A cluster of bamboo pipes held upright. A small reed instrument with a surprisingly powerful voice. A long flute crossing the player’s face. These are some of the first sights that draw the eye at a gagaku performance. Elsewhere, drums and metallic percussion accompany kagura dance, while ancient instruments preserved in Japan’s Shōsōin collection point to a wider world of sound. This guide introduces their shapes, how they produce sound, and what to listen for. You can begin with a familiar instrument or explore the videos as you read.
Gagaku is the music and dance tradition associated with Japan’s imperial court. It includes instrumental music, dance accompanied by music, and vocal traditions. Kagura requires a little more explanation: court kagura, called mikagura, belongs to gagaku’s indigenous song-and-dance traditions, while the many regional kagura traditions have their own histories and ensembles. They should not all be treated as a single kind of court music.
Two useful terms are kangen, instrumental ensemble performance, and bugaku, dance with instrumental accompaniment. Within the repertoire, tōgaku and komagaku use different combinations of instruments. Knowing which kind of performance you are hearing helps explain why a familiar instrument may be absent.
| Performance context | Main instruments |
|---|---|
| Kangen | Shō, hichiriki and ryūteki; biwa and sō; kakko, taiko and shōko |
| Bugaku | Tōgaku typically uses shō, hichiriki and ryūteki with percussion. Komagaku uses hichiriki and komabue with san-no-tsuzumi, taiko and shōko. |
| Mikagura | Kagurabue, hichiriki and wagon, with shakubyōshi clappers used to lead the singing |
| Regional kagura | Flutes, drums and metallic percussion in combinations that vary by local tradition |
| Ancient and reconstructed instruments | Examples include the five-stringed biwa, genkan, kugo, haishō, hōkyō and ancient shakuhachi |
This is a starting point rather than a rule for every performance: special forms of bugaku can also include strings. The same instrument may serve different purposes in different settings. Ensemble guide (Japanese) · Imperial Household Agency introduction (English).
Japanese names are followed by short descriptions below. A macron, as in shō or ryūteki, marks a long vowel. You will also encounter spellings such as “sho” and “ryuteki” without these marks. Most linked demonstrations have Japanese commentary, but the playing itself remains useful even without understanding every word.
Seventeen bamboo pipes rise from the body of the shō. Fifteen are fitted with metal free reeds, and sound can be produced while both breathing out and breathing in. Several notes can therefore be sustained together in the characteristic chords known as aitake.
In tōgaku, listen for the sustained harmony surrounding the moving melodies of the other winds. The shō does not always play chords: single tones are used in vocal genres such as rōei. Players also warm the instrument to manage moisture, which explains the heaters you may notice beside them.
“Mouth organ” describes its mechanism; it does not mean that its role is identical to an organ in Western music. Try following the way its sound continues while another instrument’s phrase changes.
Watch the demonstration and read about the instrument — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (English text; video opens on the official page).
The hichiriki has a bamboo body only about 18 centimetres long, fitted with a reed made from cane. It is a double-reed instrument, not a flute: the reed vibrates to produce its strong, concentrated sound.
It carries a central melodic role in gagaku. A technique called enbai allows the pitch to move expressively rather than remaining fixed from note to note. Listen to the bends and transitions as part of the melody itself.
The hichiriki also appears in mikagura and other indigenous song-and-dance genres, where a gentler approach allows it to blend with voices and other instruments. Its identity stays the same, but its manner of speaking changes with the setting.
Watch the demonstration and read about the instrument — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (Japanese; video opens on the official page).
The ryūteki is a transverse flute used in tōgaku and other repertories. Together with the hichiriki it shapes the melodic texture, adding movement through ornamentation and changes of register.
Follow the flute and reed instrument separately for a moment. Their lines approach one another, diverge and meet again; they do not simply duplicate every note in exactly the same way. Hearing this relationship can make a dense ensemble sound much easier to follow.
Watch the demonstration and read about the instrument — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (English text; video opens on the official page).
The komabue is shorter and narrower than the ryūteki, with a higher, bright tone. It is used in komagaku and in the indigenous song-and-dance tradition azuma-asobi.
Compare a tōgaku ensemble, with its shō, to a komagaku ensemble featuring this flute. The change is in the whole texture, not just in the tune. The ryūteki, komabue and kagurabue look related, but are distinct instruments with different uses.
Read the instrument guide — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (English text).
The biwa used in gagaku has a large body and four strings. The player holds it across the front of the body and sweeps a plectrum across the strings. Its role differs from that of the biwa traditions associated with narrative singing.
In kangen, its strokes help articulate the position of beats as well as adding colour. Listen for where a plucked sound falls beneath a long wind phrase. Its placement can reveal the ensemble’s sense of time more clearly than trying to follow the melody alone.
Watch the demonstration and read about the instrument — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (Japanese; video opens on the official page).
The sō used in gagaku is a thirteen-stringed zither: its strings run over a long body, with movable bridges beneath them to set their pitches. It is played with bamboo finger picks. This instrument belongs to the koto family, but the gagaku playing style has its own character.
