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Hello Shakuhachi-colleages,
I'm reading an older German book about Japanese music of Ingrid Fritsch and when she talks about the Japanese tonesystem, she talks about Insen en Yosen scale's. Ichiro Seki told me lately something about the modes Insempo en Yosempo. The two explanations are somewhat fitting. Can somebody help me out, telling me if those notions mean the same thing? Can they by used simultaneously?
Dun Romin
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If I've got this correct:
Yo == Yosen == Inaka Bushi
In == Insen == Miyako Bushi
If I recall correctly, the kanji "po" in Yosenpo" that I've seen is 'steps'
The Kanji for Yo means "sunny" and "In" is "Cloudy" gives some idea of the releative feeling of the scales (or are they modes?)
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Yo is the natural notes of the shakuhachi i.e. ro, tsu, re, chi, ri. You can play songs such as "Soran Bushi" with this scale.
Insenpo is (up and down) re, u, ri, ro, tsu, re, tsu meri, ro, ri, u, re. Or same intervals based on ro or any other pitch. Note that there is tsu ascending and tsu meri on the descent. So the scale works a little differently depending on whether the melody is going up or down in pitch. Most of the sankyoku is based on this.
Speculation is that shakuhachi replaced hitoyogiri in hogaku because shakuhachi can play the insen scale and hitoyogiri can't do it well.
I don't know if they're properly termed scales or modes, maybe one of our numerous Ph.D's or Ph.D candidates can answer that one.
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For those interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode
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