The is a high pitched, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 transverse flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 or . It is commonly used in traditional Imperial Noh

Noh

, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...

 and Kabuki

Kabuki

is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...

 theatre. The nohkan flute was created by Kan'ami and his son Zeami in the 15th century, during the time when the two were transforming the Noh theatre forms Dengaku

Dengaku

Dengaku Dengaku Dengaku (田楽）were rustic Japanese celebrations that can be classified into two types: dengaku that developed as a musical accompaniment to rice planting observances and the dengaku dances that developed in conjunction with sangaku. The dengaku celebrated for rice planting was...

 and Sarugaku

Sarugaku

Sarugaku, literally "monkey music," was a form of theatre popular in Japan during the 11th to 14th centuries. It originated from "sangaku," a form of entertainment reminiscent of the modern-day circus, consisting mostly of acrobatics, juggling, and pantomime, sometimes combined with drum dancing...

.

Construction

The nohkan or fue' ("flute") is made of split and tapered strips of smoked bamboo (susudake) or burned bamboo (yakidake), glued together to form a tapering conical bore. The smoking carbonizes the bamboo and preserves it. The split strips of bamboo are reversed to place the hard bamboo surface on the inside for improved acoustics. Some modern versions of nohkan use an interior coating of tempera paint for this. The strips are then glued together, bound with thin strips of twisted cherry bark (kabamaki) and lacquered to make the conical tube. The result is a keyless tube of 39.1 cm with an average bore width of 1.7 cm and there are 7 finger holes.

The nohkan has an unusual internal bore restriction of about 2–3 mm called a nodo ("throat"). This throat, combined with the conical bore, gives the nohkan its unique high pitched sound by shifting the overblown register notes via a venturi effect

Venturi effect

The Venturi effect is the reduction in fluid pressure that results when a fluid flows through a constricted section of pipe. The Venturi effect is named after Giovanni Battista Venturi , an Italian physicist.-Background:...

. It also has an oval embouchure

Embouchure

The embouchure is the use of facial muscles and the shaping of the lips to the mouthpiece of woodwind instruments or the mouthpiece of the brass instruments.The word is of French origin and is related to the root bouche , 'mouth'....

 hole across which the player blows, and a head joint plug consisting of a lead cylinder wrapped in paper and wax and placed inside the tube just above the embouchure hole. The nohkan plays a strong high pitch (hishigi) that is rich with high frequency harmonics.

Key and range

The range of the flute is over two octaves. Each flute is traditionally an individual and made a bit differently each time by the maker-player, the keynote frequency varies from flute to flute.

See also

• Ryuteki
  Ryuteki
  The is a Japanese transverse fue made of bamboo. It is used in gagaku, the Shinto classical music associated with Japan's imperial court. The sound of the ryūteki is said to represent the dragons which ascend the skies between the heavenly lights and the people of the earth...
  
  
• Shinobue
  Shinobue
  The shinobue is a Japanese transverse flute or fue that has a high-pitched sound. It is found in hayashi and nagauta ensembles, and plays important roles in noh and kabuki theatre music. It is heard in Shinto music such as kagura-den and in traditional Japanese folk songs...
  
  , another Japanese transverse bamboo flute
• Shakuhachi
  Shakuhachi
  The is a Japanese end-blown flute. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but versions now exist in ABS and hardwoods. It was used by the monks of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism in the practice of...
  
  , a Japanese end-blown bamboo flute

External links

• Nohkan information
• Ron Korb's Asian Flute Gallery (features description and drawing of the Shinobue and other Japanese flutes)
• Syoji Yamaguchi's web site on Japanese transverse flutes (features articles on making and playing of the Shinobue and other Japanese transverse flutes: yokobue or fue)
• Japanese Traditional Music
• The Nohkan: Its Construction and Music