Japanese Music

Music in Japan is called ongaku, which whenShirakawa Gunpachiro and Takahashi Chikuzan is
directly translated can be taken to mean as soundthe tsugaru-jamisen where there is more free
for comfort. Although mostly identified nowadaysimprovisation and flashy fingerwork on the
by the outside world for its pop, "bubblegum"instrument. Another instrument most often used
type of songs, Japanese music is essentially anin Japanese music is the taiko, or the Japanese
eclectic combination of musical influences from alldrum. This percussion instrument dates as far
over the world. Much as it is steeped in localback as the 6th and 7th centuries, and during
tradition and history, the scales, instruments andperiods of war was used mainly to keep the
styles however were borrowed and looselyenemies at bay and to communicate commands
adapted from neighboring countries such as China,to the warriors. The taiko comes in various sizes
Korea and Indonesia and has evolved to integrateand is usually an integral part of the musical
Western musical styles such as jazz, rock, skaensembles especially during festivals. There are
and reggae. There is a definitive emphasis onother traditional Japanese instruments like the
words rather than the instrumentation and onebiwa, a short-necked fretted lute; the ryuteki, a
East Asian musical scholar has attributed this toflute made of bamboo and used in gagaku which
the Japanese "love for storytelling andis the style of music associated to the Japanese
preoccupation with ritual." Some examples of thisImperial Court; the kokyu, a string instrument
would be the shomyo, or Buddhist chanting andplayed with a bow which has a shape, sound and
the Japanese folk songs or min'yo. There are allfabrication unique to Japan unlike the shamisen.
sorts of min'yo but can be generally categorizedThe kokyu has even figured in non-traditional
according to occasions when they are sung. Theregenres such as Japanese jazz and blues.
are work songs, religious songs, songs used duringDevelopments in the late 19th and early 20th
special gatherings like weddings, funerals andcenturies opened the ears of the Japanese people
celebrations and songs for children or lullabies.to new genres such as the enka, the Japanese
These songs are most often passed orversion of American melodramatic country ballads,
transmitted through family generations. One oldWestern pop or kayokyoku. Kayokyoku later on
form of traditional music coming from the Ainuevolved to J-pop or Japanese pop - a style with a
people in northern Japan would be the yukar, ormore definitive Western influence. With rock and
mimicry - a form of epic poetry or epics in songs.roll sweeping the whole world in the 1960s and
Most Japanese music genres even up to the1970s, J-rock or Japanese rock invaded the
present make use of the shamisen, or aJapanese music scene as well. More noteworthy
three-stringed musical instrument most commonlyhowever is how Western classical music and jazz
referred to as the Japanese guitar. In kouta, orhas flourished in Japan to the point where the
short songs typically sung by geisha and nagautacountry has produced several famous musicians
or long songs as those performed in Japaneselike Sadao Watanabe for jazz, composer Toru
theatres noh and kabuki, the shamisen providesTakemitsu and conductor Seiji Ozawa. Japan is
the backbone for instrumentation. An evolutionalso identified as one of the most important
from the jiuta or the earthy, classical style ofmarkets for these types of music.
shamisen music and developed by blind musicians