Hichiriki is played for gagaku (Japanese court music)

Hichiriki is a double reed instrument and called one of the three major instruments for gagaku, Japanese court music. 

Reed needs to put tea before playing

It needs to put the reed into the warm tea before attaching the body in order to open blow hole. 

It produces a unique sound

It produces loud sounds that you cannot be expected. It uses a playing technique called enbai (a kind of portamento) and changes it by breath and depth of the reed in the mouth. 

Why don't you play hichiriki for popular music?

There are instructional books for players who want to play popular music with hichiriki. 

Let's play hichiriki! 

Sho (Hosho)

Sho is one of the three major wind instruments in gagaku (Japanese court music) . It is made of the 17 bamboo sticks and the matal reeds and blow part. It produces the sound like heaven. In the gagaku world, it represents "heaven".

Hichiriki

Also, hichiriki is one of the three major wind instruments in gagaku. It is made of the main part (originally made of bamboo) and the blow part (made of reed). It produces the ethnic sound that reminds Asia. In the gagaku world, it represents "human".

Ryuteki

As well as sho and hichiriki, ryuteki is one of the three major wind instruments in gagaku. It is originally made of bamboo and said that the origin of the Japanese transverse flute. It produces the clear and high pitch sound. In the gagaku world, it represents "sky between heaven and human". Literally, a Japanese word of "ryuteki" means "dragon flute".

Hichiriki is one of the wind instruments for the Japanese court music (gagaku). We uploaded some photos of it. The sounds of the hichiriki is the melody part of gagaku music. It has more Asian taste sounds than other wind instruments for the Japanese court music.  

It attracted attention in last year to be introduced by Japanese famous TV show with the musician. He played the popular music with the hichiriki in the program and many Japanese people found how beautiful this traditional musical instrument sounds. It might require some practice to make sounds but it's interesting to play popular songs with this small traditional instrument. 

Bamboo Hichiriki

https://taiko-shop.com/collections/gagaku/products/bamboo-hichiriki