Music of Japan

• Japan, also known as Nihon or Nippon, is an island nation located in the Pacific Ocean of East Asia, bordered by the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south.
• Japan is sometimes referred to as the “Land of the Rising Sun” because its name means “sun-origin.”
• Japan’s name comes from the Italian name Zipangu by Marco Polo.
• Japan is an island nation with dense cities, imperial palaces, mountainous national parks, and thousands of shrines and temples.
• Shinkansen bullet trains connect the main islands of Kyushu , Honshu, and Hokkaido.
• Tokyo, Japan’s capital, is known for skyscrapers, shopping, and pop culture.
• Music in Japanese is ongaku, with the terms “on” meaning sound, and “gaku” meaning music.
• Japan’s musical forms were from China but reshaped into Japanese styles.
• Rhythm in Japanese Music is based on a Japanese interval “ma” which starts slow, then fast, and then slow.
• Melody in Japanese Music uses the pentatonic scale.
• Timbre in Japanese Music is sung in a high tight-throated and melismatic manner.
• Harmony and texture in Japanese Music is monophonic.
• Form in Japanese Music often follows a three-part form called jo-ha-kyu.
• Shinto Music is used in worship, song, dance, and an instrument called the suzu.
• Saibara Music is sung in Chinese, and in high, tight-throated, and melismatic fashions, accompanied by an instrumental ensemble called hayashi, consisting of four instruments, namely three drums and a flute.
• The Yo Scale is used in gagaku and shomyo music, and is specifically used in folk songs.
• The In Scale, also known as the Sakura pentatonic scale, is not used in gagaku and Buddhist chanting, and uses the instruments koto and shamisen.
• The Ryo Scale sounds more like a Chinese scale.
• The Ritsu Scale sounds more like a Japanese scale.
• Gagaku Music refers to the traditional court music of Japan, which flourished during the Nara and Heian periods (710-1185).
• Gagaku Music is considered as the oldest surviving court music in some shrines and temples.
• Gagaku Music is divided into two styles: Kigaku (instrumental music) and Seigaku (vocal music).
• Gagaku Music has four categories: Kangen (instrumental ensemble composed of the wind and string instruments), Bugaku (dance music), Songs, and Ritual music of Shinto ceremonies.
• Kangen is an orchestral music and instrumental ensemble accompanying the dance in Bugaku.
• Sankyoku is an ensemble composed of three famous Japanese instruments namely the koto (zither), shamisen (lute), and shakuhachi (flute).
• Koto is a Japanese zither of 13 silk-starched strings stretched over movable bridges.
• Shamisen is one of Japan’s traditional three-stringed musical instruments.
• Biwa is a pear-shaped lute with four strings and plays both the melody and tempo.
• Shakuhachi is Japan’s vertical bamboo flute with five finger holes.
• Ryuteki is a transverse flute made of a bamboo tube with 'Utaguchi' (mouthpiece) and seven tone holes.
• Hichiriki is a Japanese oboe that is a small double-reed pipe made of bamboo with six finger holes.
• Taiko is a two-headed barrel drum and has been a part of the Japanese culture for centuries.
• Kotsuzumi is an hourglass-shaped drum which is painted black with gold decoration.
• Kakko is a side drum played on both drumheads with sticks known as bachi.
• Tsuri-daiko is a large hanging drum that is used primarily in bugaku orchestra.
• Shoko is a small gong used to mark various temporal divisions and cadence points.
• Shime-daiko is a small Japanese drum played with a stick called “bachi”.
• Jpop/Jeipoppu is a musical genre that entered the musical scene of Japan in the 1990’s.