Kane (instrument)

A atarigane or kane or chanchiki (当たり鉦 or 鉦 or チャンチキ) (ja:鉦鼓(en:Shōko (instrument)) or ja:摺鉦) [kane] is a type of dish-shaped bell from Japan.

The atarigane (当たり鉦) is often found in traditional Japanese music or min'yō. Although sometimes suspended from a bar, it is more common for a musician to hold the bell in place with one hand beat it with the other using a special mallet called a shumoku (撞木) or kane yō bachi (鉦用バチ), often made from bone.^[1] The kane makes three distinct sounds: chan - hitting the middle; chi - hitting the inside edge; and ki - reversing the stroke. This kind of onomatopoeic mnemonic or Kuchi shōga is common in Japanese music.^[1] There are several sizes of kane, such as the atarigane or the surigane^{[citation needed]}.

Kane are also used in Buddhist or Shinto ceremonies. In temples, they may be used to signify time or alert people to certain events.

See also

• Bonshō
• Japanese bells
• Shōko (instrument)
• Suzu