brain directing her footsteps far into the recesses of the
mountain. Strains of a strange unknown music floated through the air, and
led her at length to their source, a glade, where sat
sedately a Chinese musician
playing on the So-no-koto. Him she at first imagined to he a. deity, so
unconscious was he of her presence, so sweet the sounds he drew from the
vibrating .strings. But presently, when the music ceased, he saw that she had
come whom he had desired should come. Then lie spoke to her, seeing that
she should convey his soft message to the people, telling her all the secrets
and the mystery of his art. And as the days went by her lingers began to
stray over the strings, at first, aimlessly, impelled only by a feminine curiosity,
but afterwards, with more purpose, as they yielded to the master's guidance.
And the weeks and the months went by, until her skill was perfected, and her
store of learning was complete. Then she descended from the mountain,
bearing with her the Koto of the spell. But when she sought again the place
wherein all this wonder had been wrought, lo the grove; and its musician had
!

vanished, and a cloud onlv rested where it had stood. Truly therefore the
Lady Ishikawa's first thought was the true one: the musician was a God indeed.
Her descendants taught this music to many people, even down to the reign
of Gotoba the Emperor, at the end of the twelfth century, when it was known
" " "
as Tisiiktiis/il-ffaktt Kiushin music." So potent was it that it flourished
still among all classes down to the reign of Gonara the Emperor, in I'rll A i>.

A which I liavc not been able to unravel. The date of the Lady
difficulty occurs here
Ishikawa's mountain Hikosan roughly coincides witli the date given by other
visit to the
historians of the advent of Chinese music and the construction of the Musical Bureau. The
story of the mountain may therefore be the legendary form of the history of the coming; of
this music. Tsukushi-ffnku, however, is mentioned as something quite distinct from the
Sngaku and Bugaku music. Although all traces of it have been lost, it seems probable that
a form of solo music for the So-no-Koto did exist in China, and that it came over to Japan
at about the same time as the orchestral and dance music.

At Hizen were very accomplished musicians, and a

this time the priests of
short genealogy of priestly master and neophyte pupil brings us to the coming of
the young priest Hosui, of the Zentdji Temple in Chikugo, to Yedo, in the reign
of the Emperor Gomizu-no-o, in 1012. He daily delighted audiences of rank
and fashion, and the fame of his rplaying went abroad. It reached
Rise nf Yatwh whi.
the ears of Yaimmimi of Oshu, a blind Biwa player of repute,
30 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

who had already received the degree of "Koto." Eagerly the blind musician
and sat at Hosui's feet. The master became the
journeyed to the Eastern capital,
voting priest's pupil,
and \vlr;n the stores of his learning were exhausted, went to
Hizen to learn of Ho.sui's master, Genjo. Thence returning to Yedo a perfect
"
Tsukushi-gaku musician, he received the second degree of Kengyo," and took
the name Yatsuhashi and he afterwards became the father of the modern
;

Japanese Koto music,

and the inventor of the Japanese Koto. The Txukushi-
"
galtu is described as being very high class and solemn."
Yatsuhashi, though
a profound admirer, yet thought that might give place occasionally to some-
it

tiling lighter
and more melodious, and that he might obtain a wider audience
among the people. He gave his thought shape in the kuini which he gradually
elaborated. For subjects he went to the famous romances of the period, the "Ise
"
Monogatari" and the Genji Mbnogatari," composing thirteen pieces: "one for
each month and one over for leap-month," or "one for each string," according
to the fancy. Within a very short time the grace of the new music appealed
successfully to the popular taste, and many kumi were composed by Yatsnhashi's
pupils,
who were
then, by the rules of the profession, admitted to the honour of
founding a house of musicians.
In the meantime Hosui had become a layman, still teaching the Koto,
under the name ot'Kashiwaya. His former pupil, Yatsuhashi, then an old man,
became his master, and an intimate friendship sprang up between them, Hosui
adding many kiuni to their joint repertoire. The master attained to the highest
proficiency, taking the third degree of" Soroku." He then elaborated a second
series of compositions of a more severe kind, called at the time " S/iin-kyoku"-
the "new pieces": the dan, to which reference has already been made. Yatsu-
hashi's chief pupils through several generations were Kitajima, Kurahashi,
Mutsuhashi, Yasumura, Hisamura, Ishi/aka, Ikuta, and Yamada Ryu the most
famous of them, who set down in his book what he remembered of his master's
teaching. They all received the degree of Kengyo. Yatsuhashi's energy was not
exhausted by his compositions he turned his attention to making improvements
;

in the Koto, insisting chiefly on the selection of hard kiri wood

(Pawllonia
Imperialis] for the sounding-board, and on its being thoroughly seasoned. His
earliest attempts he christened '' " "
"Akikiri Koto the Anturnn-mist Koto; and
" " "
Matsu-nami" the
Murmuring of the Pines Koto. From these afterwards
developed the two forms of Koto now in use. The " Iknta-koto," so called from
the name of its Ikuta, a pupil of the second generation from the
originator,
master. and extremities are covered with much inlay and
Its sides
lacquer
ornament; but these are banished in the " Yaniada-koto " of Yamada Ryu. In
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 37

this instrument the eye is gratified only by the beautiful graining of the
natural wood, a thing delighted in by the purest Japanese taste; only
occasionally a little severe gold ornament being permitted along the sides. The
Yaitiada-koto is used by all professionals, as it has a clearer and more resonant
tone than the more delicately built Ikuta-koto, which, though prevalent in the
west of Japan, is used in the east almost entirely by lady amateurs. ^Like the
Kin, the Koto is fantastically
supposed to be a dragon, symbolical of all that is
noble and precious, lying on the sea-shore, holding such sweet converse with the
waves that the angels come to sit and listen by his side. And so the Oriental,
his mind and fond of quaint conceits, has given many curious names to
full

the parts of the instrument in accordance with this mythical idea. The upper
surface is the dragon's back; the under surface his of the
belly.^The upper part
side is the sea-shore o-lso ;
the lower, ko-iso, the lesser shore. The oval of tortoise-
shell at the right end of the upper surface is the sea nmi ; the long bridge at
the right end, the dragon's horn ryokaku; the long bridge at the left end, the
horn of cloud, or the angel's seat temmiju. The angular projection at the right
end is the dragon's forked tongue ryo no shita ; the other end, kashiwaba, his
tail. The cavity at the right end of the under surface is the "hidden moon"
"
inr/etsii ; and that at the left end, marigata, the bowl-shaped place."

Note on Japanese Musical Decrees.

Special encouragement was offered to the blind to obtain proficiency in music, the house
of Yoshida, of the Imperial Household, being empowered to confer on them ranks or degrees.
The degrees were three Koto, Kcngyo, Si/roku, about ten years elapsing between the grant of
;

each. a degree had to be supported by a recommendation from those in the

The claim for
same profession that the candidate was worthy of the honour: as a mark of great honour
and esteem the suggestion would often be m-ide in the first place b3' the profession. A sub-
scription was generally made among the pupils for the necessar)- expenses and the fees, which
were 100 yen, 200 yen, and 1000 yen, for the three degrees respectively. Then came the
pilgrimage to Yedo, the ceremonial presentation of the candidate, the payment of the money,
three or four months of somewhat unnecessary delay, a refusal of the degree being unheard
of, and, lastly, the information that the degree had been conferred, and that the money had
been paid into the Imperial Treasury.
Blind "pin-prickers" shared with musicians in the three degrees just mentioned. The
title of Shojo, or Daijo, was also conferred on musicians who were not blind, Shinto priests,

high-class fortune-tellers, and cake makers the rank was equivalent to Third Governor, and
;

was conferred in connection with the name of a town, much in the same way as English
titles arc granted. would run thus: Inouye Harima no Shojo the Shojo Inouye of
A title

Harima ;
Takemoto Chikugo no Daijo the Daijo Takemoto of Chikugo. A connection
:J8 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

between the person ennobled and the place of his title was not essential. The whole business
of conferring titles on professional men, except those who were recommended by the Shogun,
was in the hands of the Yoshida family, a monopoly granted to them by the Emperor.
Monopolies formed the chief source of income of many of the Court nobles till the system
was abolished at the time of the Restoration. Tims the teaching of the So-no-koto was
entirely in thehands of the house of Yotsn Tsuji: the teaching ofthe Biwainthat of Fushimi,
a prince ofthe blood singing in that of Jimyoin. All certificates of proficiency, without which
;

no teacher could exercise his profession, were signed by the head of the house holding the
monopoly, and in many cases he himself would conduct the examinations. Other monopolies
not connected with the subject in hand were the right to grant to football players the
distinction ofwearing lilac strings to their hats, yested in the house of Sakai and to falconers
:

lilac tassels for their falcons who had caught a crane. In the house of Takakura was vested

the sole right of initiating into the mystery of Court dressing those who approached the

Imperial presence.

Although the Koto is the nation;!! instrument, the Samisen is the instrument
of the people. It is played by ladies of high and low decree, chiefly T/mSnmi-cn.

perhaps by those whose crest is the butterfly. A momentary pause in a

peculiar thrumming, to which, with its accompaniment of weird nasal sounds,

the ear soon gets accustomed in Japanese streets, tells you that the beggar is
going her rounds and lias received her dole many doles make one penny a ;

delicate tinkling in the air you pass an open window tells you that the yeix/ia
a.s

her
is busy practising for evening's entertainment many practising^ go to one
live minutes' entertainment The Samisen figures everywhere and on every
occasion ;
it
accompanies dancing, acting, singing, hegging, eating, drinking,
everything almost except pr.iying, and that is the smallest of exceptions. The
sound is curiously complex, a mixture between thrumming and tinkling in
"
"Looking Glass" language, thrinkling.'' The haclii, or plectrum, with its
sharp pointed edges, strikes the strings with a downward and outward motion,
hut it meets the parchment face of the body first, a drum sound before
making
the string vibration is heard. When it forms part of the Chamber quartettes,
in company with two Kotos and Kokyu, this drumming first attracts attention,
the delicate twang of the strings seeming to come from some fifth and invisible
instrument. It more often than not doubles the
Kokyu part, but occasionally
has more difficult passages written for it.

The Samisen is
supposed to have come to Japan, about loGO, from Liu Chin,
where was used more as a children's
it
toy than as a serious musical instrument.
To this dignity it was advanced by the P>iwa players, who found it a more
port-
able instrument than their own, and was firsl used for ihc"Jontri-
accompanying
 THE MUSK OF THE JAPANESE. 39

bnshi." History has preserved to us the names of the earliest players Naka-
nokoji and his pupil Torasawa, and later, in the Keicho era, 1590 A.D Sawazumi, ,

who was a master of the Ko-uta and other offshoots of the " Joruri Monogatari."
Sawazumi settled in Osaka; his two pupils, Kagaichi and Johide, came ultimately
to Yedo, where they created a great sensation with the new instrument so great,
indeed, that the chroniclers say that the second degree of Kengyo, with the names
Yanagawa and Yamahashi, were "granted" to them. The remission of the
customary fees due to the noble house of Yoshida, is, however, not recorded.
Yamahashi Kengyo is modern Samisen players: he gave
regarded as the father of
the instrument the name 8'in sen -"three strings," which was afterwards con-
"
verted into the three-character word Sa-mi-sen, or three tasteful strings.
Another but rather doubtful theory is that the instrument existed in Japan in the
fifteenth century, at the time of the Ashikaga dynasty. It is probable, however,
that it was in use in China during the twelfth century, and thence travelled to
Liu Chin. The belly was originally covered with snake's skin, and it was
strung with two strings only, the third being added by one Ishimura.
The Kokyu, the Japanese Fiddle, the last of the trio of Chamber instru-
ments, came from Hindustan to China; thence it travelled through The iMyu.

Liu Cluu to
Japan. having been originally
It is described in the Encyclopaedia as

used by the southern barbarians to ward off the attacks of venomous reptiles on
account of its mournful tone. Originally the bow was a miniature long archery
bow, with one stout string; it is now made of a loose bundle of horsehair, two
feet and a half long. Unlike the fiddle of the West, the Kokyu fulfils no
function of any importance with regard to Japanese music it is used only to :

emphasise the melody or important phrases in the Chamber quartettes, and

but seldom, if ever, as a solo instrument. Indeed, the position in which the
instrument is played, and the cumbersome bow with its heavy swaying tassel,
prevent the execution of any elaborated passages.
The player, as in the case of
all other instruments, sits on the floor, with the Kokyu resting on its metal spike

in front of the left knee. This spike serves as a pivot, enabling the instrument
to be turned in order that the outer strings may be pulled clean. It is not

often that one hears it well played but in the hands

;
of a professional the best
instruments give forth a sweet and somewhat plaintive tone: all the notes on the
doubled upper strings, though very delicate, are exceedingly penetrating. It is
curious to note that the loose bundle of horsehair is as capable of making the
sound float off the string as the tight-strung Western bow, and without the
It is, indeed, not the least remarkable extimple
slightest suspicion of scratching.
of the topsy-turviness of things in general out in the East.
40 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

The capabilities of the

instrument have, as I have said, never been realised,
and the reason is not far to seek. In the first place, the teaching knows nothing
" the fingering is learnt entirely by rote. The pupil sits
whatever of positions ;"

facing the teacher, and must copy the motions of her hand and fingers. With
so crude a method of teaching its difficulties being recognised by a fee being-

charged which is double that for teaching the Koto the playing must inevitably
become untrue added to which, it is often careless. But, in the second place,
;

the diatonic scale is not known as such in Japanese music. Any instrument
which capable of producing the complete scale, of which only a selection of
is

notes is used, is rather like a hand with two fingers paralysed they get in the :

way, and so do the nnfingered portions of the Kokyu strings.

The shows the trio of Chamber instruments. It is called in
illustration
"
Japanese Sankyo-ku awase mono" "three instruments in harmony." It is

generally heard at private parties, the instrument being often played by amateur
ladies of high rank. At public entertainments a second Koto is usually
added,
One other instrument heard often enough too often I have not
.TipineteSinyiiic,. ventured
describe, nor shall
to venture: the human voice.
I

Words would fail me were to attempt to do justice to its peculiarities.

I It is
mere horrid sound, disfigured by excruciating quarter-tones. Nor have I
ever found a Japanese express any admiration for it. It is accepted and
tolerated. But again there comes uppermost that perplexing query, how the
curious mixture of sweet and unsweet sounds has been suffered to endure.
Though there are
miny directions to the singer of Joruri which I give in a
note and produce as sweet a sound as possible, not to sing coarsely, not
to try

to strain the voice, and not to make grotesque grimaces, to live

soberly and
temperately, for "bad conduct spoils both the character and the voice"; yet
"
"smooth and sweet singing never has any one heard in Japan. Therefore let
the voice pass. Not so, however, the " quarter-tones." They are an integral part
of the singing, and have to be produced
correctly. Corresponding as they do
with those produced on the Flute and rlichiriki,
they are probably of Chinese
origin. It has been supposed that they are real notes and form part of the scale ;

but, the books, so far as 1 have been able to ascertain, throwing no light on the
matter, I can -hardly accept this hypothesis. Indeed, I doubt if they are real
notes at all. It is convenient to use the term '

quarter-tone," but more

accurately it i's a slur up to the note through the tones contained in a quarter-
tone, without any emphasis on the first tone. The quarter-tone sound is used,
but so are all the intervening sounds, as in a " slide " on a
violin, and therefore,
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 41

like the
"
although, slide," the slur has to be produced correctly and with a
certain art, yet it seems impossible to treat the
quarter-tones as forming one
of the definite series of notes on which the music is built.

Instructions for Samisen Players when performing Joruri.

[From the work on music by Miyakoji Biingo, the inventor of the B\in go-bush (.]

The performer should sit with his knees apart and in a straight line, the bookstand in
front of him, and his head just level with the kendai the bookstand, and neither bent down
nor with his chin too much in the air. When seated he should take his fan out of his obi,
and place it horizontally across the book, moving it as he turns the pages one after the other.
He must not do anything ugly, and therefore he should avoid too much motion he should ;

not force his voice in singing, and should refrain from making grotesque grimaces. Thus
only will he be able to sing smoothly and sweetly. This is called zashiki-sadfimi', or the
method for determining the position of the body.
Next comes choshi-sadame, or the determination of the tone of the voice, which must
vary in loudness or softness accordingto the size of the room. Therefore when the musician
enters the room he should at once take a mental measurement of it, and determine on this
matter immediately.
Next comes hyoshi-uchi, the rule of emphasis. The singer should mark the time with his
fan (hydshi'Ogi). He should avoid too much emphasis, but, thinking only of the circumstances
of the song, let his mouth and heart work together and guide his hand.
Next comes ishoku-sfishi, the consideration of the rank. The singer should accommodate
his voice to the character of the
person about whom he sings, whether it be a hero, for example,
or a woman. Thus, if he sings of a priest he should be priest-like ;
or if of a woodcutter he
should simulate his voice, and so forth.
Next comes choshi-omoi, the consideration of the tuning. Now although our Sfiiiiistm
has only three strings, yet all the twelve sounds are there and to be played upon them. So
the player ought to take deep consideration of all these twelve sounds.*
Next comes onsci-tashimi, the preparation of the voice in the chest, by opening the lungs.
Now every phrase may be sung in two breaths yet the singer must not avail himself of this
;

rule and sing coarsely. He ought to try and produce as sweet a sound as possible, which
can only be done by keeping the body in its proper position, So while singing he must not
bow too much, but let the voice come from the chest. No human voice has a sound higher
than fusho. Therefore straining to produce higher sounds .such as iisho must be avoided.
This is called uragoc the production of bad sounds.

* The twelve sounds

are the twelve Chinese ritsu or semitones. This direction puzzles me somewhat; it may
refer to one of two things, either to the pitch, as to which there is no special direction if this does not refer to it :

or to the tuning of the instrument, whether honclujxhi, niatjari, or mmmgari. It is quite possible, however, that it
refers to both : that the singer is to be careful to select the right tuning f< >r the music, lest it should miss any of its
due effect by not getting the proper open notes and he must be direful, too, to pitch it so as not to strain his
;

voice.
42 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Next comes kwaigo-no-ben, the consideration of opening and closing the mouth, so as
to avoid a slovenly pronunciation of the words.
Opening the mouth is the male principle it is equivalent to spring and summer it is ryo.
;
:

Shutting the mouth is the female principle; it is equivalent to autumn and winter: it is ritsu.
If inthesongs which are to be sung
Finally comes sckijo, the consideration ofthe audience.
any fact mentioned which would be unpleasant for any ofthe audience to hear, it should
is

be omitted or altered; and if any name is referred to which corresponds with the name of
any person present, it should be changed, so that anything that might appear to be a per-
sonal reference may be avoided.
Finally, a singer should be temperate, drinking little, and of quiet sober conduct in his
every-day life, for bad conduct spoils both the character and the voice.

A Table for the Production of Sounds Kivaigo-no-ben.

The Chinese characters used for musical sounds were number:
five in

kyTi, sho knku chi or cho u

but they are not simple sounds, and are more like syllables. Therefore the simpler kana
sounds are used : a i u c o
"
These are called go-sei, or go-in the fivevoices," and these with different consonants pre-
fixed are used for the formation ofthe voice according to the following table, the sounds of
which are called the gojn-in the " fifty voices":

a
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 43

I fear that, from what I have said on the subject of the singing of the
Japanese, there is but one conclusion that the Japanese musician is not a very
:

musical person. I am not sure that this is capable of And yet music
disproof.
isused to accompany almost every incident of daily life that is in the least out
of the common. I do not think that it could ever so move this light-hearted
people as music stirs the people of the West. There is no evidence that Japan-
ese music has ever occupied so high a position. Scattered through all their
" "
Myriad Leaves there is but a verse now and again which is due to its
influence. And, withal, there is a strangely romantic side to their nature which
impels the utterance of tender nothings to tender flowers, which, when their
petals fly off upon the wind, are nothings too which makes them think with a
;

momentary sadness on the mutability of human affairs and the uncertain flowing
of the currents of existence which makes them dwell the longer with
;
appreciat-
ing glances and soft words of delight on some small speck of beauty hardly
coming within the Western visual angle. And so their music lias been fostered
only to give an hour or half's delight, to make a maiden blush or gently smile,
and "so to bid good-night."
The Japanese And have to add one more to the many paradoxes which a study
I
Musicians.
O f ^] ie coun ti-y' s customs reveals. All the musicians have an acutely
sensitive ear. The tuning of any stringed instrument needs something more
than mere practice its demands the harmonic sense in great perfection. The
:

Koto, with its thirteen moveable bridges, is probably the most difficult of all in-
struments under the sun, both to tune and to keep in tune. Yet the tuning is fault-
less, and during the playing the slightest flaw is detected immediately the left hand,
;

busy as it always is in producing the grace notes and accidentals which abound
in all
compositions of any degree of difficulty, still finds time to be perpetually
correcting the minutest errors due to the inevitable slipping of the bridges.
Yet the training is far from perfect: there is no general grounding in intervals
such as the Western pupil must go through, only the special instruction in the
actual intervals necessary to the tuning. Knowledge of the interval between two
strings, and of its position in the sequence of intervals in the tuning, is acquired
by constant practice. The process of tuning the 7th and <Sth strings of Hirajoshi
on the Koto would be indicated by the following diagram the 5th and tith :

strings being supposed to be already tuned, the player proceeds thus :

7th String.

3j i
1 1
44 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

In tuning the upper strings, the octave strings are alway struck in the same
way. But I think that neither the constant practice nor the reiteration
for the extreme accuracy which is
of given interval is sufficient to account
any
noticeable on all sides, without the addition of the natural gift of the perfect
musical ear.
A child destined for the musical profession which is composed chiefly of
women and blind men begins to learn the Koto when
four years old, and it is

continues hard at work to the age of fourteen, by which time all the elementary
tunes have been learnt. In order to accomplish this result, when Murieal Edvcat'um.
the child is eight years old, or thereabouts, every day and all day is devoted
to the work. This ceaseless devotion to study of the grindstone order is
characteristic of all Japanese professions, and has produced that
the old

extraordinary mechanical dexterity for which the nation is famous. "Ten

"
hours a day for ten years is the initial routine of drudgery both for the painter
and the musician it brings the students to the threshold of their professions,
;

furnished with an accuracy which is never afterwards shaken off: it has become
their second nature. It has, indeed, done more except in the case of genius of
:

a high order it has crushed the first nature with its abundant gifts out of exist-
ence ninety out of every hundred artists and musicians, when the years of study
;

have run their course, have become the merest mechanics. Means to achieve
the required end are unknown the end itself is studied, and is achieved by con-
;

tinued repetitions. In music, scales and exercises, studies, and all the paraphernalia
with which the pupil armed in the West, do not exist. In painting, straight
is

lines and curved

lines, shaded cubes and spheres, the "grounding" of drawing, are
never learnt. Just as the strokes which make the head, the breast, and the
wing of the flying bird are learnt from the master, as he learnt from his master,
who had it from the master who first invented them, so the passages of a musical
composition, with their phrasing and their graces, are learnt directly from the
teacher as tradition has handed them down to him. And as the methods in
music and art are exactly parallel, so also are the results. A new musical com-
position is as rare as a new subject among the old school of painters. Two new
compositions in the course of a year is
probably an over-estimate of the rate of
production anything ;
else that appears being nothing more than a, potpourri of
old and well-worn phrases.
The course of instruction divided into four stages at the end of each a
is ;

diploma is
granted. These diplomas were formerly only granted by teachers
who had received one of the degrees Koto, Kengyo, or Soroku but latterly any ;

of the male teachers have been allowed to

grant them. The female teachers,
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 45

who have largely increased in number since the Restoration, are not allowed to
grant the diplomas. A
school is visited once every three months by the teacher's
former master, and the granting of diplomas rests with him.
The diploma examination is a interesting little ceremony.
curiously
In a small room in a very small house a crowd of twenty or The Em m inti<m.
thirty persons are assembled, pupils, parents, friends. The mistress sits before
her Koto, and in front of her six or seven Kotos are ranged one behind the
other, step-wise, so as to leave the "above-bridge" space of each instrument
clear: and there sit demurely the little maid musicians. Behind them again
the Samisen and the At the upper end of the room sits the
Kokyu pupils.
blind professor with his Koto in other nooks and corners the audience and the
;

smaller pupils, who will presently play their little pieces separately. There is
a pause in the day's occupation one of those intervals of busy silence which
play so important a part in the life of a Japanese day. Presently the door
slides back, and a late comer enters. Is there, indeed, room for her ? Yes, and
to spare. She brings a tiny packet done up in paper, and tied witli red and
white string, which she hands to the school-mistress with a low bow. It is
received with a lower bow and put away unopened in a mysterious
cupboard.
It is the fee for tuition ; something miserably small to make so much fuss
about one yen for a month may-be, she is going to receive her diploma,
; or,
and this is the present-fee therefor. Then with many bows and smiles she finds
her place upon the floor. By-and-bye the silence is again broken the mistress ;

" " "

says what tune is to be taken next. It is Roku-dan the tune in six
"
parts which it is the ambition of all the little maids to play perfectly. The
professor strikes the first string the pupils adjust the ivory tsume on their
;

fingers and begin to tune. The blind man listens, striking the note on his Koto
occasionally to help listens patiently, immovably, but with acute sensibility
written on every line of his intelligent face, while the teacher points out the

pupils who are still out of tune. At length the professor is satisfied. Then
comes the second an easy falling fifth from the dominant to the tonic,
string,
if my analysis of the scale should prove correct. All the pupils know this
interval well the professor tunes his last, verifying what they have done.
;
And
so from the second to the third, the third to the fourth, till a slow sweep over
all of them the thirteen are in perfect tune, and the blind listener is
tells that

satisfied. Finally, with the privilege which their degrees permit, the professor
and the mistress lower the first string an octave, a dignity which fills some of the
listeners with awe, and with an ambition that by-and-bye they may be permitted to

do likewise. Then all being thus patiently made ready, the piece begins ;
first in
46 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

six parts, the divisions in-

solemn cadences, gradually quickening through the
first and second strings, till it
dicated by a slight pause and a forte beat on the
works up' to a quick time. And through the parts the leading ideas are woven
in the meshes of a hundred graces and quaintnesses,
which the Western stave
will not hold, in the ripple of beats on two strings,
and sweeps, and ^Eolian
slides,and " waves and going," with a skill worthy perhaps of a better cause
coming
but woven with a constructive skill of a
and more perfect, fuller-toned instruments,
hio-h order a skill which reveals a purpose distinctly followed
:
to the end. At hist
the time slackens, gradually, as befits a close: a long sweep ending with a weird
the Japanese cadence, then the final note long
vibratory sharp long-suspended,
dwelt on heads are bent over the Kotos
:
the performance: is over. The professor
attention has been almost painfully acute but he has no
expresses satisfaction his
;
;

the teacher points out one or two places where greater

grave faults to find ;

accuracy is necessary, one or two pupils

who need more practice. And then a
child of five, whose arm? are hardly long enough to reach across the Koto, toddles
out of the crowd, puts minute tmmv on her fingers, and, with the help of mother
sitting beside her, goes through
her little performance, and receives her little
meed of praise and encouragement.
A "ir! should be ready to receive her first diploma two years after she has
the regular course that is to say, when she
passed the infantile stage and begun
is about eleven or twelve. By that time she has learnt to tune her Koto, and to
play accurately about a dozen pieces. Many do not go beyond this, but are
content to become the ordinary musicians of the tea-houses but for those who ;

intend to become regular professionals, many and great difficulties lie beyond.
On receiving the first diploma -ornate no yuriishi, the "front license" five yen
ispaid to the teacher, together with a present of seki-han boiled rice The Diplomas
mixed with a small red bean. A present of seki-kan is also made to the fellow-
pupils. The more wealthy pupils give a dinner instead of the rice and bean
"
present. The course includes H'dotsutoya" the counting song, or New Year's
" " "
song; Sn ita Snkurai the Song of the Blooming of the Cherry-trees," and
a great number of easy pieces ;
also a certain number of more complicated ones
"
kiitnl, such as " Umvgae the "Sang of the Plum-branch "; and ends with
"
Rokudan." During course, the fees paid for the tuition are: for the
this first

Koto, one yen a month ;

Kokyu or Samisen, by reason of the greater
for the
trouble in teaching and learning, two yen a month. These instruments, by the
way, would obviously be much easier than the Koto, both for the teacher and
the taught, if a better system of teaching were employed.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 47

The second course begins with Kumo no uye no kyoku " the " Song of
"
"
the Clouds "; and ends with Alidare"" Confusion." The pupil learns the
"
second principal tuning Kumoitlie Cloud-tuning," so named from the "Song
of the Clouds," which is the first piece learnt in it;
and also the subordinate
modulating tuning Han-kumoi. At the end of the
course, the second diploma
is granted naka no yurushi, the " intermediate licence," or ura no yurushi, the
" rear
licence." The payment to the teacher for this diploma is eight yen, with
the presents of rice and beans, or the dinner, as before.
The rigidity of Japanese professional rules is well illustrated by the fact
that it would be impossible for a foreigner to obtain any instruction in the
pieces
written in the kumoi tuning until he had been through the regular course, and
was entitled to receive the first diploma.
The third course begins with " Go-dan " the "five-grade tune" and
"
ends with " Shuyen no kyoku the "Song of the Banquet." The third prin-
cipal tuning Iwato is learnt, and also the subordinate modulating tuning
Gosagari-rokuagari. At the end of the course, the third diploma is granted oku
no yurushi the "innermost licence" the fee for which is fifteen yen, with the
rice presents, or dinner, as before. When this diploma has been obtained, the
first string of the Koto may be lowered an octave in all the tunings.

