Most Popular Music Genre Japan

[Hilary Laite]

InJapan, music includes a wide array of distinct genres, both traditional and modern. The word for "music" in Japanese is 音楽 (ongaku), combining the kanji 音 on (sound) with the kanji 楽 gaku (music, comfort).[1] Japan is the world's largest market for music on physical media[citation needed] and the second-largest overall music market, with a retail value of US$2.7 billion in 2017.[2]

The biwa (琵琶 - Chinese: pipa), a form of short-necked lute, was played by a group of itinerant performers (biwa hōshi). The root of Biwa music was The Tale of the Heike.[7] Biwa hōshi organized into a guild-like association. The biwa is Japan's traditional instrument.[citation needed]

Lafcadio Hearn related in his book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1903) "Mimi-nashi Hoichi" (Hoichi the Earless), a Japanese ghost story about a blind biwa hōshi who performs "The Tale of the Heike".[7]

Blind women, known as goze (瞽女), toured beginning in the medieval era, sang and played accompanying music on a lap drum.[citation needed] From the seventeenth century they often played the koto or the shamisen. Goze organizations sprung up in many places, and existed until the 21st century in Niigata Prefecture.[citation needed]

Wadaiko, a Japanese drum, comes in various sizes and is used in variety of musical genres. It has become particularly popular in recent years as the central instrument of percussion ensembles whose repertory is based on a variety of folk- and festival-music of the past. Such taiko music is played by large drum ensembles called kumi-daiko. Its origins remain uncertain, but can be traced to the 7th century, when a clay figure of a drummer documented its existence. Chinese influences followed, but the instrument and its music remained uniquely Japanese.[8] Taiko drums during this period were used during battle to intimidate the enemy and to communicate commands. Taiko continue to be used in the religious music of Buddhism and Shintō. In the past players were holy men who played only at special occasions and in small groups, but in time secular men (rarely women) also played the taiko in semi-religious festivals such as the bon dance.

Modern ensemble taiko was invented by Daihachi Oguchi in 1951.[9] A jazz drummer, Oguchi incorporated his musical background into large ensembles of his design. His energetic style made his group popular throughout Japan, and made the Hokuriku region a center for taiko music. Musical groups to arise from this wave of popularity included Oedo Sukeroku Taiko, founded by Seido Kobayashi. 1969 saw a group called Za Ondekoza; Za Ondekoza gathered young performers who innovated a new roots revival taiko, which was used as a way of life in communal lifestyles. During the 1970s the Japanese government allocated funds to preserve Japanese culture, and many community taiko groups formed. Later in the century, taiko groups spread across the world, especially to the United States. The video game Taiko no Tatsujin is based around taiko.

In min'yō, three-stringed lute known as the shamisen, taiko drums, and a bamboo flute called shakuhachi typically accompany the singers.[10] Other instruments that could accompany include a transverse flute known as the shinobue, a bell known as kane, a hand drum called the tsuzumi, and/or a 13-stringed zither known as the koto. In Okinawa the main instrument is the sanshin. These are traditional Japanese instruments, but modern instrumentation, such as electric guitars and synthesizers, is also used in this day and age, when enka singers cover traditional min'yō songs (enka being a Japanese music genre all its own).[11]

An ondo generally describes any folk song with a distinctive swing that may be heard as 2/4 time rhythm (though performers usually do not group beats). The typical folk song heard at Obon festival dances is typically an ondo. A bushi ("melody" or "rhythm") is a song with a distinctive melody. The word is rarely used on its own, but is usually prefixed by a term referring to occupation, location, personal name or the like. Bon uta are songs for Obon, the lantern festival of the dead. Komori uta are lullabies. The names of min'yo songs often include a descriptive term, usually at the end. For example: Tokyo Ondo, Kushimoto Bushi, Hokkai Bon Uta, and Itsuki no Komoriuta.

Many of these songs include extra stress on certain syllables as well as pitched shouts (kakegoe). Kakegoe are generally shouts of cheer but in min'yō, they are often included as parts of choruses. There are many kakegoe, though they vary from region to region. In Okinawa Min'yō, for example, the common "ha iya sasa!" appears. In mainland Japan, however, "a yoisho!," "sate!," or "a sore!" are more common. Others include "a donto koi!," and "dokoisho!"

