MUSIC OF
JAPAN
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TRADITIONAL EAST
ASIAN MUSIC
Japanese Music - Traditional Japanese music is meditative. Its performance is highly
ritualized, as much in the music itself, as in the composure of the musicians when
performing it. It is usually about religious festivals, work, dance, love, and regional
songs. Audiences are looking for this self-mastery in musicians. This is the reason why
music has become highly ritualized. Musicians must show this spiritual self-mastery in
their performance and composure.
• Japanese music has two basic types of scales. These are the male scale called yo-sen and the female scale
known as in-sen. The in-sen scale, which contains minor notes, is used specifically in music for the koto
and shamisen and is contrasted with the yo-sen scale, which does not contain minor notes.
ELEMENTS OF JAPANESE MUSIC
• Tempo (begin with a slower pace and gets
faster and gets slower again)
• Pitch/ Tonal System
>Yo-sen ( Hard Mode/ Male Scale)
>In-sen ( Soft Mode/ Female Scale)
• Texture and Rhythm (Monophonic)
THREE TYPES OF TRADITIONAL
JAPANESE MUSIC
1.Court Music
is a type of Japanese classical music that
has been performed at the Imperial Court in
Kyoto since the 7th century. Today, it is
performed by the Board of Ceremonies in
the Tokyo Imperial Palace
THREE TYPES OF TRADITIONAL
JAPANESE MUSIC
2. Instrumental Music
Known as Kigaku, and vocal
music known as Seigaku
THREE TYPES OF TRADITIONAL
JAPANESE MUSIC
3. Theatrical Music
Japan has several theatrical forms of drama in which
music plays a significant role. The main forms are
kabuki and noh.
Noh music is played by an instrumental ensemble called hayashi-kata . The instruments
used are the taiko stick drum, a big hourglass-shaped drum called the ōtsuzumi
Kabuki is a type of Japanese theatre known for its highly stylized dancing and singing
as well as the elaborate make-up worn by the predominately all-male cast.
SOLO INSTRUMENTAL
PIECES
Sokyoku
- is usually played with the koto.
Rokudan-no-shirabe
- considered as the oldest kind of koto
piece but became popular in shamisen with
three style variations.
EXAMPLES OF ENSEMBLE
INSTRUMENTAL PIECES
A. KANGEN – this ensemble means “wind and
string instruments.”
B. SANKYOKU – this chamber ensemble
consists of three famous Japanese musical
instruments: Koto, Shamisen, and
Shakuhachi.
JAPANESE MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS
CHORDOPHONES
KOTO
A 13-stringed
zither, played
using the
thumb and
first two
fingers of the
right hand.
BIWA
A short
neck lute
used to
accompany
puppet play
in Gagaku.
SHAMISEN
A long slender three –
stringed plucked lute and
covered with animal skin.
WAGON
This is a six-string koto
with a trapezoidal shape.
AEROPHONES
RYUTEKI
It has a seven-holed
transverse flute
made of bamboo.
SHAKUHACHI
A bamboo flute with
four finger holes.
SHO
A mouthpiece
organ similar to
the Chinese
Sheng.
A seven-holed double reed
instrument made of
bamboo.
HICHIRIKI
MEMBRANOPHONES
SHIMEDAIKO
A small Japanese drum, it is named with a
stick named Bachi.
TAIKO
It is also used in Kangen.
KAKKO
An instrument used in Gagaku and is
made up of deer skin.
SHOKO
A small gong used in also in Kangen
ensemble.
• According to a traditional theory, yo-sen is a pentatonic scale which used in Japanese music
including gagaku and shomyo. The yo-sen scale is used specifically in folksongs and early
popular songs. The yo-sen scale is described as ‘bright’ sounding.
JAPANESE
FOLK SONG
• An example of a folk song from Japan is Sakura or Cherry Blossoms. Sakura or Cherry
Blossoms is a traditional Japanese folksong depicting spring, the season of cherry blossoms.
The ‘Sakura’ melody has been popular since the Meiji, and the lyrics in their present form
were attached then. The tune uses a pentatonic scale known as the insen, or in modern
Western music theory, the fifth mode of the harmonic minor.
“SAKURA”