In this fourth and last course pieces of great difficulty are studied, and
the remainder of the subordinate tunings are learnt. It begins with "Oylno
" "
kyoku" the "Song of the Fan and ends with Hiyen no kyoku." the
"
Song of the Flying Swallows." When this course is finished a fee of
twenty yen is paid to the teacher for a sign-board, and permission to use the
teacher's name. The pupil then becomes a professional, and is allowed to
start a school on her own account. The use of the teacher's name corresponds
to the "grant of one character" among artists."
Aceremony of a peculiarly Japanese character used to be performed
when this dignity was reached by men. The new professor, with his fellow-
pupils, his friends, and his master, journeyed to the island of Enoshima.
The Koto was borne by the pupils in procession across the stretch of sand
which connects the rock with the mainland, up the village steps and the
steep mountain-path, then down by the other side to the sea-lapt rocks and
caves. Therein, in the darkness, before the tiny shrine at its furthest end,
the latest ornament to the profession played the melody named after the
island; and in the low reverences with which his former comrades greeted his
performance he received the public recognition and approval of his admission.
This ceremony was last performed by Mr. Yamato, only fifteen years ;igo.
48 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

In the foregoing pages two points seem to be perpetually recurring the

executive skill of the musicians, and the existence of something in the music
itself which shows the attentive listener that it is not void and formless, but is

the product of a well-considered, though somewhat inextensive and inexpensive

The Hereditary science. On the fii'st I must still dwell for a space before I
ikefrmicLns. to deal with the music and
proceed the instruments in greater
detail.

have already introduced my little friends the Koto players at their work.
I
Their industry is but the traditional industry of the whole race of Japanese
musicians, and in the old days not merely traditional, but hereditary. In the

city which surrounded the Palace, in the village which encircled the Temples,
there was to be found not one Flute player, nor one Sho player, nor one Koto

player, but whole families :of Flute players who had received the traditions of

lipping and the mysteries of quarter-tones from their fathers, and who were
already busy passing them on to their sons of Sho players who, in like manner,,
:

were handing down the rules of the difficult fingering and the art of producing
the gentle inhalations which alone can make the most delicate of instruments

speak true of Koto players who were training youthful ears, as their own
:

had been trained, in the knowledge of fourths and fifths and octaves, youthful
fingers to the production of sharps and graces. From father to son this
traditional knowledge had been handed down from father to son the process
;

would have continued far as human thought can stretch, if if that had
not happened which so abruptly changed the current of the nation's history,
and twisted it into a channel where the waters must run swiftly, and in
which the slow smooth progress of tradition was impossible. These present
days are too new indeed for the influence of old Japan to have been entirely
shaken off, the instincts of the traditions too deeply set to be quickly killed.
And so we find in many cases thai the dancers and musicians of to-day
are the descendants, the lineal inheritors of the traditions of some
lineal
far-distant ancestor, the inventor of a dance, the singer of a song that has not

yet lost its power to please. The old Biwa player who made the "Phoenix-
summer evening as he sang of the hero who, armed
voiced one "discourse to us one
cap-a-pie, dashed with his charger into the sea to the rescue of his comrades,
and was held by his foes too valiant to be slain, claimed a descent from
one who had
learnt from another, and so for a series right up to
Ichibotoke, himself of the tribe and lineage of the Heike clansmen. More than
once in the preceding pages the name has been mentioned of one who, though
his work may-be was not quite sublime, still has followers in his foot-tracks.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 40

through the sands. This hereditary tradition of industry it is that has made the
executive art of the Japanese, without hyperbole, the foremost in the world. If
their music were as taking to Western ears as their art is to Western eyes,

assuredly we should have heard something more of the executive skill of the
musicians. Many who would perhaps admit the existence of this skill, are
disposed to think it wasted because it is devoted to instruments unfamiliar to us,
whose gentle notes are drowned in the echoes of our own gigantic orchestras.
W asted,
T
too, even if its existence be admitted, because it is devoted to a music

perhaps uncongenial to our taste, whose science is lost in the shadow of the
wonderful mystery of the West. But poor though their music be, and thin the
gentle twanging of their strings, this may be maintained against all contradicting
that the executive skill of their musicians is of the first order, and that in this
at least hold the candles
respect, all other things being, alas! unequal, they may
of comparison by the side of their Western fellows ;
and in their blindness, how
great this inequality
is !

Did tenor in the West ever sing to and morning through

waterfalls night
the freezing months of snow ? or Western player play through the dark dawns of
mid-winter till the icicles hung from his Flute; or through the fierce midday
heats of summer till he was literally bathed in the sweat of his brow ? Surely not.
Yet thiswas but a small part of the drudgery of the Japanese Temple musician's
early years. The Kan-yeiko was the winter practice, when he rose at four during
the thirty days of the Kan season January 5th to February 6th and worked
for three hours without even the slender warmth of a hibachi to cheer him and ;

the Gebuki was the summer practice, devised in Kyoto for the special training of

flute-players the word means literally "summer-blowing" lest their yielding

to the heat should mar the grace of summer festivals. And all the year through,
from morning to night, work; three hours' lesson every day, and practice the
rest for as many hours as the day would yield, with a public examination six
times a month.
From the age of ten to fifteen the lessons were confined to the reading of the

Bugaku books, and mastering the difficulties of intonation. At fifteen the hered-
either by the father
itary instrument was taken in hand, instruction being given
himself, or by a member of the orchestra under the surveillance of the father.
Visible progress was effected by the end of three years; after five years the pupil
took a place in the orchestra on the lesser occasions. After the age of twenty-
one, when he had satisfied the local examiners, he was sent to Kyoto to receive
the higher training for two years, in order to qualify for the final certificate of
proficiency, which enabled him to
take his position in the orchestras of the
50 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

public Sogaku and the sacred Aznma-asobi.

At Kyoto instruction was
sought in the schools of the great monopolists, either in the Chinese Biwa, the
Chinese Koto, or in singing, according to the student's fancy. Once in ten years
only the pupils were excused this journey to Kyoto. By Imperial dispensation
a musician was sent from Kyoto to the other Temples, to conduct the examinations
and grant the final certificates. At the age of sixty a pension for long service was
received and the succession devolved on the son. The tradition of the profession
was that if work was begun betimes, proficiency might be reached at thirty
years of age, and extreme skill at forty but by fifty the skill was passing away,
:

audit was time to begin to think of moving off the stage and making room for
others.
The hereditary office of the Temple musicians at Kyoto is of very great
antiquity at Nikko it was founded by lyemitsu, the third Tokugawa Shogun,
;

where, in 1617, he founded the Temple to the memory of his ancestor the first
Hliogun, lyeyasu. In the selection of his musicians from the Kyoto and other
bands, he was assisted, as in all other things, by his chief adviser, the Abbot
Tenkai, named after his death Jugen Daishi, the Temple to whose memory
stands on the wooded summit of a hill overlooking his master's shrine.

Twenty hereditary musicians were established on the new foundation.

"
They were- divided into three classes the Nanto," those who had originally come
:

from Kara, and whose duties were specially connected with the ancient Kagura ;

the "Kyoto," and the " Tamoji," those who had come from Kyoto and Osaka

respectively, and who were specially in charge of the Bugaku performances.

Other music was shared by the three classes equallv.
Their pay was at the rate of thirty-five Icokn of rice annually, paid half in
money and half in kind; and ftu-.hi, a daily allowance of rice for five persons.
Roughly estimated, this was about equivalent to loO yen a year, at that time
amply sufficient for a comfortable livelihood.
Their chief duties consisted of: the occasional performances of the Hi
first,

kyoka the "secret music" in other words, music of the highest class, which
was a sealed book to all who had not obtained the final certificate of
proficiency ;

secondly, the performances of the Bugaku dances which were given on important
"
celebrations; thirdly, the A/mna-asobi," a very sacred dance, the music of
which is said to have been received from heaven by a descendant of Jirnmu
Tenno: it is now performed before the sacred emblems on the two
great festivals
at Nikko. To be included in the orchestra of the " Azuma-asobi " was the
summit of the Temple musician's ambition; thirteen
only out of the twenty
were specially selected, and received extra remuneration in
kind, three hundred
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 51

bags of rice being distributed among them: and lastly, the Sogaku, public per-
formances of orchestral music only, which were held in the Temple on the first,
fifteenth, and twenty-eighth of each month and also on the festivals of the
;

Gosekku, the seventh of the month, the third of the third month, the fifth,
first

seventh, and ninth of the fifth, seventh and ninth months respectively.
If these duties were light the most rigid accuracy was expected in
the performance of them, entailing constant practice during leisure hours.
Recruits to the profession have now to acquire their art as they best
can. The rigour of the old rules is relaxed, and the polished proficiency
which it no longer expected. Temple musicians have fallen on
produced is

evil days: their number reduced, their gorgeous costumes faded, their hats
of black lacquered paper or of quaintly-shaped gauze somewhat battered and
the worse for wear and non-repair, the gold ornament on the heads of the
Slios passing almost out of recognition ; nothing but the long-lived Flutes and
Hichirikis improving as the years pass by; themselves, not endowed with such
perpetual life, withering old men, ekeing out a precarious livelihood, supplement-
ing a pittance of about six yen a month by performing small services in the
Temples and engaging in other trades.
Temple music never greatly appealed an audience was always
to the people;

quite superfluous it was in great part an offering to the Gods who gave it, and
;

was self-sustaining. But in these days, when ancient glories are left to fade, and
there is no money to renew them, and little desire even to repair them, the spirit
of the song has fled, the energies of the musicians hive withered with their

fingers they practise no longer, and their performances

;
have become slovenly
in the extreme. They themselves are full of apologies, something more in their
case than the customary Japanese formula of politeness their shortcom-
;

ings and mistakes must be forgiven, they are quite conscious of them they :

cannot be helped, even though the honourable European who deigns to give them
audience should, as he certainly will this without trace of irony detect them.
 PART II.

THE JAPANESE SCALE

 THE JAPANESE SCALE.
SYNOPSIS.
Current statements as to the nature of the scale Meaning of the
expression "different scale" The scientific ratios Chinese intervals The
"
"hearings" of the scale The fifth of China ami of Pythagoras Tunings"
and "scales" The sequence of notes in the Japanese scale The normal
tuning The gaps in the tuning The two missing notes Harmonizing
Japanese music The double pressures.
Tunings of the Japanese Koto Tunings of the Chinese So-no-koto, and of
the Bugaku-biwa.
" " " "
Hirajoshi and its variations Akt'bono "Kumoi" and its varia-
" " " " " "
tions Han-Kumoi Iwato
San-sagari roku-agari Conclusions as
to the structure of the tunings, and as to the kcvs on which they are based
Pcntatonic character of the music The kcv sequence; principle of the bridge
changes Transposition The equal temperament system of the Japanese
"
Saita-Sakurai " in three keys in string notation, and on the stave.
The Chinese scale : ritsuscn and ryoscn : analysis of the tunings of the
S~t-no-koto.
Pitch Time Harmony Form : the Dan and Kumi of Yatsuhashi ;
" " "
analysis of Umcgae "; analysis of Rokudan "; analysis of Matstmi-
"
kichi" and Kasuga-mode."
General conclusions : the relation of Japanese to Chinese music The
modern music of Japan : general characteristics of the mimic: its intervals
and phrases: its structure.
" " " "
Hitotsu-tova harmonized Saita-Sakurai harmonized.

APPROACH the difficult question of the Japanese scale, or rather the

I expression of the basis of Japanese music in terms of the Western art, with
much diffidence, for two reasons. First, because very positive statements
as to the nature of the scale have already been advanced which I think
need criticism: and secondly, because it is impossible to deal with a question
which is so fundamental in its nature without appearing to dogmatize:
and, although the conclusions at which I have arrived are the result
5fi THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

of as research and examination as I was capable of conducting, I would

much
avoid as far as possible all semblance of dogmatic utterance. The assertion
that the Eastern scale so far resembles the Western, that for all practical

purposes they may be treated as identical is, I think, sufficiently startling;

it could not be advanced otherwise than as my own belief: it must be
for others more deeply versed in the science of music to determine whether
the grounds of that belief are sufficient to warrant it.
"
The first of the statements alluded to is very authoritative. Like the
scale of mediaeval Europe it has for
chief peculiarity a semitone above
its

the tonic." This statement seems to be based on the opinion of a Japanese

expert, Ixawa, which is discussed in the following paragraph.
Mr. But
beyond this, I can find no authority to support the view. If we apply the
ordinary meaning to the terms used, it means that the scale of Japan is not
five-toned; but that there is a diatonic scale, in which the semitones, instead
of occurring as they do in the diatonic scale of the West, between the 3rd
and 4th, and 7th and 8th, fall between the tonic and the 2nd, and the 7th
and 8th. Assuming tbe and fifth strings of the Koto, which are
first

tuned in unison, to be C ,
the sixth string will be I), in the normal tuning

Hirajoshi. I
suppose therefore that is intended to
C$ be the tonic, and
we should get the diatonic scale of Japan composed in the following way :

D, E, G Ajf, Bjf,
C
CJ, FJf,

This is the scale of Cr" minor with

Tf
a flat second. Anv
"
other note taken as
the tonic gives notes
which do not exist in the normal tuning of the Koto ;

aad even this arrangement gives the fourth Koto string as A if instead
of A. And then there are the two notes E and Ett, which are not given
by the open strings, to be accounted for.
The second statement is to be found Mr. Izawa's Report on Musicin

published in 1883. "In the tuning called Hirajoshi, the 1st and oth string,
being in unison, are taken as the Tonic; the 2nd string is tuned as the
Fifth, the 3rd as the Fourth, the 4th as the Third below the tonic, and
the C)th string is the Fourth above the tone last
obtained, or minor Second
from the tonic * #. But if we assume the 2nd string to be the tonic, then the
relations of the several tones will stand in the
following order, which is
essentially
the same as the natural minor scale."
The order of notes referred to is :

GJ, A, CJ, T),

FJ.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 57

In his second assumption, therefore, Mr. Izawa would seem to indicate the
possibility of a similarity between the scales of the East and the West. But his
Report does not follow up the assumption, nor does he examine into the reason
for the large gaps between A and CiJ,
and between D and FfJ.
The weight of
his authority is, as I take it, in favour of taking
Qjt (the first and fifth strings)
as a tonic ;
but whether of a pentatonic, or of a diatonic scale, I am somewhat in
doubt.
Then the broad general statement that the Japanese scale differs
there is

from the European scale, which has passed into a conversational formula. Its

currency has relegated Japanese music to the limbo where all is chaotic has :

helped to stamp it as a concourse of weird sounds, and therefore not worth a

moment's consideration.
Before examining the structure of the scale, it is necessary to determine
what the expression "different scale" really means. This much, think, may I

betaken for granted, that the fact that the same notes recur, though at a different
pitch, as sound gradually rises, is instinctively and universally recognized. It
seems also to have been known universally and at all times, that half the length

of any sound-producing body, whether string, pipe, or wooden tablet, produces

" "
the same note in a higher range, the octave as we call it in the West. The
octave, with the intervening notes, is obviously therefore the basis of all scales,
and the variation in scale will depend on the variation of the intervening notes.
Now, if the sound-distance between the lower and higher notes of the octave be
divided in one system of music into twelve equal parts, and in another system
into thirteen, it is obvious that we have two different sets of notes, two different
chromatic scales, and consequently the diatonic scales of the two systems will
differ radically. Campanology gives us examples of such different scales, and
I believe the octave in the Arab scale is divided into twenty-six notes. If,

however, two systems divide the octave into the same number of notes, and if the
sound divisions are equal, then the notes of the two systems are identical, and
their chromatic scales are identical. The diatonic scales may, however, vary.

This, I know, is most The chromatic scale did not precede

unscientific.

in construction the diatonic scale, but followed it. The octave in the West is
not divided into twelve intervals whose ratios are identical. In the Pythagorean
scale the ratios of multiplied together give more than the ratio
two semitones (I* I)

of the full tone (I) and conversely the square root of the ratio of the full tone
;

gives less than the ratio of the semitone. In the diatonic scale there are both
major tones (I) and minor tones (' 9 ),
and the semitones used between the third
58 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

and fourth, and seventh and eighth (| ),

are larger than the Pythagorean
semitone by a "comma"
(H). And even those who do not much care for ratios

and complicated calculations, will not fail to remember from the earliest years
" black notes " on the Piano do double
of their musical instruction that the

duty for sharps and flats; that and A

Bj?,
for example, are both represented

by the same note which scientifically is neither mathematically, because the

:

result of multiplying the ratio of the preceding interval by the ratio of the
semitone is not identical with the result of dividing the ratio of the succeeding
interval by that semitone ratio.
I introduce this parenthesis to put myself right with science. The point
I wish to emphasize is that for practical purposes these slight differences are

disregarded. For the question of disregarding small differences is important,

because the question now before us is the comparison of Japanese and Western
music from a practical rather than from a scientific point of view. Seeing that
the basis of European music neither the scale of Pythagoras nor the scientific
is

diatonic scale, but the eminently practical equal temperament scale of the Piano,
the question is whether the ratios of the intervals of the Japanese scale are

sufficiently near to the ratios of intervals in the diatonic scale in use in the
West to enable us to disregard whether it is possible to put
the differences :

Japanese music on to the Western staff, and play it on that most scientifically
inaccurate instrument, the Piano, without altering its character very perceptibly.
Reverting to campanology for a moment to illustrate my meaning, it is common
knowledge that it is often quite impossible to put the music of a peal of bells
on to the Piano. Is it the same with Japanese music?

My own experience is that practically these differences may be dis-

regarded, but the idea has been much criticized since I ventured to express it
before the Asiatic Society of Japan in 1891. This criticism has, I think,
rendered necessary a certain amount of rudimentary explanation.
I think that I may now safely revert to my original heresy of the equal
intervals, and to the
convenient idea of treating the diatonic scale as a sequence
of notes selected from the chromatic scale.
Speaking then very broadly, the Chinese scale, from which the Japanese
has descended, is made by dividing the octave into twelve equal intervals, and
so also is the Western scale. These intervals are called in Chinese, ritsu. Prim a
facie, therefore, they correspond to the Western semitones.
The origin of the twelve Chinese ritsu is given, mythological!}', thus "When in the year
:

1000 B.C., Wantai, Emperor of China, established music, he found out the
composition of sound
in the following way. His servant Leyling, who was a natural musician, went one day into
 THE JHUSfC OF THE JAPANESE. 59

a deep glen and cut some bamboo into twelve lengths. He did this because the number 12
governs all human affairs thus there are 12 months, 12 signs, and so forth. On blowing
:

through these pieces of bamboo he found that some had strong sounds like heavenly thunder,
and some were gentle and of a wavelike murmuring, and some were metallic, others wooden,
and others earthy. Then he named them Ichiotsu, Dankin, Hyojo, Shozctu, Kamu, Sojo,
Fusho, Osho, Ranshii, Banshiki, Shinscn,Jomu."

A series of used for determining the sound of the

bamboo Pitch-pipes is

twelve Chinese semitones, but they are scientifically obtained on the thirteen
strings of the Koto from the three fundamental intervals of the fourth, the
fifth, and the falling fourth: or, taking the thirteen strings of the Koto
to represent an octave of semitones, the interval of the fourth will be

represented by an interval of six strings, and that of the fifth, by one of eight
strings, the first and last strings inclusive. The Japanese terms for these
"
intervals are:fun~roku, "the upward six"; jiui-pachi, the upward eight ";
"
gyakur-roku,, the downward six." The addition of the two semitones, or the
intervals between three strings, to jun-roku, which makes jun-pachi, and sub-
traction of them from jun-pnohi to arrive at t/yaku-ro/cii, is called in both cases
saii-bun son-yeki.

The " bearings " of the scale are obtained by tuning the 1st and the (5th
strings to a fourth, the 1st and the 8th to a fifth, the 8th and the 3rd to a

falling fourth: and then the remainder of the notes come by using the fifth and
the falling fourth alternately in the following way :

1st to (5th . fourth jun-roku C to F.

1st ,, 8th . fifth -jun-pachi C G.

8th ,, 3rd .
falling fourth gyaku-roku G ,, D.
3rd loth . fifth jun-pachi D ,, A.
10th ,, 5th .
falling fourth gyaku-roku
- -
A ,,
E.

5th 12th . fifth jun-pachi E B.

12th 7th .
falling fourth gyaku-roku B
7th 2nd .
falling fourth gyaku-roku F$
2nd 9th . fifth Jun-pachi Cjj
Gtt.

9th 4th .
falling fourth gyaku-roku Gj .Ujj;.

4th llth . fifth jun-pacld 1)| ,,

AJj.
llth 6th . fal ling fourth gyaku-roku
-

AjJ F. (Eft.)
[untrue)

6th 13th . fifth jun-pachi F c.

1st 13th . octave C ,,

c.
60 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Here we arrive at a most important stage of our inquiry. We find in the

Japanese scale, first, an octave divided into twelve semitones ; secondly, the
relation of these semitones determined on a principle which is the same as the
" "
familiar principle of the bearings of the Western tuner.
There seems, further, to be no doubt that this system has not been borrowed
from the West, as might be supposed, but has always existed. In the descrip-
tion of the Koto, it has been suggested that the reason why thirteen was finally
determined on as the number of its strings, was to enable all the thirteen notes
to be produced on the open strings of one instrument when they were required.
And as a of testing the tuning of an instrument, a second Koto is often
means
set with its strings tuned to the chromatic scale on this system.
I have so far assumed, for the sake of convenience, that the Eastern
"
intervals jun-roktt, smd jun-pachi are identical with the Western fourth" and
"fifth." This identity must now be tested. We
have very precise evidence
as to how It was given by a string two-thirds of the
the fifth was obtained.

length of the string from which the fifth was to be taken; and this, it need

hardlv be said, is the string-length which gives the perfect fifth of Pythagoras,
and of the diatonic scale. The books, so far as I am aware, do not give the
string-length of fun-roku ; but with jun-pachi established, the task of comparison
is simple.
The falling fourth is obviously used as the fifth inverted, giving the octave
lower than a note actually given by taking the fifth from the last note, in order
to bring the required note within the compass of the octave. Instead, therefore,
of "falling fourths," in the above table, we may substitute fifths, and we get the
complete series of thirteen notes by a continuous succession of intervals, each
represented by a ratio of %, the string-length of each note being two-thirds of
the length of that of the preceding note that is to say, the thirteen notes of the
:

Chinese chromatic scale were obtained in precisely the same way as the thirteen
notes of Pythagoras may be obtained by a succession of perfect fifths. The
reduction of the notes into the octave compass leaves an untrue falling fourth
between the eleventh and sixth strings, the sixth string being already tuned.
We may, therefore, use the Western nomenclature to signify the notes of the
Chinese scale, as they are used for the Pythagorean scale.
"
The
different scale" of Japan, then, if it exists, exists because different
notes have been selected from those which have been selected in
Europe to form
its diatonic scale. From
same chromatic scale it is possible
the to construct

many In Western music there are three

different diatonic scales. in common
use the major, the ascending minor, and the descending minor.
;
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 61

There is, however, one more previous question to be determined : what is

the meaning of the word "scale"? It is a natural and continuous sequence of

sounds. Continuity, or the absence of breaks, is essential. The chromatic scale
is such a sequence. But the ear accepts the tone as a unit of natural progression
just as much as the semitone; that is to say, it does not feel the omission of the
intermediate note. But with larger interval than a full tone it is at once
a

conscious of an omission. A sequencethat has any larger interval than a full

tone is not natural, and does not satisfy the condition which the definition of
"scale" implies; but any .sequence which is composed of tones and semitones
does. If this were not so, not only the six notes of the Koto should be called a

scale, but also the three notes of the Samisen, the three notes of the Kokyu, the
four notes of the Biwa, would be the scales of those instruments respectively ;

this is obviously a misuse of the word. These are tunings, not scales.
As important to keep the idea of the scale perfectly distinct from the "tuning"
it is

of the strings of an instrument, so also is it important not to confuse the notes of

the scale with the prevalent intervals which are frequently noticeable in national music. For
example, the augmented second is a prevalent and characteristic interval in Hungarian music.
But the inference that the augmented second forms part of the Hungarian scale is not
necessarily warranted.

Let us now see what the sequence of notes is on which modern Japanese
mu^ic is based. Now one thing at least is certain whatever the scale may be;

it must contain all the notes which are to be found on the open strings of the

normal tuning of the Koto It may contain more, but it must contain these.

The mediaeval European scale, alluded to above, is therefore put out of the field
at once because it has Att in its composition instead of the A* of the Koto. 1 he
of the Koto, to which we must
question then arises, does this normal tuning
confine ourselves for the present, express the full scale of Japanese music?
The notes are five in number, and taking the pitch of the second string to be
represented by Ftt on the Piano, these notes are Crf, FjJ, Gjj;, A,
I). Now there
is no reason, on the face of it, why the Koto strings should not, like those of the

Violin, be tuned to selected convenient notes of the scale. The height of the
bridges does not admit of the strings being raised by pressure
more than a full
but the are not to need more than this to fill them
tone, gaps sufficiently great
in; assuming, of course, that there are some notes to fill in.
But even supposing that the gaps are not way, are we to
filled in in this

assume that because these two notes are not used, therefore they do not exist in
the scale that the scale is limited to the notes of Hirnjoshi, and that it is con-
:

no reason for
sequently what I see absolutely
is called a five-tone scale ? it.
62 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

We have only to turn to the Yamato Koto

have this idea at once dispelled. to

Its six strings are tuned to the major triad of the tonic and the minor triad of
the secand of the Western diatonic scale that is to say, the seventh of the scale
:

only is omitted. Reverting, however, to the modern Koto, if the gaps which
exist in its tuning exist also in the scale, the music which is built on such a
pentatonic scale must refuse to recognize the existence of any notes to fill them
in : it must refuse them, that is to say, in its science the musician must not :

feel the want of them, nor be conscious of their existence and further, if they :

are introduced, the trained musician will feel not only that they are out of place,
but that if they are used in harmonizing his national music its character will be
gone.
Let us assume that the existence of two notes in these two gaps is

probable, the question arises, what are these notes? It is legitimate now to

refer to the diatonic scale of the West for a suggestion, but only on one hypo-
thesis, which is important: it is, that the five Koto notes are to be found in our
diatonic scale sequence. Now the notes Ftt,
G$, A, OR, D, will be seen to form

part of the scale of A major, or of Fit minor descending. I assume, as before,

the pitch to be Fit for convenience of argument but even without definite :

names to the notes, we get, starting from the second string, the following order
of intervals :

2nd string to 3rd string . full tone

3rd to 4th ,, . halftone
4th ,, to f)th ,, .
major third
r
>th to 6th ,, . half tone
Oth ,, to 7th ,, .
major third
2nd ,, to 7th ,,
. octave
The use of the terms "tones" and "thirds"
think, justified, since is, I

the fundamental basis of the perfect fifth has been established.

Now if we divide each major third into the two full tones of which it is
composed we get the following result :

2nd string to 3rd string . full tone

3rd ,, to 4th . half tone
4th ,, to 5th . full tone)
,. ,1 \ major
J
third
full tone]
5th to Oth . half tone
6th to 7th . full tone)
aJ rthird
full tonep
2nd to 7th octave
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 63

This sequence of intervals is the sequence of the descending minor diatonic

scale of the West.
The suggestion is inevitable that between the fourth and fifth strings of
the Koto normal tuning there is a note in the Japanese scale which is a full tone
from both ;
and that there is a similar note between the sixth and seventh
strings. Taking the pitch as before, these notes would be B and E; and, if
they are legitimate, we get the perfect Western scale.
Now I have a certain amount of evidence to show that these two notes are
"
legitimate, and may conveniently, though not accurately, be called the missing
"
notes of the modern national music. This evidence is of two kinds the state- :

ments of a Koto teacher of the old school who knows nothing of any other
music and those of Mr. Yamase Shoin, a professional of the highest rank, who
;

has, however, come under the influence of Western music.

After many conversations with my teacher, and after seeking the informa-
tion in many various and devious ways to avoid error or even doubt, she told me
that she felt, and always had felt, that there was a note between the fourth and
and one between the sixth and seventh. What these notes were
fifth strings,

she did not know, nor had she any means of finding out; for above all things it
is important to remember that a "scale," as such, had no meaning to her. It is

important, too, to explain that a Japanese is not taught

music in the broad sense
13
of the term she learns only the music of her special instrument.
:

I then took the Kokyu, and avoiding everything in the shape of a leading
several times, both in and out of order.
question, I played A, Aft, B, C, Off,
She selected B as the note between A and CjJ; and in the same way she selected
E to come in between D and Fit. The full scale of A. major as I then played it
to her satisfied her completely; more than this, she picked it up rapidly,
and played it with evident pleasure. Avoiding the intricacies of our minor
scale, E told her to begin on and substitute for A;, and so on we then
FjJ, Ajf ;

had the scale of Frt major, and pleasure still more evident. Finally we went to
the Piano, and when I had told her about the black notes and the white notes,
she proceeded to fumble out the diatonic scale for herself on any note I chose to
start her on. Our lessons thenceforward invariably terminated with a little
scale-playing by the old lady on the Piano.
It was possible, however, togo a step further. If the scale is what I assume
"
it to be, if these are really missing notes," yet another test must be satisfied.
If a melody should be harmonized it must not lose its character. With such
tunes as I have harmonized two examples of which are given at the end of
this Part I have not found the character altered in any way: and what is more
64 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

to the point the many Japanese whom

have played them have agreed with
to I

me in this opinion. Obviously here I could appeal to a larger body of witnesses.

On account of the presence of, to us, awkward and unaccustomed intervals, I
find much of the advanced music very difficult to harmonize satisfactorily.
But musicians will recognize, is beside the present question.
this, as
Yet another matter has to be mentioned as pointing in the same direction.
"
My teacher told me more than once that the second string is the "fundamental
note,and that it is regarded as such when they tune down to it, as from the
dominant, from the first string. The difficulties attending accurate interpreta-
caused not only by the language but by the absence of sufficient musical
tion,

knowledge in the teacher herself, made it difficult for her to explain exactly what
she meant by "fundamental," but it was evident to my mind that she had some
idea in her head as of a key-note.
The next think, great value.
point has, I It will lie observed in the scheme

of strings and notes, given below, that the scale of major lies between the A
fourth and the ninth strings. But as the minor predominates in Japanese music,
the relative minor, FfK lying between the second and the seventh strings, seems
to be indicated as the prevailing scale. This is confirmed in a remarkable way
" "
by the popular New Year's Song Hitotsu-toya which not only permits the
full scale of Fiff minor to be used in harmonizing it including the use of the
sharp seventh, Ejj,
of the ascending scale but in its variations recognizes the
between the minor and the major; this points to the existence
essential difference
of a fundamental idea of scale and key corresponding to the fundamental idea of
Western music.

1st string . . Ctt in unison with 5th.

2nd .

FJ
3rd .

GjJ
4th . A'
"
missing note" . B
5th string . . Ctt
6th . D
" "
missing note . E
7th string . f jt

8th .

g#'
9th . .a
and so on.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 65

Mr. Yamase has supplemented rny own observations in the following

manner my only
;
reason for not putting his views first is that I cannot quite
decide whether they have not been to some slight extent tinged by his studies of
European music.
Hesays that the second string, FJ, has always been considered as the
fundamental note in the tuning, not only of Hirajoshi, but of all the others;
and the CjJ of the first string being constant throughout. As to the missing
FjJ
notes, he says that certainly the existence of some others has always been known,
because the Koto tunings were founded on the Chinese chromatic scale, and also
because they could be produced on the Kokyu. And, further, that B and E are
distinctly pointed to as the missing notes of the scale, because in tunes written
in Hirajoshi, the "double pressure" (niju oshi), when it does occur in the
classical music, invariably occurs on the 4th string A giving B and on the
:

6th D giving E and

; also on their octave strings respectively, the ninth and
the eleventh.

Notes of the Hirajoshi tuning, with the two notes used in the Classical Music.

^k
It does not appear,
however, that the use of these notes is frequent in the :

" "
examples of elementary classical music which I have given Umegae and
" "
Rokudan neither B nor E occurs once. These notes are found, however,
more frequently in the more advanced music.

We now come
to the other tunings of the Koto, which are set out in the

diagram on page 67.