In kangen and saibara song, it helps support rhythm and musical progression alongside the biwa. Pay attention to the space after a plucked figure as well as to the notes themselves. It is a different instrument from the six-stringed wagon introduced below.
Watch the demonstration and read about the instrument — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (Japanese; video opens on the official page).
Used in tōgaku, the kakko rests on a stand and is struck on both heads with slender sticks, one in each hand. Its strokes and rolls help guide the flow of the ensemble.
The player also gives signals associated with the beginning and ending of a performance. Watch the movement of the sticks as well as listening to the attacks: visible gestures are part of how musicians coordinate the music.
Watch the demonstration and read about the instrument — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (English text; video opens on the official page).
In komagaku, the san-no-tsuzumi takes the leading percussion role. Its body narrows at the middle. Unlike the kakko, it is struck on one head with a single stick, producing short patterns of sharp attacks.
This difference is another way to distinguish the sound of a komagaku ensemble from tōgaku. The two drums are not interchangeable names for the same instrument.
Read the instrument guide — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (English text).
This drum hangs inside a circular frame and is used in kangen and smaller-scale bugaku performances. Gaku-daiko and tsuri-daiko are two names used for this form of drum.
Struck with two beaters, it marks significant points in the music. Rather than expecting a constant drumbeat, notice the duration before and after each stroke. A widely spaced sound can shape an entire phrase.
Watch the demonstration and read about the instrument — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (Japanese; video opens on the official page).
These large drums, set within elaborate flame-shaped frames, are placed as a pair for bugaku. They are played standing, whereas the smaller suspended drum is played seated.
They help define the visual space of the dance as well as its sound. The word “large drum” is descriptive, so it should not be taken to mean that a large drum in a regional kagura tradition is necessarily this same instrument.
Read the instrument guide — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (Japanese).
The shōko is a metal gong suspended in a frame and played with beaters. A larger form is used for bugaku.
Its metallic sound contrasts with the skin-headed drums. Try listening to how these different materials interact: the ensemble’s percussion has several distinct voices, even when the notes are widely spaced.
Watch the demonstration and read about the instrument — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (Japanese; video opens on the official page).
Mikagura is the kagura tradition of the imperial court, elements of which are also transmitted at shrines. It belongs to the kuniburi-no-utamai, the indigenous song-and-dance repertories within gagaku. Its kagurabue, hichiriki and wagon accompany the singing, while wooden clappers help lead the performance. This instrumentation should be distinguished from that of regional kagura.
Source: instrumental accompaniment and rhythm in indigenous song and dance (Japanese)
Longer than the ryūteki and komabue, the kagurabue accompanies kagura songs alongside the hichiriki and wagon. Its sound belongs to the intimate relationship between voice and accompaniment.
Here, “kagurabue” names a particular court instrument. It should not be used as a blanket label for every flute played in every regional kagura tradition.
Read the instrument guide — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (English text).
The wagon has six strings and accompanies indigenous song-and-dance repertories. It differs from the thirteen-stringed sō in its construction and playing technique; its distinctive bridges are made from forked branches.
In mikagura, listen to the exchange between the voice and the plucked strings. The space between them offers a different listening experience from the fuller texture of kangen.
Read the instrument guide — Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library (English text).
Two flat pieces of wood are struck together to make the shakubyōshi. Used in indigenous song-and-dance genres and in saibara, they are handled by the lead singer to guide the singing and accompaniment.
A modest-looking instrument can have a crucial coordinating role. Listen for when the clappers sound in relation to the vocal phrases, rather than judging their importance by volume alone.
Read about the accompaniment (Japanese) · Mikagura: explanation and dance footage (Japanese)
There is no single standard kagura ensemble used throughout Japan. The following two traditions show why it is helpful to identify the region and performance before naming or comparing its instruments.
Shimane Prefecture’s official tourism guide lists four instrument types for Iwami Kagura: flute, large drum, shime-daiko and tebyōshi. The flute’s melody, the different drums and the metallic percussion work together with the dance.
In this context, tebyōshi means a pair of metal instruments held in the hands, not simply handclapping. They are played differently from gagaku’s suspended shōko. Likewise, a drum’s name alone does not tell us that its technique or role matches a drum in court music.
Instrument photographs and introduction: Shimane’s official tourism website (Japanese) · Iwami Kagura repertoire guide (Japanese PDF)
For Hayachine Kagura in Iwate Prefecture, UNESCO describes accompaniment by drums, cymbals and flute. Masked dance and instrumental sound form a single performance tradition.
The official heritage page includes documentary footage. Watch the relationship between a dancer’s movement and the instrumental response, rather than treating the music as a soundtrack that can be fully understood in isolation.
Hayachine Kagura: UNESCO introduction and film (English)
Today’s gagaku ensembles do not contain every instrument once used in Japan’s ancient court music. Historical records and objects preserved in the Shōsōin treasure collection in Nara show a wider range. Researchers and makers have used surviving objects, images and written sources to reconstruct instruments that can be played.
A surviving historical object and a modern playable reconstruction are different things. A performance on a reconstructed instrument lets us hear the results of research and craftsmanship today; it does not prove that every detail of ancient technique or music has been recovered.
