Nōkan.

Transverse bamboo flute, with seven fingerholes, of the Japanese nō theatre. It is also used in dance music (nagauta), off-stage music of the kabuki theatre (geza) and some folk musics. The nōkan resembles the ryūteki in many ways (the internal metal weight, the bark wrapping, the lacquered bore etc.), and it is assumed that it developed from the ryūteki, although this development cannot be charted historically. But the nōkan is of a much more complex construction. It is about 40 cm long and is fashioned not from a single tube of bamboo but from three to six short lengths joined together. In addition, some older flutes were made from lengths of bamboo which had been split lengthwise into several segments and then reassembled – possibly to adjust the bore, but the reason is not known for certain. The type of bamboo used is medake (Nipponocalamus simonii). The nōkan’s most distinctive feature (of unknown origin) is the nodo (‘throat’), a short tube inserted in the bore between the mouth-hole and the nearest fingerhole; it causes the overblown octave to be sharp at the lower end and flat at the top. On a typical flute the internal diameter is approximately 11 mm at the nodo and 16 mm near the closest fingerhole, tapering again to 11 mm at the lower end.

Since the nōkan does not share a melody with another instrument or with the voice there is less need for a pitch standard than there is with the ryūteki, and individual flutes may vary somewhat both in basic pitch and in interval structure. This variation is not, however, related to the differences in schools of performers. A typical range is about b–f'''. Visually the most obvious distinctions between these two types of flute are that the red lacquer of the nōkun’s bore extends to the surface through the fingerholes, and that the ornament (kashiragane) embedded in the left end is generally of metal in the case of the nōkan but is embroidered on a red ground in the ryūteki.

Nōkan technique features many cross-fingerings (unlike the ryūteki), constant delicate ornamentation and pitch gliding; the execution of these features varies both between schools and among individuals within each school. The repertory consists of several dozen named pieces with specific uses, as well as some less fully structured pieces; much of it falls into stock phrases of one or more eight-beat bars. In nagauta and geza music one flautist is in charge of both the nōkan and another transverse flute, the shinobue. Nō pieces are used especially in plays and dances derived from nō plays but also, for example, to set an elevated mood; the pieces are of necessity greatly truncated. In certain local festival musics several less well-made (i.e. cheaper) nōkan may be used together to play simple melodies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

W.P. Malm: Japanese Music and Musical Instruments (Rutland, VT, 1959), 119ff

D. Berger: ‘The Nō-kan: its Construction and Music’, EthM, ix (1965), 221–39

R. Emmert and Y. Minegishi, eds.: Musical Voices of Asia: Tokyo 1978

A. Tamba: The Musical Structure of Noh (Tokyo, 1981), 147

‘Fue’, Ongaku daijiten [Encyclopedia of music] (Tokyo, 1981)

DAVID W. HUGHES