Kunkunshi

The kunkunshi notation for the folk song "Asadoya Yunta."

• Japanese: 工工四 (kunkunshii)

Kunkunshi is the style of musical notation used for playing the Okinawan three-stringed sanshin, and elsewhere in Okinawan music.

History

Kunkunshi is believed to have been first developed by a musician by the name of Mongaku (1682-1753), or by his student Yakabi Chôki (1716-1775). However, it only became standardized and used widely beginning in the last decades of the 19th century, or in the early 20th century.

Though the notation system bears similarities to numerous notation systems used in China and Japan, including the separate and distinct notation systems used for shamisen and koto, kunkunshi is believed to be most closely based on the Chinese system of gongchipu, with one major difference. Whereas gongchipu notation indicates actual pitches, and is thus applicable to any instrument, kunkunshi is a tablature system applicable only to the sanshin.

Notation

The notation consists of columns of boxes, read from top to bottom, and right to left, just as in traditional Japanese texts. Kanji are used to denote each specific note. For example, when playing the open strings, without any fingering on the neck, the notes (from lowest to highest) are called ai, shi, kô (合・四・工). As fingering is added, the notes played on the bottom string, known as the miijiru (女絃), which plays the highest notes, include go, roku, shichi, and hachi (五・六・七・八); the middle string, or nakajiru (中絃), plays jô, chû, shaku (上・中・尺); and the top string, the wuujiru (男絃), which plays the lowest notes on the instrument, includes notes designated by the kanji otsu and rô (乙・老).

Most notes are of the same length as one another, one note per box, one note played after one another at a constant tempo (the speed of that tempo depends on the song). Often, a note will be played quickly and softly between two "standard" notes; these are called kubanchi and are denoted with a kanji written smaller, and on the line between boxes. Notes are typically always played in a downstroke manner; upstrokes are called kaki utu and are denoted by a 90-degree angle drawn to the top right of the kanji. Another common technique, which is a key component of the sanshin's distinctive sound, is the hammer-on, called uchi utu in Okinawan; the left hand strikes the appropriate point for the fingering of that note, but the right hand does not play it. Slides (uchi urushi) and notes played together (chiri bichi) are uncommon, but when they occur, are denoted by a straight vertical line connecting the two notes, either to the left for slides, or on the right for chiri bichi.

The Nomura-ryû school of classical uta-sanshin (song and sanshin) uses a system of notation for vocal pitches as well, but outside of Nomura-ryû, vocal notation is not particularly common.

References

• Nomura-ryû Ongaku Kyôkai Kunkunshi Notation Guide.