Traditional music
Written throughout the history of the country, the Japanese musical tradition tells in its own way the construction and the movements of the archipelago. As well as the influences - oh so important - of the neighbors. It is necessary to go back to the Asuka period (592-710), marked by the introduction of Buddhism in the country to see masked ritual dances appear. As a vehicle for the transmission of wisdom, music became king and Emperor Monmu (697-707) even established a Ministry of Music: gagaku-ryō. During the artistically brilliant Nara period (710-793), not only did Chinese music (from the T'ang dynasty) penetrate massively into the territory but also music from India, Persia and Central Asia.
It wasat this time that gagaku ("elegant music")became official in the country. Official court music, also practiced in temples, gagaku was based on musical theories and instruments imported from the kingdoms of China and Korea at that time. Until the end of the 10th century, gagaku was favored by the noble classes. In full expansion, its repertory is then filled, divided into two categories: the old music - composed before the T'ang dynasty - and the new music, composed during or after. Inscribed on the list of the intangible heritage of humanity by Unesco, gagaku is no longer (only) a court music but continues to be played by large ensembles, often belonging to the Imperial House of Japan, such as the Kunaichō Gakubu and Reigakusha (we cannot recommend listening to their recordings). While the former is seen at public ceremonies or private rituals, the latter is often commissioned to perform contemporary gagaku works. The great British musician Brian Eno had the chance to collaborate with them. Like the latter, many great Western composers have at one time or another invited gagaku into their works. One thinks in particular of Henry Cowell(Ongaku, 1957), La Monte Young(Trio for Strings, 1958), Olivier Messiaen(Seven haikai, 1962), Benjamin Britten(Curlew River, 1964) or more recently Tim Hecker(Konoyo, 2018). Note that the dance that accompanies the gagaku is called bugaku and shines by the grace and majesty of its movements and the elaboration of its costumes.
At the same time, during the Nara era, the shōmyō, originating in India,appeared. A Buddhist psalmody, the style quickly gained favor with aristocrats and officials. It is in the shōmyō, chant and liturgy, that a fundamental unity is formed: the melodic cell. During the Kamakura era (1185 - 1333), a period of religious revival, the art of the biwa (four-stringed lute) developed at the same time as Buddhist chants, reinforced by the development of the Shingon and Tendai sects. During the High Middle Ages (11th-16th century), so-called "rustic" music flourished, such as dengaku, which mainly mixed music and dance, and sarugaku (or sangaku), the very playful equivalent of the modern circus, with acrobatics, juggling, pranks, imitations, puppets and sometimes dances. It is the latter, dengaku and sarugaku that are often considered the ancestors of nō theater.
Japanese music would take off during the Edo period with the arrival of the iconic shamisen, a long-necked, three-stringed lute. At the time, a unity of instruments developed with the koto, the horizontal harp, the biwa lute and the bamboo flute shakuhachi, of Chinese origin. While in Kyūshū koto music known as sōkyoku developed, in Kansai songs accompanied by the shamisen - the ji-uta- flourished. When the latter became an accompaniment for kabuki, it changed its name to nagauta and jōruri when it accompanied bonraku, the traditional puppet theater. From this era, all modern Japanese musical genres have retained elastic tempi.
To listen to traditional Japanese music, heading to the albums of the Yoshida brothers (Yoshida Kyōdai), an excellent shamisen duo, is a good idea. Very popular in the country, their albums mix traditional tunes and own compositions (inspired by Japanese folklore). A bit more confidential but fabulous, Kimio Eto (1924-2012) was one of the great koto artists and each of his recordings is a little gem.