No. 1 is Hirajoshi. No. 2 shows the first string lowered an octave, as used
by the professionals. No. 3 is a variation of Hirajoshi, the last three strings
being changed from Djj, F, to Oft, the 10th and km strings giving
GJJ!, Fjt, Off,
an octave : hence this variation
called Kln-ju.
is In No. 4 we have another
variation of Hirajoshi, all the strings being raised a fifth, thus giving three
additional notes above the normal kin string, A, Ctt, It is not very clear
D^.
why this upper D
sharpened. It is probably introduced either for the sake
is

of brilliancy, or for the sake of the extra semitone, the 12th string sharpened

giving DiJj when wanted. This tuning, as it gives a higher range of notes, enables
 66 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

pieces to he played
an octave higher when two Kotos are used together one of
;

them is usually tuned to it, the performers playing in octaves. In the upper
part, which taken by the leader, innumerable graces and complicated little
is

variations are introduced on to the melody, much in the manner of the Treble part
of duets on the Piano, which add considerably to the charm of the performance.
In No. 5 we come to the first new arrangement of the strings. It is called

Akebono, and springs directly out of Hlrajoshi ; differing only in the sharpening
of the 6th and llth strings, and introducing E on the 7th and 12th, instead of
Ffl". If anything were wanting to complete the proof that the five notes of the

Koto do not by themselves constitute the Japanese scale, it is supplied by this

tunin which has six notes the five notes of the normal appear in it, together
',
:

with the missing E.

The notes belong to the scale of E major, giving it with the omission of one
note only, B, which can be produced by the double pressure on the 4th and 9th,
in the same way as B is supplied in Hirajuslii. It seems, however, that the

tuning is has an important position in the

not used in this way, though it

scheme of keys. The most frequent pressed

notes are simple pressures on the

4th, 7th, and 9th, giving A^ and Err and, in consequence, the scale of F;J
;

This is in accordance with the Japanese idea which connects Akebono

major.
with Hirajoshi.

"
No. 6 Kumoi, the "cloud tuning, which, next
is to the normal tuning, is
in most frequent use, and is ranked by the Japanese as the second principal
"
tuning. It is so named because the first tune learnt in the tuning is Kumo-no-
" Clouds." The ord and 4th are and G
ye" the Song of the strings B, instead
of Git and A, in the normal; the 8th, 9th, and 13th being tuned to the octaves

respectively. These changes give a different character to the music, suggesting

the introduction of a fresh key; and analysis bears out this 'suggestion in rather
a curious manner. The five notes, D, F,
G, B, Cft, form part of the Western
scale of D
major, or B minor descending; and applying the same process of
reasoning that was adopted in the case of Hlrajoshi, the missing notes are E
and A. We
do, in fact, get a fresh key. But perhaps the most interesting feature
of this new key is that, in what Koto expression of it, the same
I may call the
two notes are omitted, the fourth and the seventh. This enables Koto music to
be easily transposed from Hirajoshi to Kwnoi. The relation between the Koto
tuning and the Western scale is borne out in precisely the same manner as
before the missing notes can be supplied by double pressure on the sixth and
;

I
 67

TUNINGS OF THE JAPANESE KOTO.

Strings : i to xi 12 (")
(iff} 13 {**).
 68

TUNINGS OF THE CHINESE SO-NO-KOTO

AND OP THE

BUGAKU BIWA.
Strings : i i 3 4 5 6
SO-NO-KOTO.
7 8 9 to n (/) 12 (0 '3 (*') 1234
THE BIWA.

-I. ttVOJO-Ritsusen.

*=-
-2. TMSlKl-Myosen. $=-
=-

-3. BANSHlKI-AV/susen.

llyoxen.

5. OSHIKI-A'iV.s)(.s-en.

-6. SUUO-Uj/osen.

-7. ICtHQTSV-mtsusen.

-8. llyosen.

-9.

10. llyosen.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 69

eighth strings and these are the double pressures which are invariably used in
;

classical music written in Kumoi.

Notes of the Kumoi tuning, with the two notes used in the Classical Music.

fe) .-
;
^7 o *

I do not know how far the knowledge of the relation which exists between
Kumoi and Hirajoshi extends probably a very little way. Even so perfect a
Koto musician as Mr. Yama.se, who has always more than suspected the exist-
ence of such an intimate relation between Hirajoshi and the Western scale as I
have pointed out, had not observed that the relation between Kumoi and that
scale was precisely identical. Although transposition is very rarely resorted
to, if at all, he knew that the Hirajoshi music could be transposed into Kumoi,
and as a matter of fact he could transpose it without the slightest difficulty.
But directly we get below the highest rank of professional, the rote-teaching of
the music steps in to prevent the acquisition of such knowledge, because all the
tunes would have to be learnt twice over.
"
I mean that a tune, Hitotsu-toya" for example, is learnt by the numbers
of the strings, thus 9, 9, 10, 9, 10, 10, etc., and not as we should learn it, by
the intervals of the scale, thus 3rd, 3rd, 5th, 3rd, 5th, 5th, etc. Transposing on
the Japanese system involves, therefore, the learning of a fresh sequence of
" "
strings thus in fatmoi,
:
Hitotsu-toya would be written thus (>, 6, 7, 0, 7, 7,
etc.

No. 7 Sakura, a variation of Kumoi, made by introducing a higher note

is

on the thirteenth string, B instead of G. In this respect Sakura holds to Kumoi

a relation much resembling of Kin-ju to Hirajoshi, the twelfth and
that
thirteenth strings being at an interval of a fourth. The eleventh and twelfth
strings are, however, not raised as in Kinju.
On the same principle of nomen-
clature Sakura might be called Kin-ku, the new thirteenth string giving the
octave from the ninth.
"
We now come to a curious tuning called Han-kumoi, or h&lf-kumoi." It

is a mixture of Hirajoshi and Kumoi, the first seven notes being in the normal,
the next five in the "cloud" tuning. The of the thirteenth string is pro-
GjJ
70 THE MUSK' OF THE JAPANESE,

to be explained in the same way as the D$ of Hirajoshi when raised a fifth

bably
-(No. 4).
At first some time after, this arbitrary tuning seems
sight, and, indeed, for
to upset any idea that may have been formed from what has gone before as to
the existence of a Japanese scheme of scale and key. The explanation of its
existence is, however, .simple. It is sometimes necessary to change rapidly from

Kumoi to Hirajoshi to modulate, in fact, from F$ minor to B minor and this ;

complex tuning enables it to be done with greater ease, by reducing the number
of bridges which require to be shifted.
It is possible to play in the key of B minor in the Hirajoshi tuning: the G
naturals can be produced by a simple pressure on the second string and its
octaves, the seventh and twelfth the B's by double pressure on the fourth, and
:

its octave, the ninth. And, similarly, it is possible to play in Fjj minor in the
Kumoi tuning the G sharps being produced by simple pressure on the third
;

string, and its octaves, the eighth and thirteenth, and the A naturals by double
pressure on the same strings. But the use of double-pressures instead of open
strings is obviously to be avoided if possible: when the transition from one key
to the other occurs during the progress of the piece, the change in the tuning is
effected by rapid bridge change made with the left hand. In order to effect the
change from Hirajoshi to Kumoi the bridges of the third, fourth, eight, ninth,
and thirteenth strings would have to be moved. But to avoid this complicated
change, and further, to avoid the danger of the changes not being perfectly in
tune, the lower strings are often kept in Hirajoshi, the upper half in Kumoi and ;

hence has sprung the tuning Han- Kumoi. When

piece the
alternating is

rapidly, as often happens, between the two keys, Hirajoshi can be played on the
upper strings (tuned to Kumoi) by using the necessary pressures and so Kumoi ;

can be played on the lower strings (tuned to Hirajoshi) by the same means.
But when the piece settles down into either key, the number of bridge changes is
not only reduced by half, but
they can be easily and accurately made, because
their octave strings are Thus, if there is a long passage in
already in tune.
Hirajoshi, the eighth and ninth bridges only have to be shifted in order to tune
the strings to the octaves to the third and fourth: and
similarly, if the piece
settles intoKumoi, the third and fourth bridges only have to be shifted in order
to tune the
strings to the octaves of the eighth and ninth.
The
thirteenth string is kept to the Gji of Hirajoshi, probably in order to
save the trouble of an additional
bridge change, so that the sweeps over the
strings in that tuning may be accurate ;
and also because the Gj of Kumoi can
be produced by
pressure on the twelfth string.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 71

No. the third important tuning, springs out of Kumoi by lowering

9, Iwato,
the fifth string semitone
a. and raising the sixth a tone. The constant quantity
of all the tunings, the
C$ and Ftf of the first and second strings, is preserved,
but the first seldom used in Iwato music. As the first and the fifth
string is

strings are normally in unison, the former never holds a very prominent position
in Koto compositions it is seldom used,
;
except to reinforce the fifth, or to get
a slightly different intonation when the two are struck
consecutively by the
second finger and thumb, or in the Kaki beat and in this latter cnse, from the
;

nature of the beat, accurate tuning is not absolutely essential. Iwato is con-
structed on precisely the same principle as Hirajoshi and Kumoi, the notes

giving, as before, a major and a minor scale major and

;
Gminor, the fourthE
and seventh of the diatonic minor, being omitted as before. And, again, not
only are these missing notes supplied by double pressure on the eighth and tenth
strings, but these are the double pressures which are invariably used in classical
music written in Iwato.
Notes of the Iwato tuning, with the two notes used in the Classical Musie.

No. 10, Go-sayari roku-ayari the " lowered fifth and raised sixth "< is a
mixed tuning, developed out of Iwato and Kunioi, and used to facilitate rapid
transitions between those tunings, in the same way as Han-kumoiisused to facili-
tate transitions between Kumoi and Hlrajoshi. It is, however, constructed in the
inverse order to Han-kumoi, the first to the seventh string being in licato, and
the eighth to the twelfth in Kumoi the of the thirteenth being retained as
GjJ ;

before. All the changes indicated in the preceding explanation of Han-kumoi,

as occurring on the third and fourth and eighth and ninth strings
respectively,
occur in Go-sagari roku-ayari, on the fifth and sixth and tenth and eleventh
strings respectively.
Some
authorities give the eleventh string in this tuning as E, instead of ]).
I think, however, that the symmetrical construction of the scheme of tunings

points inevitably to D
as the proper note.
These are all the regular tunings; in addition, however, there are some
special tunings, which have no distinguishing names, being only used for certain
tunes which require a note not in the regular tunings; they frequently revert to
the regular tunings during the progress of the piecee. Thus, No. 11 is the
"
tuning for the piece Kurama-jishi." It is written in Hirajoshi^ but Dtt is

frequently used in the early part ;

the sixth and eleventh strings are therefore
72 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

tuned up a semitone for convenience. After a time, however, reappears, and D

at given points the bridges of the sixth and of the eleventh strings are moved
back to their normal positions, and the tuning reverts to Hirajoshi. In the
same way in No. 12, the fourth and the ninth strings start tuned to and are
Aft,
''
afterwards lowered to the normal of Hirajoshi.
AJj
Andnow, what are the conclusions which this analysis forces upon us?
" "
In the first place, that
"
scale and " key were principles with which the
early founders of Eastern music were familiar they possibly
did not so thoroughly
;

understand them as what they knew into transmissible

to be able to reduce
thought. But what they knew was precisely what we know in the West that
music must be built upon a systematic sequence of notes; their science gave
them the same natural notes that Pythagoras employed and their instinct led ;

them sequence which is the sequence of the West, thus confirming in a

to a
remarkable manner our somewhat arrogant assumption that we alone had received
nature's revelation. They knew that music acquired brilliancy when played
upon a range of notes of a high pitch, and solidity and profundity when their
range was lowered. Above all, they knew that the major and the minor modes
are in the main the natural exponents of the two chief emotions of mankind,

gaiety and sadness.

But think they knew, or after a time discovered, more. The whole scale
I

could be put on to an instrument with only thirteen strings without

not

curtailing its compass. The dimensions of the Koto, therefore, imposed upon
them very practical limitations in determining how the scale should be rendered
"
upon it. Certain notes of the scale had to be selected for the open notes,"
leaving the other notes to be produced by pressures when wanted. the Why
fourth and seventh of the minor scale, or the second and fifth of the major, were
omitted there is no tradition to tell us, and, as we shall presently see, there is a
curious divergence on this point between the Japanese and the Chinese tunings ;

but a very unscientific suggestion may be made.

A feature of the oldest music of Japan, that of the Yamato-Koto, was a
scratch of the plectrum over the six strings this seems without doubt to have
:

been the origin of the modern sweep with the tsume over all the thirteen strings.
It was obviously necessary that this characteristic feature of their music should
be melodious, and the first thing that strikes the student of Japanese music is the
melodiousness of the sequence of the strings. The open strings of Hirajoshi
give an arpeggio cadenza which would have rejoiced the heart of Mendelssohn,
who revelled in such a^olian music.
 THE JAPANESE SCALE. 73

But this selection of notes led

inevitably to the construction of melodies
built on the selected notes, theopen strings, alone. The composers of the severe
classical school might use pressures and double pressures, and build their music
on the full scale but the songs for the children and the melodies of the lighter
;

sort came inevitably to rest on the notes of this geolian arpeggio, and on those
alone and so, as it seems to me, came into being the Koto-uta of the present day,
:

for which I can find no name less graceful than arpeggio-music. In the West,
Scarlatti had once done the same as a tour de force he had built the subject of ;

his
" "
Cat's Fugue upon the five black notes of the Piano. And, indeed, our
own Bugle music supplies an apt analogy, its melodies being built on the notes of
the common chord. Even to the easy classical music, of which I have been able
to give two examples, the tuning
imparted a pentatonic character. The simple
" " "
phrases of Uniegae" and Rokudan are constructed entirely on the open
strings, and there seems to be very little doubt
from their frequent use,
that,
musical thought among the Japanese runs almost entirely up and down these five
notes, obviously limiting its powers of expression.
A more scientific suggestion may, however, be made. The evolution of the seventh of the
scale far away up in the altitudes of the natural musical sounds is so curious that it is not
surprising that it should be called the last discovered note it is not surprising that it should
:

have been omitted in the Eastern tunings. Now, if we take a two-stringed instrument
with frets, such as the Gekkin, tuned to a fifth, it is obvious that, as the same fret does duty for
both strings, if the seventh is omitted on the first strings, the fourth will be omitted on the
second string. The diagram showing the Gekkin frets on page 140 will make this clearer.
In this way, two-stringed instruments tuned in fifths being very common, it seems probable
that the fourth and the seventh have become intimately connected. It is possible that a very
similar reason accounts for the omission of the third in the Chinese ritsuscn tunings of the
So-no-koto :
two-stringed instruments being also occasionally tuned in fourths.
" "
may
I
cyclical tetrachord
here allude to the theory which has been advanced in opposi-
tion to my own theory of the similarity of the Western and Eastern scale-systems. (Ur.
Knott, "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," vol. xix., pt. II., p. 373.)
If we
start from the fifth string of the Koto we get
Cj, D, Fit a fourth,
and GJ, A, C$
a fourth. The fascinating " tetrachord " is almost immediately suggested, for the arrange-
ment of notes in the two groups is identical, the intervals beinga semitone and a major third.
" "
By assuming that the gaps in the tetrachords can be filled in in a variety of ways, and by
"
putting them together disjunctively," the complete Dorian mode sequence is obtained, and
the conclusion is somewhat rapidly arrived at that Japanese music is based on the "Dorian

mode." The contention is supported by reference to many pieces of Japanese music which
finish on
Cjt:
some of them, indeed, end on G|S, and in harmonizing " Hitotsu-toya " the last
chord must undoubtedly be the common chord of CH" but this is, as it seems to me, nothing
;

"
more than the ending on the dominant so common in old round " music.
74 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

The form of the tuning, though exceedingly curious and interesting, cannot
cyclical
of notes in the scale identical with
outweigh the other evidences which point to a sequence
that of the Western diatonic scale. That scale itself, it need hardly be said, is also based on
"
the "cyclical tetrachord system, two similar tetrachords being put together "disjunctively."
But the suggestion in the preceding paragraph seems to afford a perfectly simple explana-
tion why a of
cycleintervals should be found in the tuning: the frets of the Gekkin, with its
two strings tuned to a fifth, repeated on the second string whatever intervals the first string
gave, only a fifth higher.

We may now
take one more step forward. It needed musical capacity of

the most primitive order to understand that a lower pitch could be given to

Himjoshi by moving all the bridges down a degree but a greater contrast was ;

desired the lowering the pitch a fifth than could be effected practically by
moving all the bridges.

Before determining what science it was that enabled them to do it, it

is
necessary to describe the system which the early Japanese musicians adopted
in order to effect this lowering of the pitch in the simplest possible way. If the

right hand on the Piano on the notes C, E, G, we are in the key of C major;
is

by moving the thumb a semitone higher we have the notes Off, E, G, and the
key of D
major and so on.
: And so it is on the Koto if the right hand covers :

the third to the seventh strings, the notes which fall under the fingers are from
Gtt to Ftt in Hirajosh-i ;
but in Kwnoi, after making the two bridge changes, the
notes are from G$and we are in a different key.
to Fit,

Now, if Kiunoi were an entirely new and independent tuning, with no

inherent relationship to Hirajoshi, a fresh arrangement of the strings might have
been devised for the open notes another arpeggio might have been invented,
;

with a fresh series of melodies but the Japanese musicians and I think here I
;

may use Japanese as distinct from Eastern deliberately set themselves to make
the new arrangement of the strings dependent on the notes of the arpeggio
established by Hirwjoshi, and yet it was to bring a new series of scale-intervals
into the normal position of the hand.
Without scientific knowledge they devised a re-arrangement of strings
giving the same arpeggio cadence in a different order and in a different key.
Again they had a harmonious sequence composed of the notes of the diatonic
scale with the second and fifth of the
major, the fourth and seventh of the minor,
omitted. The arpeggio of HirajosJbi, starting from the second string, is made up
of the following intervals of the the 6th, 7th (below the tonic), 1st,
major scale :

3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, etc. of Kmnoi, it ;

is the 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th (below the
tonic), 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, etc., and therefore, although if we start
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 7o

from the same string, the fullarpeggio sequences of the two tunings sound very
differently to the ear, if we start in Hirajoshi from the second, and in Kumoi
from the fourth string, we hear precisely the same sequence of intervals, but in
Kumoi pitched a fourth higher.
Yet again we find the same principles applied to the evolution
of a third principal tuning Iwato formed out of Kumoi in precisely the
s-ime way as Kumoi was formed
Hirajoshi. Againout of is the pitch
lowered a fifth and a fresh set of intervals brought into position, and again we
find the key of the sub-dominant taken next in the order of the scale sequence
Iwato gives E minor with its relative G
major, the fourth and seventh of the
minor, or the second and of the major, being omitted as before.
fifth The
C$ of the first string remains constant, as has already been explained the Fjjj of ;

the second string has become the second of the minor scale, its importance being

correspondingly diminished. The arpeggio of Iwato is: 7th (below the tonic),
1st, 3rd, 4th, ()th, 7th, 8th, etc. And, again, if we start on the sixth string we
hear precisely the same sequence of intervals as before, and again pitched a
fourth higher than in the preceding tuning. With Iwato the sequence of scales
ends, the key of its sub-dominant requiring F' which would involve an altera-
tion in the fundamental second string.
The principle of the bridge changes in the consecutive tunings is revealed
in the name of the mixed tuning Oo-sagari roku-agari used for facilitating the
transitions between Iwato and Kumoi. Iwato is obtained from Kumoi by
lowering the string a semitone, and raising the sixth a full tone or, in terms
fifth ;

of the diatonic scale, lowering the leading note and raising the tonic. And this
is precisely the way in which Kumoi was obtained out of Hirjosh i the leading :

note Oft of A major is lowered to

Gjj ;
the tonic
Japanese A is raised to H. In
terms this application of the principle might be called san-saanri shi-agnri.
Here, then, we have the practical factor by which the sequence of scales
was made; and if the first and second strings were not constant, it might be
applied for the formation of the other scales; thus,
all

For making Kumoi from the normal, lower the :>rd string a semitone, and
raise the -4th a full tone;
For making Iwato from Kumoi, lower the 5th string a semitone, and raise
the Oth a full tone ;

For making the next scale from Iwato, lower the 7th string a semitone and
raise the 8th a full tone and so on. ;

So much for the principal tunings. But the group of scales clustered
round the Oft and Ftt of the first and second strings is not yet quite accounted
76 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

for. There is the normal minor with its relative A major secondly, there is
;
Fjf
the scale of the sub-dominant B minor with its relative D major thirdly, again
;

the scale of the sub-dominant E minor, with its relative G major. But these
three relative major keys are, as far as I have been able to trace, quite ignored.
Probably owing to the important position held by the second string,and for
other reasons with which musicians are familiar, the transition from grave to
" "
gay, of the method of which the variations of Hitotsu-loya are good examples,
is by using the keys of the tonic majors, instead of the relative
better effected

majors. Thus, the major corresponding to the F^j; minor of Hirajoshi would be
FjJ major
and not A major. For short transitions the simple pressure on the fourth,
and its octave, ninth, would be sufficient; for longer cheerful compositions, how-
ever, Aktsbono was invented. This tuning, and other variations already noticed,
are not recognized by the Japanese as choshi the equivalent for "scale ": they
are called te ; and it is not necessary in these subordinate tunings, invented

purely for convenience, to look for diatonic scale notes. Thus, in Akebono there
is no about the Ajj of the fourth string: Att is producible at pleasure
difficulty
by pressure, but an open string is convenient for those short transitions into
Ajj
the minor, and vice versa, which are so frequent in Japanese music.
of B major has not been specially provided for Kumoi in the same
The key
way, but the possibility of making such a tuning, if it were required, seems to be
admitted. Curiously enough the E major, which, as I have already pointed out,
exists in Akebono, would serve the purpose for Iwuto ; but, as it would involve
transposing the piece on to a different order of strings, it is not so used.
We have now a perfect sequence of kevs:
A major Hirajoshi not used.
Ftt minor Hirajoshi

Fjj major Hirajoshi- by pressure on the 4th and Gth strings,

and their octaves, for short transitions,
or
Hirajoshi by bridge changes (No. 12) for longer
passages, or
Akebono for pieces in the major
key.
1) major Kumoi not used.
B minor Kumoi
B major Kumoi by pressure on the Gth and 8th strings
and their octaves.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE. 77

G major lumio not used.

E minor Iivato

E major Iwato by pressure on the 8th and 10th strings

and their octaves ;
or
Akebono by transposition of strings not used. :

Transitional tuning for Iwato to Kumoi Go-sayari rolni-agari

,, for Kumoi to Hirajoshi Han-kumoi.

The sequence principle is, therefore, a fall of a third from major to minor alter-
nately or;
from major to major, and minor to minor, a fall of a fifth. And this is
precisely the backward scale-sequence of Western music.
Theprinciple of the Western scale-sequence backward is, a fall of a fifth
and flatten tlie seventh the principle of the Japanese sequence is the " sagari-
;

agari" rule, already explained. The principle of the Western sequence forward
is, of a fifth and sharpen the fourth
a rise the principle of the Japanese ;

sequence the other way about, that is to say, from Iwato to Hirnjoshi, is obviously
the reverse of the rule just given, and might be called " agari-sagari."
And now we come to the last point of the enquiry how, with Pythagorean :

notes, were they enabled to obtain the transposition of the pentatonic sequence
by means of this simple system of bridge-changes ? In the Piano illustration
which I used above, the relation of to E G
in the C major sequence C, E, G, is
identical with the relation of E to G in the
E, G. In the
I) major sequence C*T,

corresponding Koto illustration the relation of Ctt to FJ4 (oth to 7th strings) in
the Hirajoshi sequence Gtt, A Ctt, I), is identical with the relation of
Cjt to
FJJ, J

Ftt (oth to 7th strings) in the Kumoi sequence G, B, Ctt, D, FIJ. Further, the
full sequence of intervals in Knmoi is identical, as I have shown above, with
the
full sequence of intervals in Hirnjoshi, just as the full sequence on the Piano of
D major is identical with the full sequence of C major.
Yet we know that if the notes of the Piano were tuned in C major, either
"
to the Pythagorean or the diatonic scale, the wolf" would be heard when the
C was changed to Cjt i the above illustration : we should not get the true
interval E to G of the scale of D major. We know now that the fundamental
"
Chinese scale was made of Pythagorean and we
fifth upon fifth," like the :

must know, therefore, that we should find somewhere a Chinese "wolf "by
preserving intact the interval Ctt to F both in the Hirajoshi and the Kumoi
sequences and yet it is absent, for perfect tonal transposition is possible.
:

There is but one conclusion. The Japanese do not use, on the Koto at least,
the Pythagorean notes. They have tempered them in some way; and seeing
78 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

that transposition is which governs the Koto must be the

possible, the principle
"
which governs the Piano. That principle is " equal temperament
principle
an d this was invented in Japan, unless Yatsuhashi went to Desima and learnt
it of the Dutch, about the year 1620, one hundred
and twenty years before Bach
"
wrote his Forty-eight Preludes and Fugues for the well-tempered Clavier."
This Is not a mere question of theory it is supported by facts derived from
;

the Japanese themselves: I cannot say that my suggestions either agree or differ
from theirs, for they have none to offer. The fact that the highest professionals
know something, but that something very dimly, of the relations between the
tunings, does not affect the truth of the
statement that the theory of their scale
isabsolutely lost. But the practical test is that, if the theory is sound, trans-
position on open strings
should be possible on the Koto. And the best of the
musicians can invariably transpose melodies in the three principal tunings of
HiTajoshi, Knmoi, and Iwctlo.

Dr. Knott, in his paper already alluded to, bears me witness, if unwittingly, at least in a
" "
most remarkable manner. He has built his tetrachord theory on the notes of the Gekkin ;

and he tells us of three several instruments the Chinese Gekkin, the Nagahara Gekkin, and
the Keian Gekkin. Each of these instruments, assuming the frets to have been glued on to
the necks of the instruments with an intense accuracy, and to have remained in position,
gives a different scale. This is the .scheme of vibrations:

KK Ki-
 THE JAPANESE SCALE. 79

" "
each in its own way to distribute the Chinese comma over the other intervals of the scale.

Neither the Chinese, nor the Nagahara, nor the Keian school seem to have thought a true
octave essential : the two former were satisfied with two vibrations too few, the Keian
with five; and so through the other intervals.
On any of these Gekkins transposition is obviously impossible; on the Koto it is pos-
sible. We
have on the Koto parallel keys, as we have on the Piano. It is to be noted that
an extremely sensitive ear should be able to appreciate a difference between two notes two
vibrations apart, sounded independently. Putting mv own evidence out of the question, I
am certain that if the keys were not parallel, the difference of the tonal relations of the in-

tervals after the very simple bridge changes from Hirnjushi to Kumoi, and from Kumoi to
Iwnto, had been made, could not have been passed over by the extremely sensitive cars of
the Japanese musicians who have transposed melodies for me.

"
I now
give the tune Saitn Sakurai" in the three tunings, side by side,
in string notation, and on the Western staff in the keys of Ftt minor, B minor,
and E minor.
 SAITA SAKURAI.
[Read down the columns and from right to left. The figures indicate the strings to he played.]

IV.
 81

SAITA SAKURA1.
In Hirajdshi (F $ minor). [Written an octave higher than the Ktti.)

rir i r r i
r i if r^
 82

THE CHINESE SCALE.

THE discussion on the Japanese scale should have been preceded by an examina-
tion into the Chinese scale but for many reasons the difficulties of getting at it,
;

of deciphering the sounds, mid of transcribing any music which could explain
it,are infinitely greater even than in the case of the Japanese scale The
tunings of the So-no-koto are set out in the table given on page 68.
which require explanation ritsusen
In the first place, there are two terms
and rtjuxeii. They are interpreted by Japanese musicians who are familiar
with Western music as equivalent to the minor and major respectively, and I

think this interpretation is accurate. The words indicate, as is usual with

things which go in couples and are the complement of each other, the "male"
and "female" elements: the major represented by the male, ryosen; the
is

minor bv the female, ritsusen; and it will be seen that each of the tunings has

the two modes. The name of the tuning is generally applied to the ritsusen
mode, but in two cases the corresponding ryosen mode has received a separate
name Tuisiki, the ryosen, of llj/ujo ',
and Suijo, the ryosen of Oshiki.
All the tunings are composed of live notes with their octaves, and, as before,
these live notes may be taken as indicative of the scale and key of the music
based on them ; though it is
beyond my power to apply the tests of harmony and
transposition as in the case of the Japanese tunings.
Thesix-note tuning of the Japanese Akebono does not appear to have its
counterpart in China. A careful examination reveals a constant difference
between the notes of the ritsusen and ryosen of the different tunings one note ;

only is changed, and that is lowered a semitone from the minor tuning to the
major.
Thus, in Hyojo, the five notes of the ritsusen mode,
become
FJ, Q|, B, C$, DJ, Fjj, Gft, Ajj, C#, Djf,
in the ryosen mode: the B falling to Att.
In Banshiki :

Ffl, GJ,
A, C$, DJ, become E#, Gjf, Ajj, Oft, I>ft,
the to
Fjf falling E]J.
1 n Oshiki :

FJJ, Git, B, Cjf, E, become Fit, Ctt, B, CH-,

tl*E fallin to D.
 THE JAPANESE SCALE. 83

In Ichiotsu :

Fjf, A, B, CJ, E, become Fft,

Gfc B, CJ, E:
the A falling to Gj.
And in Sqjo :

Fft, A, B, D, E, become F#, A, B, Cft,

E:
the D falling to Cjt.
Now, proceeding on lines analogous to those adopted in unravelling the
Japanese tunings, the five notes of Hyojo appear to belong to the diatonic scale
of Ftt with the third and seventh omitted. The omission of the third prevents
our saying whether it is
Fj major or minor; but we may conclude that the
Ajj|,
minor third, is the missing note, because in Taisiki, the corresponding ryosen,
AJ the major third of the scale is inserted, and the missing notes are the
fourth and the seventh.

