Biwa
The biwa (琵琶) is a Japanese short-necked fretted lute, often used in narrative storytelling. The biwa is the chosen instrument of Benten, goddess of music, eloquence, poetry, and education in Japanese Buddhism. The biwa is a plucked string instrument that was first popular in China and then spread throughout East Asia. It is said to have arrived in Japan from China during the Nara period (710 - 794), and is even thought to have roots that trace back to Persia. It is generally 60 - 106 cm in length and made from wood. The instrument consists of a water-drop-shaped body with a handle, and while there are generally four strings, five-stringed varieties also exist. In Japan, the biwa is generally plucked with a bachi instead of the fingers, and is often used to play gagaku. In addition, it is used as musical accompaniment when blind monks recite scriptural texts, or when reciting The Tale of the Heike, a war chronicle from the Kamakura era (1185 - 1333).
 A selection of biwa in a Japanese museum | |
| Classification |
|
|---|---|
| Related instruments | |
| |
The origin of the biwa is the Chinese pipa. It arrived in Japan in two forms. Since that time, the number of biwa types has more than quadrupled. Guilds supporting biwa players, particularly the biwa hoshi, helped proliferate biwa musical development for hundreds of years. Biwa hōshi performances overlapped with performances by other biwa players many years before heikyoko and continues to this day. This overlap resulted in a rapid evolution of the biwa and its usage and made it one of the most popular instruments in Japan.
Yet, in spite of its popularity, the Ōnin War and subsequent Warring States Period disrupted biwa teaching and decreased the number of proficient users. With the abolition of Todo in the Meiji period, biwa players lost their patronage.
Furthermore, reforms stemming from the Meiji Restoration led to massive, rapid industrialization and modernization. Japan modeled its development on Europe and the US, praising everything Western and condemning everything native. Traditions identifiably Japanese became associated with terms like backwards or primitive. Such associations even extended into areas like art and music, and the biwa.
By the late 1940s, the biwa, a thoroughly Japanese tradition, was nearly completely abandoned for Western instruments; however, thanks to collaborative efforts by Japanese musicians, interest in the biwa is being revived. Japanese and foreign musicians alike have begun embracing traditional Japanese instruments, particularly the biwa, in their compositions. While blind biwa singers no longer dominate the biwa, many performers continue to use the instrument in traditional and modern ways.
History
The biwa came to Japan in the 7th century and it was evolved from the Chinese instrument pipa,[1] while the pipa itself was derived from similar instruments in Western Asia. This type of biwa is called the gaku-biwa and was used in gagaku ensembles and is the most commonly known type. While the route is unclear, another type of biwa found its way to the Kyushu region, and this thin biwa (called mōsō-biwa or kōjin-biwa) was used in ceremonies and religious rites. Before long, as the Ritsuryō state collapsed, the court music musicians were faced with the reconstruction and sought asylum in Buddhist temples. There they assumed the role of Buddhist monks and encountered the mōsō-biwa. They incorporated the convenient aspects of mōsō-biwa, its small size and portability, into their large and heavy gaku-biwa, and created the heike-biwa, which, as indicated by its namesake, was used primarily for recitations of The Tale of the Heike.
Through the next several centuries, players of both traditions intersected frequently and developed new music styles and new instruments. By the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the heike-biwa had emerged as a popular instrument. The heike-biwa could be described as a cross between both the gaku-biwa and mōsō-biwa. It retained the rounded shape of the gaku-biwa and was played with a large plectrum like the mōsō-biwa. The heike biwa was also small, like the mōsō-biwa (actually smaller) and was used for similar purposes.
While the modern satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa both find their origin with the mōsō-biwa, the Satsuma biwa was used for moral and mental training by samurai of the Satsuma Domain during the Warring States period, and later in general performances. The Chikuzen biwa was used by Buddhist monks visiting private residences to perform memorial services, not only for Buddhist rites, but also for telling entertaining stories and news while accompanying themselves on the biwa, and this form of storytelling was thought to be spread in this way.
