The Shamisen

The Shamisen PDF Author: Henry Mabley Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
The shamisen is a traditional Japanese musical instrument. It was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century via China and the Ryûkyû Islands, and was quickly established as a culturally significant musical instrument in its new context. The instrument - a three-string lute - developed numerous styles of performance and is found as a solo and ensemble instrument in diverse social and cultural contexts. The shamisen is known as an instrument of geisha in the entertainment districts; it is used in kabuki and bunraku theatre; and also has an established place within a wide-range of performance traditions, many of which are depicted in woodblock prints and other art depicting everyday life of the Edo period. This book, which is based on the author's field research in Japan, is a history of the shamisen. It locates the instrument within its various social and cultural contexts, and includes accompanying illustrations (e.g., woodblock prints, photographs and illustrations) to help show visually the place of the instrument in traditional and modern Japan.

The Shamisen

The Shamisen PDF Author: Henry Mabley Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Get Book Here

Book Description
The shamisen is a traditional Japanese musical instrument. It was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century via China and the Ryûkyû Islands, and was quickly established as a culturally significant musical instrument in its new context. The instrument - a three-string lute - developed numerous styles of performance and is found as a solo and ensemble instrument in diverse social and cultural contexts. The shamisen is known as an instrument of geisha in the entertainment districts; it is used in kabuki and bunraku theatre; and also has an established place within a wide-range of performance traditions, many of which are depicted in woodblock prints and other art depicting everyday life of the Edo period. This book, which is based on the author's field research in Japan, is a history of the shamisen. It locates the instrument within its various social and cultural contexts, and includes accompanying illustrations (e.g., woodblock prints, photographs and illustrations) to help show visually the place of the instrument in traditional and modern Japan.

Snakeskin Shamisen

Snakeskin Shamisen PDF Author: Naomi Hirahara
Publisher: Delta
ISBN: 0440335892
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
From Summer of the Big Bachi to Gasa-Gasa Girl, Naomi Hirahara’s acclaimed novels have featured one of mystery fiction’s most unique heroes: Mas Arai, a curmudgeonly L.A. gardener, Hiroshima survivor, and inveterate gambler. Few things get Mas more excited than gambling, so when he hears about a $500,000 win–from a novelty slot machine!–he’s torn between admiration and derision. But the stakes are quickly raised when the winner, a friend of Mas’s pal G. I. Hasuike, is found stabbed to death just days later. The last thing Mas wants to do is stick his nose in someone else’s business, but at G.I.’s prodding he reluctantly agrees to follow the trail of a battered snakeskin shamisen (a traditional Okinawan musical instrument) left at the scene of the crime…and suddenly finds himself caught up in a dark mystery that reaches from the islands of Okinawa to the streets of L.A.–a world of heartbreaking memories, deception, and murder.

Japanese Music & Musical Instruments

Japanese Music & Musical Instruments PDF Author: William P. Malm
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462912354
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
This interesting and authoritative book includes essential facts about the various forms of Japanese music and musical instruments and their place in the overall history of Japan. Japanese Music and Musical Instruments has three main orientations: The history of Japanese music Construction of the instruments Analysis of the music itself. The book covers in a lucidly written text and a wealth of fascinating photographs and drawings the main forms of musical expression. Many readers will find the useful hints on purchasing instruments, records, and books especially valuable, and for those who wish to pursue the matter further there is a selected bibliography and a guide to Tokyo's somewhat hidden world of Japanese music. It will be found an invaluable aid to the understanding and appreciation of an important, but little-known, and fascinating aspect of Japanese culture.

Composing for Japanese Instruments

Composing for Japanese Instruments PDF Author: Minoru Miki
Publisher: University Rochester Press
ISBN: 9781580462730
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
The unique sounds of the biwa, shamisen, and other traditional instruments from Japan are heard more and more often in works for the concert hall and opera house. Composing for Japanese Instruments is a practical orchestration/instrumentation manual with contextual and relevant historical information for composers who wish to learn how to compose for traditional Japanese instruments. Widely regarded as the authoritative text on the subject in Japan and China, it contains hundreds of musical examples, diagrams, photographs, and fingering charts, and comes complete with two accompanying compact discs of musical examples. Its author, Minoru Miki, is a composer of international renown and is recognized in Japan as a pioneer in writing for Japanese traditional instruments. The book contains valuable appendices, one of works Miki himself has composed using Japanese traditional instruments, and one of works by other composers -- including Toru Takemitsu and Henry Cowell -- using Japanese traditional instruments. Marty Regan is Assistant Professor of Music at Texas A&M University; Philip Flavin is a Research Fellow in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University, Australia.