Further, the Chinese word Hyojo has precisely the same meaning as the
Japanese word Hirajoshi, both signifying "normal scale." If, therefore, the
preceding assumption is true, we find the normal tuning of the So-no-koto is
built on the same diatonic scale as the normal tuning of the Koto, but with
different intervals the third and seventh being omitted instead of the fourth
and seventh. The tonic major Fft major produced from Hirajoshi by pres-
sures on the fourth and sixth strings, is given by the ryosen, Taisiki; the fourth
and seventh of the scale being omitted in both.
The practical information necessary to support this theoretical view of the
Hyojo tuning is, however, wanting. 1 have been unable to ascertain whether
the missing notes, A and E or Ej, are, in fact, supplied by pressure on the third
and sixth strings, or double pressure on the sixth. The theory may, however,
be supported inductively, for we find that the assumption holds good for the
other tunings, and supports similar conclusions.
Thus, in Banshiki :

the notes of the rilsusen mode, Cft, Dj, Fft, GjJ, A$, CJ, give the scale
of Ctt minor with the third and seventh omitted and of the ryosen ;

mode, that of Ctt major with the fourth and seventh omitted Djf, :
CJJ,
E, GfJ, Aft, Cj{.
In Oshiki :
the notes of rilsusen, B, Cft, E, Ftt, Gtt, B, give B minor with the third
and seventh ommitted and of Suijo, the corresponding ryosen, B major
;

with the fourth and seventh omitted :

B, Ctt, Dft, Ftt, G$, B.
84 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

In Ichiotsu :

the notes of ritsmen, E,

Fjf,
A, B, Ctt, E, give E minor with the third
and seventh omitted ;
and of ryosen, E m.ijor with the fourth and
seventh omitted :
E, F|, Gjj, B, Cj, E.
And in Sojo
'

the notes of ritsusen, A, B, D, E, FjJ, A, give minor with the third A

and seventh omitted; and of ryosen, A major with the fourth and
seventh omitted :
E, FJJ, A.
A, B, CjJ,
It would appear, therefore, that the assumption made in the case of the

normal is warranted, all the other tunings conforming to the same test.
The tunings of the Bugaku-biwa also support these conclusions. It will be
seen that the lowest string is invariably tuned either to the keynote or the
dominant of the key to which, it is suggested, the tunings respectively belong.
The change which is constant in all the transitions from ritsusen to ryosen
isthe lowering of the fourth of the minor scale a semitone, apparently giving
the third of the tonic major.
In the constant omission of the seventh from all the tunings the Chinese
and the Japanese systems resemble each other.
Further, if the above assumptions are accurate, we get the following sequence
of keys, transposing the order of Banshi and Hyoju a fall
CjJ, Ftt, B, E, A,
:

of a fifth this is the same key-seqence as the Japanese, the backward key-
;

sequence of the West.

But beyond thissequence of keys, and the fact that six notes of the diatonic
eight only are taken for each tuning, there seems to be no connecting link
between the Japanese and the Chinese tunings, and I cannot discover in the
Chinese any such symmetrical scheme of construction as the Japanese tunings
revealed. Above all, I have no data on which any conclusion could be based
as to whether or not it is an " "
equal-temperament scale.
 THE JAPANESE SCALE. 85

PITCH.
ON the subject of pitch, in spite of the savour of an ancient theory which
seems to attach to the statement, I am tempted to say boldly that the key of F$
minor on the Piano more nearly renders the plaintive character of the Koto
music in the normal tuning. I have used it invariably in transcribing on to the
Western staff, as the other keys seem too clear and open, or too heavy and
lugubrious ;
and it is when
have played in this key that the Japanese musicians
I
have agreed with my conclusions. It has, indeed, the practical advantage of

avoiding the use of flats, which impede the clear rendering of the music on the
Western staff, as the flat is not known on the Koto, and sharp pressures would
often have to be translated by naturals.
It is not, to rely on the old favourite idea that each key
however, necessary
had itsspecial characteristics. Although a pitch -pipe is sometimes used, the
first string, the dominant of the scale, is tuned first, and is within limits arbitrary :

for a loud singer tuned up, for a singer with a small voice it is tuned down.
it is

But the normal pitch of the note approximately is middle C; I have, however,
taken it as Cjt. On the Japanese Flute this note lies midway between C and C$
on a Piano tuned to Broadwood's Philharmonic pitch tuning.
For the sake of convenience of reference I have kept to the same pitch in
transcribing the Chinese tunings, though I believe that the Chinese normal pitch
is slightly lower than the Japanese.

TIME.
Ox the question of transcription one other point remains the time. In spite of
much rubato and of many seeming lapses from regular and metroncmical time
the beat is alternate and equal. The unequal accent of our common time seems,

hardly suited to Japanese music. I therefore always use '-/ time, which seems
accurately to convey the idea of the hydshi marks, or bars, in the example of
Koto notation given on page 132. Many of the phrase difficulties are apparent
only, and are caused by the presence of
innumerable grace notes, and also, I am
bound to say, by the carelessness of many of the ordinary musicians.
An
explanation of the complex system of Chinese time will be found on page
16G, under the description of the Kakko, the small Drum used in the Bugaku
orchestra.
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

HARMONY.
THE statement th Japanese music is devoid of harmony is, perhaps, the only
it

one among the many current dogmatic utterances on the subject which at all
approximates to accuracy. So far as my observations have carried me there is
very little; but there is some. But, again, I have to remark that until we can
examine the higher forms of Koto music our judgment must remain in suspense.
My impression is, when elaborate compositions are studied (such an one as
that
"
Adzuma-jishi" example, a name which will recall a very graceful but
for

complicated piece sometimes heard at the Maple Club in Tokyo), we shall find a
great deal more harmony than we at present imagine. I have, however, to deal

now with facts, not impressions.

The simple fact that two notes may be played together with pleasing effect
is recognized by the existence of the term awaseru literary "to put together";
it is used as well for the reinforcing unison of the first and fifth strings, as for
"
the octave which frequently used in whole passages.
is Thus, in Hiiotsu-toya,"
the first and one of the simplest of the Koto-uta, octave passages frequently occur.
In the third variation, moreover, we find some traces of harmony ; the interval
of the sixth, for example, which adds vigour to the melody :

^jM- f ^.-^Fw-
L^E3^^--tr-:
and also that of the minor seventh, which is used with great effect and
emphasis. It comes, indeed, as somewhat of a surprising refutation of the
statement that no harmony exists, occurring as it does thus early in the
musician's learning :

Using Western terms, the interval of the sixth is doubtless part of the
common chord of the tonic, the key at the commencement of the two
variations being major, and the first passage, more fully harmonized,
Fjj;
may be rendered thus:

*
iP
^S
 THE JAPANESE SCALE. 87

and the interval of the seventh is also doubtless part of the chord of the
minor seventh on the second the second passage, more fully harmonized,
:

standing thus :

The first of these two chords, the fifth string and the sharpened
ninth, I am
disposed say, to common chord
as might be expected of the
of the tonic, is of frequent occurrence. Thus, the phrase which commences
"
each fragment of " Matsuzu-kishi is as follows :

" "
a variation of the leading phrase of H'dotm-toya, in the major, The
" "
following is another example of its fromuse, Kurama-jishi :

In a piece called " Gfosho-gumma," again, the eighth and sharpened to string
occur in harmony, giving a major fifth :

I cannot pretend that these few examples do more than support the
limited statement that there are distinct traces of harmony in the modern
Koto music. I have not unravelled the harmonies of the Chinese music,
but the scheme of chords, given with the description of the Sho, on
page 155, indicates that harmony, though perhaps of a crude sort, formed
a very important part of that music.
 88 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

FORM.
PERHAPS the most interesting fact which a study of Japanese music reveals
is, that it is not formless and void, hut is built on an elaborate system of

construction, which, if its products were filled out with harmonies and that

complicated musical verbosity which is the delight of Western musicians,

would entitle it to a very favourable comparison with our own music.
What Japanese music shows us is, as it were, the skeleton of construction ;

and I find it and cleverly-articulated skeleton.

a very interesting, well-knit,

The rules established by Yatsuhashi dealt only with the dimensions of

the composition, and did not touch its interior structure in this matter he ;

seems to have thought example better than precept.

The rules for the structure of Koto music, apart from the short songs,
are interesting: it is divided into two classes, dan and knmi. The dan-
" "
mono are written in parts "steps'" or grades in a severe style with
connecting motives, but without a voice part. The grades are called re-

spectively ichidan, nidan, sandan, and so on, and the whole piece is often
named after the number of ((an of which it is composed thus there are :

" " " " "

pieces called Godaa," Rokudan" 8liichida>C Uac/udati," Kudan," the
pieces with live, six, seven, eight, and nine steps. Each dan is composed
of fifty-two hyoshi or bars: the first, however, may have fifty-four, and"
the last fifty. This is the case in " Rokadiui," as will be seen from the
printed
version of it on the staff given on
page 94, and I believe also in most
of the compositions of the class.
The knml are somewhat lighter in style, but are, like the dan-mono,
written in several
parts ;
they are invariably accompanied by the voice.
The parts correspond with the verses of the song, and are called hito-uia,
"
fidu-ntn first verse," "second verse" and so on. Each verse is divided
into eight sections, and each section into The "verse" is
eight hyoshi.
therefore, twelve bars longer than the dan.
As to the internal
structure, or principle of composition, I have been,
unable to discover anything in the
shape of rules or suggestions, or even analysis,
in the later books, and the Koto musicians have
very little to say on the matter.
Ignorant of the Japanese idea, we can only look at it, therefore, with Western
" " "
eyes, and to this end I proceed to analyse the The Plum
piece Umegae
Branch " the first kumi which rendered
is
taught to beginners. It is accurately
on the Western staff on
pages 90, 91.
 THE JAPANESE SCALE. 89

In the place it will be noticed that it is built entirely on kake, the

first

undulations of the phrase having probably suggested its name. In the first
verse this subject given out seven times, making seven distinct phrases, which
is

I have lettered A, B, C, D, E. F, G. Variety or colour is given by starting

the subject on different strings. This sequential treatment is, in fact, a common
device of contrapuntal music, where the subject often reappears a third or fifth
higher or lower, and so on, sometimes modulated into another key, but as often
14
not. The peculiar feature of the repetition of the kake subject is, as is pointed
out in the explanation of Koto terms, that the relations of the strings not being
constant, the musical intervals composing the phrase must vary. Thus, in A
(tokake) and B (i kake) the first interval is a second, but in E
(ju kake) and F
(hachi kake) it is a third. Finally, on its seventh appearance the subject is
decapitated, having three notes only instead of five it is really shichi kake, an
;

octave below the / kake of D.

The chief feature of the remainder of the seven sections is the recurrence
of a short phrase composed of the 10th, to, i, strings arranged in different ways:
thus, 10, to, i i, to, 10
; to, i, 10
; 10, /, to /, to, I, 10
;
and so on.
; ;

The fourth section has a second part, in which the kake subject does not
appear. with more graces and slides it
It is written in a freer
style, ;
is lettered
D'. The short raUentawlo close of the verse is constant in the first five
variations :

rail.

So much for the first, or chief part ;

we may now follow the construction
through the remaining five verses. The phrase A begins all through with the
subject in normal form, to kake.
its

Apart from the first phrase, however, each succeeding verse throws off some
feature of the first verse, and specially elaborates one or more of its sections;
and, further, each verse borrows some feature from its predecessor.
In the second verse, A is identical, and B almost, with A and B of the first
verse. Cintroduces some slight changes. D is simplified, and its second part
is omitted but E is elaborated with a second and a third part, E' and E", in
;
 UMEGAE (" THE PLUM BRANCH ").
HITO-UTA (First verse).
Andantt. JjB.
IA.

FUTA-UTA- -(Second verse).

IA.

3c.
9-t-f
<* *
i

&- V

MI-UTA (Third verse).

IA. 28.
 91
YO-UTA (Fourth verse j.

*fe

3c.
f
-. J

Sc.

7='. 8c. nil.

>~y P-
y J.
^ r|j:njfr

ITSU-UTA (Fifth verse).

1*. 2B.

UN 'U J r * i
r r i
UT i* rrj JTTTHMH^

:^ >''** JJJ.-
J I

r^fb^z
 92 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

which entirely new subjects are given out in E' an interesting phrase of
quavers ; and in E", an equally interesting phrases
in octaves, syncopated. F
and G are discarded, E" running on into the eighth section, introducing the
close by a glissade, which, however, is taken in strict time.
In the third verse, at C, to kake is given out an octave lower, as ro/cu kake,
a chime-like variation of the prinicpal subject caused by the rise to Cji on the
third note instead of the usual fall. Three variations sire appended to D; the
octave passage introduced in E" of the second verse appears in D'" inverted and ;

the verse terminates with G

in its decapitated form, a new variation introducing
the rallentcmdo close.
In the fourth verse, the first four sections are treated simply, the subject

being given differently in each. Two variations are attached to E; the quaver
subject introduced in E' of the second verse, reappears in E", varied in its second
part; and in E" the inverted octave passage of I)'", of the third verse, is
introduced with an interesting variation in its form. F is discarded, and the
verse closes with G
decapitated as before, the close being introduced by a fresh
quaver passage.
In the fifth verse 0, D, and G are discarded ,B has two variations, 'and ;
F
one, which is continued into the eighth section, and leads up to the close.
Finally, in the sixth verse, B, C, 1), and E are discarded, a long and
elaborate second part being inserted after A, which occupies five sections. This
is the climax of the composition, the most elaborate of graces, being
namigaeshi,
reserved forit; it contains suggestions of many of the subordinate ideas scattered

through the second parts in the preceding variations.

The composition is then closed in a sedate and dignified manner with a
continuous rellentando. The phrase F is
concisely with hachi kake
used
decapitated. At G the shich-i kake, which has hitherto been decapitated before
the half close, is given in full, an inversion of the phrase being appended to it ;

this introduces the full close to the song.

"
Rakudan," which out on the Western staff on pages 94, 95, is the
is set

simplest illustration of the second class of Koto classical music, and may be sub-
jected to a similar analysis. Each dan will be found to consist of two sections,
the first occupying rather less than a third of the part. The sections are marked
with an asterisk.
The principal subject is the following passage :
 THE JAPANESE SCALE. 93

which occurs over and over again throughout the composition, marking, in some
form or other, both the beginning and the ending of all the dan.
This simple form is elaborated into a second subject:

which is itself subjected to many variations, its chief characteristic being the

introduction of an accidental, which is immediately contradicted on the next

return to the note. The following varieties of it will be easily noticed :

t/
~*

Again, a variety is introduced a fifth lower, thus:

v=*^?!^WT
The introduction to the sixth part will be seen to be built up on this

phrase, with the introduction of double

kaki beats. Finally, it is elaborated
into a third subject, which occurs at the end of the first part :

with the following variation a fourth higher, corresponding to the variation of

the simpler phrase given above :

Another important feature is the phrase rising to and terminating abruptly

on the major third, which is of frequent occurrence ;
 94

R OKU DAN (THE SIX-GRADE TUNE).

ICHI-DAN (First part).
Andante.

-J I I : , 3=

* " V I

Madtratf. SAN-DAN (Third part).

 95
YO-DAN (Fourth part).
A litgrille.

_
GO-DAN (Fifth part).

53 ~i

ROKU-DAN (Sixth part).

.J4- ^=r=^ : _-*^--*j--e- -,yu ..

^
^ \ J
* 7
3-f
- H
'

ail

"It.
r
l*<tanU t
K . ^ ^
DC, THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Octave passages are also scattered through the parts, out of which the
following rhythmical figure is made up:

In the fifth part this is echoed immediately a fourth higher:

Each of the first five

parts is played quicker
than the preceding one when ;

the first section of the sixth part, which starts allegro, is reached, the time is

gradually slackened to andante.

In the lighter and popular songs, the same precision of construction, and
adherence to principles of form, are, it is needless to say, not observed. The
"
"
two melodies, Hitotsu-toya and " Saita-Sakiirai," printed on pages 104, 105,
speak for themselves. But before leaving the subject, it will be interesting to
glance at some of the more formal of the lighter pieces: and for this purpose I
" "
have translated two into Western music, Matsuzu-kishi "The Pine
" "
Branches" ipage 98 1, and Kasuga-nwde On the Koad to the Kasuga
15
Temple" (page 99).*
"
composed of ten short phrases, of which all contain
Matsuzu-kishi'" is

eight bars, except the fourth, which has twelve, and the tenth, which has
fourteen. The remaining eight closely resemble one another so closely, indeed,
that at first hearing they seem to be precisely identical.
The theme

occurs in except the

all fifth part ;
the remainder is built up of variations on this
simple phrase :

*
The chief compositions of Yiitsvihashi are comprised in the following list, all of which are frequently per-
formed at the present day: IJmeyae, KokarcaukutKi, 1'enkataihei, Uauyvki, Yuki-no-asa, Rokudan, Seiro, Kumo-no-
mfi, Umgoramo, Kirilmibo, Hachidan, Mirade, Suma, Kumoi, Shiki-no-kydku, Qtji-no-kyolni.
 THE JAPANESE SCALE. 97

and the close :

but in every one these phrases are subjected to some very subtle change more ;

especially the close, which is

given with every conceivable variation of time and
accent. The first bar is changed in all the subsequent parts to a short passage
with the major fifth, \\hich has already been noticed.
"
"Kasuga-mode is a
composition of an entirely different character it is :

more sparkling and more continuous, and its phrase repetitions are of a very
graceful and interesting character.
It is incontestable that at first
hearing, and, indeed, after many hearings,
this music leaves much to be desired
perhaps, indeed, it merits some of the
;

epithets which have been bestowed upon it. I do not imagine that the classical

examples which I have given will do otherwise than emphasize those epithets
on the lips of many. But I think that they do establish at least one point
in its favour ;
that there is, in the midst of much that is weird, a considerable
amount of graceful and melodious phrase-composition, and that, though the
materials are limited, an ingenuity of a high artistic order is displayed in
varying these phrases and in weaving then together.
But almost all we hear is, as I have indicated, pentatonic
the music that
in its character apart from
;
the limitations it imposes, our ears are not
only
unaccustomed to such music, but do not very willingly get accustomed. I
doubt if the absence of the seventh is very material in this respect but the ;

absence of the fourth has undoubtedly something to do with it. Our ears must,
"
I think, miss the phrases and sequences God's music," they have been
called in which the fourth of the scale holds a prominent position.
I imagine that different character in music is derived almost entirely from
the prevalence of certain intervals. The Japanese themselves were probably
"
not far wrong when they classified the different " new music in old days

according to the character of the intervals used. -And so I think the most
cursory analysis of this Koto music reveals two qualities, the one good, the
other bad. The good those graceful phrases I have referred to charms us ;

the bad the prevalence of awkward and ungainly intervals, and, consequently,
a queer tinmelodic formlessness in many of the phrases
irritates us they are :

so unlike the smooth, natural sequences with which our own music abounds.
Perhaps, after all, it is not surprising that in the struggle between the good
 98

MATSUZU-KISHI-C'T.HE PIKE BRANCHES ").

AVffritto

^g^ggfg^^S^^^^
=.irp g ,-4-g^rg-~

? accelerando.

JS^^i^feg^J^^
5Fit
^ i-
1

--g_ *-

^
V-^-T-Jf .
^>r_.. = =:

<7 accelerando.

lemfa.
-4?'
*"
5-g-t ^!5! =:-

'
& i .11 ._.. n i n ^. j ._....._.. t^ i K ^ e 1 j n_
 99

KASUGA-MODE ("ON THK ROAD TO THE KASUGA TEMPLE")

A litfret to.

a tempt.

I I

'
I

rt tempo.

^s^=- I
I
^
.
 100 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

and the bad characters, the victory has remained with the latter, for graceful
and pretty phrases are but a poor compensation for a too prevalent ugliness.
Let it be confessed at once that such passages as these find no way to
please the Western ear :

-ffl$> f-^.fc, , v,

flp* CICi M:
f

Nor such "

as this the opening phrase of Yatsuyo-jishi," a piece in the Kumoi
tuning :-

Nor are the queer drops in these two " "

phrases of Umegae such as are
likely to yield delight to the soul of the Western musician :

m
-
f -?
*~f _^-U-
f-[-& ^ I
[ J-t- J l~W r I ^^"^ '
^
\-~-^^-^> j \
JTr L-g=5-* F
-*-i^ .-^-f-^-^-^-glryq:. fz*EE
.^_44__(
-
.^.. * *

But need not accumulate instances of phrases out of which it is impossible

I

to twist musical meaning such as we understand it the printed examples of the ;

music will undoubtedly furnish quite sufficient to any who care to seek for them.
Nor, on the other hand, is it necessary to accumulate instances of phrases of the
other kind, for they are to be found plentifully scattered, not in the classical
examples which have been given, but in the more popular forms, of
which
" Matsuzu-kishi " and " "
Kasuga-mode are excellent illustrations. I select the
following only for the purpose of making the point clear that something at least
is to be said on the other side.
 THE JAPANESE SCALE. 101

From " Umtgae?

, > JL.
S5>s-5-* ^
BSJl^ttt*:
"
From Kutama-iishi.

fe^
As to the form of have analysed at some length two elementary pieces
it, I

of classical Koto music, one of each class, dan and kumi, because without such
an analysis would be impossible to arrive at any notion of the Japanese idea
it

of composition. I do not imagine that every composition when subjected to the

same rigorous analysis would reveal so intricate a construction as appears to
exist but when we find it in the least advanced example of the severer music,
;

we are certainly entitled to assume that the principles of construction are not
ignored in the more elaborate compositions A complete mastery of the science
" "
of form must be in the East, as it is in the West, the corner-stone of all
successful composition. It seems fully in accordance with the Western idea,

too, that in the elementary compositions of a rigid or classical nature, the

elements of the science should be easily discoverable, their clothing of phrases
being only the thinnest of coverings. What, then, is the Japanese idea as we see
it after our analysis? A composition built on a principal theme, constantly
recurring, but in varied forms: to the principal theme, subordinate themes added
from time to time, these again recurring in varied forms: finally, a gradual
working up to a climax which of pleasant reflexion of all that has gone
is full

before ; being, in fact, the themes and pretty phrases of the composition woven
together.
"
The popular pieces, such as
little Saita-Sakurai" speak for themselves;
" "
and of Hitotm-toya indeed, it is curious that so simple a song, the very first
piece of music that the children learn to hum,
and the maidens to play on Koto
or Samisen, contains within itself the refutation of three of the statements that
"
are made Japanese music.
to the discredit of It is altogether unmelodious."

Why, here is a little melody full of grace, catching to the ear, to be whistled, to
" The
be hummed, to be strummed, like any Western popular song. distinction
102 THE MUSW OF THE JAPANESE.

between major and minor is unknown." And here is this tune, which, in its
first variation, goes from the minor to the major in a manner which no tyro
"
among musicians can fail to recognize. Lastly, There is no harmony." And
there are most distinct traces of harmony, not elaborate,
yet in both its variations
it is true, but sufficient to show that the harmonic science was not altogether
unknown.
I give these two melodies at the end of this Part, with
have ventured to

harmonies based on these harmonic indications, and which have been received
with approval by Japanese musicians who have listened to them.
And in the more elaborate popular music, such as " Matsuzu-kishi " and
"
Kasuga-mode," do we not again find a reflexion of the main principle on
which the classical music of Yatsuhashi was built? Themes constructed of
delicate little phrases ;
variations with subtly reminiscent suggestions of the
principal theme ;
and graces superadded, through which its charm is
plainly
visible.

Surely the Western idea does not altogether differ from this. In means
for carrying it out, for inventing grander themes, for elaborating them, for
beautifying them, for involving them one with the other, for mystifying the
clear vision of the brain by surrounding everything with a delightful mist of
sound, yes: the music of the East cannot compare with the music of the West.
But again I say we must remember the few pitiful strings, the imperfect
knowledge of the scale, the deficient knowledge of the capacity of some of their
instruments, and then I think what has been done is a thing to wonder at and
not to scoff at and again I say we have no notion how far this modern
;

Japanese music has gone, because we don't listen to it, and we won't listen to
it, and as yet there is no means whereby we
may study it for ourselves when the
sliding doors have been drawn to, and the tea-house candles have been
extinguished.
 103

HITOTSU-TOYA.

ACCOM-
PANIMENT.

"-
-~!<==*= ^\-+
::
I I

S^=^|g=?g :
g 1
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FIRST VARIATION.

=-
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T=* ^E&t^^^^ttr
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s c= = =t
-'-t=a^E=5i=
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SECOND VARIATION.

.^ .- J: -
J; ^

t*- -.s-

rrrT^^^^SEa:'
_
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I W
M---
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 104

SAITA-SAKURAI.

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ACCOM-
'ANIMKNT.
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IE

1
 PART III.

THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

OF THE JAPANESE.
 JAPANESE INSTRUMENTS.
SYNOPSIS.
THE Koro: Historical outline The Yamato-koto Diagrams of hand
positions Measurements of modern Kotos of Kotos General scheme
Varieties
of development Technical terms used for Koto music Koto notation Facsimile
of a page of Koto music, with translation.
BIWAS, AND STKINOED INSTRUMENTS WITH FRETS: Varieties of Bi\vas
Measurements Tin-: (IKKKINS.
SAMISENS, FIDDI.HS, AND STRINGED INSTRUMENTS WITHOUT FRETS: Tunings
of the Samiscn Varieties Tin-: KOKYU Chinese Fiddles.
FLUTES, AND BAMHOO WIND INSTRUMENTS : Varieties of Flutes THE
HICIIIRIKI THE SHAKUHACIII THE Situ Arrangement and measurements of
pipes
'

scheme of chords.
DRUMS: I. Drums n. Drums with braces: scheme of
Plain cylindrical
Chinese time in. Drums with dumbbell-shaped bodies, or Tsuzumi.
GONGS Varieties of Gongs.
:

BRASS INSTKUM HNTS.

THE KOTO.
KOTO is the chief of modern Japanese instruments.present In its

THE form the last of a long series of instruments, the one developed out of
it is

the other, some with many strings, some with few, of which four principal
and several minor varieties remain in use at the present day.
From what has already been said on the subject of the Kin and the Koto,
it
appears that this class of instrument originated both in China and Japan, all
the evidence which is available pointing to the fact that the Yamato-koto is in-

digenous to Japan. The instrument in its popular form, however, originated with-
out doubt in China, and went through many stages of development there. When
this development was arrested, many forms of the instrument seem to have
passed into Japan, where the process was continued.
108 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Its form, a of strings stretched over a long narrow sounding-board,

number
was the same at all periods of its existence. The principal variations consist in
the dimensions and treatment of the sounding-board, and the method of attaching
the strings to it in the number of strings, and consequent tunings
: the minor ;

variations, in the shape of the tsume, or playing nails, the quality of the strings,
the height of the bridges, and so forth, these last having been made in more
recent times to improve the quality of the tone. The strings, it should be said,
are of tightly twisted silk, soaked in wax and we find strings of different
;

thickness, more or less tightly twisted, and indued with a lighter or heavier
coating of wax.
seems possible to divide the numerous forms of the instrument into three
It

groups first, those with one or more strings,

: tuned in unison or to a fifth,
attached to tuning-pegs, and played with tsume, the notes being produced by
stopping secondly, those with a fixed bridge at each end, with many strings
;

tuned in different ways, but without tuning-pegs, the strings being permanently
stretched,and the notes produced by stopping as before, but tsume not being used
in general thirdly, those with a movable bridge, or loose fret, for each string.
;

Before describing the many varieties of which the first two classes are com-
posed, some further particulars of the main group may now be given.
According to the "Outline of the Origin of the So-no-Koto Music," written
by Yamada Ryu, a master of the Japanese Koto, and the inventor of
the form of it in principal use at the present time, the period in which
the Kin is supposed to have originated in China is that of the Emperor
Fukki B.C. 2000. It measured 7 feet 2 inches (one foot longer than the
modern instruments), and had only five strings. In the Chew dynasty,
150 years later, a sixth string was added and later still a seventh.
; The
early Kin remained a seven-stringed instrument for a long period, and as
such it is generally quoted in the books. It was made in two sizes, the
smaller being an octave instrument measuring 3 feet 6 inches. A miniature
Koto the Han-koto used, in old Japanese days, to form part of a traveller's
luggage and it seems reasonable to suppose that the small Kin in older times
;

was made for the same purpose, and was called into being by the same fondness
for its music. In the Chin dynasty another miniature Kin, 3 feet 7 inches
long, appears to have been in vogue, and also a one-stringed instrument,
Ichi-gen-kin, which disappeared from China to reappear in later times in Japan
under the same name.
An endeavour to make the Kin a twelve-stringed instrument seems to
have failed, probably because the need for a many-stringed instrument was
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 109

already supplied by the Hitsu-no-koto, which is attributed also to the reign

of the Emperor Fukki. We can only conjecture what the, precise differences
in construction between the Kin and the Hitsu-no-koto were, the only records

being as to the number of the strings. At first, the Hitsu-no-koto had fifty;
but in the reign of the Emperor Kdtei the number was reduced to twenty-five ;

it was again reduced by the Emperor Shun to twenty-three, " many other
alterations being made at the same time." It measured 8 feet 1 inch long, by
After a time three more strings were discarded."
' 5

1 foot 9 inches broad.

Two further varieties are noticed in the books: the Sho-hitsu-no-koto,
"
7 feet 3 inches long, with twenty-five strings, and ornamented with precious
''
stones and the Chiku-no-koto, a thirteen-stringed instrument struck with
;

"
a short bamboo chiku,. Even the Kin," says the historian, " was sometimes
struck with a stick, the idea having originated with a poet who derived
17
inspiration from striking the strings with his pen."
At the points of greatest interest in the history of Japanese music, when
the thirteen-stringed Kin was finally established in China, and which of the
many forms already noticed came to Japan, we unfortunately find the greatest
doubt. The Chinese instrument now used for Chinese music in Japan is
neither the pure Kin nor the Hitsu-no-koto, but the So-uo-koto and even in ;

the sober work of so accomplished a musician as Yamada Ryu, its introduction

into these islands surrounded by angels, mountain-tops, clouds, and lovely
is

ladies. The story of the mountain-grove has already been told. The period
is given as the reign of the Emperor Temmu, ;ibout A.D. 673.
The Chiku-no-koto is the first thirteen-stringed instrument mentioned, but
this again is .
treated
quite as distinct from the So-no-koto. The number,
though as a matter of course it is connected with all other human and divine
to have
things which have settled themselves into thirteen, seems undoubtedly
been finally determined upon because it could give the full octave of ntsu, or

semitones, one string for each, when they were required.

Somewhere, then, in the mists of the early Chinese dynasties, about two
thousand years ago, the So-no-koto developed out of the Hitsu-no-koto, and
came to with Chinese music, dancing, and the rest of the Chinese
Japan
orchestra, about the middle of the seventh century. It remained the fashionable

instrument of the Japanese Court for upwards of a thousand years, but was used
for Chinese music alone. National music was left to the Yamato-koto of
which more hereafter the Satsuma-biwa, and the other instruments which had

gradually developed in Japan.

