and fiddles of various sorts—came over from China, like most other things good and bad, in the train of Buddhism. The koto, a sort of lyre which is the most highly esteemed of modern instruments, was gradually evolved from earlier Chinese models, and perfected in the first half of the seventeenth century by Yatsuhashi, who has been styled the father of modern Japanese music. The samisen[1] or "three strings," now the favourite instrument of the singing-girls and of the lower classes generally, seems to have been introduced from Manila as recently as the year 1700.
The perfection of Japanese classical music may be heard at Tōkyō from the Band of Court Musicians attached to the Bureau of Rites. Having said that it may be heard, we hasten to add that it cannot be heard often by ordinary mortals. The easiest way to get a hearing of it is to attend one of the concerts given by the Musical Society of Japan (an association founded in 1886 for the cultivation alike of Japanese and European music), at which the Court Musicians occasionally perform. A more curious ceremony still is the performance by these same musicians, at certain Shintō festivals, of a silent concert. Both stringed and wind instruments are used in this concert; but it is held that the sanctity of the occasion would be profaned, were any sound to fall on unworthy ears. Therefore, though all the motions of playing are gone through, no strains are actually emitted! This is but one among many instances of the strange vagaries of the Japanese musical art, and of the extreme esoteric mystery in which the families hereditarily entrusted with the handing down of that art enshroud their knowledge.[2]
- ↑ More often pronounced shamisen; but samisen is considered correct.
- ↑ The existence of these "silent concerts" was set in doubt by a critic of the first edition of this work. Never having heard, or rather seen, any ourselves, we describe them on the authority of Mr. Isawa, who, in a private communication on the subject, reminds us that such esoteric mysteries would not willingly be alluded to by their old-fashioned possessors, least of all in reply to the scientific enquiries cf a foreigner, and that the very explanations given—supposing any to be given—would probably be couched in ambiguous language. We may add that some mystery is made about certain tunes for such common instruments as the koto and samisen, only those persons being allowed to play them who have studied and paid money to receive diplomas.
