View source for Horagai

{{Short description|Japanese conch shells used as trumpets}}
{{see also|Conch (instrument)}}
{{Refimprove|date=December 2010}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
[[File:Antique Japanese horagi (conch shell trumpet).JPG|300px|thumb|right|Japanese horagai, a conch shell used for religious purposes or as a [[signal instrument|signal]] for [[samurai]]]]
'''''Horagai''''' ({{lang|ja|[[wiktionary:法|法]][[wiktionary:螺|螺]][[wiktionary:貝|貝]]|}}) (or '''''jinkai''''' {{lang|ja|[[wiktionary:陣|陣]][[wiktionary:貝|貝]]|}}) are large [[conch shell]]s, usually from ''[[Charonia tritonis]]'', that have been used as [[trumpet]]s in Japan for many centuries. The instrument, which has served a number of purposes throughout [[Japanese history]], has been given a number of Japanese names depending on its function. Special schools still teach students to play the traditional music associated with the conch.

==Instrument==
Unlike most shell trumpets from other parts of the world which produce only one pitch, the Japanese ''hora'' or ''horagai'' can produce three or five different notes. The different pitches are achieved using a bronze or wooden mouthpiece attached to the apex of the shell's spire. At freezing temperatures (often encountered in the mountainous regions of Japan) the lips may freeze to the metal surface, so wooden or bamboo mouthpieces are used.

[[File:Horagai - Mount Takao - 2016 3 13.webm|thumb|300px|Horagai being used in a Shugendō ceremony, 2016]]
==Historical usage==

===Religion===
The conch is used by [[Japanese Buddhism|Buddhist]] monks for religious purposes. Its use goes back at least{{citation needed|date=March 2011}} 1,000 years, and it is still used today for some rituals, such as the ''[[omizutori]]'' (water drawing) portion of the [[Shuni-e]] rites at the [[Tōdai-ji]] in [[Nara, Nara|Nara]]. Each Shugendō school has his own conch shell melodies.

The ''hora'' is especially associated with the ''[[Yamabushi]]'', [[ascetic]] monks of the [[Shugendō]] tradition. The ''[[yamabushi]]'' used the trumpet to signal their presence (or movements) to one another across mountains and to accompany the chanting of [[sutra]]s.

===Military===
In war, the shell, called ''jinkai'', or "war shell", was one of several [[Commons:Category:Samurai signal devices|signal devices]] used by Japanese feudal warriors known as [[samurai]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8n9A-jWUhHMC&dq=samurai+horagai&pg=PA106 ''Warriors of Medieval Japan'', Stephen Turnbull, Osprey Publishing, 2007 P.106]</ref> A large conch would be used and fitted with a bronze (or wooden) mouthpiece. It would be held in an [[openwork]] basket and blown with a different combination of "notes" to signal troops to attack, withdraw, or change strategies, in the same way a [[bugle]] or [[flugelhorn]] was used in the west. The trumpeter was called a ''kai yaku'' ([[wiktionary:貝|貝]][[wiktionary:役|役]]).

The ''jinkai'' served a similar function to [[taiko|drums]] and bells in signaling troop formations, setting a rhythm for marching, providing something of a heroic accompaniment to encourage the troops and confusing the enemy by inferring that the troop numbers were large enough to require such trumpeters. Many ''[[daimyō]]s'' (feudal lords) enlisted ''yamabushi'' to serve as ''kai yaku'', due to their experience with the instrument.

The sound of ''jinkai'' is often used in motion pictures and television dramas as a symbolic sound effect indicating an impending battle, e.g., ''[[The Last Samurai]]'' or the 2007 [[Taiga drama]] ''[[Fūrinkazan]]'', but both of these screen renditions use deep, resonating monotones, not the melodic tones that ''yamabushi'' used for relaying messages.

==See also==
{{commons category|Horagai}}
*[[Conch (instrument)|Conch (musical instrument)]]
*[[Nagak]], a similar shell horn used in Korea
*[[Shankha]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Clark, Mitchell (2005). ''Sounds of the Silk Road: Musical Instruments of Asia''. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts Publications.
*Turnbull, Stephen (2002). ''War in Japan: 1467–1615''. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d483hmueNE A video of a priest playing a horagai (YouTube)]
* [https://www.shugendo-austria.org/symbolik/horagai/ Examples of different Notes of Horagai from the Yamabushi Christian Grübl (Austria)]

{{Natural horns}}
{{Traditional Japanese musical instruments}}
{{Japanese (samurai) weapons, armour and equipment}}

[[Category:Military communication in feudal Japan]]
[[Category:Japanese musical instruments]]
[[Category:Natural horns and trumpets]]
[[Category:Samurai weapons and equipment]]
[[Category:Seashells in art]]
[[Category:Mollusc products]]

[[ja:法螺貝]]