M116: World Music Name____Nicholas Kachi_______

Study Guide: Japan

1. ____Hogaku______ is the general name for traditional music in Japan.

2. The voice, the ____Kotos_______, and the ___Shamisens________ seemed to share basic melody, but
each performed the melody in a somewhat different fashion, rhythmically as well as melodically resulting
in a texture that may be described as ___heterophobic_____.

3. Classify and describe the following primary Japanese instruments:

Koto- The Koto is a long, thirteen-stringed, plucked zither and is classified as a chordophone

Shamisen - The Shamisen is a three-stringed, long-necked, fretless lute that is plucked with a plectrum. Its
sound box is covered with dog or cat skin and is also classified as a chordophone.

Shakuhatchi - The Shakuhatchi is an end-blown, notched bamboo flute and is classified as an aerophone.

4. Since 1652, __Kabuki theater_____ has been performed by adult males, as it still is today, and female
roles are impersonated by male actors.

5. Kabuki has borrowed a lot from other types of theater, such as the classical _Noh___ theater and the
puppet theater ____bunraku____.

6. Describe some of the interesting features of a kabuki stage. How are these features utilized during a
performance?

Some interesting features of a kabuki stage are that women do not perform on the Kabuki stage, all
female parts are played by men. It also utilizes creative uses of the stage and costumes include revolving
stages, trap doors, mechanical lifts and split-second costume changes which give the spectacle multiple
dimensions

7. On-stage musicians in kabuki theater are called degatari. This group is divided functionally into two
separate ensembles, called ____Chobo________ (storytellers) and ____Debayashi_____ (ensemble
specializing in performing long songs).

8. The bunraku puppet, made of wood, is moved by ___three___ puppeteers who manipulate its arms,
fingers, legs, body, head, eyes, mouth, and even eyebrows with extreme realism.
9. Exclusively an art of the ruling samurai class from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries,
__Noh____, is a performance style of elegant simplicity and restraint with major themes of redemption of
human suffering through the love of _Buddah______.

10. _____Hayashi_________ is the generic name for Japanese ensembles of flutes and drums.

11. List and describe the instruments used in noh theater:

The different types of instruments used in Noh theater include a number commonly associated with solo
or narrative genres, such as the koto and shamisen, various types of fue (horizontal flute), the shakuhachi
(end-blown, notched flute) of the Noh theater. Among the other instruments used, some were borrowed
from the gagaku court music ensemble, such as the ryuteki (a horizontal flute), the hichiriki (a horizontal
flute), the hichiriki, a double-reed oboe, which has a distinct and penetrating sound, and the sho, a mouth
organ like a harmonica. Theres also a small percussion ensemble, comprising a small pair of cymbals, a
small drum, a wooden clapper, and a small gong.

12. Buddhism came to Japan in the ___5th ____ century from _______China_________. By this time it
was already a thousand years old and a highly developed religion.

13. Popular koto-and-vocal music of the Edo Period is known under the generic name of __sokyoku___.

14. The common instrumental koto ensemble today is called sankyoku, meaning trio, and consists of what
three instruments?

The koto, shamisen and shakuhachi.

15. Listen to the sokyoku audio track and describe how the musicians are creating a heterophonic texture?

In the sokyoku audio track the musicians create a heterophonic texture by the simultaneous variation of a
single melodic line. The koto plays the main melody, while the shamisen and shakuhachi play an
elaboration of the main melody, thereby producing a heterophonic texture.

16. ___Gagaku_____, meaning elegant or refined music, is the instrumental and choral music and dance
that has been under the continual patronage of the imperial court for more than a thousand years.
Influenced by the ancient music of _____ China, Korea, and Sinicized Indian music _, it has been
carefully transmitted by generations of court musicians to the present day and is perhaps the
____oldest_____ ensemble music in the world.
17. Gagaku music, like most Japanese music that came after it, was conceived in an aesthetic scheme of
introduction-exposition-denouement known as _____jo-ha-kyu________.