Japanese Music

Music in Japan is called ongaku, which when directly translated can be taken to mean as sound for comfort. Although mostly identified nowadays by the outside world for its pop, “bubblegum” type of songs, Japanese music is essentially an eclectic combination of musical influences from all over the world. Much as it is steeped in local tradition and history, the scales, instruments and styles however were borrowed and loosely adapted from neighboring countries such as China, Korea and Indonesia and has evolved to integrate Western musical styles such as jazz, rock, ska and reggae.

There is a definitive emphasis on words rather than the instrumentation and one East Asian musical scholar has attributed this to the Japanese “love for storytelling and preoccupation with ritual.” Some examples of this would be the shomyo, or Buddhist chanting and the Japanese folk songs or min’yo. There are all sorts of min’yo but can be generally categorized according to occasions when they are sung. There are work songs, religious songs, songs used during special gatherings like weddings, funerals and celebrations and songs for children or lullabies. These songs are most often passed or transmitted through family generations. One old form of traditional music coming from the Ainu people in northern Japan would be the yukar, or mimicry – a form of epic poetry or epics in songs.

Most Japanese music genres even up to the present make use of the shamisen, or a three-stringed musical instrument most commonly referred to as the Japanese guitar. In kouta, or short songs typically sung by geisha and nagauta or long songs as those performed in Japanese theatres noh and kabuki, the shamisen provides the backbone for instrumentation. An evolution from the jiuta or the earthy, classical style of shamisen music and developed by blind musicians Shirakawa Gunpachiro and Takahashi Chikuzan is the tsugaru-jamisen where there is more free improvisation and flashy fingerwork on the instrument.

Another instrument most often used in Japanese music is the taiko, or the Japanese drum. This percussion instrument dates as far back as the 6th and 7th centuries, and during periods of war was used mainly to keep the enemies at bay and to communicate commands to the warriors. The taiko comes in various sizes and is usually an integral part of the musical ensembles especially during festivals. There are other traditional Japanese instruments like the biwa, a short-necked fretted lute; the ryuteki, a flute made of bamboo and used in gagaku which is the style of music associated to the Japanese Imperial Court; the kokyu, a string instrument played with a bow which has a shape, sound and fabrication unique to Japan unlike the shamisen. The kokyu has even figured in non-traditional genres such as Japanese jazz and blues.

Developments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries opened the ears of the Japanese people to new genres such as the enka, the Japanese version of American melodramatic country ballads, Western pop or kayokyoku. Kayokyoku later on evolved to J-pop or Japanese pop - a style with a more definitive Western influence. With rock and roll sweeping the whole world in the 1960s and 1970s, J-rock or Japanese rock invaded the Japanese music scene as well. More noteworthy however is how Western classical music and jazz has flourished in Japan to the point where the country has produced several famous musicians like Sadao Watanabe for jazz, composer Toru Takemitsu and conductor Seiji Ozawa. Japan is also identified as one of the most important markets for these types of music.