Percussion slab
Date1600-1867 ca.
Place MadeJapan, Asia
Serial No.none
SignednoneMarkingsnone
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.
DimensionsLength: 1524 mm (5 feet)
Weight: 75 pounds
ProvenanceBefore 1994, previously owned by Artisans, an antique shop in Mentone, Alabama, who found it in Chicago.
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.
Credit LinePurchase funds gift of Toshiba America Information Systems, 1994
Object number05788
On View
Not on view
1900-1959 ca.
1960 ca.
1870 ca.
1985-1999 ca.