VLVL2 (9): Koto and samisen music

[Tim Strzechowski]

135.35   "The room seethed with odors of drinking, smoke, cologne.  Koto and samisen music came from hidden speakers."

"The history of traditional music in Japan is rich and varied. Many musical forms were imported from China more than a thousand years ago, but over the years, they were reshaped into distinctively Japanese styles of expression. Instruments were adapted and newly created to meet local needs, and the most important of these were the shamisen, shakuhachi, and koto [...]  
"The koto, meanwhile, is a large, wooden instrument with 13 strings. It's around 160 centimeters (63 inches) to 200 centimeters (79 inches) long and about 20 centimeters (12 inches) across. It has a curved face, and the pitch is adjusted with movable bridges placed under each string. It's played with picks worn on the fingers, similar to those used in playing the guitar. The left hand presses down on the strings to bend notes and create other effects. 

"Historians think the koto was born around the fifth to third century B.C. in China. Originally it had only 5 strings but increased to 12 strings and then to 13. It was the 13-string koto that was carried to Japan during the Nara period (710-794)." [...]

http://www.jinjapan.org/kidsweb/virtual/koto/koto.html

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~NP5Y-HRUC/kt-koto.html


[...] "The samisen is a Japanese flat-backed, long-necked lute. It is a descendant of the Chinese sanxian, which existed as early as the 13th century. The samisen has a catskin belly and back and three strings that are struck with a bachi (a bone plectrum). The samisen is a traditional instrument in Kabuki theatre. 
"After 1500 music for the solo instruments, the samisen and the koto, became popular. Originally the music for both instruments consisted of suites of short, unrelated songs (kumiuta). Koto music, however, developed some forms that are wholly instrumental and others that were partly instrumental and partly vocal. An example of the wholly instrumental form is danmono, which consists of a theme and variations. An example of the combined instrumental and vocal form is the jiuta, in which vocal and instrumental interludes appear alternately. One to three kotos are used in the instrumental interludes, often supplemented by a samisen and a shakuhachi, an end-blown flute. Samisen music is of two types: utaimono, lyric pieces for home entertainment; and theatrical music for kabuki drama and puppet plays. The koto is usually tuned in one of two pentatonic scales of indigenous origin: the in, D E-flat G A B-flat (D), auxiliary notes, F and C; and the yo, D F G A C (D), auxiliary E and B-flat."

http://thaistudies.rsu.ac.th/hum112/Japan.html

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