Not much seems to have been written about biwas from roughly the 16th century to the mid-19th century. What is known is that three main streams of biwa emerged during that time: zato (the lowest level of the state-controlled guild of blind biwa players), shifu (samurai style), and chofu (urban style). These styles emphasized 琵琶歌 (biwa-uta)—vocalization with biwa accompaniment—and formed the foundation for 江戸歌 (edo-uta) styles such as shinnai and kota [2]. From these styles also emerged the two principal survivors of the biwa tradition: satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa [3]. From roughly the Meiji Era (1868–1912) until the Pacific War, the satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa were popular across Japan, and, at the beginning of the Showa Era (1925–1989), the nishiki-biwa was created and gained popularity. Of the remaining biwa traditions, only higo-biwa remains a style almost solely performed by blind persons in the post-war era. The higo-biwa is closely related to the heike-biwa and, similarly, relies on an oral-narrative tradition focusing on wars and legends.
By the middle of the Meiji period (1868–1912), improvements had been made on the instruments and easily understandable songs were composed in quantity. In the beginning of the Taishō period (1912–1926), the Satsuma biwa was modified into the Nishiki biwa which was popular among female players at the time. With this the biwa met a great period of prosperity, and the songs themselves were not just about the Tale of the Heike but songs connected to the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War such as "Takeo Hirose", "Hitachimaru", "203 Hill" gained popularity. However, the playing of the biwa nearly became extinct during the Meiji period as Western music and instruments became popular, until players such as Tsuruta Kinshi and others revitalized the genre with modern playing styles and collaborations with Western composers.
Types
There are more than seven types of biwa, characterised by number of strings, sounds it could produce, type of plectrum, and their use. As the biwa does not play in tempered tuning, pitches are approximated to the nearest note.
Classic biwa
- Gagaku-biwa (雅楽琵琶) – A large and heavy biwa with four strings and four frets used exclusively for gagaku. It produces distinctive Ichikotsuchō (壱越調) and Hyōjō (平調). Its plectrum is small and thin, often rounded, and made from a hard material such as boxwood or ivory. It is not used to accompany singing. Like the heike biwa, it is played held on its side, similar to a guitar, with the player sitting cross-legged. In gagaku, it is called gaku-biwa (楽琵琶).
- Gogen-biwa (五絃琵琶) – This T'ang variant of biwa can be seen in paintings of court orchestras and was used in the context of gagaku, however was removed with the reforms and standardization made to the court orchestra during the late 10th Century. It is assumed that the performance traditions died out by the 10th or 11th century (William P. Malm). This is instrument also disappeared in the Chinese court orchestras. Recently, this instrument, much like the Kugo harp has been revived for historically informed performances and historical reconstructions. Not to be confused with the five-stringed variants of modern biwa, such as Chikuzen biwa.
- Mōsō-biwa (盲僧琵琶) – A biwa with four strings used to play Buddhist mantra and songs. It is similar in shape to the chikuzen-biwa, but with a much more narrow body. Its plectrum varies in both size and materials. The four fret type is tuned to E, B, E and A, and the five fret type is tuned to B, e, f♯ and f♯. The six fret type is tuned to B♭, E♭, B♭ and b♭.
Middle and Edo biwa
- Heike-biwa (平家琵琶) – A biwa with four strings and five frets used to play Heike Monogatari. Its plectrum is slightly larger than that of the gagaku-biwa, but the instrument itself is much smaller, comparable to a chikuzen-biwa in size. It was originally used by traveling biwa minstrels, and its small size lent it to indoor play and improved portability. Its tuning is A, c, e, a or A, c-sharp, e, a.
