Tsuzumi, which is used in accompanying music for nogaku and kabuki, is a type of hand drum with sandglass-shaped body. Tsuzumi used in nogaku, including smaller size kotsuzumi and larger size otsuzumi, is said to have developed from tsuzumi used in gagaku. As the shape of nogaku tsuzumi is different from that of gagaku tsuzumi in details, the author supposed that there were some transitional types. Conducting a study of ancient musical instruments owned by temples and museums throughout the country, the author discovered several transitional tsuzumi. This paper shows how the shape of tsuzumi changed from that used in gagaku to that used in nogaku.
Three names have normally been used to distinguish tsuzumi used in gagaku: ikko, the smallest; ni-no-tsuzumi, the medium sized; san-no-tsuzumi, the biggest. But as a result of investigation, it was found that the shape and size of tsuzumi bodies were not standardized, as was understood until now, and that there was a gradual transformation. For instance, bowl-shaped parts of the body became narrower, thus resembling tsuzumi used in nogaku.
In the course of investigation, several black-lacquered tsuzumi were discovered at Araki Shrine, Isonokami Shrine, Taji Shrine, and Kandani Shrine. Compared with tsuzumi used in gagaku, they are not decorated with imaginary flowers and their two bowl-shaped parts are decorated with three carved lines instead of double-strand bands. Without the lines carved on the bodies, they would look like tsuzumi used in nogaku. In addition, almost all of them have very similar bodies, as if they were standardized. These discoveries coincide with the tradition which says that the size and shape were determined by craftsmen in the Tonomine District during the Kamakura Period. However, there are differences in the way the inside of the body is carved. For example, the tsuzumi of Isonokami Shrine is closer to gagaku tsuzumi, while those of Taji and Kandani Shrine are closer to nogaku tsuzumi. These tsuzumi seem to have been used in gagaku or medieval performing arts other than nogaku. Two tsuzumi of Araki Shrine seem to have been used in gagaku, for the Araki area was a territory of a gagaku musician, Ohno Yoshikata, in the Kamakura Period. Four tsuzumi are said to have been used in a festival at Isonokami Shrine. At Taji Shrine, four tsuzumi are used in a dance called “Kakko-suri” which has been continued since the Muromachi Period. The tsuzumi of the Kandani Shrine, whose interior was carved for tuning, was perhaps used in nogaku or medieval performing arts.
Another tsuzumi, more similar to tsuzumi used in nogaku, was discovered at Nunakuma Shrine. Three carved lines remain on the body, but the body is decorated with makie just like a nogaku tsuzumi. This is by tradition the work of Chigusa, an early craftsman of masks and instruments. It is clear that this tsuzumi was first coated with black lacquer and used to accompany some medieval performing art. Makie was later applied when the tsuzumi began to be used in nogaku. This tsuzumi is the very missing-rink that connects gagaku, medieval performing arts and nogaku.
Another interesting fact about this tsuzumi discovered at Nunakuma Shrine is that its size is that of kotsuzumi even though it has the shape of otsuzumi. According to a catalogue of nogaku-players called “Yoza Yakusya Mokuroku”, kotsuzumi player, Ko Gorojiro, transformed otsuzumi into kotsuzumi. In addition, the discovery of the tsuzumi of Nunakuma Shrine suggests that the shape of kotsuzumi

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The ‘Kasugano’-biwa and its related documents have prompted this research. The ‘Kasugano’-biwa is a biwa which has been handed down to the Chokoji temple, the old-Mosojiin, in Miyazaki-shi as one closely connected with Taira Kagekiyo.
This biwa, which looks like a small-sized Gaku-biwa, can be considered a Moso-biwa because it has six frets. These frets are, however, not as tall or large as those of the presentday Moso-biwa, but small like those of the Gaku-biwa. The present-day Moso-biwa has a long shishikubi part and a small haraita part so that all the frets can be attached to the shishikubi part. The ‘Kasugano’-biwa, on the other hand, like a Gaku-biwa, has a small shishikubi part where only four frets can be attached. The other two frets are attached to the haraita part, which may suggest that they were added later.
