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Percussion slab
Vernacular name:Gyoban
Vernacular name:Han
Date: 1600-1867 ca.
Place Made:Japan, Asia
Serial No: none
Signednone
Markingsnone
DescriptionMade from a solid piece of softwood. Edo Period.
Fish-shaped percussion slab carved from a single piece of softwood. Gyo ban, one of several instruments that served as signals to regulate the daily lives of monks, were traditionally hung in the bathing rooms of Zen temple monasteries. This example was once lacquered red, black, and gold. The up-turned lips hold a ball, symbolic of human desire, which is figuratively expelled each time the gyo ban is played. Struck with a wooden mallet.
Fish-shaped percussion slab carved from a single piece of softwood. Gyo ban, one of several instruments that served as signals to regulate the daily lives of monks, were traditionally hung in the bathing rooms of Zen temple monasteries. This example was once lacquered red, black, and gold. The up-turned lips hold a ball, symbolic of human desire, which is figuratively expelled each time the gyo ban is played. Struck with a wooden mallet.
DimensionsLength: 1524 mm (5 feet)
Weight: 75 pounds
Weight: 75 pounds
ProvenanceBefore 1994, previously owned by Artisans, an antique shop in Mentone, Alabama, who found it in Chicago.
Terms
Credit Line: Purchase funds gift of Toshiba America Information Systems, 1994
Not on view
Published ReferencesWilliam P. Malm, Japanese Music and Musical Instruments 1959.
David Hughs, “Han,” New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments Vol. 2 (1984), p. 122.
André P. Larson, “Japanese Fish a Highlight . . . 1994 Acquisitions Include Rare Pianos, Harp, Woodwinds,” The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 22, No. 2 (January 1995), pp. 1-6.
David Hughs, “Han,” New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments Vol. 2 (1984), p. 122.
André P. Larson, “Japanese Fish a Highlight . . . 1994 Acquisitions Include Rare Pianos, Harp, Woodwinds,” The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 22, No. 2 (January 1995), pp. 1-6.
Object number: 05788