Research of Resonance in Mt. Hiko

We went to climb Mt. Hiko in the north of Ukiha, led by our friend Everett, a photographic artist who lives in a hermitage there practicing Shugendo. 

The purpose of our visit this time was to go to the spot where a temple is built on the side of a cliff next to a parabola-shaped rock wall, and see how this unique topographical condition affects resonance of sounds.

As a result, we reached a conclusion that the chord which travels the furthest in Hikosan was A-flat minor - which was really intriguing, as that was how most of Japanese traditional instruments are tuned. 

Perhaps the shell horn (horagai) used by Shugendo pilgrims are made to make this specific sound best? And would this central tone be different in other mountains? 

Discovering all these curious hypothesis, the three spontaneously played a song which started off like a Japanese old folk song and gradually became something of a Mt. Hiko Rocky Blues. 

It became a good research example of a multi-disciplinary art program interacting with nature.

英彦山に住むアメリカ人写真家 Everettに率いられて音の響きのリサーチをしました。

お堂でお参りをしてから、11秒ほど続く山彦と、半円形のパラボラ型になっている岩の反響を実験。

発見の一つは、Ab m（エーフラットマイナー: 変イ単調）の階調が一番遠くまでよく響くということ。そして、法螺貝や太鼓や龍笛みたいな、日本の楽器が一番音が通るだろうという推測でした。

山による階調に違いはあるのか？

山伏の持つ法螺貝は、このキーが一番出やすいサイズであり、チューニングになっているようだ。

日本の「音楽」は、何かを表現するというよりも、山やその場の自然と響き合うためのものなのかもしれない。

…など、連想的に仮説が膨らむ調査となりました。