View source for Hyōshigi

{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox instrument
| name = Hyōshigi
| image = Hyoshigi01.jpg
| classification = Concussion Idiophone<ref name="Clappers">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Blades |first1=James |last2=Anderson |first2=Robert |encyclopedia=Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online |title=Clappers |publisher=Oxford University Press |url= http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/05855}}</ref>
| names = Concussion Blocks, Kabuki Blocks, Kabuki Clappers<ref name="Holland2005">{{cite book|author=James Holland|title=Practical Percussion: A Guide to the Instruments and Their Sources|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vMq9ZNZQMNwC|author-link = James Holland (percussionist) |date=16 September 2005|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-1-4616-7063-6}}</ref>
}}
The {{Nihongo|'''''hyōshigi'''''|[[wikt:拍子木|拍子木]]|}} is a simple [[Japan]]ese [[musical instrument]], consisting of two pieces of [[hardwood]] or [[bamboo]] often connected by a thin ornamental rope. The clappers are played together or on the floor to create a cracking sound.  Sometimes they are struck slowly at first, then faster and faster.
==Theater==
''Hyōshigi'' are used in traditional Japanese [[theater]]s, such as [[Kabuki]] and [[Bunraku]] theater, to announce the beginning of a performance.<ref name="Clappers"/> The [[kyogen]]-kata usually plays the hyoshigi at the start of comedic plays.<ref>{{cite book |last=Saltzman-Li |first=Katherine |date=2010 |title=Creating Kabuki Plays: Context for Kezairoku, Valuable Notes on Playwriting |location=Ipswich, MA |publisher=Leiden: Brill |page=47 |isbn=9789004121157 }}</ref> It can be used to attract the attention of the audience by conductors for theater and even athletic and juggling performances.<ref name="PiggottSouthgate1893">{{cite book|author1=Sir Francis Taylor Piggott|author2=Thomas Lea Southgate|title=The Music and Musical Instruments of Japan|url=https://archive.org/details/musicandmusical00soutgoog|year=1893|publisher=B.T. Batsford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/musicandmusical00soutgoog/page/n270 210]}}</ref> ''Hyōshigi'' are also used to stress confusion,<ref name="Clappers"/> and other dramatic moments,<ref name="Brazell1998">{{cite book|author=Karen Brazell|title=Traditional Japanese Theater: An Anthology of Plays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tolUUrDT19MC&pg=PR11|year=1998|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-10873-7|pages=309}}</ref> in the play.
==Religion==
It is also often used to signal the starting or the end of parts of festivals, especially in the directing of the [[mikoshi]].
''Hyōshigi'' is combined with other traditional Japanese instruments in ''mikagura-uta'', or cycle of songs, which is characteristic of the [[Tenrikyo]] [[religion]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Kishibe |first1=Shigeo |last2=Hughes |first2=David |last3=de Ferranti |first3=Hugh |last4=Adriaansz |first4=W. |last5=Thompson |first5=Robin |last6=Rowe |first6=Charles |last7=Berger |first7=Donald P. |last8=Malm |first8=W. |last9=Waterhouse |first9=David |last10=Marett |first10=Allan |last11=Emmert |first11=Richard |last12=Koizumi |first12=Fumio |last13=Tanimoto |first13=Kazuyuki |last14=Kanazawa |first14=Masakata |last15=Fujie |first15=Linda |last16=Falconer |first16=Elizabeth |encyclopedia=Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online |title=Japan |publisher=Oxford University Press |url= http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/43335pg4}}</ref>
==Other uses==
The clapping instrument was also used in ''[[Kamishibai]]'' to gather children so that the ''Kamishibai'' man could sell candy and entertain them with his story.<ref>{{cite book |last1=De las Casas |first1=Dianne |last2=Chow |first2=Philip |date=2006 |title=Kamishibai Story Theater: The Art of Picture Telling |location=Westport, Conn |publisher=Teacher Ideas Press |page=1 |isbn=9781591584049 }}</ref>
The wooden percussion instrument was also used by night-watchmen when patrolling the streets.<ref name="PiggottSouthgate1893"/>
Volunteer Fire Corps (''[[Shōbōdan]]'') patrols use the Hyoshigi during their night-patrols (''yomawari'') warning people about the danger of fire.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2011/12/20/reference/yomawari/|title=Yomawari|first=Alice|last=Gordenker|date=20 December 2011|newspaper=[[The Japan Times]]|access-date=19 April 2021}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Traditional Japanese musical instruments}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Japanese musical instruments]]
[[Category:Asian percussion instruments]]
[[Category:Concussion idiophones]]
{{Idiophone-instrument-stub}}
{{Japan-music-stub}}