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Japanese Traditional Music

    Japanese traditional music, which developed in close relation with drama, dance, and other arts, is characterized by a predominance of vocal over instrumental music.

An ensemble of koto (zither) and shakuhachi (end-blown flute) players.

The three-stringed shamisen was widely used both in popular and chamber music during the Edo period.

Gagaku

    Gagaku, the ancient court music of Japan, is played by an ensemble of Japanese wind, string, and percussion instruments, including the yokobue (a transverse flute), the sho (a cylindrical, standing instrument made from 17 bamboo tubes, each having a single reed), the so (a 13-stringed plucked instrument that is the predecessor of the popular Japanese koto, which is similar to a zither), the biwa (a pear-shaped instrument with four strings), and taiko (drums). Gagaku is divided into instrumental, dance, and recitative music. Though it resembles a Western-style orchestra, the central element of the gagaku ensemble is its wind section.

The music of noh

    Noh is a classical theatrical form that has its origins in the fourteenth century. A noh troupe consists of the tachikata, performers who don masks, act, and dance, and the hayashikata, musicians who are in charge of beating time and intensifying the emotional atmosphere of the play. The noh wind and percussion ensemble comprises the nokan (a vertical flute) and tsuzumi (small hand drums). Before striking a beat on their instruments, the drummers voice swooping shouts. The emphasis on timing is one of the characteristics of Japanese traditional music.

The development of common people's music

    Gagaku was the music of the nobility, and noh was patronized by the samurai. During the seventeenth century, when Japan entered a long period of isolation, there developed a music of the common people, represented by the shamisen (a three-stringed plucked instrument) and the koto. The shamisen is used to accompany joruri, narrative pieces that emphasize the lyrics over the melody, and nagauta, songs primarily concerned with the melody. The music of string instruments like the shamisen and the koto, as well as the shakuhachi (a vertical bamboo flute), was fostered by an artistic sensibility quite different from that which gave rise to Western music for the violin and cello or for the flute and other woodwind instruments.

Folk songs
    Japanese folk songs are classified according to the situation in which they are sung or the function of the song. The first main category consists of labor songs, including rice-planting, grass-cutting, and other songs related to agriculture, songs related to fishing, and songs related to transportation, such as boatmen's and herdsmen's songs. A second category includes songs for festivals and celebrations, such as songs to welcome the gods before religious rituals, songs to accompany the bridal procession to the house of the groom, and New Year's songs. A third category consists of lullabies and other children's songs.
    The shamisen and the shakuhachi are sometimes used to accompany these folk songs. Major changes in customs and lifestyle in recent decades have weakened the social foundation of folk songs, however, and they are now performed mainly by professional folk singers and continued as an artistic genre rather than as an essential part of the people's life.