$Unique_ID{bob00371} $Pretitle{} $Title{Japan Music} $Subtitle{} $Author{International Society for Educational Information, Inc.} $Affiliation{Embassy of Japan, Washington DC} $Subject{music japanese dance kabuki noh theater japan songs classical western} $Date{1989} $Log{} Title: Japan Book: The Japan of Today Author: International Society for Educational Information, Inc. Affiliation: Embassy of Japan, Washington DC Date: 1989 Music Nearly every evening Japan's major cities play host to a large number of musical performances in concert halls that range in size from huge auditoriums capable of seating 2,000 people to more intimate 100-seat halls. In addition to Western classical music (including opera), rock, jazz, and Japanese popular music concerts regularly attract full houses. Japanese traditional music, meanwhile, continues to be performed and to maintain a special place in the hearts of the Japanese. This coexistence of Western and traditional Japanese styles gives the music world of present-day Japan a fascinating complexity not seen in most Western countries. Japanese traditional music Japanese traditional music , which developed in close relation with drama, dance , and other arts, is characterized by a predominance of vocal over instrumental music. Gagaku Gagaku, the ancient court music of Japan, is played by an ensemble of Japanese wind, string, and percussion instruments, including the yokobue (a transverse flute), the sho (a cylindrical, standing instrument made from 17 bamboo tubes, each having a single reed), the so (a 13-stringed plucked instrument that is the predecessor of the popular Japanese koto, which is similar to a zither), the biwa (a pear-shaped instrument with four strings), and taiko (drums). Gagaku is divided into instrumental, dance, and recitative music. Though it resembles a Westernstyle orchestra, the central element of the gagaku ensemble is its wind section. The music of noh Noh is a classical theatrical form that has its origins in the fourteenth century. A noh troupe consists of the tachikata, performers who don masks, act, and dance, and the hayashikata, musicians who are in charge of beating time and intensifying the emotional atmosphere of the play. The noh wind and percussion ensemble comprises the nokan (a vertical flute) and tsuzumi (small hand drums). Before striking a beat on their instruments, the drummers voice swooping shouts. The emphasis on timing is one of the characteristics of Japanese traditional music. The development of common people's music Gagaku was the music of the nobility, and noh was patronized by the samurai. During the seventeenth century, when Japan entered a long period of isolation, there developed a music of the common people, represented by the shamisen (a three-stringed plucked instrument) and the koto. The shamisen is used to accompany joruri, narrative pieces that emphasize the lyrics over the melody, and nagauta, songs primarily concerned with the melody. The music of string instruments like the shamisen and the koto, as well as the shakuhachi (a vertical bamboo flute), was fostered by an artistic sensibility quite different from that which gave rise to Western music for the violin and cello or for the flute and other woodwind instruments. Folk songs Japanese folk songs are classified according to the situation in which they are sung or the function of the song. The first main category consists of labor songs, including rice-planting, grass-cutting, and other songs related to agriculture, songs related to fishing, and songs related to transportation, such as boatmen's and herdsmen's songs. A second category includes songs for festivals and celebrations, such as songs to welcome the gods before religious rituals, songs to accompany the bridal procession to the house of the groom, and New Year's songs. A third category consists of lullabies and other children's songs. The shamisen and the shakuhachi are sometimes used to accompany these folk songs. Major changes in customs and life style in recent decades have weakened the social foundation of folk songs, however, and they are now performed mainly by professional folk singers and continued as an artistic genre rather than as an essential part of the people's life. Other types of music Western classical music In addition to Japanese traditional music and folk songs, the entire range of Western classical music is practiced and performed in Japan. An increasing number of Japanese performers are receiving top honors at renowned international competitions, such as the Chopin International Competition for Pianists and the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium prize for violinists and pianists. Likewise, a growing number of Japanese performers have built a reputation for themselves abroad. In the world of opera, soprano Azuma Atsuko, who sings at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Deutsche Opera Berlin, and elsewhere, and Hayashi Yasuko, who is based in Milan, are active prima donnas on the international stage. Iwaki Hiroyuki, the senior conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Japan's oldest orchestra, is the chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Ozawa Seiji, the chief conductor of the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, is also a music director at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. There are nine-full time orchestras in Tokyo, all of which give regular performances. The programs span the baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary periods-from the music of Bach to the symphonies of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, ,and Mahler, and Debussy and Ravel's works for orchestra, as well as ballet and opera. Japanese orchestras also give overseas performances of recent works by contemporary Japanese composers. In the past musical activity tended to be concentrated in Tokyo, but these days it extends nationwide. Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, Sapporo, and other major cities now have full-time orchestras, and a variety of musical festivals are held throughout the country. Moreover, the number of foreign performers visiting Japan continues to rise each year. Activities of Japanese composers In addition to pieces based on the standard forms and styles of Western classical music, Japanese composers write a number of works for Japanese instruments, or for a combination of Japanese and Western instruments. Ensembles consisting only of Japanese instruments perform Japanese contemporary music to audiences in and outside Japan. Takemitsu Toru, one of Japan's most representative composers, has written not only purely orchestral works like Textures, which employs avant-garde techniques, but also commemorative works like November Steps for orchestra, biwa, and shakuhachi. In addition, Moroi Makoto, who has experimented with electronic music, also composed Taiwa Godai, a piece for two shakuhachi. Since the 1970s works for taiko or for taiko and orchestra have also been composed. In the 1980s composers have looked back even further, and thanks to the activities of a number of Japanese, and also Western, composers, gagaku and music for the sho have experienced a revival. Popular music Just as Japanese traditional music exists alongside Western classical music, so Japanese and Western styles coexist in the realm of popular music, too. Japanese popular music, called kayokyoku, embraces pieces based on the distinct scales of traditional Japanese music, exemplified by enka, as well as a genre labeled "new music," which features tunes that have been built on the scales of Western music. "New music" has little Japanese influence and stands in contrast to enka, which is based on Japanese musical scales, with improvised grace notes and vibrato added that have their roots in the music of noh. Though less popular than kayokyoku, rock and jazz also have fairly large followings and have had an impact on the other genres of popular music. "Technopops," a recently developed genre of music that is played on the synthesizer, has prompted the construction of rooms and buildings that can accommodate its unique acoustics. Performing Arts The history of performing arts in Japan is distinguished by the coalescence of dance, drama, and music. An important feature of this branch of culture today is the survival of many artistic forms with their roots in different eras in the past. The field of theater, for example, includes, in historical order, bugaku (court dance and music), noh and kyogen (a type of comic drama), bunraku (puppet theater), kabuki, shingeki (literally, new theater), and musicals. Theater Classical theater Classical theater in Japan in general consists of noh and kyogen, bunraku, and kabuki. Bugaku is still performed in some temples, but it is now more associated with dance than with drama. Noh and kyogen: The popular dramatic form called noh has its roots in sarugaku (literally, monkey music), which developed from about the eighth century through the integration of dance associated with agriculture, acrobatics, and other spectacles. Sarugaku was transformed into noh in the fourteenth century. The outstanding figures in noh's early years were the actor and playwright Kan'ami (1333-1384) and his son, Zeami (1363-1443). In particular, it was Zeami who perfected noh as it is known today: a stylistic form of musical dance-drama in which the performers usually wear masks. The humorous aspect of sarugaku, meanwhile, survived as an independent art and eventually came to be called kyogen, which traditionally was performed in the intervals between noh plays. Staged at special theaters called nogakudo, both noh and kyogen feature only male actors. Bunraku: The puppet theater as it is known today developed at the end of the sixteenth century, when the shamisen, introduced from Okinawa about this time, was combined with puppetry and joruri (narrative chanting). The famous chanter Takemoto Gidayu (1651-1714) perfected joruri as an art and collaborated with the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) to produce some masterpieces that are still enjoyed today. The puppet theater came to be called bunraku during the nineteenth century, when the productions of a promoter called Uemura Bunrakuken enjoyed overwhelming popularity. Like noh and kyogen, bunraku is performed only by men. Kabuki: The first performances of kabuki were staged by a female troupe at the beginning of the seventeenth century, but in 1629 the Tokugawa Shogunate, worried about public morals, issued a proclamation prohibiting all women from performing. From then until the Meiji period, Japan officially had no female actors at all. Since it became necessary for men to perform female parts in kabuki, there emerged a type of actor called onnagata (female impersonator). Gradually dance gave way to drama as the most important aspect of kabuki, and professional playwrights began to appear on the scene, the leading light among them being Chikamatsu Monzaemon. In the eighteenth century puppet theater plays like Kanadehon Chushingura were adapted for kabuki, and theaters specially designed for kabuki began to take shape. One of the unique features of performing arts in Japan is that each genre boasts its own special theater. In the Meiji era kabuki became more and more of a classical form of drama, and few new works were written. Nevertheless, stars of