 110 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

The development of the Japanese Koto out of the So-no-koto is, however,
given by Yamada Ryu with the precision with
which it has already been related.
The two forms in which the Japanese Koto is now found are, first, the
Ikuta-koto, which developed out of Yatsuhashi's improvements; and, secondly,
the Yamada-koto, in which the instrument has been brought to its highest pitch,
no further development having been attempted, and none indeed seeming
possible. The So-no-koto remains for use when the old Chinese music is
performed.
It has been impossible to give more than the barest indication of the differ-
ences between the earliest forms of Koto but with regard to the three now in
;

use they can be pointed out with more precision. The S5-no-koto has low
bridges, the strings are coarser and more loosely twisted than those now used,
and the tsume are of thick paper, gilt or silvered, with a very small piece of
bamboo let in, not more than one-fifth of an inch in length. In playing, the
paper rubs the string, the bamboo striking it afterwards, but with very
stall first

little force ;
the result is a soft woolly tone. In the Japanese Koto these three
points are altered the
; bridges are raised, the strings are of finer quality, and
the tsume are of ivory standing clear of the leather stall, enabling the strings to
be struck clean. The result is a clear bright tone, tending naturally to the
production of lighter and brighter music.
The Ikuta-koto is used now almost exclusively in the west of Japan,
though occasionally in the east by ladies. Its sides and extremities are
covered with elaborate lacquer designs and inlay of tortoise-shell, ivory, and
silver the strings are of different colours, like those of the Western
;
Harp,
enabling them to be more easily distinguished and remembered. The tsume
are of thick ivory or tortoise-shell set in
lacquered leather stalls, and are
cut square at the top. In the Yamada-koto, used by all the profession in
the east of Japan, superfluous ornament is discarded, the whole art of the
maker being devoted to the preparation of the finest wood for the body ;

only on very costly instruments is a little gold lacquer ornament of the

most severe kind introduced. The bridges have again been raised they ;

are made much stouter, and are either

tipped with ivory or made of solid
the strings are of the finest white or
ivory; yellow silk. The tsume are
about an inch long, of in leather with an elliptical top. On the
ivory stalls,
whole the instrument is more substantial and more workmanlike than the
delicately-built Ikuta-koto, and gives a much clearer and more resonant tone.
The three forms of tsume are figured on the
plate facing page 116 , drawn to
their exact sizes.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. Ill

We have now to go back to the old Koto of Japan, the Yamato-koto

otherwise called Wet-yon which differs structure and principle
essentially in
from those which have been described. The Japanese authorities agree, and I
see neither reason nor authority for disputing with them, in claiming it, as the
name indicates, as a purely national instrument. The story of its development

from six long bows tied side by side is a familiar one ;

and the form of the
instrument suggests that it is by no means improbable.

The sounding-board of the Yamato-koto is cut at one end into five long
" ''

notches, the six strings being attached to the six bow projections by thick
coarse cords. The bridges are made of untrimmed joints of maple twigs; the
strings themselves being of coarse twisted silk. The idea of the roughness of
the instrument is further preserved in the rule that it ought not to have a case
of any sort. Crude though its construction is, its tone is very sweet and
mellow.

Again, the principle of the instrument is entirely different from that

of the ordinary Koto. The six strings are tuned in the following order D, F,
A,. C, E, G,

the major triad of the tonic, and the minor triad of the second of the diatonic
scale of C major: an interesting and harmonious tonal relation with which
Western musicians are perfectly familiar.

The method of playing is as follows. In the right hand a small slip of ox-

horn, or other hard material, is held, with which all the six strings are scratched
(literally koto-saki] rapidly, from the first to
the sixth, close to the long bridge
at the right end of the instrument. The strings are then at once damped with
the left hand, and a little melody accompanying the voice is tinkled out with
the left little finger, the "scratch" coming to mark the pauses in the

rhythm.
The instrument is now used only on the rare occasions when the music
which was originally written for it is performed ;
the Kagura, the Saibara, and
the rest of the old music of the country.
112 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

The following diagrams of the proper positions of the hand in playing the
"
Koto are taken from Abe Suyenao's Eecords of Ancient Music."

POSITIONS OF THE HANDS IN PLAYING THE YAM ATO-KOTO.

POSITIONS OF EIGHT HAND HOLDING THE PLECTRUM:

Scratching outwards. Scratching inwards.

POSITIONS OF LEFT HAND:

The little finger playing the melody. Damping the strings after scratching.

POSITIONS OF THE HANDS IN PLAYING THE SO-NO-KOTO.

EIGHT-HAND POSITIONS :

Suga-kaki : thumb striking the string, fingers playing kuki. Ko-tsume: up-stroke of the thumb.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 113

Ren: thumb after a sweep over several Kneshi-zumf: thumb-stroke.

position of strings.

LETT-HAND POSITIONS:

The hand at rest below the bridges. Pressing the string to produce a sharp.
 114
PRINCIPAL MEASUREMENTS OF THE FOUR KOTOS
NO W IN USE.
Yamato-koto. So-no-koto. Ikuta-koto. Yamada-koto.
(Old Japanese.) Chinese.; (Modern Japanese.)

Length 6 feet 3 in. 6 feet 4| in. 6 feet 3 in. 6 feet

Breadth ... of in. [upper 10 in. 9! in. 9i in.

end]
9i in. [lower 9* in.
end]

Depth of sounding 2 in. 13 in. 3 in. 3 in.

boa I'd

Height of upper 41 in. 4| "

in. 5 in. 5i in.
end

Height of lower 3 in. 3* in. 2i in. 3i in.

end

Height of string 2i in. 2 in. 2 in. 2i in.

bridges

Upper bridge from 3 in. 4-1 in. 5J in. 44 in.

end

Lower bridge from 10 in. 9i in. 8 in.

end

Length of fastening 1H n.

ropes

Strings apart i in. at J in.

upper f in. | in.
bridge
i^in.at rope
fastening
Notches of
the "bows"
project 21
inches from
lower end
H J
H a
M B

K '
5
>
e

c
H
O
 115

VARIETIES OF THE KIN, OR KOTO,

We haw not sufficient information available to attempt a systematic

numerous instruments which fall properly under the head
classification of the
of Kins or Kotos, The order in which the following instruments an described 2

is ba$ed on the preceding account, and is a possible

approximation to their order
of development.
ICHI-GEX-KIX the "One-stringed Kin" .r SVMA-KOIXV a one-strirged

instrument, said to have been invented in Japan in the Kngi era. A.IX tVU.at
Suma. near Kobe", whence it took its name.
tt is made of /bV wood, very slightly oonvexed, and measures 3 feet
7 inches long, by 4i inches broad. Its one siring. 2 feet 9* inches in
length, is
fastened underneath the body of the instrument coining through a small hole
:

at one end, passes over a low movable bridge and is wound round a jvg
it

4J inches high, which stands at right-angles to the body at the other end. The
string is tum-d to FjJ. the second string of the Koto, and fundamental note of
the scale.
The method of playing is peculiar. Between the thumb and first finger of
the right hand is held an ivory Utimf, composed of a section of a cylinder, the
two ends of which are cut at a right-angle to one another, as shown on Plate XT.,
page 116. With this the string struck near the bridge, the stroke King
is

generally upwards a down

: stroke is. however, occasionally introduced in order
to obtain variety of intonation. On
the second finger of the left hand is worn a

heavy ivory cylinder, '2^ inches long, figured on the same Plate. The different
notes are produced by resting this cylinder lightly on different parts of the string.
the divisions into tones and semitones being indicated by small ivory or painted
spots on the face of the body. A
peculiar jangling trill is produced by sliding
the cylinder along the string to the different positions, instead of lifting it clear.
The one-stringed Koto is said to have been invented by an exiled nobleman
to chase awav his melancholv : his original
V
instrument beinc
V.
a string
V.
stretched
across his There is no doubt, however, that a one-stringed instru-
hat.
ment existed China in very early time*. The chroniclers assert that its
in

departed spirit took the usual means of returning to earth, revealing itself in a
dream to the exile of Suma,
116 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.
"
NI-GEN-KIN Two-stringed Kin ": a variety of the Suma-koto, with
the
two strings tuned in unison to Fjj. The dimensions of the body are the same,
but instead of being flat it is hollowed to a depth of two inches. The strings,
fastened underneath as in the Suma-koto, pass over a bridge with two notches,
half-un-inch apart at one end, but instead of going direct to the tuning-pegs,

they are brought together on a second bridge with one notch only thence they :

pass through a small piece of brass to their respective pegs,

which are 1\ inches
long. played with the same heavy cylindrical tsume as the
The Ni-gen-kiu is

Suma-koto, the double string emphasizing the trills produced on that instrument.
Small pieces of metal are inserted in the body to indicate the positions of the
is
notes.

The Ichi-gea-kin and the Ni-gen-kiu are figured on Plate XT., page 116;
the one-stringed instrument rests on a low table which is generally used when

any of these small Kotos are played.

A variety of the Ni-gen-kin is made of a section of bamboo the strings ;

are tied to thick silk cords at one end, and pass to the tuning-pegs through
a large the pegs are placed one on each side of the body.
hole at the other end ;

A second hole at the upper end allows the strings to be struck freely. The
cords are of purple silk, adorned with heavy tassels.
"
YAKTMO-KOTO Eight-cloud Koto": a two-stringed instrument, almost
the
identical with the Ni-gen-kin, except that the body is enclosed, thus making a
true sounding-board.
SAN-GEN-KINthe "Three-stringed Kin": a further development of the
Suma-koto, with three strings, the outer tuned in unison to Cij, the middle one
to thiis:-
Fjt,

giving the first, second, and fifth strings of the Koto. The dimensions of the
sounding-board which is enclosed, as in the case of the Yakumo-koto are the
same as those of the one and
two-stringed instruments and the same heavy tsume
;

and cylinder are used by the plaver.

The third string, is used for the melody, the first and second for the
0|J,
kake beat. The melody, moreover, is
occasionally reinforced by the of the
FjJ
second string, whole The
passages being played in fifths. three strings are also
often struck together in
quick arpeggio fashion.
 THE ICHI-GEN-KIN. OR SUMA-KOTO, AND THE NI-GEN-KIN.

CYLINDRICAL, TSUME FOR THE ICHr-GEX-KIN. FOR THE SO-NO-KOTO. FOR THE YAMADA -KOTO. FOR THE IKUTA-KOTO.

VARIOUS FORMS OF KOTO TSUME.

\TE III., page 116.

 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 117

As in the case of the Ni-gen-kin, a variety of the 8an-gen,-kin is sometimes

made of a segment of bamboo. It is a
simple reproduction, however, of the
original, without the silk cords and tassels, and without the apertures in the

body. The pegs are disposed at right-angles to one another, two at the sides and
one in the centre of the body.
AZUMA-KOTO the " Eastern Koto": another three-stringed instrument with
a perfect sounding-board. Certain differences in its structure are, however, very
important to notice. Three wires are strung loosely inside, which produce slight
vibrations when the instrument is played. These wires do not rattle like the
one which is fixed inside the Gekkin, but seem to be used for sympathetic
vibrations, like those of the Viol d'Amore, though they are not tuned to special
notes as are those of the more modern Western instrument.
The upper end of the sounding-board is cut into three bow-notches,

showing the affinity between this Koto and the Yamato-koto it is also bound ;

thrice in its length with wicker, to preserve the idea of three bows being tied

together. Purple silk tassels hang from two small holes in the side.
In the next group the instruments are constructed on somewhat different
principles, and are played in a different way. Instead of the loose bridges
which are used and three-stringed Kotos, one long fixed bridge
in the one, two,
is placed at the tuning-pegs have disappeared, and the strings passing
each end ;

under the sounding-board are tuned permanently, and not as occasion requires;
and, finally, the cylindrical tsume are not used, the strings being plucked with
the thumb and first finger. The strings are stopped with the fingers of the left
hand, the positions of the notes being indicated, as in the first group, by marks
on the sounding-board.*
It will be easily understood, however, that there are links connecting the
two groups, in which some of. the characteristics of both are noticeable: these
links are the five and the six-stringed Kotos. The resemblances to the first
group seem to show that the natural order of development is as I have given
them, although the absence of tsume and the more primitive method of playing
point to the second group as the earlier.
"
GO-KIN Five-stringed Kin." The body is the same length as that of
the
the Suma-koto, and only slightly broader. It is in the same way slightly con-

vexed, and has the two lateral indentations which are shown in the figure of the
Suma-koto facing page 116 ;
the lower bridge is movable.
* I have to I have aome doubt
regret that ray information on this group of Kotos is exceedingly meagre, and
whether it is altogether reliable. The instruments are seldom used, and there are few people who possess any
knowledge of them. I have occasionally supplemented my own observations by those of Monsieur Alexandre
Kraus Fils, published in his pamphlet, " La Musique du Japon," which he permits me to refer to.
118 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.
" deux enfoncements
Le Gokkine rappelle son origine Chinoise par ses

late"raux. II est monte" de cinq cordes dont plus grosses sont jaunes; la
les trois

quatrieme est violette, et la cinquieme,

bleue. Au lieu des points bhincs du
Souma-koto, il
y a sur le Gokkine, en characteres Chinois, les noms des sons que
Ton prodnit, en appuyant sur la corde aux endroits marques. On tourne les
chevilles a 1'aide d'une clef a bois." [Kraus.~\
"
ROKU-KIX Six-stringed Kin": an instrument with six strings passing
the
over two fixed bridges, one at each end of the sounding-board. The sides of the
body are parallel, and the characteristic lateral indentations are wanting.
SHICHI-GEN-KIN the " Seven-stringed Kin." This is the most -important
instrument of the group now under consideration, and it is greatly to be
regretted that information respecting it is so very meagre. The accompany-
ing illustration shows the front and the back of the instrument.
The length 3 feet 10J inches, with a string length
of the sounding-board is

of 3 feet 7 inches. The breadth, 6 i inches, tapering to 4i; the height at the
upper end 3i inches, at the lower end 13 the thickness, 1 inch at the outside
;

edges, and 1 -J inch at the centre of the convexity.

The strings are tied to loops of silk cord, which are fastened underneath
the sounding-board to
pegs the cords come up to the upper
seven small ;

surface through small holes, the knots between the cords and the strings

resting on a bridge, half an inch high, which serves to keep the strings
free of the sounding-board. On the bridge the strings are three-quarters of
iin inch apart ;
from this point they converge, and p.issing over the lower end,

KHONT AND UAt'K VIKW ()!' THK SHU'III-(!EN-KIN

 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 119

which slightly raised to form a bridge, within a space of an inch and a

is

quarter, they are tightly wound round two stout pegs fastened underneath the
sounding-board one foot from the end these pegs serve as rests for the
;

instrument. It will be observed

from this description that the strings of the
Shichi-gen-kin can only be tuned by untying the knots at their upper ends.
The body has the characteristic lateral indentations; and the positions for
the stopping are indicated by small
ivory circles.
The tuning of the strings is remarkable :

or, raising the notes to the Koto pitch :

A, E, G, Fjf,
G, E, Fft.
The method of playing is, however, more remarkable still. The melody is
" "
played entirely by plucking the last string, the first and second fingers of the
left hand The remaining
being used for stopping. strings are swept in arpeggio
by the thumb of the right hand.
Monsieur Kraus calls this instrument the Chinese Kin.
The Kin, however, was undoubtedly, like all the Chinese instruments of
the class, a much
larger instrument. It may possibly be the miniature Kin, in
vogue in China during the Chin dynasty, its length corresponding with the
length of that instrument as given in the Encyclopedia. If this supposition
should be correct, it furnishes us with the important conclusion that the
develop-
ment of the Hitsu-no-koto from the Kin, or, as it is sometimes called, the Kin-
no-koto, was accomplished by means of the addition of a movable bridge or fret
for each string. Monsieur Kraus, however, gives both the Shichi-gen-kin, and
its companion the Gindai, with movable bridges. The presence of the
"stopping-points" on the sounding-board seems to show, however, that this is
inaccurate.
GINDAI: an instrument of precisely the same and shape as the
size

preceding, but strung with thirteen strings. [Kraus.] The name is probably
made out of the words " dai kin " i.e., the " larger Kin."
KAKU-GOTO the " Square Koto ": " un autre instrument Japonais de la
plus haute antiquite, tombe aujourd'hui en desuetude." It is rectangular, being
2 feet long by 1 foot 6 inches broad, with a string-length of 1 foot 5 inches.
There are twenty-five strings, stretched pver two long fixed bridges; it is played
with hard wooden Isume.
120 THE MUSK} OF THE JAPANESE.

SAGE-KOTO a small Koto of very ancient origin, said to have been invented
:

in the year 3468 B.C. It has nine strings, and measures 2 feet long, with a
its breadth at the upper end is 6 inches, and at
string-length of 1 foot 6 inches
:

the lower end 43 inches.

The groupdiverges at this point in two directions: the Michin, forming a
connecting link between the Koto and the Gekkin and the Tsuma-koto, which :

seems to show traces of foreign

r*
influence.

NICHIX : a circular Koto, with a diameter of 1 foot 3 inches, and a string-

length of 1 foot. The thickness of the body is 2 inches.
"
Le Nichine est line espece de psalterion rond, sur lequel sont tendues six
cordes de grosseur et de couleurs differentes. La premiere, beaucoup plus
grosse que les a litres, est jaune et donne 1'octave basse de la tonique la seconde ;

est bleu la
cinquieme, noire,
clair, Ces six
et la sixieme, blanche.
cordes sont attachces a un bouton en bois et passent au dessus de deux
chevalets places a 0'".32, 1'un de 1'autre; on les accorde en tournant leurs
chevilles avec une petite clef en bois. II est
pourvn a 1'interieur d'une petite
lame en fer, qui se trouve dans la plupart des instruments populaires au Japon
et qui sert a faire un petit bruit, quand on renuie 1'instrument." \_KrausJ]
The
circular shape and the vibrating wire seem to show clearly the process
by which the Gekkin was developed from the Koto.

TSUMA-KOTO : a Koto with thirteen strings on a sounding-board in the form

of a trapezoid. Its measurements are as follows: Greatest length, 2 feet
2 inches ;
shortest length, 1 foot 7 inches ; breadth, 11 inches. Each string is

attached to a small tuning-peg on the upper surface, resembling those used in

the Piano. Monsieur Kraus gives to this instrument movable bridges
\_Kraiis.~]
for each string. I am inclined to doubt whether this information is accurate, sis

the presence of tuning-pegs seems to indicate that

bridges would not be used.

YA-GOTO " "

Eight-stringed Koto
the : an instrument said to have been
out of the Yamato-koto. Its
developed distinguishing feature is that it is
double-strung. The sounding-board measures 3 feet 7 inches long by about
5 inches high, and is more convexed than that of any other Koto. The
eight double strings pass over two long low bridges, giving a string length of
32 inches. Above the upper bridge they pass through ivory holes let into the
surface of the sounding-board, and are wound round
eight long tuning-pegs
which are fastened underneath. These pegs terminate in small spear-heads,
which project from the
upper end of the instrument.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 121

Y AX-KIN : the Chinese form of the Zither, the shape of which is accurately

copied. It is strung with fifteen double wires, and is said by the instrument
makers to have come to China from Italy.
Another double-stringed instrument, sometimes called the YO-KIX, with
thirteen double brass wires, has probably developed out of this adaptation of the
Zither, though it is said to be of Japanese origin. The sounding-board is of
black wood, measuring 2<> inches by 10; it is 4 inches high, convexed, and
decorated with metal ornaments The wires are attached to a double row of
tuning-pegs placed at both ends beyond the bridges.
In the last group the instruments are distinguished by the introduction of
the small movable bridges for each string, which have already been noticed.
In this group come two instruments which have already been mentioned,
but of which no accurate description can be given :

HITSU-NO-KOTO : an instrument of which there were many varieties, the

largest having fifty strings.

CHIKU-NO-KOTO : a thirteen-stringed instrument, struck with a short bamboo.

There are also the following, which have already been described :

YAMATO-KOTO the old six-stringed Koto of Japan.

:

SO-NO-KOTO ;
the ultimate form of the thirteen-stringed Kin of China.
IKUTA-KOTO and YAMADA-KOTO : the ultimate forms of the thirteen-stringed
Koto of Japan.
To these must be added :

HAN-KOTO the " Half-Koto ": the ordinary Japanese Koto in miniature,
which is used on journeys.
YO-KIN the "Chinese Koto": a miniature thirteen-stringed instrument
from China. Its measurements are as follows: Length, 3 feet 7 inches;
breadth, 9 inches height ;
at the sides, 5 inches.

THE YO-KIN.
122 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Two forms of Corean Kotos must be mentioned here which are given in the
Enci/clopcedia.
The drawings show one to have been somewhat in the ordinary
form, with a figure-head at one end the Kudara-koto, or Corean Koto the ;

other the Shiragi-koto seems to have resembled the traditional form of the
ancient Harp.
Although the amount of information at present procurable is not all that

could be desired, there is indicate how important a position the

sufficient to
Koto holds in the development of stringed instruments of music. All authorities
are, I think, agreed that the long-bow of the archers first suggested the tight-
drawn string sound-producing body. Development seems to have been
as a

along two distinct There is first the well-known one, the multiplication
lines.

of strings on the same bow, one behind the other, which speedily produced
the early forms of Harp and it is somewhat curious to note that the
;

Shiragi-koto of Corea is the only trace of this form in the three Kingdoms of
the Far East.

OLD C'OUKAN KOTOS.

Secondly, there is the multiplication of bows as well as strings, the weapons

being placed side byand tied together. The Koto family springs imme-
side

diately from this idea, and it seems probable that the sounding-board sprang from
this class rather than from an
amplification of the arc of the bow.*
* In
considering the bow-theory of the development of the Koto, it is impossible not to refer to the Valiha, a
remarkable instrument in use in Madagascar. This instrument is of the Koto
family. It is made of a piece of
entire bamboo the strings are made of thin slices of the
; reed, raised on bridges, but unsevered from the main
stem which forms the sounding-board. The strings
completely encircle the bamboo, the instrument being played
upright.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 123

Finally, the archery bow reappears in the bow of the Fiddle class as the
vibrator instead of the vibrating instrument.
The subordinate points of development are also to be noticed.
The body of the instrument appears first as a Hat piece of wood very
slightly convexed, then as a fully-curved hollow resonator, and
lastly, as a
regular enclosed sounding-board.
At a certain stage loose vibrating wires are introduced into the sounding-
board, which afterwards give place to a noisy jangling wire.
The strings, at first arranged unmethodically, and of any number from one
to fifty, afterwards settle down to thirteen, capable of producing the thirteen
notes in the octave. Double strings are, after a time, introduced and become
the regular features in a certain class of instruments. Much later, wire is
introduced, instead of string soaked in wax but this never seems to have become
;

popular.
The strings are, in the early instruments, attached to
large tuning-pegs;
these diminish they become small pins turned with a key instead of
in size till

by hand. Where the movable bridges are introduced the pegs or pins are
discarded altogether, the strings being fastened either below or above the
sounding-board.
The strings are vibrated either by the finger or with a plectrum, which at
first is a small piece of horn, and afterwards develops into the large bachl of
the Biwa and Samisen and then dwindles again into the Koto tsiune,
;
worn on
the thumb and first and second fingers.
This continued process of development will be traced further in the two
remaining classes of stringed instruments: those with frets the Biwas; and
those without frets the Samisens and Fiddles.
We may proceed now to consider certain points of interest in connection
with the Koto notation and the method of playing that instrument.
124 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

TECHNICAL TERMS USED FOR KOTO MUSIC.

Ritsu a semitone.
THE SHARPS.

Osu to press : i.e. to press a string below its bridge and thus sharpen its

tone. The pressure should raise the natural note of the string one ritsu the ;

"
term is therefore equivalent to the Western sharp." It is commonly called lea,

the Japanese sign being ~f) Thus, ku osu, or ku

. lea, means the ninth string
l!l

pressed, and it may be properly translated by A4.

There are, in addition, three other varieties of sharps.
" "
E, the after sharp the pressure being applied below the bridge after
:

the string has been struck. The pressure is retained until the next note is
played. The Japanese sign is ?.. and it might be conveniently rendered for
purposes of translation by the sign ,J^. Ku e, or 9 ^
would be interpreted
,

on the Western staff thus:

Ke the "twisted sharp": sharp vibrations are introduced into the natural
ones of the string by twisting it slightly below its bridge with the thumb and
first finger, the natural vibrations being then allowed to continue. The
Japanese sign is >r, and it may be conveniently rendered by "^j.
Ku ke, or 9
"
tt
would be interpreted thus on the staff:
] ;

Yu the "half sharp ":

sharp vibrations are, as in ke, introduced into the
natural ones of the string by a pressure below the string: but the pressure is
removed before the next note is played. 20 The higher vibrations therefore
predominate, but the relapse into the natural is allowed to be distinctly heard,
unless it occurs in a quick passage. The Japanese is 3-, and it may be
sign
conveniently rendered by J* Ku yu, or 9 ^/, would be interpreted as nearly
as possible on the staff
by
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 125

Niju oshi the double pressure, which raises the natural note of the

string a full tone. The proper use

of the double-pressure is, according to
Mr. Yamase's explanation, to produce the notes of the scale which are not
"
given by the open strings. Thus, the phrase in JCasuga-mode,"
9
Id
to ka
to niju os/ti-

translated on to the Western staff, becomes

"
There not an unnatural temptation to call this a
is double sharp," but the
refinements of the double sharp, as distinguished from the note which represents
it on the Piano, are, I think, unknown In translating
to the Japanese musician.
on to the Western staff, it may be necessary occasionally to use the double
sharp, as in the inverted kaki given below, but this would occur in Japanese
music more frequently with a simple than with a double pressure.
Examples of ka, e, kc, and yu, will be found in the specimen of Koto
notation given on page 1:>3, the translation of which on to the Western staff will
be found on page 90.

Ayarito raise a .string from its normal tuning one semitone or more, by
moving its
bridge up.
Sagari to lower a string a semitone or more, by moving its bridge down.
One of the tunings is called Go-snyari roht-agari, in consequence of such
changes in the fifth and six strings.
There is obviously no other way of flattening the natural note of a string :

where a flattening is required, therefore, the bridge is moved by the left hand
during the progress of the piece. This occurs to the 6th and to strings during
the progress of the tune " Kutrama-jishi," written in Hirajoshl with those strings
raised a semitone Tuning No. 11, on the scheme of Koto-tunings given on page 67.
"
Kaki to two adjoining strings struck in succession with the
scratch" :

same finger, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly thus kaki on the first and :

second would be :

"'
or
&&=
-#
126 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

and on the fifth and sixth it would be :

"
It is often used tomark a pause in the melody, as in Saita-Sakurai" and in ;

the same way to mark the conclusion of a part of the composition, or as we

" "
might say variation," as in JRokudan." In this case the kaki is always on
the first and second played more vigorously, like a
strings, and is short roll on a
21
drum, a strong accent being laid on the second note.
In the Japanese notation the strings on which kaki is to be played are only
indicated by being written close together but, as ordinary quavers are written
:

in the same way, the kaki, like so many other things, has to be remembered by
the player. The following would be a convenient method of indicating kaki in
turning Japanese notation into English figures :

34 H 56 67 78
These five commonest use: they are played with the first or second finger.
are in

Haya-kaki "quick or double kaki:" two kaki beats played in quick

succession haya-kaki on the sixth and seventh strings, for example, would be
;

written thus :

Warizume an inverted kaki, on the eighth and seventh strings, with a

"half sharp" (yu) on the seventh : it is
played slowly, and is often used in the
concluding phrase of a composition, the yu being prolonged; it may be thus
rendered on the stuff:

Another inverted kaki is sometimes found on the thirteenth and twelfth

strings, the latter sharpened ;
it has, however, no distinct name, being written
simply kin, i ka: on the staff this is :
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 127

Hazumu a short phrase in frequent use, composed of the tenth string

dotted, followed by the ninth and eighth translated on to the staff thus
: :

Kake the name given to a phrase of five notes of frequent occurrence :

it be given on any string, the number of the string on which it ends being
may
written before the word kake the phrase consists of two consecutive strings
;

played with the first finger then two, one string lower, played with the second
: :

then one with the thumb, four strings higher thus ;

:

tokakf 1 8 (5 7 to

i k.ikf 8978i p H-

kin kake 9 10 8 9 kin

jn kfiki: (> 7 5 (') 10

hachikakc* 5348

rokukake'2 3126

and so on.
" " An interesting variation
The piece Umegae is built upon this phrase.
of it occurs, in which the kake is shorn of its last two notes thus shield kake, :

3, 4, 2, 3, 7, appears as 3, 4, 2 :-

S:
 128 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

In the example of notation it will be seen that, although the numbers

of the strings composing the kake are written in their proper sequence,
the name is written at the side to enable the performer to phrase the notes

properly.
"
Kake is superpose," referring to the thumb note which stands
literally to

up prominently above the gentle swaying of the first four notes of the phrase;
and with the exception of roku kake, this superposed note is the octave of the
third note.

So far as I have been able to observe no common phrases, with the excep-
tion of kakf and hazumu, have special names given to them.

GLISSADES.

" "
Nayashi, or omote to How a slide or glissando with the first
:

finger
over the strings both the first and last strings of the slide are named
;
nagashi :

is, however, generally used for the common glissade 1 to kin."

Hikiren is used for shorter glissades from the first

string, as from 1 to (>,
1 to 10.

In rapid movements hikiren is often

only a swift sweep over the strings
from right to left of the first and second
fingers held together, without much
to the actual
regard strings struck.

Uraren is also used for short glissades those starting downwards from the
last string. This isa very graceful ylissade, often used in
finishing part of a
composition; it is played with the first and second fingers turned back,
moving
slowly with a slight circular motion outwards, finishing with an inverted kaki
on the indicated string
played with the thumb.
Thus rokii-made uraren is a slide; from kin to (>, or kin to 76.
"
Namigaeshi waves coming and going allusion to the
":
probably in
fanciful idea of a
dragon lying on the sea-shore which the form of the Koto
suggests. Namigaeshi is made up of alternate glissades over all the strings,
from 1to km, and back from kin to 1 this is done
once or twice, and occasionally
;

all cases with an

thrice^n terminating upward natjashi, or with a hikiren from
1 to 50 :
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 129

First Namigaeshi.

-/ x_ J J , i

or, for tlie last bar, Hic/tiriki, 1 to 56

S/tu "to whistle": a moderately rapid sweep with the edge of the tsume
from right to left on one string, generally the sixth the first and second fingers
;

are held closely together it must be cleanly finished.

:

"
Surizume rubbing with the fingers ": a double sweep from right to left and
back from left to right, also on one string, which is held tightly between the
tsume of the and second
first fingers. Surizume, like shu, is moderately rapid,
must be cleanly finished, and is visually confined to the sixth string.
" to " harmonize."
Awaseru put together ": hence, to

It is used both for octaves as well as other harmonies, the commonest

" Harmonies " be indicated thus in
examples of which are the following. may
English :

is
>] t-*] o] Japanese sign
130 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

In octaves the upper note is called kan, the lower ryo. Awaseru is also used for

the unison of the first and fifth strings, which is frequently met with.

Hnneru an up-stroke with the first or second finger, the edge, instead of
1

the face of the tsnme, striking the string.*

Stt-kui an up-stroke with the thumb, commonly used to finish a sequence
of rapid beats either on the same or a lower string.
A down and an up-stroke with the thumb on the same string are often
used in rapid succession no special name is given to this.
;
The edge of the
tsuiue is used in this case for both notes.
Both the up and the up-and-down strokes have corresponding phrases on
the Samisen when the latter occurs on the Koto, a trill is played on the
;

Samisen by touching the string lightly with the third or fourth finger, above
the finger which presses the note, directly after the string is struck with the hachL
The following are examples from " Kasuga-'mode" rendered on the staff:

Example of Sukui: the four semiquavers arc p'ayed with rapid down-beats of the thumb, the
quaver following with the up-stroke of the thumb.

tv

Kxample of Sukui the second of each group of semiquavers is played with an up -stroke of the
:

thumb, the first with a down-stroke, the edge of the tsumi being used for both.

^ =_j=_._ ^ _
_^^___.^
Example of Sukui and Haneru the groups of semiquavers are played as in the last example, the
:

succeeding quavers with an up-stroke of the first and second fingers alternately.

