ACOl ÎSTICAL INVESTIGATION Ol' TIIK JAPANESE BAMIiOO PIPE. o 



and the uj)iHr from liolc measured along tlie Iciigtl» of the j^pe 

 is c;i. O.TT) ol' I lie leiigtli occupied by the consecutive front lioles. 



Tiie iiiiinhiT of knots of a proper syakuhali must be seven. 

 ( )f these the two at tlie ends, and the one immediately below 

 tile lowest hole, i.e. about o xun from the lower end, are consi- 

 dered very important for giving strength to the pipe and for 

 insuring the ]")ro[)er tuning. The latter, on this account, has 

 received the s})ecial name, (jorobusi ik'tween tliis knot and the 

 lower end, two or three knots are required. According to the 

 natural distribution of knots in the bamboo plant, the distances 

 between consecutive knots increase toward the U2:)per end of the 

 pipe. In the traditional form of the syahuhali, the distances 

 between consecutive knots, excluding those situated between the 

 f/orobusi and the lower end, must form a harmonic series of o, 

 1, ~) and () sun, making 18 in all. Such an ideal form is rarely 

 met with. Also the fact that the two ends must correspond to 

 knots, greatly restricts the choice of the bamboo. To obviate this 

 difficulty, an improvement has recently been made which consists 

 in joining up the i»ipe from two separable halves. This modi- 

 lication alters the (juality of the i)ipe in no sensible way. 



The lower jtart of the pipe usually bends forward with a slight 

 curvature. The most conspicuous featuie of the instrument is 

 the embouchure. It is called the utaguli («/rt = song ; katl^mowûi) 



as in other wind instruments of the 

 kind. A })art of the thick wall in 

 front of the upper end is beveleil 

 '^^'"^'' with a plane making an angle of 



about ?yif with the downward direc- 

 tion of the length, so that a portion 

 of the inner wall forms u shai'p 