Otherwise, in Tokyo, many theaters in the Ginza district regularly offer traditional music. That said, a real opportunity to taste all the flavors of Japanese musical tradition in one go is to attend a matsuri. Rich in music and local folklore, these popular festivals, often organized around Shintō shrines or Buddhist temples, are celebrated throughout the country throughout the year. Among the main ones, in February in Okayama, there is theHadaka Matsuri, a " naked man festival " while in Sapporo, the Yuki Matsuri celebrates snow - a major Japanese winter event that attracts more than two million visitors each year. In March, the country celebrates Hina Matsuri, the doll festival and in April Hana Matsuri, the flower festival - commemorating the birth of Buddha. In Kyoto, Aoi Matsuri, on May 15, is a rose festival while Gion Matsuri, during the whole month of July, is inspired by a 9th century rite to fight against the plague. July is also the time for the TenJin Matsuri, one of the oldest summer festivals in Japan. It is a famous riverside festival with boats and oarsmen to the rhythm of drums and in Fukuoka, the Yamagasa Matsuri, one of the most impressive festivals in Japan. For a concentrate of Japanese musical traditions, the Gion Corner in Kyoto may be a good idea. Although very touristy, this theater has the merit of offering ikebana demonstrations as well as bunraku (puppet theater) or gagaku.
Classical music
One hundred and fifty years after its introduction into the country, classical music - in the Western sense - is still in perfect love with the Japanese. The genre arrived at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868-1912) - a period of modernization and opening up of the country - and owes a great deal to Shuji Isawa (1851-1917), an observer sent to the United States to study the teaching, practice and diffusion of music. Upon his return, and under his impetus, the Meiji government made the radical decision to make the instruction of Western music compulsory in primary and secondary schools. Another event that contributed to the spread of classical music in the country was the American occupation after the Second World War (1945-1952) which greatly popularized the genre in the country.
Today, children are taught music in elementary school, a subject as important as mathematics or history. Most schools have their own orchestra. But what explains the fantastic development of classical music in Japan is undoubtedly the economic miracle that the country experienced in the 1960s. Since then, the country has been a popular destination for the biggest international names, attracted by the quality of the venues and the generosity of the audience. That said, if Japan is still one of the most dynamic markets in the world in the age of streaming, Japanese orchestras - although excellent - are struggling to establish an international reputation and to export themselves.
Besides Toru Takemitsu (1930 - 1996) - a junction between Cage, Debussy and the Japanese tradition - often rightly referred to as the leader of Japanese classical music, the list of composers excelling in the field is long. These include Teizō Matsumura (1929 - 2007) whose work was influenced by Ravel and Stravinsky, Toshio Hosokawa who thought of his compositions as "sound calligraphy", and Yasushi Akutagawa (1925 - 1989) who was close to Dmitri Shostakovich and Aram Khachaturian and was the only Japanese composer whose works were officially published in the Soviet Union. The country also has a giant of conducting, Seiji Ozawa, leader of the Japanese school and one of the greatest specialists of 20th century French music. Following in his footsteps are Kazushi Ōno, known in France for conducting the Opéra national de Lyon orchestra in 2008/09, and above all Kazuki Yamada, a rising figure appointed to lead the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 2023.
As for the performers, it is impossible not to mention Yōko Watanabe (1953 - 2004), a Japanese soprano whose career has been devoted to the title role of Madame Butterfly throughout Europe, Mitsuko Uchida, a virtuoso pianist renowned for her interpretations of Schubert, Chopin and Debussy, Nobuyuki Tsuji, a star pianist in Japan and a rising star on the international scene, and of course Ryuichi Sakamoto. A major figure in contemporary music creation, Sakamoto was both a pioneer of electronic music - he was once a member of the Yellow Magical Orchestra, the Japanese Kraftwerk - and a sort of Erik Satie of contemporary classical music. He also composed the beautiful soundtracks of films such as The Last Emperor, Furyo, The Revenant or High Heels.
