Sunday, May 31, 2009 The conch shell

The conch shell is blown like a trumpet. It has a couple of other Japanese names like horagai or jinkai, depending on its function. The conch shell is used by Buddhist monks for religious purposes. It has a history of more than a thousand years and is still used today. Sometimes, it is used for rituals like the omizutori part of Shuni-e rituals.

The conch shell has only one pitch, unlike the Japanese horagai, which can produce 3 to 4 notes. The tone produced becomes deeper and longer as the size of shell increases. For some reason, the process of the making of the conch shell is kept secret. In cold weathers, especially in the mountains of Japan, the conch shell players’ lips may freeze to the metal surface. That is why most of them prefer bamboo mouthpieces.

In times of war, the conch shell, or in this case known as jinkai (‘war-shell’) is used as a signalling trumpet. It wpuld be blown in a different combination of ‘notes’ to signal the army to attack, withdraw or change strategies. The jinkai player is known as the kai yaku.