''Horagai'' () (or ''jinkai'' ) are large

conch shell Conch ( , , ) is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point on both ends). Conchs ...

s, usually from ''

Charonia tritonis ''Charonia tritonis'', common name the Triton's trumpet, the giant triton or is a species of very large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Charoniidae, the tritons. Reaching up to two feet (or 60 cm) in shell length th ...

'', that have been used as

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

s in Japan for many centuries. The instrument, which has served a number of purposes throughout

Japanese history The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when ...

, has been given a number of Japanese names depending on its function. Special schools still teach students to play the traditional music associated with the conch.

Instrument

Unlike most shell trumpets from other parts of the world which produce only one pitch, the Japanese ''hora'' or ''horagai'' can produce three or five different notes. The different pitches are achieved using a bronze or wooden mouthpiece attached to the apex of the shell's spire. At freezing temperatures (often encountered in the mountainous regions of Japan) the lips may freeze to the metal surface, so wooden or bamboo mouthpieces are used.

Historical usage

Religion

The conch is used by

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monks for religious purposes. Its use goes back at least 1,000 years, and it is still used today for some rituals, such as the '' omizutori'' (water drawing) portion of the

Shuni-e The is a ceremony held each year at certain Buddhist temples in Japan. The name comes from its observance in the second month of the lunisolar calendar. Today, the service is usually held in either February or March, depending on temples. One of ...

rites at the

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Nara, Nara, Japan. The construction of the temple was an attempt to imitate Chinese temples from the much-admir ...

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

. Each Shugendō school has his own conch shell melodies. The ''hora'' is especially associated with the ''

Yamabushi are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhism and Shinto. Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or holy persons) of the eighth ...

'',

ascetic Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their pra ...

monks of the

Shugendō is a syncretic Esoteric Buddhist religion, a body of ascetic practices that originated in the Nara Period of Japan having evolved during the 7th century from an amalgamation of beliefs, philosophies, doctrines and ritual systems drawn prim ...

tradition. The ''

yamabushi are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhism and Shinto. Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or holy persons) of the eighth ...

'' used the trumpet to signal their presence (or movements) to one another across mountains and to accompany the chanting of

sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...

Military

In war, the shell, called ''jinkai'', or "war shell", was one of several signal devices used by Japanese feudal warriors known as

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

.''Warriors of Medieval Japan'', Stephen Turnbull, Osprey Publishing, 2007 P.106
/ref> A large conch would be used and fitted with a bronze (or wooden) mouthpiece. It would be held in an

openwork In art history, architecture, and related fields, openwork or open-work is any decorative technique that creates holes, piercings, or gaps through a solid material such as metal, wood, stone, pottery, cloth, leather, or ivory. Such techniques ha ...

basket and blown with a different combination of "notes" to signal troops to attack, withdraw, or change strategies, in the same way a

bugle The bugle is a simple signaling brass instrument with a wide conical bore. It normally has no valves or other pitch-altering devices, and is thus limited to its natural harmonic notes, and pitch is controlled entirely by varying the air a ...

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

was used in the west. The trumpeter was called a ''kai yaku'' ( 貝役). The ''jinkai'' served a similar function to

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and bells in signaling troop formations, setting a rhythm for marching, providing something of a heroic accompaniment to encourage the troops and confusing the enemy by inferring that the troop numbers were large enough to require such trumpeters. Many ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

s'' (feudal lords) enlisted ''yamabushi'' to serve as ''kai yaku'', due to their experience with the instrument. The sound of ''jinkai'' is often used in motion pictures and television dramas as a symbolic sound effect indicating an impending battle, e.g., ''

The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 American epic period action drama film directed and produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Tom Cruise, ...

'' or the 2007

Taiga drama is the name NHK gives to the annual year-long historical drama television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white ''Hana no Shōgai'', starring kabuki actor Onoe Shoroku II and Awashima Chikage, the network regul ...

Fūrinkazan is a popularized version of the battle standard used by the Sengoku period ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen. The banner quoted four phrases from Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'': "as swift as wind, as gentle as forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable ...

'', but both of these screen renditions use deep, resonating monotones, not the melodic tones that ''yamabushi'' used for relaying messages.

References

*Clark, Mitchell (2005). ''Sounds of the Silk Road: Musical Instruments of Asia''. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts Publications. *Turnbull, Stephen (2002). ''War in Japan: 1467–1615''. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.

External links