Japanese Music

I

Introduction

Japanese Music, traditional music of Japan, performed by small ensembles of instruments and voices. Compositions often follow a three-part pattern called jo-ha-kyu, which consists of an introduction, a scattering effect in the central section, and a rushing effect near the end of the piece. This pattern has permeated much of Japanese music and applies to individual musical phrases as well as to entire compositions.

II

Music for Worship

The music of Shinto, the ancient Japanese religion, is called kagura (“god music”). It is used on formal occasions at shrines or imperial functions and at Shinto folk festivals. The songs and dances are meant to praise the gods and to entertain them. Music at seasonal festivals is performed on drums, rattles, and flutes. Dancers at these festivals perform inside and outside the shrines; their performances are interspersed with chants to the gods.

Buddhist temple music in Japan is chanted in one of three languages: Sanskrit, Chinese, or Japanese. The music is marked by highly ornamental singing and free rhythm; bells and chimes are sounded intermittently. The bon-odori dances of the Bon (Ullambana) festival are mainly restrained in motion; they are accompanied by singers and sometimes by flute, drum, and samisen, a three-stringed lute.

III

Court Music

The ancient court music of Japan (gagaku) has its origins as far back as the 8th century; it is derived mainly from China and Korea. Gagaku orchestras may consist of as many as 17 musicians playing woodwinds, plucked-string, and percussion instruments. The winds include a flute, usually of the type known as ryuteki; a short double-reed pipe called hichiriki; and a sho, a free-reed mouth organ consisting of 17 bamboo pipes inserted in a globular wind chest with a mouth hole. The flute and the double-reed pipe play the melody while the mouth organ provides a cluster of background tones. Phrases of music are marked off by the sounds of a small horizontal two-headed drum (kakko), a large hanging drum (taiko), and a small gong (shoko), as well as by short melodies and arpeggios played on a 4-stringed lute (biwa) and a 13-stringed zither (koto). Gagaku music utilizes six modes, or scales, of Chinese origin, all derived from two basic pentatonic (five-note) scales: ryo, D E F-sharp A B (D), plus G and C-sharp as auxiliary notes; and ritsu, G A C D E (G), plus auxiliary B and F. The metres in gagaku music are basically duple.

IV

Dramatic Music

Theatrical music during the early Middle Ages was influenced by earlier Buddhist music and consisted of lute accompaniments to narrations called heikebiwa and of music for the No theatre. The lute accompaniments consist of set melodic and rhythmic patterns often representing specific emotions or situations. The No music contains parts for voices as well as for instruments. The actors or a chorus sing while instrumentalists accompany them on the shoulder drum (ko tsuzumi) and hip drum (o tsuzumi). The entire instrumental ensemble (called hayashi) also includes a flute (nokan), which signals formal divisions within the drama, adds colour to lyric moments, and accompanies dances, for which the taiko drum is also used. No music makes use of set melodic and rhythmic patterns within prescribed forms, but it is played in flexible tempos. Variations in tempo in No music are signalled by the drummers.

The most popular form of traditional Japanese drama is kabuki, which is said to have begun in 1596 and was well established by the mid-17th century. Kabuki music makes use of instrumentalists and singers, most of whom sit at the back of the stage; others remain offstage to provide sound effects and special incidental music. The main form of dance music in kabuki is nagauta, performed by the No instrumental group and the samisen. The most famous form of music used in puppet plays is called gidayu.