Recently a guild-based system known as the iemoto system has been in effect in some forms of min'yō. This system originally developed for transmitting classical genres such as nagauta, shakuhachi, or koto music, but since it proved profitable to teachers and was supported by students who wished to obtain certificates of proficiency. It continues to spread to genres such as min'yō, Tsugaru-jamisen and other forms of music that were traditionally transmitted more informally. Today some min'yō are passed on in such pseudo-family organizations and long apprenticeships are common.

Umui, religious songs, shima uta, dance songs, and, especially kachāshī, lively celebratory music, were all popular on the island. Okinawan folk music differs from mainland Japanese folk music in several ways.

Okinawan folk music is often accompanied by the sanshin, whereas in mainland Japan the shamisen accompanies instead. Other Okinawan instruments include the sanba (which produce a clicking sound similar to that of castanets), taiko and a sharp finger whistle called yubi-bue (指笛).

A pentatonic scale is often used in min'yō from the main islands of Japan. In this pentatonic scale the subdominant and leading tone (scale degrees 4 and 7 of the Western major scale) are omitted, resulting in a musical scale with no half steps between each note. (Do, Re, Mi, Sol, La in solfeggio, or scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6). Okinawan min'yō, however, uses scales that include the half-steps omitted in the aforementioned pentatonic scale, when analyzed in the Western discipline of music. In fact, the most common scale used in Okinawan min'yō includes scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

After the Meiji Restoration introduced Western musical instruction, Izawa Shuji (a bureaucrat) compiled songs like "Auld Lang Syne".[12] Two major forms of music that developed during this period were shōka, which was composed to bring western music to schools, and gunka.[13]

As Japan moved towards representative democracy in the late 19th century, leaders hired singers to sell copies of songs that aired their messages, since the leaders themselves were usually prohibited from speaking in public. A distinctively Japanese form of tango called "dodompa" emerged. Kayōkyoku became associated with traditional Japanese structures influenced by Enka. Famous enka singers include Hibari Misora, Saburo Kitajima, Ikuzo Yoshi and Haruo Minami.

Western classical music established a strong presence in Japan, making the country one of the most important markets for this music tradition.[15] Toru Takemitsu composed avant-garde music, contemporary classical music, and movie scoring.[16]

Besides traditional symphony orchestras, Japan is internationally prominent in the field of wind bands.[17] The All-Japan Band Association is the governing body for wind band competitions in the country.

From the 1930s on (except during World War II, when it was repressed as music of the enemy)[18][19] jazz maintained a strong presence in Japan.[20] The country is an important market for the music, and it is common that recordings unavailable in the United States or Europe are available there. A number of Japanese jazz musicians, such as June (born in Japan) and Sadao Watanabe have a large fan base outside their native country.[citation needed]

J-pop, an abbreviation for Japanese pop is a loosely defined musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. J-pop has its roots in 1960s pop and rock music, such as the Beatles, which 70s rock bands fused rock with Japanese music.[21] J-pop was further defined by Japanese new wave bands such as Southern All Stars in the late 1970s.[22] Eventually, J-pop replaced kayōkyoku ("Lyric Singing Music", a term for Japanese pop music from the 1920s to the 1980s) in the Japanese music scene.[23] The term was coined by the Japanese media to distinguish Japanese music from foreign music.

Japanese idol musical artists are a significant part of the market, with girl groups and boy bands regularly topping the singles chart. These include boy band Arashi, which had the best-selling singles of 2008 and 2009, and girl group AKB48, which have had the best-selling singles each year of the 2010s.[citation needed] Since the end of the 2010s, more and more idol groups have emerged. Their success is sometimes termed "Idol sengoku jidai" (アイドル戦国時代; lit. Idol war age).[24] In 2014, about 486,000 people attended Momoiro Clover Z's live concerts, which was the highest record for female musicians in Japan for this year.[25] Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many idol groups have seen their sales plummet. For example, AKB48's physical sales have fallen from over a million copies sold per single to around 300,000, while groups such as Nogizaka46, Sakurazaka46 or Hinatazaka46 have seen a smaller drop, with average sales of 500,000 to 700,000 copies for their recent singles, making them the most trending Japanese idol groups of the 2020s.

In 1984, American musician Michael Jackson's album Thriller became the first album by a Western artist to sell over one million copies in Japanese Oricon charts history.[26] His style is cited as one of the models for Japanese dance music, leading the popularity of Avex Group musicians and dancers.[citation needed]

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