When you like it, you don't count. And the country loves classical music so much that in its capital alone, there are sixteen professional orchestras (thirty-three in the country) and five large halls with more than 2,000 seats. And if the quality is there everywhere, each hall offers perfect acoustics, some institutions stand out. This is notably the case of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the best in the country (in the opinion of all) whose prestige continues to be fueled by the direction of the excellent Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi. The ensemble performs at the NHK Hall, the Suntory Hall and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. Lesser known but also very good, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the British Jonathan Nott, plays in the huge building dedicated to the performing arts, the New Tokyo National Theater. The latter is not to be confused with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the oldest Japanese philharmonic ensemble whose Music Director is none other than the great Korean Chung Myung-whun. Let us also mention the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, one of the most prestigious in the country, which has the specificity of belonging to a press company, the daily newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun.
Current music
In the Land of the Rising Sun, today, all modern western styles seem to have found their translation. Rap, rock, pop, variety... Japanese music has assimilated many genres to the codes of the country. Omnipresent sound background in Tokyo, Japanese music is often confused with J-pop, a musical genre that became dominant at the end of the 1990s and designates the large number of girls and boy bands performing in Japan. It follows the city pop of the 1980s, a mix of typical Japanese disco-funk (to be rediscovered on the Pacific Breeze compilations) and the shibuya-kei of the 1990s, a kitschy fusion of western sixties pop (Beach Boys, Phil Spector and Serge Gainsbourg) and local variety. Today, the genre is invariably a gold mine, driven by groups like AKB48, a 130-member (!) collective that has sold more than sixty million albums in Japan, or Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, a local Lady Gaga intimately linked to the kawaii aesthetic and Harajuku. The district of young Tokyoites par excellence, Harajuku is the cradle and meeting point of this J-pop culture. Once a counter-culture niche, it is still very lively but today more eccentric than non-conformist. Another Tokyo, a must-see.
Ambient music in Japan is particularly prized and respected. Often referred to as kankyō ongaku, for "environmental music", it is not comparable to what Satie called " furniture music". It is not part of the decor or the furniture, but is designed to inhabit the interior space. Satoshi Ashikawa is a pioneer of the genre in Japan, a spiritual son of Brian Eno. Let's also mention Jun Fukamachi, another cult figure for his work for the Nicole brand in the 1980s, which can be found in the album of the same name. Another cult figure recently rediscovered in the West thanks to the work of the American label Light In The Attic, Hiroshi Yoshimura is a fabulous sound painter, author of compositions where peace and harmony triumph.
Japaneseambient is never far from minimalist or avant-garde music, as the music of the fabulous Midori Takada, epic and beautiful, or those of Yoshi Wada and Yumiko Morioka - great figures of the 1980s, whose music, although environmental, is also conceptual - wonderfully demonstrate. We can't recommend listening to Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990, a real treasure in the form of a compilation.
Since The Ventures in the 1960s, an American rock & roll band that had a cult following in Japan, the country has been in love with rock. However, it is especially at the extremities of the genre that Japan produces the most appreciated bands like Merzbow or Boris, respectively masters of noise and drone. Apart from these two almost cult entities, let's mention the very good female krautrock band Nisennenmondai or OOIOO, experimental rock band.
Last local nugget: jazz. Although the American genre was banned in the country during the Second World War, listeners secretly adopted it. In the following decades, jazz became an obsession for Japanese musicians, with the country producing some fabulous ones. Let's mention the pianist and conductor Toshiko Akiyoshi, Bud Powell's spiritual daughter who had a very rich career in the United States, the trumpeters Terumasa Hino, Shunzo Ohno and Tiger Okoshi with an international reputation, the most Brazilian of the Japanese saxophonists Sadao Watanabe; the very free pianists Yosuke Yamashita and Masabumi Kikuchi or the pianist Satoko Fujii, renowned for her creativity. More niches, but adored by music lovers here, let's not forget to mention Tohru Aizawa Quartet, Kosuke Mine or Hiromasa Suzuki, pearls of Japanese jazz that any fan of the genre worthy of the name must listen to (see to have in his discotheque).