Source: reconstructing ancient instruments (Japanese)
The gogen-biwa has five strings and a straight neck. Its differences from the modern gagaku biwa extend beyond the extra string to the shape of the instrument. The Shōsōin preserves a celebrated example made of red sandalwood with mother-of-pearl decoration.
View the historical five-stringed biwa in the Shōsōin collection
The genkan has a circular body and a long neck. The mother-of-pearl-inlaid example preserved in the Shōsōin makes this shape especially clear. Comparing it with the biwa reveals something of the variety of plucked instruments in the ancient musical world.
View the historical genkan in the Shōsōin collection
Genkan demonstration on a reconstructed instrument — Yokohama Noh Theater. Spoken commentary is in Japanese.
The kugo is a harp-like string instrument and a prominent example of modern reconstruction work. Its resemblance to a harp is a useful visual introduction, but it should not be equated with a modern concert harp.
It also helps to distinguish three activities: reconstructing an instrument, reconstructing a historical piece of music, and composing a new work for the reconstructed instrument. They can meet in performance, but they are not the same undertaking.
Source: ancient instrument reconstruction (Japanese)
Kugo demonstration on a reconstructed instrument — Yokohama Noh Theater. Spoken commentary is in Japanese.
The haishō consists of bamboo pipes of different lengths arranged together. “Panpipes” offers a useful point of comparison. Although the name shō (簫) is also used for this instrument, it is different from the mouth organ shō (笙) introduced above: both its layout and sound-producing mechanism differ.
The Japan Arts Council’s reconstruction guide calls it haishō, while the Nihon Gagakukai guide uses shō. Keeping the Japanese characters alongside the names helps distinguish them.
Source: ancient instrument reconstruction (Japanese)
Sukeyasu Shiba demonstrates the haishō and discusses reconstructing ancient music — Yokohama Noh Theater. Spoken commentary is in Japanese.
The hōkyō produces sound by striking rectangular metal plates suspended in a frame. It is among the instruments introduced in accounts of ancient instrument reconstruction.
Compare its arrangement and sound with the single suspended gong of the shōko. “Metal percussion” encompasses very different possibilities.
Source: ancient instrument reconstruction (Japanese)
Hōkyō demonstration on a reconstructed instrument — Yokohama Noh Theater. Spoken commentary is in Japanese.
The shakuhachi transmitted as a gagaku instrument in the Nara period had six finger holes, unlike the five-hole shakuhachi most familiar today. The Shōsōin preserves examples made from materials including bamboo and stone.
The shared name should not obscure the differences in period, instrument design and musical tradition. A modern shakuhachi recording is therefore not automatically a demonstration of the ancient court instrument.
Shakuhachi history: Cultural Digital Library (Japanese) · Carved stone shakuhachi: Shōsōin collection
Nihon Gagakukai also introduces the hitsu (瑟), a multi-stringed zither; the u (竽), a mouth organ larger than the shō; the ōhichiriki (大篳篥), with a larger pipe and reed than the familiar hichiriki; and the ken (塤), a clay wind instrument.
Each reconstruction has its own evidence and making process. These instruments should not be assumed to survive in the Shōsōin in the same condition or in the same form. The video below compares the hichiriki, ōhichiriki and the instrument called the mey; it is not a demonstration of all four instruments listed in this section.
Nihon Gagakukai’s guide to reconstructed instruments (Japanese)
A comparison of hichiriki, ōhichiriki and mey — Yokohama Noh Theater. Spoken commentary is in Japanese.
Begin with one instrument, then find it in the ensemble. A short demonstration gives you a sound to recognise. Return to a complete performance and see whether you can follow it when several instruments play together.
Listen to the intervals between sounds. A plucked string or a drum stroke has a beginning, a decay and a space before the next event. Those spaces are part of how the performance unfolds.
Notice what the music accompanies. Is it supporting a song, marking a dancer’s movement, or sounding as an instrumental performance? The same instrument can feel very different in each setting.
The embedded videos and links offer starting points, rather than a recording for every instrument. Where a suitable official demonstration could not be confirmed, a source or collection link is provided instead. After exploring individual sounds, give yourself time to hear a longer performance without stopping: the relationships between instruments are as important as their separate voices.
For a wider listening journey, explore Traditional Japanese Music: 15 Styles to Listen to, with Videos. For the connection between these traditions and contemporary work, read Taro Ishida on composing with gagaku.
Sources are linked beside the relevant instruments. They include the Imperial Household Agency and Shōsōin collection, the Japan Arts Council’s Cultural Digital Library, Nihon Gagakukai, Shimane’s official tourism website and UNESCO. English-language sources are identified where available; many specialist resources and video commentaries are in Japanese.
The photographs of the shō, hichiriki and ryūteki are images already used on this website. Where a suitable photograph with confirmed reuse terms was not available, this guide links to the collection or institution’s own images rather than reproducing them.
The embedded reconstruction videos are published by Yokohama Noh Theater. Its original introduction (Japanese) provides their context. Other demonstrations open on the Cultural Digital Library’s official pages. Surviving treasures and modern reconstructions are identified separately throughout.
