祭囃子
Festival music
Matsuri-bayashi (祭囃子) is the music of Japan's local festivals: flutes, drums and small bells played by neighbourhood musicians on festival days, often from floats or alongside processions.
Liner notes
There is no single national form. Each festival keeps its own music, and the pieces range from lively to slow and quiet. In the Kantō region alone there are named local styles such as Edo, Kanda and Kasai bayashi, and in Kyoto the Gion bayashi belongs to the Gion Festival.
How to listen
Most ensembles combine three families of instruments. A flute, usually the bamboo shinobue, though the Noh flute or the ryūteki also appear, carries the melody. Drums give the ground: the mid-range shime-daiko, a low ō-daiko, and in some places fan drums or drums carried on the body. Small hand-held bells and gongs, the surigane and atarigane, add the bright high part. Some regions add strings, singing or shouted calls, the kakegoe. Listen for how the metal part cuts through the drums, and for the flute line floating above.
At Kyoto's Gion Festival, musicians sit inside the tall floats playing drums and flutes as the floats are drawn through the streets. That picture, of music moving through a town rather than staying on a stage, is a good way to hear the genre.
Who plays it
The players are usually not professionals. They are parishioners of the local shrine or temple, who learn the music for the festival and play it only on festival days. Some places limit the parts to boys or to girls. The few professionals who take part include kagura performers, traditional musicians and Shinto priests.
A short history
Because each festival has its own music, matsuri-bayashi cannot be traced to a single source. For the Kantō styles there are rival origin stories, one pointing to Kamakura and one to Kasai, and neither has been verified.
The recording on this page
The one recording here comes from Nagasaki, a city whose best-known festival, Nagasaki Kunchi, began as an autumn harvest celebration in the late sixteenth century and became the festival of Suwa Shrine after the shrine was founded in 1614. Its dragon dance, jaodori, is one of the festival's most famous performances. It was first performed on New Year's Eve by Nagasaki's Chinese residents, so it sits where Japanese festival music meets the dragon and lion dance traditions of China.
Start with
Dragon dance, Nagasaki, recorded in 2016, with taiko and a mixed ensemble. For more street and festival sound, try Streets, parks and festivals.
Questions
- What is matsuri-bayashi?
- Matsuri-bayashi is Japanese festival music, played on flutes, drums and small bells by local musicians during shrine and temple festivals. Each festival keeps its own pieces, so there is no single standard form.
- What instruments are used in matsuri-bayashi?
- Usually a bamboo flute such as the shinobue, drums such as the shime-daiko and ō-daiko, and small bells or gongs such as the atarigane. Some regions add strings, singing or shouted calls.
- Who performs Japanese festival music?
- Mostly amateurs from the local shrine or temple community, who learn the music for the festival and play it only on festival days. Professionals are rare.