It may also suggest that as the Heike-biwa in the Edo period was formed by adding a fifth fret to the Gaku-biwa, the ‘Kasugano’-biwa must have been formed by adding a fifth and sixth fret to the Gaku-biwa. This hypothesis can be proved true by its musical intervals. An experiment shows that the musical intervals from the first to the fourth frets are the same as those of the Gaku-biwa, while they are different from those of the present-day Moso-biwa. This means that the arrangement of musical intervals of this biwa followed that of the Gaku-biwa, but there was an addition of two musical intervals later.
While this biwa shares many points with the Gaku-biwa including a bachi-gawa, the form of the fukuju, the tsugenkou of the fukuju hemmed with suiteki forms, the form of the hangetsu, the engraved enzan on the backside and others, it also has many points common to the present-day Moso-biwa and Satsuma-biwa, such as a shichu behind the fukuju, a hangetsu hemmed with zogan, the form of the bachi, and the urushi paint covering the whole instrument.
Therefore, the ‘Kasugano’-biwa was probably formed following the Gaku-biwa tradition during the period of transition from the Gaku-biwa to the other type of biwa. This biwa can also be considered in the middle of the transition from the Gaku-biwa to the present-day Moso-biwa (with six frets). The transition appears to have happened in the following way.At first, the Gaku-biwa and then the small-sized Gaku-biwa were used as the Moso-biwa. After that, the form of the small-sized Gaku-biwa was changed into the present form with six frets by adding two frets on the haraita. Finally the shishikubi parts were lengthened and the haraita parts were made smaller.
A Naito-family (former Lord of the Nobeoka clan) document, which includes pictorial documents, suggests that the ‘Kasugano’-biwa was produced before or during Edo period. No further information is available at this time about the year it was made because we have no other Moso-biwa with the precise year of its production. In addition, as there is no historical evidence of the legend of Kagekiyo's visit to Hyuga, it is not certain that this biwa was cherished by Kagekiyo. It is not possible to maintain that it was produced while he was alive, namely at the beginning of the Kamakura period.

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This article has two purposes. One is to determine, from documentation, audience's visual and auditory reaction to silent movies. In contrast to talkies, with its apparent combining of sounds with image, silent movies have their own peculiar characteristics. Above all, what is important is that people who saw silent movies made a connection between the sounds and the image. The other aim is to clarify the kind of musical accompaniment that was used for silent movies. This study, which makes use of the verbal testimonies and practices of ÔNO Masao, offers valuable information about the combination of sounds and image of silent movies.
Silent movies such as cinematograph and vitascope were first shown in Japan in 1897. The earliest documentation concerning the use of sounds for silent movies appears in 1897 in connection with the Kyôgoku-za in Kyoto. It is presumed that the music used to accompany the screen image, given the condition of music at that time, was probably military music or a civilian band. According to documentation, there was no relationship between the content of the screen and the music performed. The music was merely a type of western style ornamentation. A narrator would explain the content-though this was only to point out the important parts of the movie to facilitate comprehension. The sounds of western music and the voice of the narrator were not seen as being sounds of the screen for the audience. Clearly, in common with these were the new strange and untraditional sounds which possessed an enlightening nuance. These sounds were means to enhance understanding of the film as a narrative.
In 1899, when the dancing of geisha was portrayed on the screen, there was musical accompaniment by a nagauta group of musicians. In other words, there was an attempt to reproduce the music which would have heard by the geisha. It is uncertain whether the timing of the sound matched perfectly that of the screen. But at least, the sounds of nagauta approached the content of the film and would have been regarded by the audience as causing realistic feeling. A more extreme example was the portrayal of news film depicting a fire in London. Although the content was a fire in London, a traditional Japanese bell used to announce fires in Japan was used here. In so doing, this succeeded in creating a feeling of actually being present at the incident. Sounds and voice used in silent movies were not strict reproductions of the sounds of that portrayed on the screen but rather attempts to create sounds familiar to the audience so as to elicit the appropriate emotion.