- Satsuma-biwa (薩摩琵琶) – A biwa with four strings and four frets popularized during the Edo period in Satsuma Province (present day Kagoshima) by Shimazu Nisshinsai. Modern biwas used for contemporary compositions often have five or more frets, and some have a doubled fourth string. The frets of the Satsuma biwa are raised 4 centimeters from the neck allowing notes to be bent several steps higher, each one producing the instrument's characteristic sawari, or buzzing drone. Its boxwood plectrum is much wider than others, often reaching widths of 25 cm (9.8 in) or more. Its size and construction influences the sound of the instrument as the curved body is often struck percussively with the plectrum during play. The satsuma-biwa is traditionally made from Japanese mulberry, although other hard woods such as Japanese zelkova are sometimes used in its construction. Due to the slow growth of the Japanese mulberry, the wood must be taken from a tree at least 120 years old and dried for ten years before construction can begin. The strings are made of wound silk. Its tuning is A, E, A, B, for traditional biwa, G, G, c, g, or G, G, d, g for contemporary compositions, among other tunings, but these are only examples as the instrument is tuned to match the key of the player's voice. The first and second strings are generally tuned to the same note, with the 4th (or doubled 4th) string is tuned one octave higher. The most eminent 20th century satsuma-biwa performer was Tsuruta Kinshi, who developed her own version of the instrument, which she called the tsuruta-biwa. This biwa often has five strings (although it is essentially a 4-string instrument as the 5th string is a doubled 4th that are always played together) and five or more frets, and the construction of the tuning head and frets vary slightly. Ueda Junko and Tanaka Yukio, two of Tsuruta Kinshi's students, continue the tradition of the modern Satsuma biwa. Carlo Forlivesi's compositions Boethius (ボエティウス) and Nuove Musiche per Biwa (琵琶のための新曲) had both been written for performance on the Satsuma model of the biwa designed by Kinshi Tsuruta and Yukio Tanaka. "These works presents a radical departure from the compositional languages usually employed for such an instrument. Also, thanks to the possibility of relying on a level of virtuosity never before attempted in this specific repertory, the composer has sought the renewal of the acoustic and aesthetic profile of the biwa, bringing out the huge potential in the sound material: attacks and resonance, tempo (conceived not only in the chronometrical but also deliberately empathetical sense), chords, balance and dialogue (with the occasional use of two biwas in Nuove Musiche per Biwa), dynamics and colour."[4]
Modern biwa
- Chikuzen-biwa (筑前琵琶) – A biwa with four strings and four frets or five strings and five frets popularized in the Meiji period by Tachibana Satosada. Most contemporary performers use the five string version. Its plectrum is much smaller than that of the Satsuma biwa, usually about 13 cm (5.1 in) in width, although its size, shape, and weight depends on the sex of the player. The plectrum is usually made from rosewood with boxwood or ivory tips for plucking the strings. The instrument itself also varies in size, depending on the player. Male players use biwas that are slightly wider and/or longer than those used by females or children. The body of the instrument is never struck with the plectrum during play, and the five string instrument is played upright, while the four string is played held on its side. The instrument is tuned to match the key of the singer. An example tuning of the four string version is B, e, f♯ and b, and the five string instrument can be tuned to C, G, C, d and g. For the five string version, the first and third strings are tuned the same note, the second string down three steps down, the fifth string an octave higher than the second string, and the fourth string a step down from the fifth. So the previously mentioned tuning can be tuned down to B♭, F, B♭, c, d. Asahikai and Tachibanakai are the two major schools of Chikuzen biwa. Popularly used by female biwa players such as Uehara Mari.
- Nishiki-biwa (錦琵琶) – A modern biwa with five strings and five frets popularized by Suitō Kinjō. Its plectrum is the same as that used for the Satsuma biwa. ts tuning is C, G, c, g, g.
Gaku-biwa, chikuzen-biwa, heike-biwa, moso-biwa, satsuma-biwa and their plectra
Style
Generally speaking, biwa is considered one of Japan's principal traditional instruments, and, as such, it has both influenced and been influenced by other traditional instruments and compositions throughout its long history in Japan.
