Traditional Japanese musical instruments, known as in Japanese, are musical instruments used in the

traditional folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. They comprise a range of

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

, and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

instruments.

Percussion instruments

*; also spelled – clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord * – Hand cymbals * – wooden or bamboo clappers * – pellet drum, used as a children's toy * – small, ornately decorated hourglass-shaped drum * – hand-held bell tree with three tiers of pellet bells * – small drum used in * – small flat gong * – a pair of sticks which are beaten together slowly and rhythmically * (also called ) – clapper made from a pair of flat wooden sticks * – woodblock carved in the shape of a fish, struck with a wooden stick; often used in Buddhist chanting * – hand drum * or () – singing bowls used by Buddhist monks in religious practice or rituals * – hourglass-shaped double-headed drum; struck only on one side * – clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord * – a lithophone either bowed or struck * – small drum played with sticks * – small bronze

gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...

used in ; struck with two horn beaters * * – drum on a stand with ornately painted head, played with a padded stick * – small hand drum

String instruments

Plucked

Zithers

* – monochord * – the 17-string koto * – a long

zither Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

* – ancient long zither; also called

Harps

* – an angled

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

used in ancient times and recently revived * – a zither with metal strings and keys

Lutes

* – a pear-shaped lute

Other

* or * – an Okinawan precursor of the mainland Japanese (and Amami Islands) * – a banjo-like lute with three strings; brought to Japan from China in the 16th century. Popular in Edo's pleasure districts, the is often used in

kabuki is a classical form of Theatre of Japan, Japanese theatre, mixing dramatic performance with Japanese traditional dance, traditional dance. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily stylised performances, its glamorous, highly decorated costumes ...

theater. Made from red sandalwood and ranging from long, the has ivory pegs, strings made from twisted silk, and a belly covered in cat or dog skin or a synthetic skin. The strings, which are of different thickness, are plucked or struck with a tortoise shell, ivory or synthetic ivory pick. * () – a plucked instrument used by the

Ainu people The Ainu are an Indigenous peoples, indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, such as Sakhalin, the Ku ...

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

Bowed

* – a bowed lute with three (or, more rarely, four) strings and a skin-covered body

Wind instruments

Flutes

Japanese flutes are called . There are eight traditional flutes, as well as more modern creations. * – vertical bamboo flute * – transverse bamboo flute used for Noh theater * – transverse bamboo flute used for * – transverse bamboo flute used for , Shinto ritual music) * – transverse bamboo flute used for ; similar to the * – vertical bamboo flute used for Zen meditation * – transverse folk bamboo flute * – globular flute made from clay * – a flute developed by Ishida Nehito with bow hair on it to accompany the

Reed instruments

* – double-reeded flute used in different kinds of music

Free reed mouth organs

* – 17-pipe mouth organ used for

gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances. was developed as court music of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and its near-current form was established in the Heian period (794–1185) arou ...

* – large mouth organ

Horns

* – seashell horn; also called

Other instruments

* () –

jaw harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or Reed (mouthpiece), reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most like ...

used by the Ainu people * – general name for the

, also known as the in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

* . {{DEFAULTSORT:Traditional Japanese Musical Instruments * Japanese music-related lists Instruments Lists of musical instruments