Japanese Tattoos

Japanese Tattoos PDF Author: Brian Ashcraft
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 146291859X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Book Description
Thinking of getting a Japanese-style tattoo? Want to avoid a permanent mistake? Japanese Tattoos is an insider's look at the world of Japanese irezumi (tattoos). Japanese Tattoos explains the imagery featured in Japanese tattoos so that readers can avoid getting ink they don't understand or, worse, that they'll regret. This photo-heavy book will also trace the history of Japanese tattooing, putting the iconography and kanji symbols in their proper context so readers will be better informed as to what they mean and have a deeper understanding of irezumi. Tattoos featured will range from traditional tebori (hand-poked) and kanji tattoos to anime-inspired and modern works--as well as everything in between. For the first time, Japanese tattooing will be put together in a visually attractive, informative, and authoritative way. Along with the 350+ photos of tattoos, Japanese Tattoos will also feature interviews with Japanese tattoo artists on a variety of topics. What's more, there will be interviews with clients, who are typically overlooked in similar books, allowing them to discuss what their Japanese tattoos mean to them. Those who read this informative tattoo guide will be more knowledgeable about Japanese tattoos should they want to get inked or if they are simply interested in Japanese art and culture.

The Fourth String

The Fourth String PDF Author: Janet Pocorobba
Publisher: Stone Bridge Press, Inc.
ISBN: 1611729343
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Two women. Two cultures. One music. The word sensei in Japanese literally means “one who came before,” but that’s not what Janet Pocorobba’s teacher wanted to be called. She used her first name, Western-style. She wore a velour Beatles cap and leather jacket, and she taught foreigners, in English, the three-stringed shamisen, an instrument that fell out of tune as soon as you started to play it. Vexed by the music and Sensei’s mission to upend an elite musical system, Pocorobba, on the cusp of thirty, gives up her return ticket home to become a lifelong student of her teacher. She is eventually featured in Japan Cosmo as one of the most accomplished gaijin, “outside people,” to play the instrument. Part memoir, part biography of her Sensei, The Fourth String looks back on the initial few years of that apprenticeship, one that Janet’s own female English students advised her was “wife training,” steeped in obedience, loyalty, and duty. Even with her maverick teacher, Janet is challenged by group hierarchies, obscure traditions, and the tricky spaces of silence in Japanese life.

Nagauta

Nagauta PDF Author: William P. Malm
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462913059
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
This study of Japanese music explore Nagauta or literally "long song"--the delicate and complex music that accompanies kabuki theater--in great detail. The Kabuki theater of Japan has achieved a growing reputation as one of the world's most brilliant achievements in the field of theater. And the number of studies made on the subject in the West has been considerable. Yet, in spite of the fact that so much of the unique brilliance of the kabuki stage depends on the character of its music, the manner in which it is used, and its integral connection with the development of the dramatic impact of the plays, very little has been written on this phase of the genre. Of particular interest are the attempts to explore the various approaches to form music in the vast repertoire of this living art music. The playing techniques of the instruments are explained, and the relations of each instrument's music to the vocal line and to the overall design is shown. The analysis is accompanied by two compete transcription of nagauta in Western notation. These transcriptions are the first complete scores of nagauta ever printed. Additional musical examples, bibliography, discography, and glossary-index add value to the text.

Traditional Japanese Music and Musical Instruments

Traditional Japanese Music and Musical Instruments PDF Author: William P. Malm
Publisher: Kodansha International
ISBN: 9784770023957
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
"Malm's scholarship is impeccable... Of equal importance is the fact that he is an excellent performing musician who has studied extensively in Japan." -Choice

Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations

Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations PDF Author: Christopher Yohmei Blasdel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040023061
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 411

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Book Description
Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations is a compendium of seventy-three representative songs from the well-known genre of traditional Japanese Edo-period sankyoku ensemble music. Including extensive annotations along with commentaries and notes on their musical and performative aspects, the collection begins with an overview which traces the history of the jiuta sōkyoku genre and the various socio-political influences at work in its formation. The translations and analyses are followed by a substantive glossary and bibliography, allowing for a deeper understanding of both the literary and musical aspects of jiuta sōkyoku compositions. Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations is a comprehensive anthology that will be of great interest to researchers, including ethnomusicologists, Japanese studies scholars and poetry lovers who are fascinated with the literary and musical impact of the Edo period.

"The Gei of Geisha: Music, Identity and Meaning "

Author: KellyM. Foreman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135154408X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
The Japanese geisha is an international icon, known almost universally as a symbol of traditional Japan. Numerous books exist on the topic, yet this is the first to focus on the 'gei' of geisha - the art that constitutes their title (gei translates as fine art, sha refers to person). Kelly M. Foreman brings together ethnomusicological field research, including studying and performing the shamisen among geisha in Tokyo, with historical research. The book elaborates how musical art is an essential part of the identity of the Japanese geisha rather than a secondary feature, and locates current practice within a tradition of two and half centuries. The book opens by deconstructing the idea of 'geisha' as it functions in Western societies in order to understand why gei has been, and continues to be, neglected in geisha studies. Subsequent chapters detail the myriad musical genres and traditions with which geisha have been involved during their artistic history, as well as their position within the traditional arts society. Considering the current situation more closely, the final chapters explore actual dedication to art today by geisha, and analyse how they create impromptu performances at evening banquets. An important issue here is geisha-patron artistic collaboration, which leads to consideration of what Foreman argues to be the unique and essential nexus of identity, eroticism and aesthetics within the geisha world.