-M*- 1
^(. J jr ;

The same phrase as rendered on the /Samisen : the middle note of each triplet is produced by the

light pressure of the finger on the string, the succeeding quaver is sounded by the open string
being plucked by a finger of the left hand near the neck.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 131

Although represent the Sarnisen phrase, they would

triplets accurately
alter the character of the phrase on the Koto the accent, however, is on the
;

"
first note of each of the doublets," in the same way as the accent falls on the
first note of a triplet.
" " 34
Maotoru to measure the interval : a rest or pause.

Uckibeating with the left hand on the strings below the bridges, during
long pauses: it is used whether the song is continued during the pause or not.
The wordhtiyaku is sometimes used as we use accelerando. Where the
notes are of less value than the common unit of time, which I have taken as a
crotchet off time a passage of quavers for example the numbers of the strings
are written close together, in a manner now to be explained.

In the following diagrams are given, on page 133, a specimen of the notation
used for Koto music on page 134, an English rendering of it.
; It is half of the
"
first verse of
Umegae."
The columns are to be read downwards and from right to left. Each column
is divided into four: on the left are the words of the song (omitted in the
English translation) then follow three kinds of circles; the numbers of the
;

strings come next; and lastly, the directions as to phrasing and accidentals.
The they are the marks for the bars.
circles require to be explained first :

The large circles, of which there are two kinds,

to prevent the eyes getting

confused, mark the commencement of the bars; the small circles mark the half-
bars. Taking the time as the distance between the large and small circles
'i,

represents one crotchet the number of the strings to be played is printed

;

opposite the circle. Quavers and semiquavers are indicated by the position
which the numbers of the strings occupy in the intervening space; thus, if there
are two quavers on the first beat of the bar, and a crotchet on the second, the
first quaver would stand
opposite the large circle, the crotchet opposite the small
circle,and the second quaver halfway between the two. Similarly, if there is a
dotted quaver followed by a semiquaver and then a crotchet, the quaver stands
opposite the circle belonging to the beat, the semiquaver close to the crotchet
which is opposite to the next circle. The rests are marked in precisely the
same way, the position of the succeeding string indicating the duration of the
rest.

It will be observed that kando the commencement is also marked by a

small circle, and that the half-bars belonging to the bars at the bottom of the
columns run over on to the next. I have not found any satisfactory explanation
]32 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

of this. however, that pieces generally begin with a beat of the left
I believe,

hand, and that this is indicated by the first small circle.

The numbers of the strings are put, as I have said, by the side of the
circles, but it will be seen that some of
the numbers are more to the right than
others. the figures are in their normal position the thumb is to be
Where
used; where they stand nearer the circles the first finger is to be used; where
the second finger is to be used.
they stand away to the right
The little dash which occasionally follows the number of the string
indicates that the note is to be repeated. Occasionally two or more dashes will
be found occurring in their proper relative positions between the circles.
The different marks for the sharps, which are placed after the string
numbers, have already been explained.
This form of notation is, I believe, common in the East. When it is

understood it is
amply sufficient for all purposes and in the translated form, as
;

I have given it. I find everything that is needful for playing the instrument.

For the stringed instruments without frets I have not been able to discover any
form of notation, though T believe it does exist. For the stringed instruments
with frets, and for the Flutes, Hichiriki and Sho, a notation on a principle
identical with that of the Koto exists, the number of the fret to be pressed, or
of the hole to be stopped, being indicated.*

* E. Browne informs me that tlie notation for the Salvation Army Concertina is based
The Rev. Miirmadnke
on melodies being written with numbers indicating which buttons are to be pressed, and with
this principle, the
extra marks where the thumb goes, and where to push in and pull out.
 133
FAC-SIMILE OF A PAGE OF KOTO MUSIC.
ORIGINAL.

fl -*
U A
 134
TRANSLATION.
[The first two lines op page !)0 render this page of music on staff notation.]

TJmegae.

No. 1

Printed according to

the Original Copy.

 135

BIWAS, AND STRINGED INSTRUMENTS WITH FRETS.

THE position which the Biwa holds in the history of musical

development in
Japan has already been explained. It was brought from China by the com-
missioners sent to that country by the Emperor Jimmyd, about the year 935 A.D.
It is attributed by the Chinese to " the Barbarians," and was
probably a develop-
ment from some instruments in use in other Oriental countries, but from which
it is difficult to
say. Its position in what may be called the " natural order" of
musical instruments seems fairly clear: it stands at the head of the second great
group of stringed instruments, as the So-no-koto stands at the head of the first

group. As the case of the So-no-koto, modifications, rather than material

in

alterations, were introduced by the Japanese, so in the case of the Biwa, similar
modifications were introduced after it had left its home in the Celestial Empire.
The modifications were in the direction of lightening and clearing the tone, and
making the instrument less unwieldy. But they were still Biwas, and nourished
without destroying the vitality of the parent instrument. A national music
" "
sprang up, lighter in its nature, more bird-like than the ponderous chords
which swept from the Chinese strings but when the old music of China was
;

performed as the
accompaniment Bngaku dances, the old Biwa was still,
of the
and be found side by side with the old So-no-koto, reinforcing its
is still, to

woolly tones with rich and sonorous (trpegylos and thence came its modern
;

"
distinguishing name the Bugakn-biwa."
The process by which the Biwa group developed from the Koto group
is easily accounted for.
In the Kotos only about one-third of the string-length is used for
producing the notes. To gather the strings below the bridges into a
narrower compass, and reduce two-thirds of the sounding-board into a neck,
must, very early in the history of the instruments, have appeared feasible.
To reduce the number of the strings without reducing the compass of the
instrument was an easy matter for musicians accustomed to Kotos with
one string only. Fixing the loose Koto bridges as frets upon the neck
must have followed in due course Oriental ingenuity finally displaying itself
;

in making the frets of different heights, so that the strings should pass freely
over the lower frets to those higher up on the neck. But in the Biwa we find
the development thus roughly indicated not in progress, but in its final stage of
136 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

completeness ;
the intermediate stages are omitted, and nothing remains to-day
to which we can with certainty as the Biwa in embryo. The Gekkin may
point
have preceded the Biwa, but the dates vouchsafed to us by the books do not
afford any reliable guide the only visible link between the two groups is the
:

circular Koto, the Nichin, which very probably suggested the circular body of
the Gekkin. A curious link between the East and the West must here be noted
in passing: the upper end of the neck of the Biwa, in which the tuning-pegs
are placed, is bent back at right-angles in the same way as the old Theorbo

Lyre, which is sometimes seen in mediaeval pictures. In the Biwa this serves
the purpose of allowing the instrument to rest on the ground while it is being
tuned.

The BUGAKU-BIWA a massive stringed instrument, with a gourd-shaped

is

body measuring 3 feet 3 inches long and 16 inches across the broadest part of
the face, and having a string-length of 25 inches. It is said formerly to have

been played on horseback. Now it rests on its lower edge on the ground
between the knees of the performer, seated, in Japanese fashion, on the floor. It
has four strings passing over three high frets and collected in a notch at the
upper end. The normal tuning is a combination of ni-aynri and san-
sayari. The other tunings will be found in the diagram of the tunings of the
So-no-koto on page 68, with which invariably used for private performances
it is

of the Bugaku dances. It is

played with a bacld of hard wood but this is very
;

much heavier than that of the Samisen, and has rounded instead of pointed ends.
It grasped firmly in the right hand and dragged over the band of black
is

leather which runs across the face of the instrument, and over the strings, which
are strung close to the body, actually striking only the third or fourth string,
on which the melody is thus played. The effect of the music, therefore,
is that of a series of open chords. The tone of the instrument is sonorous and
rich.

The body
of the Biwa is made of shitan, the neck of willow, and tuning-
"
handles of peach the bachi of yellow willow." The side, like that of the Koto,
:

is called o-iso the sea-shore. The measurements are given on page 139, with
the corresponding ones of the Satsuma-biwa for convenience of comparison.

Biwa was established in Japan some slight varia-

It appears that after the
tionswere introduced, one, and sometimes two, frets being added. The 5-fret
instrument is figured on the opposite page. The instruments with 3, 4, and 5
frets are all in use at the
present time.
 137

TIM: WGAKr-mwA (\vrrn 5 KHKTS.)

THK SATSUMA.-BIWA, WITH TIMi HACIII.

TIIK CHINESE BIWA.

 138 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

The SATSUMA-BIWA, figured on the preceding page, is a smaller and more

delicate instrument than the Bugnku-biw'H, from which it was developed in
Kao'oshima,
o where it was afterwards used to accompany the Heike-monogatari
recitations.
Four larger frets, rather less than half an inch in breadth, are placed on
the neck, but in different positions from those on the Chinese, Biwa. The
notes are produced by varying pressures above the frets, the string being struck
with a very large bachi: a peculiar bird-like trill is imparted to the notes

by the vibrations of the string on the broad surface of the fret. These
delicate vibrations are emphasized by the up and down stroke with the
bachi, which is a chief characteristic of the music.* Its tones depend for
their accuracy both on the position of the fingers between the frets, and also
on the amount of pressure placed upon them ;
the frets stand up from the
neck about an inch, and as many as five semitones can be produced by a finger
in one position.
The leathern band which runs across the body of the Bugaku-biwa is

replaced by a broad band of black ornamented lacquer; the belly is made of

polished mulberry or cherry wood, the back and neck being inscribed with
poems and the fanciful name of the instrument in bold gold lettering, e.g.
"
Phueuix-voiced !" At the point where the neck meets the back it expands
into a large conical form, called toyama "
the distant mountain "; in the face
are two ivory crescents "new moons" (>J inches from the lowest fret; in each

of these a very small aperture is cut. In the l>ugaku-biwa the apertures are
themselves crescent-shaped, and are rather larger; there is also a circular
aperture underneath the string-holder.
The
strings are fastened at the base to a large holder, which stands clear
of the body except at its lower end: the
strings at the holder are one inch
apart in both instruments; they get closer together as they pass over the frets,
finally meeting in an ivory or ebony notch at the head of the neck, which comes
down at right-angles to the body.
The frets are broad, sloping down to about an inch where
they are
fastened to the neck, and increase in
height from an inch to an inch and a half,
thus allowing the strings to
pass clear of the lower frets when the pressure is on
one higher up.
The strings are tuned to A, E, C
A, :
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 139

The first and second are almost invariably used open strings the third
as ;

string is also often used open, very few touched notes being played on it, the
melody being left almost entirely to the upper string, which is drawn clear of
the others by the little finger of the left hand. Being lighter than the Bugaku-
biwa, it is played sitting, wjth the instrument resting on the right leg. The
repertoire consists of over one hundred pieces, of which, however, only thirty
are considered classical.
The following table shows the comparative measurements of the Bugaku-
biwa and the Satsuma-biwa :
140 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

The CHINESE BIWA, figured on page 137, is a Chinese modification of the

Bugaku-biwa used for lighter music. As the picture shows, it is smaller than
the Satsuma-biwa ;
it has ten frets on the face of the body, and four on the
neck. These four upper exceedingly interesting on account of their
frets are

semi-cylindrical form. They are obviously derived from the heavy cylindrical
tsume used in playing the one and two-stringed Kotos, and form one more link
between the two families of instruments.
The GEKKEX, sometimes "
called the Miniature Biwa," and sometimes the
"
Moon-shaped Koto," is a Chinese instrument much
Although it used in Japan.
differs entirely in construction from the Biwa,
high frets clearly show the family
its

likeness. The illustration of " The Gekkin Player " will be found facing page 4.
The body is circular, 14 inches in diameter, and II inch thick, the two
surfaces being parallel; they are without apertures; on the
upper face are
generally placed two carved flowers where the apertures would be. The neck
is one foot
long and 11 inch broad, capped by a. large flat-headed ornament.
There are in all nine frets, decreasing in height, like those of the Biwa the :

upper one, over which the strings pass to the pegs, is half an inch in height,
and is placed 5g inches up the neck. Four of the frets are on the face of the
instrument, one at the joint of the neck and the body, the remainder on the neck.

The compass of the instrument is two octaves.

The frets give the notes in the

following manner :
No. of First aurl Secoud Third and Fourfh
Fret. Strings. Strings.
0. [open strings] C G
1- D A
2. E B
3- F c
4- G/ d
5.

6.

7.

8-
eg
A

da
f
e

c'
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 141

The seventh of the scale is omitted on the first and second strings, the
sixth fret giving the octave to the open string. This is characteristic of the
tunings of the Chinese Koto, but as the note is%iven on the third and fourth
strings, on which the fourth of the scale is omitted, this is an obvious necessity,
as the strings are a fifth apart, and the same fret does duty for both sets of

strings. I doubt whether this fact supplies any argument in support of what I
think is often stated, that the seventh is omitted in the Chinese diatonic scale. 37
The music for the Gekkin consists entirely of quaint little Chinese songs,
many of them very melodious and pretty. It is played with a small ivory or
tortoise-shell plectrum, the double strings giving a trill to the notes, which
is accentuated by the vibrations of a wire fastened loosely inside the body: this
wire produces a curious jangling whenever the instrument is moved. The up-
and-down stroke of the plectrum, which is characteristic of Chinese and Japanese
music, acquires additional grace by coming on different strings.*

TUB OKNKWAN.

The GENKWAN : another Chinese instrument of the same class which has
evidently developed out of the Gekkin; it is without apertures, and contains a
wire vibrator in the body. It is played with a small plectrum, to which
a long silk cord and tassel are attached, almost identical with that of the
Jamisen. It differs from the Gekkin body and long neck.
chiefly in its octagonal
The sides of the octagon are 4i inches, and the measurement from side to side
10 inches. The neck is 2 feet long, and the string-length also '2 feet. In addi-
tion to the upper fret, which gives the open notes, there are eleven frets on
the neck and one on the body, giving the full diatonic scale, including the
* FromDr. Knott's paper in the " Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan "some nf the remarks in
which have already dealt with in my analysis of the scale it appears that there are in Japan two distinct
I
schools of Gekkin players, and that their instruments differ appreciably: the Nagahara school and the Keian
school. From the table of vibrations given, it appears that the differences between the same notes on the two
instruments vary from one to four vibrations and that the variations from the notes given by the Chinese Gekkin
;

often amount to eighteen vibntions an almost sufficient proof that the instrument cannot be of much service in
determining the true notes of the scale. This table of vibrations is given on page 78.
142 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

seventh of the scale, which is absent in the lower strings of the Gekkin. The
four strings are tuned in pairs to C and G, the compass of the instrument being
two octaves and two notes :

The following instruments, belonging to the Biwa or Gekkin family, are

noted in M. Kraus' pamphlet :

The Ku : an instrument similar to the Genkwan, but with a circular body.

It differs essentially from all the other instruments of the class in being richly
ornamented with gold lacquer designs. It has four strings and nine frets. The
strings do not appear to be tuned in pairs like those of the Gekkin.
The SHUNGA : a very ancient instrument, resembling the Kokyu in the
construction of its body, but with five frets on a neck slightly shorter than
that of the Gekkin. It is strung with four strings, one of which is much
thicker than the rest. It is said to be played by plucking the strings with
the fingers, and not with a bachi or plectrum. As in the case of the Ku, the
strings do not appear to be strung in pairs.
Of the Gekkins also the following varieties are noted. The " Biwa-shaped
Gekkiu," with the gourd-shaped body of the Biwa in miniature, strung with
four strings tuned in pairs, and eight frets. The " Six-string Gekkin," with
six strings tuned in pairs: it has a circular
body and sixteen frets, eight of
which are set on the body of the instrument and eight on the neck.
The SHIGEN lies midway between the two groups of instruments with frets
and instruments without frets. In construction it is allied to the Gekkin,
being
somewhat large, and having the octagon body of the Genkwan it has the :

vibrating wire but no frets. The disposition of the four strings, however, is
that of the Kokyu, the two upper ones being tuned in unison. It is said to be

played with the fingers in the manner of the Guitar, and not by plucking the
strings.
 SAMISENS, FIDDLES, AND STRINGED INSTRUMENTS
WITHOUT FRETS.

WE come now to a class of instruments of an essentially different type from that

of the Biwas and Gekkins. Progress is marked by the disappearance of the
frets,the player depending no longer on their aid in producing the different
notes, but on the custom which his fingers may acquire in hitting off at once the
proper positions for stopping the strings. The cumbersome bodies of the Biwas,
and the large faces of the Gekkins, give place to bodies of an altogether different
form in the typical instruments of the family it is an almost square, somewhat
:

shallow box, the sides of wood, the upper and lower surfaces of parchment.
This seems to have been developed from a body made of a solid piece of wood.

The family may be sub-divided into Samisens, or instruments played with a

bachi, and Kokyus those played with a bow.

The SAMISEN. The instrument as used at the present day is a final develop-
ment reached by many stages, most of which occurred in China. As has already
been said, it was advanced to its present dignity of a national instrument very
soon after its advent to Japan from Liu Chin in 15f>0 the Biwa players finding
:

ita more portable instrument than their own, and more suited to the accompani-
ment of lighter songs. The tradition that it had originally two strings only
instead of three, as at present, is not supported by the existence of any instru-
ment, as a relic of the past, corresponding with this description. The snake-
skin covering to the body is, however, still to be found in some instruments
of the family. It has given place now to cat-skin, the value of the parchment
being estimated by the number of the nipple marks which are preserved.
There are three tunings, but they have no relation to any system of keys,
and are all adapted to Hirajoshi, the normal tuning of the Koto. It is rarely
used when the Koto is tuned in any other way, though the possibility of using it

is recognised. The three tunings are as follow :

Honchoshi.

Ni-agari.

San-sagari.
144 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

These names would appear to be given to the tunings as a guide to the

player, and to enable

him to remember what changes have to be made. The
" " "
use of the words agari and sagarl raising and " lowering is somewhat

arbitrary, but not entirely unintelligible.

Honchoshi is the normal choshi,
or tuning; Ni-ayari, "the second string raised"; from to Q
joshi,
" " F^ ;

the third string lowered that is, from the octave of the first
San-sagari,
string G$, to FJT.
There are also these two special tunings, used only for comic music :

San-sa-sagari.

" "
These are named on a similar principle Iclii-sagari,
: the first lowered ;

"
that is, from the octave of the third string to
L>$ San-sa-sagari,
; the third
CjJ
lowered," but this time lowered an octave from the third string Dtt of the last
tuning.
The object of these tunings is have, as I have said, no
curious. They
relation whatever to changes of key, but are simply selected so that open strings
should be used in the piece more frequently than stopped strings, the object
being not only to get a clearer vibration, but to ensure greater accuracy by
avoiding stopping and the consequent chances of errors. For example,
" "
Hitotsu-toya" is played on the Samisen tuned in Honchoshi, while for Saita
iSaktimi" the tuning is San-sagari. Both of these pieces would, on the Koto,
be played in the same key.
The Samisen is played with a bachi of wood, ivory, or tortoise-shell, which
strikes the strings just below where the neck joins the body. At this point the
face is strengthened with a small extra
piece of parchment, which receives the
first blow from the bachi there are thus produced two distinct sounds
: the
drumming on the face, and the vibration of the strings. In the fingering great
care is used to let the strings be the
pressed by finger-nails.
The measurements The body, 71 inches long by
of the Samisen are :

7 inches broad, by 3| inches the 2 feet 5i inches long, tapering

deep neck,
;

from 1 inch broad to 7 inch the the bachi, 8i inches

, pegs, 3 inches long
; ;

long, rather less than an inch square at the top, and 3i inches long at the
striking edge.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 145

The JAMISEN isa Chinese instrument whose history I have not been able
to trace clearly. Although it differs in the construction of its body from the

THE JAMISEN.

Samisen, it so much resembles that instrument in other respects that there

seems very little doubt that they both sprang from the same source. Both front
and back of the body of the Jamisen are covered with snake-skin, but instead of
being a hollow rectangular frame, like that of the Samisen, the body is an oval
block of hard wood, measuring 6 inches in length, 5 in breadth, and 23 in
thickness, in which a hole 2 inches in diameter is cut. It has three strings,

which pass from the tuning pegs, through a small ivory notch on the neck, and
over a small ivorv bridge on the face they are fastened to an ivory knob at the
;

base of the belly. The Jamisen is played with a small tortoise-shell plectrum,
to which a long silk cord and tassel are attached. The neck is 2 inches shorter
than that of the Samisen, but the pegs are much larger. The strings are tuned
9
to Honckoski.'
The following varieties of the Samisen are noted by M. Kraus :

The CHOSE N : identical in construction with the Samisen, but with a much
longer neck, measuring about 3 feet 6 inches.
The COREAN SAMISEN: almost identical with the Jamisen, but with a
shorter neck and without the small ivory bridge on the face.
The KAOTARI an ancient three-stringed instrument from Liu Chin, with a
:

circular body covered with snake-skin.

The KIRISEN : a similar instrument, with three strings, but with a larger

body covered with parchment it is square, with rounded angles.

: It is played
with the small tortoise-shell plectrum of the Gekkin.
The TAISEN an enlarged form of the Kirisen, with a circular body, about
:

15 inches in diameter, covered with parchment. It is played with a small

wooden plectrum.

The group of stringed instruments without have said, divided

frets is, as I
into two classes those played with a plectrum, and those played with a bow.
]46 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

In the second class, the or Japanese Fiddle, holds precisely the

Kokyu,
same position as the Samisen does in the first class that is to say, it is the
:

ultimate form which has resulted from the innumerable varieties which have
preceded it. shape is that of the Samisen, but much smaller. It is a four-
Its

stringed instrument, almost invariably tuned to San-sagavi: the third and the
fourth strings the upper and not the lower ones, as with us are tuned in

unison, imparting to the high notes great strength and clearness. It is some-
times, though rarely, tuned to Honchoshi and Ni-agari. A
small wooden rest,
with a hole in it for the pivot, fixed in the obi, enables the Kokyu to be played
by beggars in the street: and when held under the left knee, by foreigners
sitting in a chair.
TUNINGS OF THE KOKYU.

Saw-safari (normal). 2C ft jfcz

Honchoshi.

Ni-agnri.

The measurements of the Kokyu are the body, 51 inches long, by 4'9
:

broad, by 2'3 deep; the neck, 18 inches long, its breadth tapering from *7 to '6;
the pegs, 2i inches long ; the bow, 3 feet 82 inches
long, with a bend at the
upper end 3 inches long; length of horsehair, 2 feet 6i inches.
The relative sizes of the Samisen and Kokyu are shown in the accompany-
ing illustration. The lachi resting on the face of the Samisen, while the long
is

bow of the Kokyo is

hanging above that instrument.
We next come to a group of three curious and somewhat
primitive Chinese
Fiddles, figured in the accompanying illustration.

The KEIKIN:a four-stringed Chinese Fiddle, with a

body made of a small
segment of bamboo, 5i inches long by 4 inches in diameter the neck measures;

27 inches. The pegs are f> inches and are one below the other,
long, placed
projecting beneath the neck; the strings pass separately through an ivory notch
halfway down the neck and over a small ivory bridge on the face of the body,
the string-length
being only 101 inches. They are tuned in pairs to a fifth,
but occasionally also to a fourth. 80 The most curious feature of this
instrument is
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 147

that the horsehair of the bow is twined in and out of the strings, making it
impossible for a single note to be produced. The bow is '28 inches long. The
only fingering which is possible is
by pressure on the strings between the lowest

THE KKIKIN, KOK1N, AND TKIKIX.

peg and the ivory notch :

they are then
quite close together. The bow is
pulled close to the body, on which a lump of resin is stuck. The face of the
body is covered with snake-skin and the back embellished with an open black-
wood ornament.
The KOKTN: a two-stringed
variety of the Keikin. The body is only 4
inches long by 2 inches in diameter, and the neck, of bamboo, 18 inches long.
There is no ivory notch on the neck, but the strings are tied back with a loop of
silk. They are, like those of the Keikin, tuned to a fifth, and occasionally to a

fourth, bow being twined in and out of the strings, as in the larger
the
instrument. The face of the body is covered with snake-skin, and the
back is uncovered. It has a lump of resin stuck on to it.

The TEIKIN another form

: of Chinese Fiddle. It is the same length as the

Keikin, but has only two strings, and the pegs project at the side of the neck.
The length of the neck is 2 feet 6 inches. The body is spherical in form, and
made of black-wood with carved open-work at the back. The face of lighter
is

wood, 4 inches in diameter. The strings are tuned to a fifth, and pass over a
small ivory bridge, to which they come straight from the pegs. The bow is
twined in the strings, as in the case of the Keikin and Kokin, and there is, as
in the other instruments, a lump of resin on the body.
148 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Two minor varieties in this class alone remain to be noted : the Kokun and
the Nisen, the four- and two-stringed Fiddles of Corea. Except that they are
somewhat more ornate, they correspond in almost all respects with the Keikin
and Kokin of China.
would have been an interesting task to have classified in order of develop-
It
ment the whole of this group of stringed instruments, but the necessary materials
are wanting.

One general remark alone can be made. There is manifest a desire

to produce, by every conceivable combination of mechanical contrivance,
every variety of tone of which stringed instruments are capable. The
characteristics of the Biwa are preserved in the Gekkin they are handed
: on
and applied to the newer forms of the Samisen, to be afterwards developed by
the Kokyu.
Thus we find the Gekkin and Samisen merged in the Taisen, with its
circular parchment-covered body the Kokyu and the Gekkin merged in the
;

Shunga, with its fretted neck set on a Kokyu body with four strings. One
instrument alone is wanting a fretted Fiddle but I am disposed to think that
:

the Shunga must have been occasionally played with a bow, although, on the
authority of Monsieur Kraus, I have stated that it was played with the fingers.
 FLUTES, AND BAMBOO WIND INSTRUMENTS.

THE Fuye, or Flute, is said to have originated in North-West Asia, and to have
come thence to Japan through China. The Japanese, however, claim their
Flute as indigenous to the country. The Chinese Flute is called <)-teki, or in
"
Japanese, Yokofuye Side-lilowing Flute "probably to distinguish it from
the Hichiriki, which is blown from the end. It is also called Ryfiteki the
"
Dragon-Flute.'' It has seven finger-holes, and was made originally of
monkey-bone, but afterwards of bamboo. There were two kinds, the long and
the short the latter alone seems to have been in frequent use.
;
It measures

15'5 inches in length ;

the internal diameter being about '/>."> inch, and the lip-
hole 1O9 inches, the first finger-hole <>">, and the last I'o from the end. The
long variety was made of
a thinner bamboo, and produced more delicate notes.
The Japanese Flute, or Yamato-fuye, is lacquered red inside, and closely
bound outside between the holes with string laid on with paste, and afterwards
fixed with lacquer. The a substitute for strips of the cherry-tree bark
string is

which was formerly used, this itself l>eing a substitute for the bark of the kabit-
tree of China, with which the old Chinese Flutes were bound. The top is
plugged with lead wrapped in rolls of paper fastened with wax, and finished at
the end with wood decorated either with brocade or a highly finished metal
ornament.
appreciate the clear tones of the Japanese Flute, as
It is difficult fully to

the notes are seldom blown "clean." Weird quarter-tones disfigure both the
beginning and the end of all sustained notes, the musicians being specially

taught to acquire the art of producing them and for some reason, which much
;

enquiry has not revealed to me, the music would be considered as shorn of its
beauties if they were omitted.
It has six holes, and measures 173 inches long, with an internal diameter at

the base of slightly less than half an inch. The lip-hole is 12'fi inches, the first

finger-hole 7'o, and la-<t 27 inches from the end. The Yamato-fuye were

K'lgura-fuye, the measurements of which

divided into two classes: the have
just been given, and the Azuma-fiiye, made of a thinner bamboo, and giving a
more delicate tone. As their names imply, the former was used in the Kagura
orchestra, the latter in that of the Azinna-asobi. In the same way the Chinese
Flute is sometimes called the Bugaku-fuve. The Azuma-fuye has now given
150 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

way to the Coreau Flute, Koma-fuye, which

usually curried by the temple
is

musicians with the Kagura-fuye in a double-barrelled lacquer case.

The Koma-fuye has six holes, and is made of very thin bamboo, 14| inches
IOIIG;,
with an internal diameter of only '4 inch. The lip-hole is 9'9 inches,
the first finger-hole 5'7, and the last 2 inches from the end.

SEITEKI a primitive Chinese Flute, used with the Gekkin, Teikin and
:

Keikin, which are often played together. It is made of plain bamboo, un-

lacquered inside, '21 inches long, witli six finger-holes. Its chief peculiarity is
that between the upper finger-hole and the lip-hole there is another hole which
is covered with paper before the instrument is played, which gives a quaint buzz

to the music. At the lower end, also, holes are pierced for a cord and tassel. 31

The
Encyclopaedia gives two additional forms of Flute :

"
DOSIIO, or Cave Flute ": said to have been much used during the Tong
dynasty in China. It measured 2 feet in length. It was originally made as a

toy, but was afterwards adopted seriously, and bound with ornamental strings.
It was never popular with the Japanese.

CHI: a bamboo Flute with seven hales, said to have been first made about
1000 B.C. The tones resembled a baby's crying, and hence it was never much
used.
In Dr. Veeder's paper on Japanese Musical Intervals,* the learned author
gives the vibration numbers of several different kinds of Flutes and Shaku-
hachis.

HICHIRIKI: the "Sad-toned Tube ": in appearance and structure this

instrument resembles a small Flute, bearing the saine proportion to the Flute
as the Piccolo does in the West. It is made of bamboo, lacquered inside, and
bound with lacquered string, like the Flute, with seven holes above and two
* " Transactions
of the Asiatic Society of Japan," vol. vii. pt. ii., p. 86.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 151

thumb-holes below. Tt is, however, played with a loose reed mouthpiece inserted
at one end this is bound with paper which, having been damped, swells and
;

keeps it firmly in its phice. The resemblance to the Piccolo is limited, however,
to its size, for the Hichiriki is the diapason of the classical orchestra, and on it
must be laid the blame of those sounds, often attributed to the She, which are
33
entirely gruesome to Western ears.

ItirillHIK I, WITH li()X AM) ('I.K\M\<; KOI).

Hichiriki players are even greater sinners than the flautists in the matter
of those superfluous quarter-tones already referred to: the antecedent slur is
often prolonged wailing slide through a full tone, more or less
a the ;

note finishing with an excruciating rise of a semitone, more or less,

cut off short. These sounds seem always to have pleased the Japanese
ear. The old Hichirikis are as much prized as the old Flutes, then-

history being recorded with greatest care. It is more correctly kept in

a box shaped like a closed fan, but a cover is
only an invention of
modern times. It measures 7'L inches long, with an internal diameter
tapering from '0 to '4 of an inch. The first hole is 1/4 inches from the top,
the last I'l from the bottom. The under holes are ]'.) and 4'1 from the top
respectively. The mouthpiece shltd is 2'3 inches long, but when in
reed

place it only projects one inch from the end of the instrument. Special instruc-
tions are given for the manufacture of this mouthpiece. It should be made

from cane cut at Udono in the province of Yamashiro, in the depth of winter,
and dried slowly in the kitchen. It should be bound with the best Mino
paper.
The Encyclopaedia refers to a larger form of the instrument, the
O-Hichiriki. The only detail given concerning it is that it has nine finger-
holes instead of seven.
152 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

The SHAKUHACHI made of thick bamboo lacquered inside, measuring

is

from 20 to 20? inches long. The approximate measurements from joint to joint
are 63 53, 4, 3i inches respectively ;
but in the best instruments these measure-
ments should be 6, 5, 4, 3 inches. The internal diameter measures 1 inch at
the top and 1 at the base
1 ;
the external diameter 1 1 inch at the top and 2 inches
tW
at the base, which is cut so as to include the root-swell of the reed.

