Music of Japan


In Japan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese is 音楽, combining the kanji 音 on with the kanji 楽 gaku. Japan is the world's largest market for music on physical media and the second-largest overall music market, with a retail value of US$2.7 billion in 2017.

Traditional and folk music

Gagaku, hougaku

The oldest forms of traditional Japanese music are:
both of which date to the Nara and Heian periods. Gagaku classical music has been performed at the Imperial court since the Heian period. Kagura-uta, Azuma-asobi and Yamato-uta are indigenous repertories. Tōgaku allegedly resembles a Chinese Tang dynasty style; komagaku may have come from the Korean Peninsula.
In addition, gagaku subdivides into kangen and bugaku .
Samurai listened to and performed these music activities, in their practices of enriching their lives and understanding.

Biwa hōshi, Heike biwa and goze

The biwa, a form of short-necked lute, was played by a group of itinerant performers. The root of Biwa music was The Tale of the Heike. Biwa hōshi organized into a guild-like association. The biwa is Japan's traditional instrument.
Lafcadio Hearn related in his book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things "Mimi-nashi Hoichi", a Japanese ghost story about a blind biwa hōshi who performs "The Tale of the Heike".
Blind women, known as goze, toured beginning in the medieval era, sang and played accompanying music on a lap drum. From the seventeenth century they often played the koto or the shamisen. Goze organizations sprung up in many places, and existed until the 21st century in Niigata Prefecture.

Wadaiko

, a Japanese drum, comes in various sizes and is used in variety of musical genres. It has become particularly popular in recent years as the central instrument of percussion ensembles whose repertory is based on a variety of folk- and festival-music of the past. Such taiko music is played by large drum ensembles called kumi-daiko. Its origins remain uncertain, but can be traced to the 7th century, when a clay figure of a drummer documented its existence. Chinese influences followed, but the instrument and its music remained uniquely Japanese. Taiko drums during this period were used during battle to intimidate the enemy and to communicate commands. Taiko continue to be used in the religious music of Buddhism and Shintō. In the past players were holy men who played only at special occasions and in small groups, but in time secular men also played the taiko in semi-religious festivals such as the bon dance.
Modern ensemble taiko was invented by Daihachi Oguchi in 1951. A jazz drummer, Oguchi incorporated his musical background into large ensembles of his design. His energetic style made his group popular throughout Japan, and made the Hokuriku region a center for taiko music. Musical groups to arise from this wave of popularity included Oedo Sukeroku Taiko, founded by Seido Kobayashi. 1969 saw a group called Za Ondekoza; Za Ondekoza gathered young performers who innovated a new roots revival taiko, which was used as a way of life in communal lifestyles. During the 1970s the Japanese government allocated funds to preserve Japanese culture, and many community taiko groups formed. Later in the century, taiko groups spread across the world, especially to the United States. The video game Taiko no Tatsujin is based around taiko.

