Japan Flashcards
What is a Koto?
A plucked Japanese , 13-string chordophone. The national instrument of Japan. Similar to the Chinese Guzheng and the Korean Gayageum.
What is a Shamisen?
A picked Japanese, 3-string chordophone. Derived from the Chinese Sanxian in the 16th Century.
What is a Shakuhachi?
A Japanese aerophone. An end-blown, bamboo flute introduced to Japan by China in the 7th Century.
What is Gagaku?
A type of Japanese classical music that has been performed at the Imperial Court in Kyoto for several centuries.
What is Bugaku?
A Japanese traditional dance that has been performed to select elites mostly in the Japanese imperial court, for over twelve hundred years.
What is a Kakko?
A Japanese membranophone. A double-headed drum used in gagaku.
What is a Biwa?
A plucked Japanese, 4-string chordophone. A short neck fretted lute derived from the Chinese Pipa in the 7th Century.
What is a Hichiriki?
A double reed Japanese aerophone. A flute used as one of two main melodic instruments in gagaku.
What is a Sho?
A free reed Japanese aerophone. An instrument consisting of 17 vertical, slender bamboo pipes, each fitted with its own free reed. Two pipes are silent, but are kept for aesthetic purposes.
What is Jo-ha-kyu?
A concept of modulation and movement applied in a wide variety of traditional Japanese arts. Roughly translated to “beginning, break, rapid”, it essentially means that all actions or efforts should begin slowly, speed up, and then end swiftly.
What is Noh?
A major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Derived from the word meaning”Talent” or “Skill”. It is the oldest theater art, still preformed today.
What is Bunraku?
A form of traditional Japanese puppet theater, founded in Osaka in the beginning of 17th century. consisting of a vocalist narrator, a stringed instrumentalist, and a group of people operating a single puppet to tell a story.
What is Kabuki?
A classical Japanese dance-drama. It is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.
What is Degatari?
The onstage appearance of the joruri musicians, and chanters, in kabuki.
What is Geza?
Offstage Japanese theater music.