- 邦楽 Hōgaku – Japanese Traditional Music
In Hogaku, musical instruments usually serve as accompaniments to vocal performances. Song dominates hogaku, and the overwhelming majority of hogaku compositions are vocal. In this context, the biwa was one of the prominent instruments [5].
- 雅楽 Gagaku – Japanese Court Music
Gagaku was usually patronized by the imperial court or the shrines and temples. Gagaku ensembles were composed of string, wind, and percussion instruments, where string and wind instruments were more respected and percussion instruments were considered lesser instruments. Among the string instruments, the biwa seems to have been the most important instrument in gagaku orchestral performances [6].
- 声明 Shōmyō – Buddhist Chanting
While biwa was not used in shōmyō, the style of biwa singing is closely tied to shōmyō, especially mōsō and heike style biwa singing [7]. Both shōmyō and mōsō are rooted in Buddhist rituals and traditions. Before arriving in Japan, shōmyō was used in Indian Buddhism. The mōsō-biwa was also rooted in Indian Buddhism, and the heike-biwa, as a predecessor to the mōsō-biwa, was the principal instrument of the biwa hōshi, who were blind Buddhist priests.
Biwa Aesthetics
Generally speaking, biwas have four strings. That being said, modern satsuma and chikuzen biwas might have five strings. The first string is thickest and the fourth string is thinnest (the second string is the thickest on the chikuzen-biwa, and the fourth and fifth strings are the same thickness on five-stringed chikuzen and satsuma-biwas) [8]. The varying string thickness creates different timbres when stroked from different directions.
In biwa, tuning is not fixed. General tones and pitches can fluctuate up or down entire steps or microtones [9]. When singing in a chorus, biwa singers often stagger their entry and often sing through non-synchronized, heterophony accompaniment [10]. In solo performances, a biwa performer sings monophonically, with melismatic emphasis throughout the performance. These monophonic do not follow a set harmony. Instead biwa singers tend to sing with a flexible pitch without distinguishing soprano, alto, tenor, or bass roles. This singing style is complemented by the biwa, which biwa players use to produce short glissandi throughout the performance [11]. Biwa singing style tends to be nasal, particularly when singing vowels, the consonant ん, and notes containing "g" (e.g., が, ぎ, ぐ, げ, ご, ぎゃ, ぎゅ, ぎょ). Also, biwa performers vary the volume of their voice between barely audible to very loud (rarely deafening). Since biwa performances were generally for small groups, singers did not need to project their voices as do opera singers in the Western tradition.
Biwa music is based on a pentatonic scale (sometimes referred to as a five-tone or five-note scale), meaning that each octave contains five notes. This scale sometimes includes supplementary notes, but the core remains pentatonic. The rhythm in biwa performances allows for a broad flexibility of pulse. Songs are not always metered, although more modern collaborations are metered. Notes played on the biwa usually begin slow and thin and progress through gradual accelerations, increasing and decreasing tempo throughout the performance. The texture of biwa singing is often described as "sparse".
The plectrum also contributes to the texture of biwa music. Different sized plectrums produced different textures; for example, the plectrum used on a moso-biwa was much larger than that used on a gaku-biwa, producing a harsher, more vigorous sound [12]. The plectrum is also critical to creating the sawari sound, which is particularly utilized with satsuma-biwas [13]. What the plectrum is made of also changes the texture, with ivory and plastic plectrums creating a more resilient texture to the wooden plectrum's twangy hum [14].
Use in modern music
Biwa usage in Japan has declined greatly since the Heian period. Outside influence, internal pressures, and socio-political turmoil redefined biwa patronage and biwa image; for example, the Ōnin War during the Muromachi period (1338–1573) and the subsequent Warring States period (15th–17th centuries) disrupted the cycle of tutelage for heikyoku[15] performers. As a result, younger musicians turned to other instruments and interest in biwa music decreased. Even the biwa hoshi transitioned to other instruments such as the shamisen (a three stringed lute) [16].
