Japan
Japanese

Bamboo, metal, reed, lacquer
Meiji (1868-1912)
Length: 17.9 inch
Aerophones – Free Aerophones – Free Reed

The shō is a free reed aerophone (mouth organ) that descended from the Chinese sheng, of the Tang Dynasty era.  Nevertheless, the Japanese shō is smaller in size than its contemporary sheng relatives.  This sho consists of 17 slender bamboo pipes set into a black-lacquered base held with silver fittings.  All but two of the pipes have free reeds and these two pipes are silent, although research suggests that they were used in some music during the Heian period.

The shō is played by breath that is inhaled or exhaled continually while using a traditional playing technique of tone clusters called aitake.  There are ten basic aitake chords that are linked with a particular degree of the togaku scale. The sho is one of the three primary woodwind instruments used in gagaku, Japan’s imperial court music.