Min'yō folk music

Japanese folk songs can be grouped and classified in many ways but it is often convenient to think of five main categories:
  • fisherman's work song, farmer's work song
  • lullaby
  • religious songs
  • songs used for gatherings such as weddings, funerals, and festivals
  • children's songs
In min'yō, three-stringed lute known as the shamisen, taiko drums, and a bamboo flute called shakuhachi typically accompany the singers. Other instruments that could accompany include a transverse flute known as the shinobue, a bell known as kane, a hand drum called the tsuzumi, and/or a 13-stringed zither known as the koto. In Okinawa the main instrument is the sanshin. These are traditional Japanese instruments, but modern instrumentation, such as electric guitars and synthesizers, is also used in this day and age, when enka singers cover traditional min'yō songs.
An ondo generally describes any folk song with a distinctive swing that may be heard as 2/4 time rhythm. The typical folk song heard at Obon festival dances is typically an ondo. A bushi is a song with a distinctive melody. The word is rarely used on its own, but is usually prefixed by a term referring to occupation, location, personal name or the like. Bon uta are songs for Obon, the lantern festival of the dead. Komori uta are lullabies. The names of min'yo songs often include a descriptive term, usually at the end. For example: Tokyo Ondo, Kushimoto Bushi, Hokkai Bon Uta, and Itsuki no Komoriuta.
Many of these songs include extra stress on certain syllables as well as pitched shouts. Kakegoe are generally shouts of cheer but in min'yō, they are often included as parts of choruses. There are many kakegoe, though they vary from region to region. In Okinawa Min'yō, for example, the common "ha iya sasa!" appears. In mainland Japan, however, "a yoisho!," "sate!," or "a sore!" are more common. Others include "a donto koi!," and "dokoisho!"
Recently a guild-based system known as the iemoto system has been in effect in some forms of min'yō. This system originally developed for transmitting classical genres such as nagauta, shakuhachi, or koto music, but since it proved profitable to teachers and was supported by students who wished to obtain certificates of proficiency. It continues to spread to genres such as min'yō, Tsugaru-jamisen and other forms of music that were traditionally transmitted more informally. Today some min'yō are passed on in such pseudo-family organizations and long apprenticeships are common.

Okinawan folk music

, religious songs, shima uta, dance songs, and, especially kachāshī, lively celebratory music, were all popular on the island. Okinawan folk music differs from mainland Japanese folk music in several ways.
Okinawan folk music is often accompanied by the sanshin, whereas in mainland Japan the shamisen accompanies instead. Other Okinawan instruments include the sanba, taiko and a sharp finger whistle called yubi-bue.
A pentatonic scale is often used in min'yō from the main islands of Japan. In this pentatonic scale the subdominant and leading tone are omitted, resulting in a musical scale with no half steps between each note.. Okinawan min'yō, however, uses scales that include the half-steps omitted in the aforementioned pentatonic scale, when analyzed in the Western discipline of music. In fact, the most common scale used in Okinawan min'yō includes scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Traditional instruments

Japanese blues/Enka

After the Meiji Restoration introduced Western musical instruction, Shuji Isawa compiled songs like "Auld Lang Syne" for use in public education. Two major forms of music that developed during this period were shōka, which was composed to bring western music to schools, and gunka.
As Japan moved towards representative democracy in the late 19th century, leaders hired singers to sell copies of songs that aired their messages, since the leaders themselves were usually prohibited from speaking in public.
The 1947 hit song performed by Shizuko Kasagi epitomized new-found optimism after the end of the war, and Kayōkyoku became a major industry, especially after the arrival of superstar Misora Hibari, once known as 'Baby Kasagi'. In the 1950s, tango and other kinds of Latin music, especially Cuban music, became very popular. A distinctively Japanese form of cha-cha-chá called emerged in the 1960s. Kayōkyoku became associated with traditional Japanese structures influenced by Enka. Famous enka singers include Hibari Misora, Saburo Kitajima, Ikuzo Yoshi and Haruo Minami.

Art music

Western classical music

studied music at Bridgewater Normal School and Harvard University and was an important figure in the development of Western-influenced Japanese music in the Meiji Era. On returning to Japan in 1879, Isawa formed the Ongaku-Torishirabe-Gakari, a national research center for Western music; it was later renamed the Tokyo Music School. In 1880, Isawa's American friend and teacher, Luther Whiting Mason, accepted a two-year appointment. Kosaku Yamada, Yoshinao Nakada, and Toru Takemitsu are Japanese composers who have successively developed what is now known as Japanese Classical Music.
Western classical music established a strong presence in Japan, making the country one of the most important markets for this music tradition. Toru Takemitsu composed avant-garde music, contemporary classical music, and movie scoring.
Orchestras
Besides traditional symphony orchestras, Japan is internationally prominent in the field of wind bands. The All-Japan Band Association is the governing body for wind band competitions in the country.