Day 2 of Hotsui Matsuri 2026: Traditional Instruments-

Welcome back to Hotsui Matsuri and welcome back to You Can’t Know! Today for Hotsui Matsuri, I’m going to be highlighting one of my favorite things: Japanese Traditional Instruments. Today, I’m going to be introducing you to four new traditional instruments. Unlike other installments of this series (links at the bottom), this one has a theme and that theme is kabuki theater. So all of the following instruments are played in kabuki performances.

Dora – No, not the explorer. The Dora is a standing bronze gong. The kind you imagine when you imagine a gong. It’s within a wooden frame and you strike it with a mallet for its long, droning tones. The dora is used in Kabuki Theater as well as Buddhism practices.

Uchiwa Daiko – If you’re familiar with this blog series, you’re familiar with the term daiko which tends to represent drum/percussion instruments. The uchiwa daiko is a handheld drum made by stretching skin over a round frame that has a handle. It is played by striking it with a smaller stick. It almost resembles a tennis racket. The Uchiwa Daiko, like the Dora, is used in Kabuki performance.

Nohkhan – A wind instrument, the Nohkhan is essentially another form of a flute. This flute is made of bamboo and is described as having a smaller, short flute inside near the blowhole called a Nodo that helps it produce a high-pitched sound. The Nohkhan is also used in Kabuki Theater and is often paired with a tsuzumi beat.

Yotsudake – The Yotsudake is an interesting instrument. It counts as a percussion and is made of bamboo. It’s a kind of rectangle-shaped instrument that almost reminds me of shoulder plates from armor. There are four of these curved plates and you hold two in each hand, striking them against each other to create sound. The Yotsudake is used in traditional dance, and just like the other instruments, in Kabuki Theater.

That’s all I have for these instruments used in the kabuki theater. Part of me is shocked that I still had instruments to talk about, but there’s amazing Japanese instruments still out there. Thank you everyone for entertaining my fascination with these instruments. I hope this was a great installment of Hotsui Matsuri! We’ll see you again tomorrow where Star will introduce you to the Sacred Sake.

xoxo

Luna