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03.01 Asian horns by David Badagnani

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Jarmo Saarikko edited this page Jul 6, 2026 · 1 revision

This page reproduces and organizes information originally shared by David Bagnani on Facebook. It is preserved here as research notes for the development of the SEKO vocabulary. The information should be independently verified before being used as authority data. Source https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10159500206920562.1073741866.870535561&type=3

About D. Badagnani

Asian horns

Images and accompanying documentation regarding horns used as traditional musical instruments in Asia. In Asia, traditional horns have been used for millennia and come in several forms.

Generic terms:

● Jiao (角, literally "horn") or dajiao - (大角, literally "large horn") - the earliest Chinese term to describe such instruments, referred originally to a trumpet made from an animal horn (shoujiao, 兽角), which was used in military contexts since the Eastern Han Dynasty; eventually the term also came to be used as a generic term for horns made from other materials such as wood, bamboo, leather, seashell, copper, or brass.

● Tongjiao (铜角, literally "copper horn" or "brass horn") and chuijin (吹金, literally "blown copper/metal") - used in older sources to refer to many of the copper or brass horns described below, regardless of shape. During the Northern Qi Dynasty, three different varieties of tongjiao were used, differentiated by their color: the chijiao (赤角, red horn, played for kings), the qingjiao (青角, green or blue horn, played for provincial governors), and heijiao (黒角, black horn, played for municipal leaders).

● Hujiao - (胡角, literally [western] barbarian horn) - referred in earlier times to horns made of wood, metal, or another material in imitation of an animal horn, used by non-Han peoples, particularly those to China's west and north.

Specific terms:

  1. Niujiaohao (牛角号) - trumpet made from the horn of a cow or water buffalo; still used by Chinese minority groups of southern and southwest China such as the Lisu and Yao; in the context of Daoist ritual the same instrument (which may also be made of rhinoceros horn or metal in imitation of an animal horn) is called longjiao (龙角, literally "dragon horn"), jiao (角, "horn"), haijiao (海角, "sea horn"), lingjiao (灵角, "spirit horn"), haojiao (号角, "horn"), or jiaodi (角笛, "horn-flute").

  2. Changming (长鸣, literally "long sound-issuing [device]") and zhongming (中鸣, literally "medium[-length] sound-issuing [device]") - longer and shorter curved horns, possibly made of bronze or copper, played either with the bell pointed upward or with the instrument facing downward and to the side; these were used roughly between the Jin Dynasty (晋朝, 265-420) and the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589).

  3. Hailuo (海螺), also called hailuo hao (海螺号), luohao (螺号), luojiao (螺角), faluo (法螺), or fanbei (梵贝) - a conch or triton shell, usually used for ritual purposes in Buddhist ceremonies; in South Korea it is called nagak (나각 / 螺角), in Japan it is called horagai (法螺貝) or jinkai (陣貝), and in Tibetan it is called dung-kar or dung-dkar (དུང་དཀར་, literally "white conch").

  4. Laba (喇叭) - a straight metal horn with narrow conical bore and flared bell, borrowed originally from Central Asia. This instrument is also called changjian (长尖); dahao (大号), laowengzui (老嗡嘴), daganhao (大杆号), Penglai daganhao (蓬莱大杆号), zhaojun (招军), xianfeng (先锋), or haojiao (号角) in Shandong folk tradition; jianzi hao (尖子号) in Puyang daping diao opera of Henan; sàu-kak (哨角; Mandarin: shaojiao) in Taiwan; changhao (长号, literally "long horn") in the Shaanbei region of northern Shaanxi and among minority groups in Guizhou; guoshanhao (过山号, literally "across-the-mountains horn") among minority groups in Yunnan; and Hanhao (汉号) among the Tujia ethnic group of Chongqing. In official sources of the Qing Dynasty it is called xiao tongjiao (小铜角, literally "small brass horn"). Interestingly, the Chinese term "laba" is a borrowing from Mongolian "labai" (ᠯᠠᠪᠠᠢ), meaning “sea shell," "conch," or "conch trumpet”; this Mongolian term is itself a borrowing from Middle Chinese luɑ pɑiH (螺貝), meaning "shell," "conch," or "conch trumpet." In South Korea the equivalent instrument is called nabal (나발 / 喇叭).

  5. Haotou (号头) - a J-shaped metal horn with flared bell, usually made of brass or copper. In official sources of the Qing Dynasty it was referred to as wan tongjiao (弯铜角, sometimes misspelled as "湾铜角"). Arthur Moule (1908) states that it could also be called zhajiao (札角), laba (喇叭, in Beijing), wanhaotou (弯号头, in Hangzhou; "wan" 弯 meaning "bend," "curve," or "crook"), or hao (号, in Shandong).

  6. Haotong (号筒), referred to in official sources of the Qing Dynasty as da tongjiao (大铜角) or dahao (大号) - a straight metal horn with long straight-sided "bell"; in Shanxi this instrument is also referred to as da weng hao (大瓮号)

  7. Huajiao (画角, literally "painted horn") - a painted straight horn, usually made of wood, which first appears in Chinese literature in the Liang Dynasty (502-587), one of the Northern and Southern Dynasties; although iconographic depictions of this instrument are rare its use continued through the Ming Dynasty.

  1. Dungchen (དུང་ཆེན།; called tongqin, 铜钦 or 筒钦, in Chinese) or da fahao (大法号) - long copper horn used as a ceremonial instrument in Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism, usually played in pairs

  1. Gangdong (刚洞), called kangling (རྐང་གླིང།) in Tibetan (gangling, 冈令, in Chinese); also called fahao (法号) - a short ritual trumpet made of bone or metal with the bell end in the shape of the head of a makara (mythological sea creature), used in lama temples of the Tibetan, Mongolian, and Han ethnicities

  2. Liuli laba (琉璃喇叭) - a straight horn made of blown glass. Also called pupudeng'er (噗噗噔儿), daoyeqi (倒掖气), bubudeng (步步登 or 不不登), pupudeng (扑扑噔), or xianghulu (响葫芦). Thanks to Mr. Lin Chiang-san for sharing detailed historical information about many of these instruments.

More information:

YouTube video playlist featuring videos of Asian horns:

The monolingual SEKO vocabulary at Finto.fi : SEKO - Suomalainen esityskokoonpanosanasto

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