Hayashi 囃子 refers to the music of noh performance. The hayashi ensemble of musicians is composed of three or four instrumentalists (hayashi-kata) depending on the play. Each musician specializes exclusively in one instrument. They are:
- Fue kata 笛方: flute player. Plays a transverse flute called nōkan lit. ‘noh flute’ 能笛) or simply fue (lit. ‘flute’ 笛). Flute player schools are: Issō, Morita, Fujita.
- Kotsuzumi kata 小鼓方: the small hand drum player beats a drum called kotsuzumi (lit. ‘small drum’ 小鼓) or simply tsuzumi (lit. ‘drum’ 鼓). In English, this drum is often called ‘shoulder drum’ because it is held near the right shoulder (hence the name ‘shoulder drum’) with the left hand and beat from below with the right hand. Small drum player schools are: Kō, Kōsei, Ōkura, Kanze.
- Ōtsuzumi kata 大鼓方: the large hand drum player strikes the ōtsuzumi (lit. ‘large drum’ 大鼓) or ōkawa (lit. ‘large skin’ 大皮). In English, this drum is often called ‘hip drum’ because it rests on the left thigh. It is beat from the side with the right hand. Large drum schools are: Kadono, Takayasu, Ishii, Ōkura, Kanze.
- Taiko kata 太鼓方: the stick drum player strikes the taiko (thick drum 太鼓). This is a barrel-shaped drum that is suspended horizontally from a frame and played with two sticks. The taiko plays for only a portion of a nō and only in a limited number of plays, as well as a few kyōgen plays. Stick drum schools are: Kanze, Komparu.
Musicians can be helped by assistants (hataraki), in some cases students of the musician performing in a given play. Assistants sit behind the musician and take care of handling objects such as the taiko stand, cords, or the two chairs and cushions used by the small and large drum instrumentalists.
Contributor: Diego Pellecchia