TIIK SlIAKril.U'III, WITH VERTICAL SECTION.

Well played it is one of the mellowest of wind instruments ;

but the
exceeding difficulty of playing it at all justifies the tradition of secrets which
have been handed down from Onaori Toku, a hermit of Yedo, from generation
to generation of
patient teachers and patient pupils. The principle of the
instrument corresponds with that of an organ pipe, being no more than a hollow
tube with a slight cut at the end fitted with a hard ebony " voicing." The
under lip of the player almost covers the upper cavitv, and thus takes the place
"
of the " language of the pipe, the breath entering between the edge of the
lower lip and the " voicing." It has four upper holes, the centre of the first

being 9 J inches from the lip, and a thumb-hole underneath 82 inches from the
lip. By half opening the finger-holes the full Chinese chromatic scale is
produced.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 153

The method of playing the Shakuhachi is shown in the engraving of the

Kagen-gaku, plate IV., page 12.
There are some small kinds of Shakuhachi, some of them being most
elaborately carved.

TIIK SHoNO-KrYIC.

HITOYOKIRI given by the Encyclopaedia as a variety of Shakuhachi, a

little shorter, but of very sweet sound. It measures 21 inches, and is made out
of two joints of bamboo only, the finger-holes coming below the ring, the lip
above. The difficulty of finding the necessary bamboo probably accounts for its

scarcity.

SHONO-FUYE : a very ancient instrument, composed of twenty-two pipes,

arranged side by side like Pan pipes. The largest pipe measured 17 inches.
Smaller varieties contained sixteen and twelve pipes respectively.
The SHO (Shi-yo), figured on page 156, the primitive mouth-organ, is

composed of a compact bundle of seventeen thin bamboo reeds fixed into a

circular lacquered wind-chamber of cherry-wood or hard pine, the air passing
34
in a channel round the central support. It is fitted with a silver mouthpiece.
The
following are the precise details : Wind-box :
height, 3"4 inches ;

diameter, 2'8, which decreases slightly at the base. Projection of silver

mouthpiece, inch; length, 1'8;

'1 breadth, I'l. Rectangular hole in mouthpiece,
25 by '6. Height from wind-box of the silver band which holds the reeds in
position, 5J inches.
The reeds are arranged in two sets, those opposite one another being of
equal height each set is also arranged like the front pipes of an organ, the
:

longest in the middle, the remainder getting shorter in couples, one on each
side. The longest pipes are in a line with the centre of the mouthpiece : these
1.54 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

are the 4th and the 13th, the being on the right side. The following diagram
first

shows the arrangement, and also the true pipe-lengths in inches and decimals.

No. Length.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 155

made in the pipes, in the same way ornamented organ-pipes are treated in
as the
the West. These slits are inside, with the exception of those of the 8th and 9th
pipes, which are on the outside, and mounted with silver the tops of the 8th,:

9th, and 17th pipes are also silver-mounted all the others are plain.
: The 2nd
and 9th are dummies.
The pipes are made of the oldest bamboo procurable, much of it being
obtained from old country houses their internal diameter is '3. They are
;

closely packed side by side, some of the outer surface being cut away
to

allow them to fit tightly they are inserted into the wind-box to the depth
;

of 1'2 inch. In their bases are fixed small metal reeds, which are silent
till the finger-holes are closed these holes are all one inch from the top
:

of the wind-box, except those of the 6th and 7th pipes, which are 1'9 inch
from the top: those of the 14th and 15th pipes are inside ; that of the first

pipe at the side facing the player. The breath is inhaled very gently, the
warms the wind-
player having at his side a hibachi, over which he occasionally
box, to prevent the accumulation of moisture.
The instrument is held to the mouth with both hands, the pipes being

disposed among the fingers for stopping as follows :

1st finger, right hand 14th and loth pipes (hole inside), and 1st
:

pipe, with outside of the second joint of the finger.

2nd hand
finger, right 3rd, 4th, and 5th pipes.
:

thumb, right hand 16th and 17th pipes.

thumb, left hand 8th, 10th, llth, and loth pipes.
1st finger, left hand 7th pipe.
:

2nd finger, left hand 6th pipe.

:

The line of the following score gives the notes of the Sho and the
first ;

second line gives the chords that occur in music written for the instrument.
These are taken from tables the Educational Department in
prepared by
Tokyo :-

i
 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

There seem to have been many varieties of the Sho at different periods,

varying chiefly in the number of reeds. One is mentioned as having had thirty-
six,and others with twenty-six, nineteen, and thirteen respectively. A curious
form with a "tea-pot spout" mouthpiece, said to have been called in China the
"Barbarian Sho," is figured in Abe Suyenao's "Records," a copy of which is
given here.

TIIK " BARBARIAN SHO."

The Sho is
probably the oldest Eastern instrument ;
the date of its introduc-
tion into China being given as the early part of the Chin dynasty, 400 years
before the time of Confucius.
 THE BUGAKU-FUYE WITH
LACQUER CASE.

THE SHO. THE UTA-DAIKO.

A. Vertical section of wind-box
" (front view.)
B. Horizontal .1

THE KO-TSUZUMI.

PLATE Page references Bugaku-fuye -

page 150 -
Sho - J54
Uta-Daiko - "
jfjg
Ko-tsuzumi - " 170]
 DRUMS.
THE generic name for Drums of all kinds in Japanese is Taiko they are, ;

however, divided into three classes the Taiko proper,:the Kakko, and the
Tsuxumi. But this classification, in the case of the Taiko and Kakko, is one of
nomenclature simply ;
a better one may be made which depends on construc-
tion. The three classes will then be
I. Plain Cylindrical Drums.
IT. Drums with braces or cords.
III. Drums with dumb-bell-shaped bodies, or Tsuzumi.

I. PLAIN CYLINDRICAL DRUMS.

O-DAIKO : the large Drum, used occasionally in Temple services. It is

it also forms
generally seen in large Temples standing on the right of the altar ;

part of the Dai-da i-kagiira orchestra. It rests on a black lacquer stand, the
surface of the cylinder being usually elaborately decorated either with gold
" "
clouds or coloured dragons, the faces having a large black mitsti-lomoyu on
a plain ground. In the cylinder are fitted two large iron rings, which enable it
to be carried, as it sometimes, though rarely, appears in processions. The
origin of this Drum, beyond the fact that it came from China, is not clear. It
is said to have been developed from the Bugaku-daiko (Tsuri-daiko), but the

connection between the two, if it exists at all, would seem to be the other way
round.
The faces measure 2 feet 5 inches in diameter, the parchment overlapping
5 inches on to the cylinder, to which it i.s fastened by two rows of heavy studs.
The cylinder is 2 feet 9a inches long, its section being slightly convexed, giving a
central diameter of 2 feet 10 inches. With its stand the height is 4 feet 10 inches.

KO-DAIKO a small form of O-daiko, used chiefly in processions, and in the

:

orchestra for some of the shorter performances of the Kagura. The cylinder of
the orchestral Drum decorated, and it rests on a stand
is ;
the processional Drum
is in both cases the faces are undecorated. It is placed in a cubical
plain ;

frame suspended from a pole carried on the shoulders of two men, the drummer
walking by the side delivering vigorous blows on the parchment with two plain
160 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

thick sticks of hard wood without knobs or leather these sticks are about one
:

foot in length and over an inch and a half in diameter. Before the procession
starts it is placed at the Temple gate, where it is beaten continuously for two
hours or more to summon the people. Either this Drum, or a smaller variety,
was formerly used in battle.

The faces measure 1 foot 101 inches in diameter, the parchment overlapping
3i inches. The convexed cylinder is 2 feet 24 inches in length, with a central
diameter of 2 feet 4i inches. With its stand the height is 3 feet 11 inches.
The stand, however, is occasionally much higher, as in the Temple of the second
Tokugawa Shogun at Shiba.

"Hanging Drum" -more commonly called simply

the
Taiko the larger of the two Drums used in the Bugaku orchestra. It is a
:

shallow cylinder very slightly convexed, hung in a circular rim or frame on a

stand, and so arranged as to height that the drummer sitting in front of this
instrument may, without the slightest stretching of his arm, strike the exact
centre of the face. The sticks have leather-covered knobs, and measure only 11
inches in length when not in use they are placed in rings at the side of the
;

frame. The right stick is called obacki the male stick: the left mebac/ii the
female stick. and the cylinder are elaborately painted in the usual
Both faces

style of Temple decoration, the phumix or the dragon surrounded by gorgeous

clouds. The stand and frame are richly lacquered, and terminate with the kwa-
yen the flame ornament and balls of lire, made in brass. In tone the Drum
is very full and mellow. Its use in the orchestra is to mark the larger divisions

of the time the hyoshl which are practically equivalent to the Western bars. 35
Onvery great occasions a much larger Drum Da-daiko is used ;
but this
" "
belongs properly to the second, or braced class.
The Tsuri-daiko varies slightly in size its average dimensions,
; however,
are as follow : Diameter of face, 20 inches diameter of
;
circular
frame, 32 inches, the rim being two inches broad and one inch thick. The
cylinder is only 8 inches long. The height from the floor to the top of the
kwa-i/en ornament is 4 feet 3 inches.
In the illustrations on page 161 two varieties of Tsuri-daiko
are given : in the upper one is shown the form here described in the ;

lower, a form sometimes found for the secular orchestra. The different
shape of the single stick will be noticed. The other instruments shown
in the plates will be described in due course.
 THE sitOKO, Tsunr-DAiKO (Temple form), AND KAKKO.

THK TSURI-DAIKO (Secular forni) DO-BYOSHI, AND HUKUHAN.

162 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

special instructions are

Very given for playing this Drum. As will be
seen in the analysis of the time of Bugaku music, given after the description of
" "
the Kakko, a loud drum point with the male is invariably preceded by a soft
" "
beat with the female stick. The position of the sticks at the time of striking
is indicated in the followin illustration :

;t
KEBO: a small Drum used in China, according to the old records,
about the period of the Tong dynasty, to signalize the appearance of dawn ;

'I'll 1C K i:i;o.

it is now used in Japan for the purpose of marking the time in processional
orchestras. It is hung round the leader's neck by a cord, which he holds
in his left together with
hand, the rattle, Furi-tsuzumi, beating the hyoshi
with the stick in the right hand. The face measures only 6| inches in diameter,
with a cylinder 6 inches long, the sides
slightly convexed, giving a central
diameter of 7J inches. The faces are silvered, with black "
mitsu-tomoye" and
are fastened on the gilt cylinder
by gilt studs, the parchment overlapping as in
the large Drums of the class.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 163

II. DRUMS WITH BRACES.

The chief characteristic of this class is that the faces have a larger diameter
than the cylinder, giving roughly the
following section :

The braces or " snnres," generally of thick silk or hemp cords, run through
holes cut in the rims of the faces, as in the dotted lines in the diagram, and are
drawn tight by a central cord.

DA-DAFKO: the large Drum used only on the greatest occasions in the
Bngaku orchestra instead of the Tsuri-daiko. It is erected on a special plat-
form, draped and tasseled, with a gold railing and steps. The drummer, who
is
specially selected for his skill, stands in front of the Drum, the directions
being that he should, for greater vigour in striking, place his left foot on the
platform, and his right on the upper step. It is surrounded with a broad rim
ornamented with phoenix and dragon, and edged with red kv;a-yen, or "flames."
This frame is fixed into a socket in the platform. The whole is surmounted by
a black lacquer pole, 7| feet in length, which supports a gold sun more than a
foot in diameter, with rays 18 inches long. The faces are gilt, and bear in
"
front a black mitsu-tomoye" and at the back a "fitlatsu-tomoye." The
cylinder is
richly decorated on red lacquer the hemp
;
braces are black, white,
and red, and are nearly an inch in diameter.
The diameter of the faces is about 6 feet 3 inches the length of the
;

cylinder o feet, with diameter 4 feet 2 inches, the wood of which it is composed

being 2| inches thick. The Drum is not fastened to the pole, as appears in the
accompanying sketch, but rests on a stand, which is shown in a separate cut.
The cylinder is provided with two "ears," which serve as handles. The form of
the internal supports of the case of the body is also shown in the illustrations.

The description and rough sketches of this huge Drum are taken from
"
Suyenao's MS. Records of Ancient Music," the Drums themselves being
exceedingly rare. The two belonging to the Temples at Nikko are hope-
lessly broken another, sent to the Vienna Exhibition in 1873, suffered ship-
;

wreck, and still lies at the bottom of the sea.

164 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.
" "
NI-DAIKO the Portable Drum, figured on page 165 a smaller pro-
:

cessional variety of the Da-daiko. It is carried by a black lacquer pole, eight

feet long, on the shoulders of two men the drummer, as in the case of the
;

Ko-daiko, walking by the side. The tone is very poor and thin. Its gilt faces
with black "mitsu-tomoye," red lacquer body, and coloured strings, correspond
witli those of the larger Drum. It has, however, no outer rim, and is merely

surmounted by one red flame, 15 inches high by 20 broad. The diameter of

the faces is 2 feet 7 inches the cylinder is 1 foot 3 inches long, and 1
;

foot 8 inches in diameter.

very old Chinese Drum fdled

HAPPU: a with rice-powder. It was

similar in shape to the Ni-daiko, but was hung in a circular frame on a

stand with flame ornament like the Tsuri-daiko, and was probably
about the same size. The figure in the cut is taken from the Encyclopaedia.

THE HAPPU.

KAKKO (figured in the upper engraving on page 161) : described in the

Mncyolopcedia as "the Barbarian Drum which came through China from Turkestan
and Thibet." It is the small Drum of the Bugaku orchestra it is, nevertheless, ;

the leader of that orchestra, its function being to mark the "beats "of the
music. It is composed of a painted wooden cylinder, 1 foot long, and 6'2 inches
in diameter, with a parallel section. The projecting faces are 10 inches in
diameter: these faces are painted white. The Drum is braced eight times with
thick silk cords. It rests on a small stand in front of the player, the height of
the whole being 15 inches; the sticks are unpadded, 15i inches long, and
knobbed Western Kettle-drum.
like those of the
 THE DA-DAIKO ON ITS 1'LATFOKM. ONE SIDE OK THE KWA-YEN FRAME
OF THE DA-DA KO.I

INTERNAL SUPPORTS
OF CYLINDER.

CYLINDER OF THE DA-DAIKO. CYLINDER STAND OF THE DA-DAIKO.

THE NI-DAIKO ON ITS POLE.

The DA-DAIKO and NI-DAIKO (from sketches in Abe Suyenao's "MS. Records of Ancient Music ").
166 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

It is struck in three different ways :

Katarai : a number of quick strokes with the left stick, slightly increasing
in speed.
Mororai: a number of alternate strokes with both sticks, also increasing in
speed, marking a slow roll.
Sei: a single tap with the right stick.
" "
The stroke is a circular motion, figured in the Eecords of Ancient Music
as a "tomoye," thus:

MOTION OF LEFT STICK. MOTION OF RIGHT STICK.

Bugaku music is divided into bars hydski which are each subdivided
into divisions or beats, culled kobyoshi ; the half-beat of each kobyoshi is
" and " in Western
called kage corresponding with the counting. Katarai,
or mororai, exactly fills one of the full beats, and as the time is about alia breve,
the length of each roll can easily be estimated.
There are three species of time yo-hydshi or shi-hyoshi, containing four
beats, the common time :
ya-hyoshi or hachi-hyoshi, with eight beats and ;

mu-hyoshi or roku-hyoshi, with six.

The conclusion of every hydshi is marked by a tap on the Kakko (sei),

and a forte stroke on the Taiko with the right stick (obachi), which is itself
prepared by a piano stroke with the left stick (mebachi) at the half-beat
"
immediately preceding it in the common time at three and."
:

It will thus be seen that the

rhythm of this music differs from Western
music in working up to its accent, instead of starting with it.
The emphasis of the dance follows naturally the accent of the music, the
drum-point being marked by the stamp of the foot with which those who have
seen these dances are familiar.
Ku, the places where the singers take breath, correspond with the kobyoshi.
These explanations will be sufficient to explain the following scheme of the
"
different times," which governs both the music with, and that without, the
Drums :

YO-HYoSHI Beat. Kakko. Tsuri-daiko.

[the bar of 4 beats.] \. mororai
2. sei

3. katarai
and kage mehachi (Piano}
4. sei obachi (Forte )
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 167

YA-HYoSHl 1.

[the bar of 8 beats.]

MU-HY6SHI
[the bar of 6 beats.]
168 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

length, 1 diameter of the cylinder, 11 inches. It rests on a

foot 6'75 inches;
small stand, the whole standing 2 feet 2'75 inches from the ground. It is strung

with 12 braces, and is struck with plain sticks, without knobs, 1 foot 10 inches

long. The Drum is figured on page Io7.

The name, the " grand time beater," signifies the instrument used to mark
the beats on special occasions. When the short benedictory dance, the modern
is always used to mark the hyoshi.
Drum
Kagura, is performed at festivals, this

KAIKO: "an enlarged and shortened Kakko," not now in use. According
" the third
to the"Records of Ancient Music" it was called processional
instrument," the Ni-daiko and the Ni-shoko probably being the first and the
second. It was carried on the left shoulder, and struck or rubbed with

the fingers of the right hand, the beating being accompanied by short shouts,
which, it is said, caused the instrument to be disliked. The face, painted
white, measured 14 inches in diameter; the length of the cylinder was
6%5 inches, with a diameter of 10 inches. It was painted red, and decorated
in the usual elaborate manner ;
the thick red cords formed eight braces.

TJIK KAIKO.
" "
UTA-DAIKO, the "Song-Drum commonly called Shime-daiko, the Tied-
;

Drum "; and also Geza-daiko, the Drum of the yeza theatres. It is the common-
est of the Japanese Drums, and is used in the theatres, in the orchestra of

Sarugaku, and on many other occasions. In shape it resembles the Kaiko, its
dimensions being practically the same. The painted body of the Chinese Drum
gives place, however, to one of plain kiri wood, and the white face to one of
plain parchment with a black lacquer border 1'5 inch wide. It is played with
two plain sticks without knobs, but with the sharp edges bevelled off. The
Drum is placed in front of the player in a wooden frame, which gives it a slight
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 169

forward inclination, so that the lower edge of the instrument is 7'5 inches
high, the upper 11 inches. It seems to have been first played about 1540 A.D.

by Komparu Gon-no-kami, a Taiko player in the Court band, and one of the
famous house of Komparu. The cords are, as usual, orange-red but the ;

dignity of the pale blue and lilac cords used formerly to be conferred on the
celebrated players.
The Uta-daiko appears in many of the illustrations of this work. The
front view is shown on page loo, the back view in the following illustration.
The illustrations of the different orchestras, on pages 19 and 25, indicate
the very vigorous action of the drummer, and the position of the Drum on the
floor in front of him. Both the sticks are lifted over the right shoulder and
brought down with a rapid circular motion on to the face of the Drum, and
immediately raised into position again for the next stroke.

THE UTA-DAIKO, THE O-TSUZl'MI, TH K KO-T SU/UMI, AND THK K AGUE A-FU YK.

III. DRUMS WITH DUMB-BELL-SHAPED BODIES TSUZUMI.

This class of Drums seems to be really a modification of the Kakko. They
have overlapping faces, but a curious dumb-bell-shaped body has been substituted
for the straight cylinder. The bell-shaped ends of the body are hollow. These
170 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

Drums came to Japan from China, but, like the Kakko, are not of Chinese
origin ;
said that they were used hy the Barbarians 1,000 years before the
it is

time of Confucius to accompany the worship of the Gods. In Japan their chief
use is supply the place of the Kakko when the orchestra is standing.
to
The body is red, and highly decorated the leather face painted white with ;

eight metal-faced holes for the red cords. It is struck with black sticks 1 foot

long.
The Drum is made in three sizes.

IcHr-NO-TSUZUMi, or IKKO: the face, 8 inches in diameter; length of

cylinder, 14 inches and diameter where it meets the face, 6 inches.
;

NI-NO-TSU/UMI mention of this Drum is to be found only in ancient

:

records it is now never used. Its dimensions were diameter of face, 10 inches : :

length of cylinder, 16 inches ;

and diameter, 7i inches.
"
SAN-NO-TSU/UMI used only for Koma," or Corean music. Its dimensions
:

are not given, but are probably: diameter of face, 12 inches length of cylinder, ;

18 inches and diameter, i) inches.

;

From Drum
the Japanese variety was invented by the Crown
this Chinese
Prince Umayado in the reign of the Empress Suiko, at the beginning of the
eighth century. The Japanese Drums are of two sizes, both smaller than
the Ikko ; the cords are grasped tightly in the left hand, and the Drum struck
with the right, the larger being held over the left thigh, the smaller over the
right shoulder, the musician sitting in the usual Japanese position.

THE NI-NO-TSUZUMI.
f From a sketch in the "Records nf Ancient Music.")

"
OTO-TSUZUMI, or KO-TSUZUME the Younger," : or shoulder-drum.
Diameter of face, 8 inches length of body, 10 inches ; ; diameter at ends, 3'5
inches; and in the centre, T5 inch.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 171

E-TSUZUMI, or O-TSUZUMI : the " Elder," or side-drum. Diameter of face,

8'75 inches length of body, 11 '5 inches diameter at
; ; ends, 4 inches, and in the
centre, 2 inches.
The faces of the side-drum are plain those of the shoulder-drum have
:

black lacquer rims, one ring inside, and trefoil ornaments at the six holes
through which the cords pass.
The red body of the Chinese Drum is replaced by one of black lacquer
with gold decoration, and the parchment faces are un painted. The only
difference in the structure of the
body is, that the centre part of the dumb-bell is
moulded in the Japanese Drums, and has a parallel section in the Chinese.
Yamato and Kyoto produced the most famous Drum makers. The colour
of the silken cords denotes the grade of the musician: the ordinary colour is

orange-red, the next rank has light-blue, and the highest lilac. This rule
applies also to the Uta-daiko.
The function of the Drum in the orchestra was to mark and emphasize the
rhythm of the dance: the orchestra of the later No often contains one side- and
three shoulder-Drums: they are tuned together, but they do not necessarily play
all together.
The tone is much fuller than might be expected, more especially that
of the O-tsuzumi, which is struck with more vigorous strokes than the shoulder-
drum.
 GONGS.

SHOKO: the Gong of the Bugaku orchestra, and the first metal instrument
introduced into Japan. It is shown by the side of the Tsuri-daiko, in the
upper plate on page 161. In China it dates from a little later than the time of
Confucius. It is said that until brass instruments were made in Japan it
was used in of a bugle for the words of
the place command. It is of

bronze, saucer-shaped, and measures 5'5 inches in diameter, and '75 inch in
depth it is struck with two very hard knobbed sticks 18 inches long
:
(figured
on pige 174), joined by a cord, giving a very acute sound. It is used to
emphasize the hyoshi beat of the Tsuri-daiko, the authorities on the ancient
dancing saying that always struck immediately after the big Drum. It is
it is

suspended by orange silk cords from a lacquer stand resembling in form that
of the Taiko, but with a proportionately longer stem it stands 2 feet 5J inches :

from the ground, the player sitting in front of it in the usual Japanese position.
The diameter of the circular part of the stand is 1 1 inches, the rim being li
inch broad by I inch thick.
There are two larger sizes of Shoko, corresponding with the two large-sized
Drums, Ni-daiko and Da-daiko, with which they are respectively used. Both
the Ni-shr>ko and the l)ai-shoko are exceedingly rare instruments, and not often
"
seen ;have, therefore, again had recourse to the
I Records of Ancient Music,"
already referred to, for the illustrations on page 174.

"
DAI-SHOKO : the Grand Shoko"; used to accompany the Da-daiko. Like
the Drum, stands on a special platform with its steps, draperies, and tassels.
it

This platform is 2 feet high and 3 feet 7 inches square ; the railing 9 inches
high. The Gong is 14 inches in diameter: it is gilt, and has the usual frame
of kwa-yen, which fits into a socket into the
platform the frame is 5 feet high, :

and 3 feet broad at the base.

NI-SHOKO: the "Portable Shoko"; carried by two men on a long pole,

and used to accompany the Ni-daiko in It is gilt, and has an
processions.
elaborate frame of clouds and fire, measuring 3 feet 5 inches in height by 2 feet
wide. The black lacquer pole is 7 feet long, and the Gong 8 inches in
diameter.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 173

KEI, or HOKYO the Temple Gong, which stands on a table at the right
:

of the altar. of solid metal three-fifths of an inch thick, and is often gilt,
It is

being suspended by curiously interlaced silk cords from a lacquer stand 2 feet
3 inches high by 1 foot 10 inches broad: it is struck with a very hard knobbed
stick, 1 foot long, and gives a lower and mellower note than the Shoko.
There are various shapes, but they may all be roughly described as a
truncated half lozenge.

TUK

The lengthof the gilt Kei in use in the Nikko Temples (shown in the
above illustration) is 8*5 inches at the top and 1O75 at the bottom, with an
average breadth of 4'5 inches.

Asmaller and thinner variety, in plain bronze, measures 6'7o inches at the
top, 9'25 at the bottom, with an average breadth of 3'25 inches. Both forms of
the Kei are given on page 179.

DOBACIH the " Copper Cup." The

:
large cup-shaped Gong used in the
Temples, and also given on page 179. It is placed on a cushion on a lacquer

stand, and struck with a short stick covered with leather. The best tone is
produced by an upward stroke, the stick just catching the rim of the Gong. It
is called Keisu by some sects, who use it instead of the Kei.

The tone of the Dobachi is exceedingly beautiful, and I can only regret
that I have no information to give my readers as to the composition of
the metal. I believe, however, that a considerable amount of silver is mixed
with the copper.
 TIIK DAl-SHOKO ON IT* I'l.ATKOII.M. KKAMEOI-' KA-YEN OF DAI-8H6K.O

STICKS Ol-' TIIK SHOKO.

THE NI-SHOKO ON ITS POLE.

The DAI-SHOKO and NI-SHOKO (from sketohes in Abe Suyenao'a "Records of Ancient Music ").
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 175

The following instruments are taken chiefly from the Encyclopedia, " Sansai

Zuye":

DOKO a small brass or copper Gong

: from Southern China, hung on a stand,
and generally arranged in a set of three.

KEN: a small Gong originally made of porcelain, the size of a goose's egg.
It was pierced with six holes, and was tapped with a stick.

KTJRE-TSUZUMI : a wooden ring, struck with sticks, from Southern China.

Hia teacup-shaped porcelain Gong.
: Its use was suggested by the sound
of drinking cups when accidentally struck.
176 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

SHOKU: a box of wood or metal, 2 feet 5 inches by 1 foot 10 inches. A

movable clapper is fixed inside, with which the player struck the sides

of the box.

" the Temples,

MOKU-GYO the Wooden Fish '': a wooden Gong used in

struck with a padded stick. It was formerly shaped like a fish bent backwards
with its tail in its mouth it : takes the shape of a bird in the same position.
now
It will be seen in the picture of the Dobachi, on page 179, lying by the side of
the stand.

DORA the ordinary Gong, which has been adopted in the West.
:
It was
originally used in China by the night watchmen.

"
WANIGUCHI the " Shark's Mouth Gong : the gilt Gong which hangs at
the entrance of the shrines. It is struck by worshippers by means of a rope
hanging in front of it. It is shown on page 179.

GYO : a hollow wooden figure of a recumbent tiger, one foot long. It was
struck with a small broom or split bamboo.

DO-BYOSHI brass Cymbals of different sizes.

: These Cymbals are also
shown lying in front of the Tsuri-daiko in the lower picture on page 161.
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 177

The mime, like that of the Drum Dai-byoshi, indicates its use, which is to
"
mark the hijoshi of the dance ; they are the Copper Time-beaters."

HYOSHIGI: two hard wood Clappers, used on a variety of occasions. In

the Theatre they are beaten on the floor rapidly to emphasize confusion.

The conductors of juggling, athletic, and other performances use them to

attract attention also the night-watchmen during their perambulations of
;

the streets. The word hydshi again appears these are the " Wooden Time-
;

beaters."

BYAKUSHI: nine long tablet-shaped pieces of hard wood strung together,

used as Clappers. They are now made of bamboo.

YOTSUDAKE the " Four Bamboos ": Clappers like the preceding, used at
the Theatre, and by beggars.

HAKU-HAN another form of 'wooden Clapper, shown by the side of the

:

Tsuri-daiko in the lower picture on page 161.

 178 THE MUSIC OF THE JAPANESE.

"
FURI-TSUZUMI the Shaking Drum," or Toko a Rattle used in pro-
:

cessions. It is composed of two miniature Drums, about 3 inches in diameter,

and 4 inches in length, placed at right-angles, one on top of the other, at the
end of a stick about 20 inches long. Five or six little bell Rattles are hung on
the Drums by short strings. The faces of the Drums are silvered, with black
"
mitsu-iomoye'' painted on them, and are surrounded by a row of gilt studs. The
bodies are red, and elaborately ornamented the stick is painted red and black,
;

and terminates with a gilt spear-head 3 inches above the Drums. The Rattle is
held by the leader of the band with the small Drum Kero. 36
processional

Su/u the Rattle used by the scarlet-robed

:

dancing ladies of the Temples,

when performing their
benedictory dance. It is shown on page 179.

FURIN the " Wind shown with the Kei on page 179 a Bell with a
Bell," :

broad flat
clapper coming below the body of the Bell, which catches the wind.
Occasionally streamers were tied to the clappers. The Furin is
usually suspended
at the four corners of the eaves
of the Temples.
 THE KEI IN TWO FORMS, AND THE FURIN.

THE DOBACHI AND MOKU-GYO.

THE WANIGUCHI.

THE SUZU.

Puge rt/erencesKel - 173

Furin . - 178
Waniguchi - 176.
Dobachi - 173.
-
Moku-gyo 176.
Snyli , - 178
 JAPANESE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 179

MOKKIN: thirteen wooden tablets fixed on a frame or hollow box with

handles, somewhat in the form of a Western Harmonicons. It measures

22 inches long by inches high by 9 inches broad. It is played with two

knobbed sticks.
 BRASS.

RAPPA : a brass Bugle used in camp ;

sometimes called the " Foreigner's
Flute."

DOKAKU: another Bugle, made of copper, and formerly of wood.

CHARUMERA Bugle with holes, which is used occasionally in the Theatre,

: a
but chiefly by the itinerant vendors of sweets in Japan. Its sounds, and the
tunes played on it, have many affinities with those of the Italian Pifferari. Both
the Charumera and Dokaku are said to be much used in Corea as processional
instruments.

