The history of music in Japan has
been a continuous process of taking in foreign musical styles
and digesting or reshaping them to suit Japanese tastes. Examples
of this process are seen in the histories of some musical instruments
that have come to be considered traditionally Japanese.
Among them are the koto (a 13-stringed zither-like instrument),
the shakuhachi (a bamboo flute), and the shamisen (a 3-stringed
banjo-like instrument). The koto was brought to Japan before
the sixth century, a primitive type of shakuhachi in the eighth
century, the modern shakuhachi in the thirteenth century, and
a primitive shamisen in the sixteenth century, all from China.
In recent years, young and innovative performers such as Hiromitsu
Agatsuma and The Yoshida Brothers have become popular in the
field of Tsugaru Jamisen, a type of shamisen music performed
in the Tsugaru region of Aomori Prefecture. Because of their
high pitch sound technique, they have joint performances with
rock and jazz musicians, attracting young audiences in Japan
and abroad.
An office of music was created within the imperial court in
701. With official encouragement, gagaku (court music) developed
a style of its own and gained a permanent place as the music
of court ritual. Gagaku is still practiced under the sponsorship
of the Imperial Household Agency.
Western music
Christian missionaries introduced Western music, in the form
of church music, to Japan in 1549. With the banning of Christianity
later, however, Western music disappeared. After the Meiji Restoration
in 1868, Western music entered the country again through music
education experts from the US and was included in school curriculums
in 1879. At the beginning of the twentieth century, excellent
Japanese composers such as Kosaku Yamada and Kozaburo Hirai
wrote many songs, symphonies, and children's songs, many of
which have become classics.
The number of Japanese artists winning prizes in such respected
international competitions as the quadrennial Chopin piano competition
compares favorably with that of Europeans. A large number of
Japanese classical musicians, including conductor Seiji Ozawa
and artists Midori Goto and Mitsuko Uchida, are active abroad.
Seiji Ozawa became the music director of Vienna State Opera
in the autumn of 2002, the first of Asian origin to be appointed
to the position.
Popular Music Today
Japanese-style popular songs, known as kayokyoku, have enjoyed
wide acceptance ever since the 1930s. Sad and soulful ballads,
called enka, also became popular from the beginning of the 1970s.
The queen of enka was Hibari Misora, whose death in 1989 sent
the whole nation into mourning. Enka, however, have been losing
some of their popularity in recent years as consumer tastes
have grown more diverse and younger generations turn to pop,
rock, techno, and other types of modern music.
According to the Recording Industry Association of Japan (*1),
domestic shipments of music CDs and records in 2003 dropped
10% to ¥399.7 billion, the fifth consecutive year of decline.
RIAJ blames illegal copying of music CDs over the internet as
a major cause of the recent decline. Only 9 albums became million-sellers
in 2003, compared to 15 in 2002. Oriental healing music blended
with Western pops has a grip on the Japanese audience. Among
the million-sellers in 2003 was Joshi Juni Gakubo's Beautiful
Energy, which sold 1.3 million copies in total. The unusual
12-girl group features erhu, a traditional stringed instrument
(niko in Japanese) and other traditional Chinese instruments.
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