The shakuhachi is a vertical, 5 holed, notched, end-blown bamboo flute which was brought from China to Japan in the late 7th century AD by scholars, intellectuals and priests, together with a number of other cultural resources including Buddhism, the Chinese written script and a range of other musical instruments. The name refers to the standard length of the instrument in traditional measuring units, 1 shaku, 8 (hachi) sun which is 1.8 Japanese feet or 54.5 centimeters (D) although flutes of various lengths are played, most commonly 1.6, 1.8, 2.0, 2.4, 3.0, and 3.4.

The shakuhachi is made from thick-walled madake bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides) and has 4 holes on the front and one at the back making a pentatonic scale but through the meri-kari system of partial hole closing, up and down head movements and subtle changes in embouchure, a 12-tone chromatic scale up to 3 octaves can be produced. Most contemporary shakuhachi have a paste or laquer applied to the inside wall of the instrument (ji-ari) although there is a renewed interest in flutes which have natural linings (ji-nashi) and which produce a different, ‘more natural’ timbre.

Originally, a 6-holed shakuhachi was used in Japanese court music (gagaku) in the 9th century but it eventually developed into a 5-holed version and became the instrument of choice of the Komuso, ‘priests of nothingness’ of the Fuke sect of Zen Buddhism, in the 17th century who ostensibly played it as an aid to meditation but due to their falsification of historical documents and the inclusion of apparently large numbers of dispossessed samurai (ronin) into their sect, its primary use for some as a spiritual discipline is at least open to question. However, a retired samurai and teacher at the sect, Kurosawa Kinko (1710-1771), established a style of shakuhachi music by composing new pieces based on the repertoire of the Fuke shakuhachi which form the basis of much solo shakuhachi music (honkyoku) which is still played today. Of the various ‘schools’ or styles that have developed, the Myoan, Kinko and Tozan are the best known.   

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the shakuhachi began to be played as an accompaniment to koto and shamisen music (jiuta) in the sankyoku style (music of the three instruments) and after the Meiji reforms in the 1860’s-70’s it developed further as a secular instrument and is now widely used in a wide variety of contemporary music either as a solo instrument or with a range of Japanese and Western instruments. The shakuhachi is also played as an accompaniment to secular folk songs (min’yo).

Information to be added soon.

The koto is a 13-stringed zither plucked with plectra on the right thumb, index and middle finger, the shape of which differ according to the school or style. The body is made of two 186cm long and 48cm wide pieces of paulownia wood, one of which is hollowed out to make the sound box often with grooves cut underneath to enhance the tone, the other a flat board underneath with two sound holes. Each string which was originally silk but now made of nylon is tuned by a movable bridge.

The koto which originated in China came to Japan in the 8th century and became part of the gagaku (imperial court music) ensemble. After a considerable period of obscurity, the koto began to flourish in the 17th century through a series of instrumental solo pieces written by Yatsuhashi Kengyo (1614-85) for the koto (sokyoku). Soon after, Ikuta Kengyo (1656-1715) extended the repertoire in the Kyoto-Osaka region by combining the shamisen with the koto (jiuta) in pieces which comprised of shorter vocal parts (mae-uta, ato-uta) and longer instrumental parts (tegoto). The kokyu or the shakuhachi were then added to the ensemble to create sankyoku music (music of the 3 instruments). Yamada Kengyo (1757-1817) then developed a new style of koto music in Edo (Tokyo) based on narrative forms of shamisen which emphasized the vocal part more than the instrumental.

In the 20th century, the koto has been the most prominent of all 'traditional' Japanese instruments (hogaku) to incorporate ideas and techniques from western music, particularly since the compositions of the blind koto player, Miyagi Michio, who introduced the diatonic scale and triple rhythms into a new style of music which many consider to still be intrinsically Japanese. In the late 20th century, a number of innovative koto players, such as Sawai Tadao (1938-97), composed a wide variety of pieces which have extended koto music still further into the avant garde.

The shamisen is a 3-stringed plucked lute. The body is made of 4 pieces of Chinese quince, mulberry or red sandalwood normally covered in catskin, with a long, fret-less neck, the thickness of which depends on the type of music played. The strings are now made of nylon and are attached to a rope tailpiece at the body end and to 3 large ivory or wooden pegs at the top and are struck with a sharp, heavy plectrum in the shape of a leaf from a Ginko tree held in the right hand and stopped with the 3 longest fingers of the left hand. The weight, shape and size of the plectrum also differ according to the genre of the music. There are 3 basic tunings and the notation indicates intervals rather than specific pitches.

The shamisen developed from an instrument brought to Japan from China via the Ryukyu Islands in the mid-16th century and has become Japan's most versatile instrument used in a variety of narrative forms (kumiuta, joruri, nagauta, hauta, min'yo, jiuta sokyoku, shigin etc) in puppet plays, kabuki, folk songs and in ensemble music with koto and shakuhachi. It is primarily used as an accompaniment to singing and generally follows the same melodic contour as the song but the plectrum accentuates the rhythm, with the singing often coming about half a beat ahead of the beat, thus making the song clearer.