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Shamisen Description
The jamisen is the Chinese instrument
equivalent to the samisen. Front and back
covered in snake-skin, with oval block of
hard wood body, measuring 6 inches in length
5 in breadth, and 3 ｾ in thickness, 2 inch
holes in diameter are cut. 3 strings pass
from the tuning pegs though a small ivory
notch on the neck, and over a small ivory
bridge on the face, fastened to an ivory knob
at the base of belly; jamisen played with
small tortoise-shell plectrum, long silk cord
and tassel attached. Neck is 2 inches shorter
than samisen, pegs are larger. Strings tuned
to Honchoshi.
The shamisen is one of Japan's most popular
classical musical instruments. Another
Chinese import, it came to Japan by way of
Okinawa in the middle of the
sixteenth-century. The shamisen arrived to
Japan through Liu Chiu in 1560. There are
three tunings, adopted to Hirajoshi;
Honchoshi, Ni-agari, San-sagari The word
'agari' means raising, 'sagari' is lowering,
'choshi' is normal, 'joshi' is tuning,
ni-agari is second string raised, san-sagari
is third string lowered. The shamisen
resembles the banjo, it has a long, thick
neck and a small, rectangular body covered
with skin. The instrument is made of four
boards of Chinese quinced or oak, through
which a stick made of red sandalwood or
Indian redwood is inserted. The skin covering
both sides of the body is usually cat skin,
but dog skin is used as well. Three strings
of different thicknesses are plucked and the
pitch is adjusted using the tuning pegs on
the head, just like a guitar or violin. The
strings are not plucked with the fingers, a
large triangular plectrum is used to strike
the strings. Generally the plectrum is made
of ivory or tortoise shell, and in the shape
of a Ginko tree leaf. The shamisen is
frequently used as an accompaniment to songs
of various types.
Kabuki theater is a musical theater; it is
filled with dance, instrumental music and
percussion. There are two instrumental
performance groups on the kabuki stage. To
the left of the stage is a small room with a
narrow window (kuromisu); inside this room
sit the geza, or "background music" players.
But on the right side of the stage is a
raised platform, the choba yuka on which the
narrator (tayu) and the onstage music
ensemble (debayashi). This ensemble consisted
of singers, hand drums (ko tsuzumi and o
tsuzumi), a stick drum (taiko), a Noh flute
(nokan) or bamboo flute (takebue, and the
principle instrument, the shamisen. On-stage
shamisen music became a constant feature of
the kabuki stage from the middle of the
seventeenth century.
America's first performance was extremely
successful.
The performance is Hiromitsu Agatsuma
Tags : JapaneseGuiter Japanese Guiter |
