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Gagaku> Ancient court music from China and Korea. It is the

oldest type of Japanese, traditional music.

Biwagaku> Music played with the  Biwa, a kind of guitar with

four strings.

Nohgaku>Music played during  Noh  performances. It basically

consists of a chorus, the  Hayashi flute, the  Tsuzumi drum, and other instruments.

Vocabulary

Sokyoku> Music played with the  Koto, a type of zither

with 13 strings. Later also accompanied by  Shamisen  andShakuhachi.

Shakuhachi> Music played with the  Shakuhachi, a bamboo

flute that is about 55 cm long. The name of the flute is its length expressed in  shaku  an old Japanese unit of length.

Shamisenongaku> Music played with the  Shamisen, a kind of

guitar with only three strings.  Kabuki  and  Bunraku performances are accompanied by the shamisen.

Minyo> The term for regional music, or folk songs is

min'yo.

Kabuki was started by Izumo no Okuni's all-female troupe around 1603. These women were prostitutes as well as performers, available for hire after the show, which has always been common (and still is in many nightclubs, apparently).

FYI

It took in folk dance styles (performed sexily), and elements from Noh and Bunraku. There was trouble and violence with the admirers of different troupes fighting, and the government therefore decreed kabuki could be performed by boys only from about 1629.

FYI

Sadly, there was the same sexual element as with women, and in 1652 it became men only, which it stayed until the late 19th Century, and many troupes are still entirely male. This led to the onnagata, female impersonators. Many lived as women full time (is this the first method acting?), and became fashion leaders. Homosexual liaisons were common.

FYI

After the war the general term for popular songs that came into usage was  kayokyoku. In general, kayokyoku is the music somewhere between western pop and enka, which features strong Japanese and Asian characteristics.

Kayokyoku

The term 'enka' came into use from the early 1970s. It was a slow type of kayokyoku, heavily influenced by Japanese elements. Enka is sometimes called 'the Heart of Japan'

It's sentimental lyrics concentrate on themes such as the separation of lovers, memories, despair and hope. Singers still usually wear kimono, it's most characteristic vocal style being the warbling crescendo at the end of sentences.

ENKA

-1910Hired for commercials 'civilized' music Used to demonstrate their 'westernization' used military bands at ceremonies to open railroads and banks. Accompanying the chindon are western instruments, a big 'goros' drum (from the French 'gros') plus clarinet and saxophone, played usually by men, that gradually replaced the Japanese shamisen (lute) as the main instrument.

CHINDON

Inspired by The Beatles in the 1960's. It uses a pronunciation that sounds more similar to English than other styles of Japanese music. This is different from another type of popular Japanese music called  kayōkyoku. Today, the term "J-pop" covers many popular genres of Japanese music.

Japanese Pop music

Rock music remained a relatively underground music genre in the early 1970s in Japan.

In the 1990s, the term J-pop came to refer to all Japanese popular songs except enka.

Chaku-uta- In December 2002, the digital-download market for ringtone songs ( 着うた chaku-uta) was created by mobile-phone company.

Japanese rock has been called "J-rock" and their most popular bands right now are "X Japan" and "Gazzette".

Japanese hip hop and urban pop - first decade of the 21st century

• https://wikis.engrade.com/

musicinchinajapanabriefo/page4• http://www.farsidemusic.com/historyJa.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Japan