The case of hip-hop in Japan is a bit particular. The Japanese language, in its grammatical construction, made the idea of a Japanese rap impossible at first. And if the first MCs first turned to English to express themselves, local rappers quickly found ways to adapt Japanese to the genre. And like everywhere else on the planet, hip-hop took the local culture by storm. Thus, in the 1990's, entities such as Rhymester, a group with conscious and positive lyrics, or King Giddra, the pioneers of Japanese hip-hop, have largely contributed to make Japanese rap what it is today. Let's not forget to mention Dabo or Hime who have played a huge role in the local hip-hop culture. Because of the language barrier, outside the Japanese borders, it is especially the hip-hop producers who have been famous here. DJ Nujabes comes to mind, the father of what is now called "lo-fi hip-hop", atmospheric instrumental productions full of jazz and soul. The other big name in the discipline is DJ Krush. Also full of jazz and soul, his music has long flirted with trip-hop, which made him a figure of electronic music in the years 1990-2000.
Dance and theater
Music, dance and theater are often one in the Japanese tradition, with each art playing an important role in the other. On the whole, Japanese theater refers to the great Shintō myths and centuries-old legends. This is particularly apparent in kagura, the oldest form of theatrical dance in Japan. Translatable and understandable as " sacred ritualization of a place " and associated with Shintō worship, kagura are often performed on the occasion of matsuri or seasonal rites. They feature myths or historical events, and each shrine, local or national, has its own variant. There are imperial kagura, or mi-kagura, dating from the ninth century, watered-down dances of temple maids, called miko-kagura or miko-mai, and rustic dances called sato-kagura or ta-mai, imitating farm work. On the whole, kagura are propitiatory and purification dance rituals. They are performed to ward off epidemics and fire and to ensure good harvests.
Kagura can be seen at the Reitaisai festival held in September at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura which includes various ceremonies. Otherwise it can be seen every two weeks in the village of Chu-Sha (near Nagano) or in the village of Kagura Monzen Tojimura, where every week kagura performances are given on stage.
Gigaku was possibly introduced in Japan in the 7th century, during the Asuka period. Originally accompanying Buddhist rites, it consists of a parade of dancers wearing huge masks, during ritual dances performed at the temple, and sometimes accompanied by mimes to entertain the audience.
Although the nō has retained distant ties to the Buddhist religion and Shintō rites, it is primarily a secular dance. While some voices claim that its roots lie in Tibet or China, it would seem to have descended from kagura.
A costumed and masked lyrical drama dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, the nō is characterized by its refined, codified and all symbolic acting, not telling a plot but expressing an emotion or an atmosphere. A very singular form of dramatic art, the nō was one of the first to be inscribed (in 2008) on Unesco's list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The repertoire includes some 250 pieces at present. Interludes that allow the spectator to be pulled out of the motionless trance into which the nō has plunged him, the kyōgen (antics or farces) are often denigrated and placed in the register of minor arts. And yet... Performed with great talent, these sorts of little sketches used to highlight the burlesque situations of daily life have a dramaturgical value in their own right. Seeing a performance of nō is a must during a stay in Japan. In Tokyo, Kanze No Gaku-Do is considered the main nō theater in the Shibuya district while the National Nō Theater is among the most beautiful national stages with its cypress wood and gardens. In Kyoto the Kanze Kaikan, gives nō and kyōgen performances almost every weekend and in Osaka the Yamamoto Noh Theater is the place to go, not least because it is the oldest nō theater in Japan.
Meaning " exuberant and marginal," kabuki arguably originally refers to avant-garde theater - while it is now the most popular form of traditional theater. Dating back to the Edo period in the early 17th century, this epic drama illustrates historical events or moral conflicts. The actors speak in a monotone voice and are accompanied by traditional instruments like the shamisen. The actors are very famous and often appear in films or on television.
Of course, the best place to see Kabuki is the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo, the (inter)national reference in this field. Otherwise in Kotohira, there is the Kanamaru-Za, the oldest kabuki theater in Japan (1835). It is still in activity and offers performances from April to May.
The latest and most popular form of Japanese theater, bunraku is performed with large puppets, manipulated on sight while a single narrator plays all the roles.
