Ōtsuzumi

The ōtsuzumi is a member of the plucked idiophones (Hornbostel–Sachs 1.222). Learn how it makes its sound and explore related instruments.

How the ōtsuzumi makes its sound

In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the ōtsuzumi belongs to the plucked idiophones (lamellophones): flexible tongues or lamellae are plucked – the mbira, kalimba, music box and jaw harp.

More broadly it is one of the idiophones, where the solid body of the instrument itself vibrates, without strings or a stretched membrane.

Its timbre – the colour that lets you tell it apart from other instruments playing the same note – comes from the mix of overtones its body and resonator emphasise.

From Wikipedia

The ōtsuzumi (大鼓), also known as the ōkawa (大皮), is an hourglass-shaped Japanese drum. It is a larger version of the tsuzumi, or kotsuzumi, and is used in traditional Japanese theater and folk music. Its appearance is slightly different from that of the tsuzumi, and the sound produced is vastly different from any of the four sounds the kotsuzumi produces. Whereas the kotsuzumi is smaller and has a more ornate drum head, the ōkawa is larger, and its head takes on a more plain, leathery appearance. The sound is also higher and sharper in pitch, resembling more of a dry, almost metallic "crack" than the tsuzumi's softer "pon" sound. The hourglass structure is slightly bigger, and has a prominent protruding "knob" at the middle, unlike that of the kotsuzumi, which has a smoothened-out middle section. The heads of the drum are taut very tightly, leaving no room for further tension, and acoustic, adjustments. The ōkawa is played on the left thigh of the player, possibly due to its larger, heavy size, whereas the tsuzumi is played upon the right shoulder.