HORAGAI: Japanese musical instrument

Horagai are large conch shells that have been used as trumpets for several years in Japan. The musical instruments that have served a number of functions throughout the history of japan have been given many names depending on the function. Special schools still teach the scholars how to play the traditional melody linked with the conch.

Unlike many other shell trumpets that are from other parts of the world that manufacture only one pitch, the musical instrument can manufacture three or five different notes. The various pitches of the instrument are gained with the use of bronze or wooden mouthpiece fixed to the apex of the shell’s spire. At freezing temperatures, the lips of the player could freeze to the metal surface, so wooden or bamboo mouthpieces are often used on the instrument.

The conch is often used by the Buddhist monks for religious functions. The use of the musical instrument has been traced back to at least 1,000 years, and it is still being used in the contemporary days for some rituals like the omizutori portion of the Shuni-e rites at the Tōdai-ji in Nara.

The musical instrument is specifically linked with the Yamabushi ascetic warrior monks of the Shugendo sect. the yamabushi also made use of the musical instrument to signal their presence to one another across the mountains and to accompany the chanting of the sutras.

In the war, the shell known as jinkai was one of the many signal devices that was used by the Japanese feudal warriors called samurai. A larger conch that is fitted with a bronze mouthpiece would be used. The instrument would be held in an openwork basket and played with various combinations of notes to signal troops to attack, withdraw or change tactics in the same manner a bugle was used in the west. The player of the trumpet was called a kai yaku.

The jinkai performed an analogous purpose to drums and bells in signaling troop formations, setting the rhythm for troop marching, giving something of a heroic accompaniment to inspire the troops and confusing the enemies by conjecturing that the troop numbers were large enough to need trumpeter like that.

The sound of the jinkai is usually in motion pictures and TV dramas as a symbolic sound effect indicating an impending battle.