Using this historical information, I examine the actual combining of the image with sounds by ÔNO Masao through his use of wayô-gassô, literally “Japanese Western ensemble”. Firstly, there is the term wayô-gassô music combination which is derived from the joint use of Japanese musical instruments and western musical instruments. Apart from the scores for percussion instruments, western score notation was used. However the repertoire was divided into two groups, one being the music derived from musical accompaniment in kabuki and the other, music from western classical works. When choosing music from the repertoire of the kabuki to match the screen, music making a symbolized connection with kabuki, that is, music in the kabuki manner would be used. On the other hand, choosing music from the western music repertoire meant only a very general impression and connection were made with the screen image. Moreover, there was a separate repertoire of music making use of both western and Japanese music instruments for chanbara (sword fighting) scenes which were peculiar to jidaigeki (period films) at that time. In this respect, this combination of Japanese/western music instruments could respond to any scene

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There is a well-established Japanese belief in an invisible spirit who lived in an old tree. A raccoon dog, which lived in the tree's hollow, often believed to be an incarnation of the spirit. On the other hand, folk story tells that people have long been frightened by the strange sound made of raccoon dogs beating their stomach muscles with their paws. Based on these, the following story of a spiritual raccoon dog, named Danjiri-kichibei was formed in Osaka.
In 1938, when the watercourse between Tenma canal and Yodo river was cut, beside the canal Enoki (hackberry) jinja shrine was established. After then, a raccoon dog lived there regarded as an incarnation of Enoki jinja shrine's spirit. One night when people completely neglected the spirit and the raccoon, an old man offered a lunch box to Enoki jinja shrine. Then, suddenly a strange sound sounded. This seemed to be similar to the sound of danjiri bayashi (the music used to accompany a float pulled in procession), although the festival season had finished. The people considered that this must have been the warning sound by the spiritual raccoon dog they ignored.
They named the spiritual raccoon dog Danjiri-kichibei after the character of his strange sound. Danjiri-kichibei was happy to produce the sound until the Meiji period (1868-1912), when many people visited the shrine. Although it has not been heard by the 1930s, a danjiri bayashi performance, which is sometimes accompanied a “raccoon dog dance”, is still offered to Danjiri-kichibei.
In this story, it is conspicuous that the strange sound was related to the sound of danjiri bayashi. In the 1930s, Danjiri-kichibei was regarded as a spiritual raccoon dog, which was good at imitating danjiri bayashi sound of the Tenjin-matsuri festival that had performed on the pulled floats during the Meiji period (1868-1912). Tenjin-matsuri festival is one of the three biggest festivals in Japan, and the danjiri bayashi performance is popular especially in Osaka. However, since the Meiji period the danjiri bayashi performances declined to the one performed on a fixed float in the Osaka Tenmangu shrine (the ritual center of the festival).
It is indeed only about 800m distance between the shrine and Danjiri-kichibei's small shrine, however, the strange sound was heard after the festival season. In addition, Osaka Tenmangu shrine keeps no material concerned with a raccoon dog. Noting relates the Danjiri-kichibei's and Tenjin-matsuri's danjiri bayashi.
Then, the sound recognition by the local people should be considered why Danjiri-kichibei's sound was related to the sound of Tenjin-matsuri festival's danjiri bayashi. The author hypothesized that a real strange sound was heard around Enoki jinja shrine. The expression of the Danjiri-kichibei's sound, that is “kon chiki chin”, indicates this was a metallic quality. It is possible to be a sound of the casting coins at the brick factory of the Mint Bureau established in 1870. At the factory where situated 1200m away from Danjiri-kichibei's small shrine, 16 hours a day working was done at the longest. The sound could be heard at night until the building was reconstructed in the 1930s.
The strange sound was accepted as a phenomenon caused by a spiritual raccoon dog, referring to the local belief. The sound became more familiar when it was related with the sound of danjiri bayashi. In the 1930s when both Danjiri-kichibei's and the pulled floats' danjiri bayashi performance had been lost, the nostalgia for the Meiji period relates these. As a result, Danjiri-kichibei's strange sound was involved in the local sound culture of Tenjin-matsuri festival. When danjiri bayashi was performed for the spiritual raccoon dog

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