the stage emerged one after the other to breathe fresh life into the theater, and today kabuki enjoys greater popularity than any other form of classical theater. In recent years new plays and productions have been performed, and kabuki's popularity has spread overseas. In 1988 kabuki performances took place in six countries outside Japan: Australia, Canada, Egypt, Mexico, the Republic of Korea, and the United States. Contemporary theater Commercial theater: Entertainment companies in Japan engage in a wide range of activities that include producing plays and musicals and staging them in their own theaters, producing films and television programs, and operating other amusement facilities. Collectively the theatrical performances produced by these companies make up the so-called commercial theater. Commercial theater offers modern drama featuring well-known actors, plays starring popular singers and classical drama, contemporary drama, and musicals from other countries. These days kabuki also is produced by an entertainment company. Recently department stores, insurance companies, and the like have also been getting involved in the theatrical business, and there are now about 60 commercial theaters in Tokyo alone. Some of these theaters attract several hundred thousand people a month. Shingeki: Shingeki, which was born in the early twentieth century under the influence of modern Western drama, is kept going today by about 50 troupes made up of small numbers of like-minded people. Shingeki, which has always been concerned mainly with realism, emphasizes the script of a play, in contrast to classical Japanese theater, in which dance and music occupy prominent roles. The Tsukiji Shogekijo theater and troupe, formed by the writer and director Osanai Kaoru (1881-1928) in 1924, played an outstanding role in the development of shingeki. Many shingeki troupes have emerged and folded over the years; the oldest troupe still in existence is the Bungakuza, which was established in 1937. Small-theater movement: In reaction to the realism of shingeki, a number of small theatrical groups emerged in the second half of the 1960s under the banner of surrealism. These troupes perform not only in established theaters but almost anywhere-in tents, in warehouses, and in the open. Because they emphasize visual effects as well as the script, and because they express unique views of the world, these troupes have attracted a growing band of followers outside Japan and frequently perform overseas. Musicals: Musicals have become exceedingly popular in Japan today, and many performances of foreign productions like A Chorus Line and Les Miserables take place, as well as original Japanese productions. Dance Japanese traditional dance, which emerged in ancient times as an element of religious ceremony, has developed over the centuries in close conjunction with various genres of vocal and theatrical art. Japanese dance has traditionally been divided into mai, generally distinguished by a restrained, ceremonial quality, and odori, characterized by a more earthy, extroverted type of movement. Origins Mai, which literally means "revolving," is said to have its origin in the movements of shrine maidens, who circled a ceremonial site holding sprigs of the sacred sakaki tree and bamboo in a ritual intended to bring tranquillity and well-being to the land. In time, as this ritual was repeated, the actions and gestures by which the priestess signified divine possession were formalized and evolved into a ritual dance performed on stage by a priestess holding a fan. This, in turn, developed into the art of noh. Like the ritual movements from which they evolved, noh and other mai dance genres generally take the form of one or two performers circling the stage holding a fan or similar prop in this manner. Odori, which literally means "jumping," traces its lineage to certain sects of the Jodo (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism that spread rapidly among the common people in the medieval period. The Jodo sect emphasized the repeated chanting of a simple prayer (nenbutsu) by groups of followers, who sometimes jumped about to the rhythm of the accompanying bell in a primitive kind of dance called nenbutsu odori. Until the development of kabuki in the Edo period, all odori was essentially this type of group dancing, the participants keeping time to the music with little regard for symbolic or literary meaning. Vestiges of this type of dancing can be seen today in the bon odori folk dance of each region. Development of kabuki dance Kabuki dance was originally classified as odori, since it drew on the nenbutsu odori and used popular songs for accompaniment. It is said to have begun in the early seventeenth century with the Kyoto performances of a troupe of female dancers led by an attendant at Izumo Shrine. After 1629, however, kabuki featuring female performers was forbidden by a government edict aimed at preserving public morals. Kabuki then came to be performed by young boys and subsequently - when the government forbade this too - by adult males. As kabuki dance developed, this odori form gradually incorporated elements of such mai genres as kusemai, or recitative dance, and various noh and kyogen forms. At the same time it came to revolve around a dramatic plot and assumed the theatrical form we are familiar with today. The term nihon buyo, or Japanese classical dance, generally refers to kabuki dance and its derivatives, as distinct from the ancient and medieval genres. Today there are upwards of 150 schools of classical dance that transmit from generation to generation the artistic styles of accomplished kabuki actors and dancers that emerged in each era