traditional Japanese musical instrument

• Bin-sasara; also spelled bin-zasara – clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord • Chappa – Hand cymbals • Hyoshigi – wooden or bamboo clappers • Denden-daiko – a children's toy • Ikko – small, ornately decorated hourglass-shaped drum • Kagura suzu – hand-held bell tree with three tiers of pellet bells • Kakko – small drum used in gagaku • Kane – small flat gong • Kokiriko – a pair of sticks which are beaten together slowly and rhythmically • Shakubyoshi (also called shaku) – clapper made from a pair of flat wooden sticks • Mokugyo – woodblock carved in the shape of a fish, struck with a wooden stick; often used in Buddhist chanting • Ōtsuzumi – hand drum • Rin or daikin (大磬) – singing bowls used by Buddhist monks in religious practice or rituals • San-no-tsuzumi – hourglass-shaped double-headed drum; struck only on one side • Sasara – clapper made from wooden slats connected by a rope or cord • Sekkin – a lithophone either bowed or struck • Shime-daiko – small drum played with sticks • Shōko – small bronze gong used in gagaku; struck with two horn beaters * • Tsuri-daiko – drum on a stand with ornately painted head, played with a padded stick • Tsuzumi – small hand drum

• Ichigenkin – monochord • Junanagen – the 17-string koto • Koto – a long zither • Yamatogoto – ancient long zither; also called wagon

• Kugo – an angled harp used in ancient times and recently revived • Taishōgoto – a zither with metal strings and keys

• Biwa – a pear-shaped lute

• Gottan or hako-jamisen • – an Okinawan precursor of the mainland Japanese (and Amami Islands) shamisen • Shamisen – a banjo-like lute with three strings; brought to Japan from China in the 16th century. Popular in Edo's pleasure districts, the shamisen is often used in kabuki theater. Made from red sandalwood and ranging from 1.1 to 1.4 m long, the shamisen has ivory pegs, strings made from twisted silk, and a belly covered in cat or dog skin or a synthetic skin. The strings, which are of different thickness, are plucked or struck with a tortoise shell, ivory or synthetic ivory pick. • Tonkori (トンコリ) – a plucked instrument used by the Ainu people of Hokkaidō

• Kokyū – a bowed lute with three (or, more rarely, four) strings and a skin-covered body

Japanese flutes are called fue. There are eight traditional flutes, as well as more modern creations. • Hocchiku – vertical bamboo flute • Nohkan – transverse bamboo flute used for Noh theater • Ryūteki – transverse bamboo flute used for gagaku • Kagurabue – transverse bamboo flute used for mi-kagura, Shinto ritual music) • Komabue – transverse bamboo flute used for komagaku; similar to the ryūteki • Shakuhachi – vertical bamboo flute used for Zen meditation • Shinobue – transverse folk bamboo flute • – globular flute made from clay • Bow flute (弓笛) – a flute developed by Ishida Nehito with bow hair on it to accompany the kokyū

• Hichiriki – double-reeded flute used in different kinds of music

• Shō – 17-pipe mouth organ used for gagaku • U – large mouth organ

• Horagai – seashell horn; also called jinkai

• Mukkuri (ムックリ) – jaw harp used by the Ainu people • Koukin – general name for the jaw harp, also known as the biyabon in the Edo period