Beyond the Classroom: Japan

 For my blog, I decided to dive into the depths of Japanese music and culture. Going into this I knew absolutely nothing about the topic, so this was quite interesting for me to research. 

Brief History 

I found a good bit of information on the history/origin of Japanese music. To sum it up, Chinese music had a great influence on the music and instruments that were in Japan. The oldest Japanese folk music, being one of the results of China’s influence, also called Traditional Japanese music contains two of the oldest types of folk music. “shōmyō, or Buddhist chanting, and gagaku, or theatrical court music.” (History of Japanese Music) 

Shômyô - Buddhist liturgical chants, Shingon sect (Japan)

“Shōmyō is a ritual music sung in a Buddhist ceremony by a group of Buddhist monks” (History of Japanese Music). The other form, gagaku, is the oldest form of traditional music in Japan. It accounts for two types of music: Kigaku (instrumental) and Seigaku (vocal). There are several other forms and subcategories, but it would take a much longer blog for me to cover them all. 

Instruments 

The instruments, along with the music, came from China and were adapted. The three main instruments used to play Japanese music are: The Shamisen, Shakuhachi, and the Koto. 

The Koto is a big wood instrument with moveable bridges to adjust pitch and is played with finger picks. “Of these traditional instruments, the koto is probably the most familiar and popular.” (History of Japanese Music) 

                                
                            Koto Performance

The Shakuhachi is a bamboo flute.

 

The Shamisen is a three-stringed instrument with a thin neck and rectangular body. 

There are quite a few traditional Japanese artists, below is a group called The Nenes. They perform folk songs, whilst wearing traditional costumes and using traditional instruments. 

                                The Nenes 

Modern Japanese Music 

In modern times, outside of folk music, there are plenty of genres to explore. Such as JPop, JRock, JSynth, etc. Jpop, by far, is the greatest selling genre, it's influenced by western music and has taken off.  This genre accounts for several types of different sounds, “Whilst plenty of bands have the classic cutesy, ‘bubble-gum’ sound, others are more on the edgy, dance, R&B or funk spectrum.”  

While researching, I stumbled upon a few noteworthy artists that are popular today. 

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu She was dubbed the lady gaga of Japan 

AKB48 The top-selling JPop band 

Hatsune Miku “Japan’s virtual pop star”  

Work Cited