THK KAPPA. THE DOKAKU. THK CHAKUMERA.

 NOTES.
BY T. L. SOUTHGATE.

1 [Page 2]. It should be noted tluit the early stringed instruments, from the types of
those used by the ancient Egyptians down to the instruments employed in Europe till the
seventeenth century, were also of a sweet, but feeble, quality of tone. Owing to the shape
of the instruments of the Viol family, notably their flat backs, they lacked resonance; with
the improvements of the great Cremonese makers they gained in power. The same may be
observed of the ancient Harp, which, owing to its having no front pillar to resist the tension
of the strings, could only have given forth faint sounds, probably not so loud as those drawn
from the Lutes and Theorbos of our ancestors. And much the same may be said of the
Clavichord, Virginal, Spinet, and Harpsichord, the precursors of the Pianoforte; the tone of
all these instruments was sweet but very feeble in comparison with that evoked from a

sonorous "Broadwood" of to-day. Oddly enough, just the converse is true of the wind
reed instruments. These were all much more powerful and less under control than those in
use to-dav. Of the wind familv in general the Flute no doubt was softer, but the brass and
all the others must have been much louder than are their modified descendants now used.

2 [Page 4]. In that the Japanese musicians produce some effects different from those
obtained by Western musicians, it is evident that our system of notation is not available to
include all that these Eastern musicians do. In earlv times, music like ancient poetry, and
was oral, and not written down it was carried on from age to
like the religious liturgies, :

age by The
tradition. history of musical notation teaches us that, with the gradual
development of the art, the capabilities of representing it in signs grew with the advance of
the music A full score of to-day, representing in definite characters our tone-language,
itself.

would wonderment of the old Greek priests, who chanted their hymns to Bacchus
excite the
from the single signs of their alphabet (variously arranged), quite as much as would the
elaborate music itself given forth by our orchestras of to-day. The art of writing has been
characterised as the greatest invention mankind has made; the art of setting down signs to
represent sounds is just as wonderful. It is quite certain that, if the necessity arises, it will

be possible to write in an intelligible notation any effects that may be produced by nations
using a system of music differing from that of our own.

3 [Page 5]. The fact that the music for the Koto is learnt by rote, rather than by being
taught through notation, would seem to point to the great antiquity of the instrument.
This was the mode of instruction the players went through in the Egyptian temples ages ago;
and, indeed, it may be pointed out that in early Christian times, the pneumes in which the
chant was set down were regarded rather as aids to memory, than as signs which exactly
represented the pitch and duration of the notes to be sung.
182 NOTES.

4 [Page We have a somewhat analogous example in the Western world to this

9].
school of music was so famous,
temporary migration of musical pupils. The early Egyptian
that, according to Diodorus Sicculus, the Greek musicians went to Alexandria to obtain
instruction, and occasionally famous natives of Egypt came to Athens and Corinth to give
performances. Pythagoras, who may be looked upon as the father of scientific music in

Greece, obtained all his knowledge of the art during his long residence in the Land of the
Pharaohs. This happened about a thousand years before Japan sent her students in music
to study in Corea or China.

5 [Page 13]. It may be noted that Dancing is still a part of the ritual of the Abyssinian
Church, which professes to have derived this ceremony from the ancient Jewish Church
"
David danced before the Lord." In the Abyssinian ritual, the Dance is accompanied by Bells
and Drums. In our Western Church, the custom still lingers at Seville, where the late
Sir Frederick Gore Ouseley relates he once saw a solemn Fandango danced in front of the

high altar.

6 [Page 13]. This reminds one of the famous collection of the " Cantigas de Santn
Maria," a remarkable set of songs with music of the 13th century, preserved in the library
of the Escurial.

7 [Page 14]. Such was the ancient Lyre of the Greeks, an instrument of open strings
and having no finger-board; and coining to later times, such was the Italian Accordo," an '

instrument possessing twelve strings, and used mainly for accompanimental purpose, though
its neck was fretted, and various intervals could be
played on each string.

8 [Page 15]. It is a little curious to note that in the Middle Ages we also had three sets
of people dealing with music the performers in the Church, engaged with sacred music; the
teachers in the Universities, who composed academic music and the more popular minstrels,
;

who played and sang for the public, and were quite unable to read or write music.

9 [Page 16]. Analogous examples of trade cries existed with us until within the last few
years. In ancient Egypt, trade songs and cries were rigorously protected, and many such
distinctive public street cries are still common in the East.

10 [Page 32]. The appreciation of music in its different systems resembles that of
language. It is mainly a matter of where we are born, and what we have been accustomed

to hear from infancy. The music current among some other races is unintelligible to us, just
as their language The system with which we are familiar seems to us the only perfect
is.

and Our Western method is both melodic and susceptible of harmony but
intelligible one. ;

it is not wise
todespise other systems just because we do not understand and are not familiar
with them. Nor is it safe to say that they are only melodic, and incapable of harmonic
treatment. The resources of harmony are not vet exhausted; and though it seems a funda-
mental truth to rely on the statement that our scalar division of the octave is founded on
Nature's acoustic laws, it is certain that our system is not mathematically correct so far as
the division of intervals is concerned we have to:
temper them for purposes of harmony and
combination. There is no valid reason to prove that other scalar divisions are not also
practicable for harmonic as well as melodic purposes.
 NOTES. 183

11 [Page 4-7J. public examinations for degrees in music and diplomas are held
That
under authorisation proof of the great importance in which the art is regarded in Japan.
is

The very long study it requires, and the slow progress made in it, are evidences of the
abundant leisure which everyone seems to enjoy in that country. It seems that everything
must be done thoroughly, and each step completely mastered, before a fresh advance is
taken a very different state of things from that which exists here, where bogus institutions,
intent on fee-gathering, are too ready to issue degrees and diplomas for payment, combined
with very little knowledge or proficiency.

12 [Page 63]. The history of the scale, or series of sounds, employed by the Japanese in
their music, is so obscure, that an attempt to unravel its origin and trace its development
would probably result in adding little to our knowledge. The scale was no doubt derived
from Chinese sources, and its chief interest for us lies in its present capacity of expression.
So far as we are able to determine by hearing their music and examining the tunings of their
instruments, and apart from the scientific testing of the individual sounds by means of a
syren or a graduated monochord, the notes employed by the Japanese do not materially
differ from the sounds we use. They may not be mathematically the same as our tempered
system, so far as the exact number of their individual vibrations is concerned, but they are
practically identical with our diatonic and chromatic scales. In all probability the Japanese
have had no mathematicians able to determine the vibration-number of the notes and their
ratios to one another, nor do they seem acquainted with the acoustic laws of harmonics
on which the Western svstem of chord-construction is founded, yet their musicians have
arrived at much the same result as obtains with us. The question is one of much interest,
because among the near neighbours of the Chinese are the Hindoos, and in the not far south
the Maories. Carl Engel and Captain C. II. Day have pointed out that these nations
employ a scale containing many more sounds in the octaves than those used by us while ;

the Javanese, according to Mr. \V. Ellis, divide their octave into five exactly equal parts.
Yet the Japanese system is allied to the Western method, and the Eastern systems of their
nearer neighbours are ignored.

In one respect the Japanese follow the Eastern plan of slurring up or down to a note
instead of taking it firmly; this occurs chiefly in their vocal music, but it has caused musica'
visitors to declare that they sing out of tune, and use minuter intervals than ours. This
declaration is founded on as erroneous an assumption asit would be to declare that our

string-instrument players same

did when
the they slurred up to a note, or to censure a
vocalist for singing out of tune when passing insensibly from the leading note to the tonic
at the close of a song. We must admit that the Japanese know of and use all our intervals,
but the haphazard sort of way they select the notes to tune their strings to, and the fact that
the systematised scale we accept as a logical ladder of sounds is not recognised by them,
and that in much of their music some notes find no place, have caused investigators to come
to the conclusion that the Japanese scale is an imperfect one. This is as much an error as it
would be to assume that a piece of modern music, deliberately written without employing
the fourth or seventh of the scale, did not belong to our diatonic method. We cannot judge
of what intervals a scale is composed merely by the tuning of certain strings, neither can we

say that as system is truncated because we find tunes in which some notes are omitted. The
184 NOTES.

learn to play tunes he only concerns himself with the

duty of the Japanese musician is to
;

notes necessary for each tune in the scale, qua scale, and is indifferent to anything more. He
looks at the music from an emotional rather than from a scientific point of view
; hence,

Western musicians, with their fuller knowledge, are better able to analyse and reduce Japan-
ese music to its elements than are the native musicians themselves.

13 [Page 72]. The Kotos, Biwas, and Samisens, seem arbitrary

different tunings of the

and unmeaning to us, and investigating Japanese music there is a danger that we may
in

confound the tuning with the scale but the two things arc quite distinct. We can no more
;

judge of what the scale is like from the tuning of these instruments, than we can assert that
the different notes employed for the lowest strings of the Violin, Viola, Violoncello, and
Double-bass, or the Pianoforte and Organ, form the tonic foundation on which the scales of
these instruments rest. The lowest note is a mere accident of convenience. During the reign
of the Lute it was common to vary the tuning of its strings according to the pitch of the
song to be sung. Paganini, for certain pieces, altered the tuning of the strings of his Fiddle
from the orthodox method, and Berlioz has directed the lowest string of the Double-bass to
be altered in pitch for playing some of his works. The tuning, therefore, of an instrument,
teaches us but Httle.The Japanese have an infinite number of modes of tuning, which, to-
gether with the occasional alteration of the bridges during the performance in order to
obtain some lower notes, makes their free system seem arbitrary and very complicated
to us.

14 [Page 89]. The answer to a fugue subject with us is not always strictly regular, so
far the exact intervals are concerned.
as The point to be aimed at is, to get the same
motion of the notes comprising the phrase; it often happens that, without going out of the
key, or introducing extraneous notes, the subject cannot always be repeated exactly spaced
as it appeared in its initial setting forth.

15 [Page 96]. The examples which are given show that the Japanese have some
acquaintance with harmony, and occasionally use it. The description of the classical
"
Form." and the analysis of the two pieces of Koto music given, will come as a surprise to
most persons who look lightly on the music of this Eastern race. It is clear that they
set forth a first and second subject, and that the form is what we know as the variation

type then their music displays imitative and sequential phrases, fanciful treatment of a
;

simple recurrent theme, episodal passages, balanced sections; and the figures show consider-
able ingenuity in construction, even if we do not perceive any planned artistic effect. It would
not be fair to place this music side by side with our own sonata form for the sake of com-
"
parison but still their
;
Plum-branch" and " Kokudan," together with the graceful "On the
Road to the Kasuga Temple," exhibit thought in construction and some distinct art-purpose.
No doubt the large intervals employed in these pieces, and a prevalence of harsh intervals
rarely used with us, make the music sound ungraceful to our ears ;
but the music is not
without grace. As Dr. Hubert Parry has thoughtfully pointed out, our melodies are based
on certain harmonic considerations were the Japanese accustomed to hear our richly-
;

harmonised themes, their ears would recognise certain laws which underlie the construction
of melody itself, and their music would no doubt show the effect of this wider knowledge.
 NOTES. 185

16 [Page 109]. It isto be regretted that nothing for certain is known of the ancient
Hitsu-no-koto. It is reputed to have had as many as fifty strings, and it would supply a
valuable of information if we only knew to what notes these strings were tuned.
piece
Speculation as to whether this large number of strings represented a diatonic or a chromatic
scale-system is useless. But even if some of the notes were doubled i.e., two unisons it is
clear that the
compass of this Harp, four thousand years old, must have been large, and its
number of intervals very considerable.
17 [Page 109]. The striking of a stringed instrument with beaters or hammers is of
great antiquity. Such instruments were the forerunners of our modern Dulcimer the last ;

lingering example is the Cembalo of the Hungarians, who piny marvellously on this simplv-
constructed piano-forte, i.e., an instrument yielding soft and loud tones according to the
forcewith which the strings are struck. In many of the Assyrian sculptures will be found
players with an instrument of this type suspended in front of them, while marching in

procession with other musicians.

18 [Page 11G]. The method of playing the one, two, and three-stringed Kin or Koto is
curious, so far as the production of notes other than those of the open strings is concerned.
It is difficult to sa} why, instead of stopping the string with the finger, as is common in all
r

countries and with J cylinder worn on the second tinner

all instruments, a heavv ivorv . o of the
left hand should have been employed the sliding of this along the string, instead of striking
:

it clear, has some little

analogy to the action of our Violin and Violoncello players, who
produce charming effects bv this gliding up to a note. The indication of the tones and
semitones bv spots painted on the body of the Koto is allied to the plan of using frets for a
similar purpose placed across the necks of instruments of the Guitar type.

19 [Page 124]. This mode of raising the pitch of the string, by depressing that portion
of it not intended to sound on the wrong side of the bridge, is an ingenious device peculiar
to the Japanese musicians so far as we know, the practice exists nowhere else, though it
;

may be mentioned that the old Welsh harpists pinched their stringsat the top in order to raise
them a semitone. No one would guess that such a device was employed who merely saw the
instrument. We
should judge that the Koto possessed an imperfect scale: but this mode of
artificially raising the pitch of a string by a single or a double pressure, either a semitone or
a tone, elevates the instrument into the rank of one possessing a complete chromatic scale,
and on it any music can be played.
20 [Page 124]. The device of sharpening a note from its initial pitch while the string is
stillvibrating, by tightening the tension of the string, and then, by gradually removing the
pressure, letting the note fall to its original sound, is indeed remarkable it suggests effects :

quite new to us. It may be pointed out, that some such result may be obtained by depress-

ing further the keys of the old Clavichord, after they have been struck and the tangents
still

have hit the wire the additional pressure on the key slightly raises, and thus tightens, the
;

strings, making the note rise in pitch. There is a tradition that Bach, who preferred the
Clavichord, used to produce this effect occasionally; but as the alteration of the pitch of a
note would have affected the harmonic chord of which it was a component part, the tradition
as to this after-sharpening seems hardly credible.
186 NOTES.

21 [Page 126]. The Kaki would seem to resemble in its effect our acciaccatura, which
is a short grace-note lying beside and struck together with a longer principal note.

22 [Page 128]. The Japanese grace-notes and ornamentations, though not so numerous
as our own, arc of the same conventional and stereotyped character as those employed by the
Harpsichord and Clavichord writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Butthere is
"
one special feature they use, the Glissades," not found in our music. On instruments of the
Pianoforte tribe, a glissando is possible only on the white notes forming the key of C on the ;

Harp, by means of its pedals setting the strings in any key required, the glissando can be
plaved just where desired the ease with which it can be done has been a temptation to the
;

" "
Harpist to use the device so constantly that we find the expression to sweep the strings

employed very often by the old writers of poetry. But it should be noted that the Harp and
Pianoforte glissando necessarily took in every note of the diatonic scale the Japanese, owing
;

to the fact that there no separate string for every note of the scale, omit certain notes in
is

the glissade, and thus an effect is produced novel to our ears. The occasional introduction of
this device in their pieces, the glissade being played both up and down pianissimo, lends a

singular charm and romance to their music, besides affording a distinct contrast in tone-
colour to the strings plucked with the plectrum.

23 [Page 130]. It is interesting to note the many refinements employed by the Japanese
in the way in which the strings are plucked, sometimes with the plectrum, and sometimes the
fingers, a difference being made (as by the players
on our bow instruments) between the up
and down-strokes of the exciting medium.

24 [Page 131]. "Uchi." This beating of the strings below the bridges is novel, and
must produce an effect altogether strange to us.

25 [Page 131]. The Japanese notation is very interesting. It differs vastly from our
own, than which we can think of nothing more exact or simple, yet it is complete enough to
represent the time, the accent, the notes to be played and the way in which the strings are
;

to be plucked. It would be useful to have some historical account of the inception and
gradual development of this system of notation.

26 [Page 138]. It would seem by this device that the strings are not so much stopped
as weuse the term as thev arc tightened by the varying pressure of the fingers, and so
several notes can be produced by the finger in one position the task must be a difficult one
;

to do accurately.

27 [Page 141]. The omission of the fourth and seventh of the scale goes to show the
great antiquity of the instrument, and that its series of sounds were of the pentatonic order,
the most ancient type of the scale-systems.

28 [Page 142]. It would be incorrect to consider the vibrating wire in the body of the
Gek-kin, Gen-kan, and Shigen, as an attempt to obtain sympathetic effects, as in the Viol
d'Amour; there appears to be no tuning of this wire, and it could only produce a jangling
effect,
 NOTES. 187

29 [Page 145] The use of snake-skin is an example of the custom which obtains of
nations employing in the making of their musical instruments just such materials as are
commonly found in their several countries. For instance, in European countries, pine and
maple are the woods chiefly selected for the bowed instruments, and until later times
boxwood was employed for the wind instruments. In Egypt, the stems of the large reed plant,
Arundo donax, form the flutes in India, cane and gourds are made use of in Siam, ivory in
; ; ;

China and Japan, bamboo and in countries where snakes are common, the skins of these
;

reptiles are pressed into use for musical purposes Drums in Africa are often covered with
:

the skins of lions.In Japan, the use of monkey-bone for the ancient Flute finds its parallelism
in ancient Greece and Italy, where the
early flute was made of the tibia bone, and this
supplied the generic name for the whole family of instruments of this type. In Japan, as may
be expected, a great deal of lacquer-work is employed with their instruments.

30 [Page 146]. It may be remarked that, provided the bridge is slightly rounded, the

same effect of strings sounding together was produced on the old Italian " Accordo," by the
hair of the bow being k;?pt very loose, thus setting in vibration all the strings over which it

passed.

31 [P'Age 150]. This peculiarity of a hole in the side of the Flute covered with paper is
no doubt borrowed from the well-known Chinese type. Its effect is to create a tremolo by
the rapid movements of the paper, which practically acts as a vibrating reed, and causes a
distinct alteration in the character of the tone the tube gives out without this contrivance.

32 [Page 151]. In that the Hichiriki is played through a reed mouthpiece (shita), it should
be more correctly classed with the reed (Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon) type of wind instrument,
and not with the Flute proper, or the flue-organ-pipe type of tubed instruments.

33 [Page 152]. TheShakuhachi isof exactly the same character as the ancient long Flutes
blown at the end, which are often seen in the Egyptian tomb paintings. The instrument
(Nay) is still in use in the land of the Pharaohs ; it is difficult to blow ;
the tone is singularly
sweet and mellow.

"
34 [Pngc 153]. The Sho (Chinese Cheng") is to us the most interesting of all Eastern
instruments. Considering its elaborate construction, it is difficult to accept the statement
made as to itsenormous antiquity yet it seems to have been known in China and Japan for
;

centuries. The vibrating reed employed is that technically called the " single reed." No
instrument of this character is known in Europe, but the Regal of the Middle Ages, occasion-
ally used in place of the Organ in churches, and sometimes used in processions, as may be
seen in some was
of this type so far as the tone was concerned. The sound
old pictures,
was produced from the vibration of small reeds set in short pieces of pipe but a bellows was ;

employed to supply the wind, and the valves were opened from an ordinary key-board. The
present representatives of the Regal are the Harmonium and the so-called American Organ.
There is a traditian that the free reed came to us from China, but its principle has been known

forthousands of years. Reeds were used for one of the species of the Greek auXoy. It may be
noted that the word in John, c. xii., v. fi, translated bag(" Judas was a thief, and had the
bag"), is in the Greek version yAcoo-cro/rcyioi/, i.e., a box to keep the tongues or reeds in, just as
188 NOTES.

modern Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon players still have to hold their reeds. The fact that
several notes can be sounded at once on the Sho is sufficient to prove that the Japanese were
at an early period of their history acquainted with harmony, i.e., different notes sounded
simultaneously. It is curious to note that instead of blowing into the pipes as we do, the
Japanese draw in the breath, so the sound is produced by exhaustion of the air, and not by
pressure of the breath and, further, that we uncover the holes of our wind instruments with
;

our fingers to produce the sound, whereas the Japanese in this instrument cover them the
reverse of our plan.

35 [Page 160]. It seems that in Japan, as in other Eastern countries, the Drum is
regarded chiefly as an instrument of percussion to mark the time and accentuate the rhythm,
the drutnm?r having the same office as was assigned to the Coryphaeus in the Greek orchestra ;

this official had a heavy metal shoe on his foot, and beat time by stamping on the stage.
With us the Drum is much more extensively employed indeed, Beethoven has elevated it
;

into the rank of a solo instrument vide "The Violin Concerto" and "The Choral
i

Symphony ").

30 [Page 178] This shaking Drum, or Rattle, resembles the Sistrum of ancient Egypt.
The instrument was deemed sacred it consisted of a handle to which was attached a metal
;

frame, and through the sides of this were thin metal bars moving to and fro when shaken.
Sometimes pierced coins were strung on the bars to increase the jingle.

Of the various percussive instruments and, indeed, of some of other types it may be
remarked how much more pains the Japanese seem to takein ornamenting them, and showing
more feeling for art in iheir construction and ornamentation than is generally the case among
the Western nations. The use of and fondness for colour is always more strongly shown
in the East than in the West, and the musical instruments of these nations are beautifully

painted, lacquered, and inlaid.

 INDEX.

PACK
PAGE
'
Adzurna jishi
After sharp, the
"
.....
. . . . 124
86
Bow
ments
Brass instruments
......180
theory of development of instru-

. . .
122

.125
Agari Bugaku, the
.... .10, 14, 16
. . . . . .
. . .

Akebono
" Ake-no-kane

"Akikiri Koto"
..... 66, 76, 82
32
36
Hug.iku-biwii, the
tunings of ... 136
68
32
Bungo-lmshi 22,
Amaterasu 5, 11

Aniatsuinorii,
.

tlie
.

iron-smith
.

...
....
. .

6
Bunya-lmshi
Byukushi, the
28
177
Ame-no-Kaga- Vaina 7
Ame
Ame
no-masaki
no-Tori Fuve .... 6
7
Ame-iio-Uzuine
Arnewaka ...... . . . . .
6, 7
8
...
Awaseru
Azimia-asobi
Azuma-fuye,
.....
tlie . . . .
86, 129

1
50
49
Castanettes, invention of
"Cave-flute," the
Certificates of proficiency ... 38
7
150

.117
Azuma-koto, tlie . . . .
Charumera, the
Clia-tsumi-uta
Chi, the
..... 16,
180
29
150
Chiku-uo-koto, the . . .
109, 121
China, commissioners sent by Em-
B
38
peror Jiinmyo ...
to,

10
Bachi, the dances of, studied under influence

.136
Band
of the Biwa
of the Samiseu
of female musicians
....
.

...
. .

145
13
of Musical Bureau
Japanese students go to
music in ....
. .

learn
10, 17

9
Banshiki

" Barbarian
tuning .....
....
59
83
music of, established in

.....
orchestral instruments of
Japan
.
.

. 13
9

Sho,"
Biwa, the, introduced from China
description of
tlie

.
.

.
.

.
156
10,
135
14
scale of
Chinese Biwa, the
Chinese Flutes
.... 140
82

149
influence of, on Japanese music
Bleachers' dance .

Blind men, degrees conferred on

.

.
.

.
15
16
37
Chosen, the
Choshi .
......
Chinese Gekkin, the, vibration numbers of 78
145
72
Bon-odori-uta 16, 29 Choshi omoi . 41
190 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Choshi-sadame
Clappers
Classical music
41
177
33
Engi era
Ennen ....
Enoshima, ceremony at
13
18
47

Column, the . 78 E-tsuzumi 171

Concertina, Salvation Army, notation for 132 Examination for diplomas 45
Corea, tribute of musicians from 9
Corean Koto, the
Corean Samisen, the
.

.... 121
145

D
Da-daiko, the
Daibyoshi, the
Dai dai Kagura .

Daijin mai-no kouta

Daijo
Dai-shoko, the
Daku-in ....
....
Dan, the
Dankin ....
....
Danmono
Dega-tari
Degrees given
....to musicians .

Dengaku, the
Diplomas-
Dobaehi, the
....
Do-bydshi, the
Dukaku, the
Doko, tlie ....
Donen-bushi.
Dora, the ....
Dosho
Date buslii ....
Dragon, Koto named after the
"
Dragon-Flute," the .

Drums .

E
E
"
Eastern Koto," the .

"
Eiglit cloud Koto," the
"
Eight stringed Koto," the ,
 INDEX. 191

"Go-dan" .
192 INDEX.
PA(iE PA(1R

Japan, scale of .

....
56 Kato-buslii
Ke
.... 124
28'

songs of .

Jingo
nKogo>
Lorea .....
Empress:

......
conquest of

42
Kei, lite

....
Keian Gekkin, vibration numbers of
173
78
Jisei-in
Jdnui
...... 27, 28
59
Keikvn, the
Ken, the .... 147
175
Joruri-bushi

accompanied by Samisen. . 39
Kengyo degree
Kero, the .... 162
36

Joruri Monogatari ....

instructions to singers of

......
.

27, 28
41
Key, knowledge of principle
musicians
in

Joun-bushi
Jun-pachi
Jim roku
......
...... 59
59
Kin (13th
Kin,
"
parallel keys of the
string)
prohibition
.

"
Koto 79
68
o
Kin, the, description of 108, 11!)
" "
K its dragon form 86
Kabuki, the 21 tlie origin of name 3

Kadayu-bushi
Kadzura Japonica
Kacshi-/ume .
.

.
.

.
.

. .113
22, 28
.4,12 Kiii-ju
Kidgen, the
.....
varieties of

....
115
65
17
Kaga
Kage .......
bushi

Kageii-gaku, the
2!)

166
13
Kirisen, the
" Kiritsubo
....
popular use of

"... . 146
21

96
Kagura, modern form of
. .

...
. . .

13 Kiri wood, used for Kotos

performance of . . . . 11 Kitajima
poetry of
Kagura-fuye, the
.

. .
. .

.
.

.
.

.149
12

Kiyari ....
Kiushiu music 35
29
Kaiko, the
Kake . .
168
127 Kobvoshi ....
Kiyomoto bushi .22, 28
1 6(5

Kaki
Kakko, the
Kaku-goto, the
125
Kill

11!)
Ko
Ko iso

Kokin, the
.....
daiko, the

....
. 157

147
37

Kami Asobi
Kami no nori Koto
the Gods"
. . .

....
. .

"the oracles of
. 11

3
Kokon bushi
Koktin, the
'
....
Kokoro/.ukishi ".
. 147
2!)

Kami Fuye . . . . 11 146

the, description of
. .

Kokyu, . .

Kami Koto

Kamu
.....
....
Kamigata-uta
. . . . . . 11
2i)

59
introduction into Japan
method of teaching
159
39
39
Konm-fuye, the
.
.

Kan 130 Komuro bushi 2!)

.132
Kando
Kan geiko
.

Kaotari, the
......
.

.
.

.
. .

.
.

. .14(5
4!)
Koto, degree
Koto, description of
its music . . .
.

.
107
33,
39

34
"

"
Kareno," the
Kashiwaba
Kasuga-mode
......
"
. . . .
9,

96,
11

37
99
measurements of different
music is written
notation
.
f< irn:sof 113
4
131
Katarai 166 specimens of
-
. 133, 134
 INDEX. 193

PAGE

Ko-tsume
Ko-tsuzumi, the
Koto-saki
Koto uta
Ko-uta
Ku
Ku, the
" "
Ku-dan
Kudara-K(
Kunii, the
" "
Kumo-no-uye
Kunioi
full

Kurahashi
"
Kurama-
Kure-tstizi

Kutara, m
Yamato
Kyoto musician.-
Kwaigo-no-ben

Magaki-bushi
Maotoru
Marigata
Murionetl
Mari-uta
"
Matsun:
" Matsuzi

Mebachi
"
'
Midare .

"
Missing Nc
Mokkin, the
Moku gyo, t

Monimu, En
Monopolies,
"
Moon-sliap
Mororai
Mortar Sons'.
194 INDEX.
PACK PAGE
 INDEX. 195

San-sa-sagari
San sen, the
Sarugaku, the
Satsuma

Sazanza
Scale, tin

th,

Sei
Sei-in .

" Seiro "

Seishido, the .

Seiteki, the
Sckijo .

Semitone
"
Seven-string
\ Shakuhachi, tl

ir

'
Shark's-mou
Sharps, differe
Shiba-kaki-bushi
" Shichi-dan ".

Sliiohi-gen-
Shigen, the
Shi hyoshi
Shiki no kyoku
Shin-kyoku
Shinnai-bushi
Sliinsen

Shiragi-koto, the
Shita .

Shita-kata
Sho, the, u
s\

d
Sho hitsu-i:
Sho jo .

Shoko, the
Shoku, the
Shono fuye, the
Shotoku-taishi-
"
virtue
Shoulder
Shozetu
 196 INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
"
Three-stringed Kin," the . . . 116
Time 85
Valiha, the .
122
principles of Chinese . . . 166
To (llth
Tokivvazu
Toyama
....
string)
22, 27,
136
68
28
w
Tomimoto-bushi 22,28 Wa-gon, the . 111
Toiioi-uta

Transposition
Tsuri-bushi
..... 70,
29
78
29
Waniguchi, the
Warizume
"Wind-bell," the.
.
.
176

178
Tsukushi-gaku
Tsuma-koto, the
Tsume, description of
..... . . . .
35, 45
120
110
Km .115
Tsuri-daiko, the .....
of one-stringed

.169
. .

159 Ya otome mai

.... 12
Tsuzumi, the . . .

of China, modified by Prince

Urn ay ado ....
. Yagoto, the
Ya hyoshi
Yakuma-koto,
.... the.
.

.
120'
166
116
Tunings, analysis of
table of, for
....
Bugaku Biwa
9
65
68
Yamadn Ryu
Yam ada- Koto
.

.
34, 36
36,37
... . .

for Koto 67 description of .

110, 211
for Kokyu . . . 146 Yamaha shi . 39
for Samisen . . 143 Yamato-damashi .
7,9,10
for So-no-koto . . 68 Yaniato-Fu)e, the. .
7, 149
"
Two-stringed Kin," the . .116 Yamato-koto, the . .
Ill, 121
used by Empress Jingo

Yanafiawa .... Kogo . . :

.

m
9
39

u
Yan-kin, the.
Yasumura .... .

36

Uchi .... 131

Yatsuhashi, his use and work

"
his pupils
"
.
35
36
Umayado, Crown Prince
'

Umegae
"
.
46,96
9 Yatsuyo-jishi
Yo-byiishi ....
....
. .

.
101
166

Umi
analysed
in staff notation
89
90
Yo-kin, the
Yo-kin, the
Yoko-fuye, the
.... .
121
117
158
Uragoe ....
.
36
41 Yotsudake, the
Yotsudake-uta
.

. 177
29
Uraren
"
....
Ura-no-yurushi

Usugoromo
''
46
128
96
Yu
"
Yuki-no-asa
"
,
124
9H
Usu-hiki uta
16,29
" "
Usuyuki 96
Uta-daiko, the 168
Utai, the 18 Zashiki-sadame 41
 PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

ML Piggott, (Sir) Francis Taylor

31*0 The music and musical
P63 instruments of Japan
1909

Music