Interest in the biwa revived during the Edo period (1600–1868) when Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan and established the Tokugawa shogunate. Ieyasu favored biwa music and became a major patron. He helped strengthen biwa guilds (called Todo) by financing them and allowing them special privileges (142). Shamisen players and other musicians found it financially beneficial to switch to the biwa, and, as they crossed over, they brought new styles. The Edo period proved to be one of the most prolific and artistically creative periods for the biwa in its long history in Japan (143).
In 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate collapsed, giving way to the Meiji period and the Meiji Restoration. In Meiji, the samurai class was abolished, and the Todo lost their patronage. Biwa players no longer enjoyed special privileges and were forced to support themselves. At the beginning of Meiji (1868), it was estimated that there were at least one hundred traditional court musicians in Tokyo. Yet, by the 1930s, there were only forty-six traditional court musicians in Tokyo. A quarter of these musicians died in the war. Life in Post-war Japan was difficult, and many musicians abandoned their music in favor of more sustainable livelihoods [17].
While many styles of biwa flourished in the early 1900s (e.g., Kindai-biwa from the 1900s–1930s), the cycle of tutelage was broken yet again. Currently, there are no direct means of studying biwa in many biwa traditions [18]. Even higo-biwa players, who were quite popular in the early 20th century, may no longer have a direct means of studying oral composition, as the bearers of the tradition have either died or are no longer able to play. Kindai biwa still retains a significant number of professional and amateur practitioners, but zato, heike, and moso-biwa styles have all but died out [19].
As biwa music declined in post-Pacific War Japan, many Japanese composers and musicians found ways to revitalize interest in it. They recognized that studies in music theory and music composition in Japan almost entirely consisted in Western theory and instruction. Beginning in the late 1960s, these musicians and composers began to incorporate Japanese music and Japanese instruments into their compositions; for example, one composer, Tōru Takemitsu, collaborated with Western composers and compositions to include the distinctly Asian biwa. His well-received compositions such as November Steps, which incorporates biwa heikyoku with Western orchestral performance, revitalized interest in the biwa and sparked a series of collaborative efforts by other musician in genres ranging from J-Pop and enka to shin-hougaku and gendaigaku [20].
Other musicians, such as Yamashika Yoshiyuki, who is considered by most ethnomusicologists to be the last of the biwa hoshi, preserved scores of songs that were almost lost forever. Yamashika, born in the late Meiji, continued the biwa hoshi tradition until his death in 1996. Beginning in the late sixties to the late eighties, composers and historians from all over the world visited Yamashika and recorded many of his songs. Up to that time, the biwa hoshi tradition of songs was completely an oral tradition. When Yamashika died in 1996, the era of the biwa hoshi tutelage died with him, but the music and genius of that era continues thanks to his recordings [21].
Recordings
- Silenziosa Luna – 沈黙の月 / ALM Records ALCD-76 (2008).
References
- biwa from Britannica
- Allan Marett 103
- Waterhouse 15
- ALM Records ALCD-76
- Dean 156
- Garfias, Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition 16
- Matisoff 36
- Minoru Miki 75
- Dean 157
- Dean 149
- Morton Feldman 181
- Morley 51
- Rossing 181
- Malm 21
- Heikyoku is one of the oldest Japanese traditional music genres, originating in the 13th century. It is a semi-classical bardic tradition, not unlike the troubadour music of medieval Europe.
- Gish 143
- Garfias, Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition 18
- Ferranti, Relations between Music and Text in "Higo Biwa", The "Nagashi" Pattern as a Text-MusicSystem 150
- Tokita 83
- Tonai 25
- Sanger
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Biwa. |
| Origins | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Types by region |
| ||||||
| Related instruments | |||||||
| Other topics |
| ||||||