Japanese Music

2. The word for music in Japanese is
(ongaku), combining the kanji "on" (sound)
with the kanji "gaku" (enjoy).

3. Traditional and folk music
There are two forms of music recognized to be the
oldest forms of traditional Japanese music.
•shōmyō, or Buddhist chanting,
•gagaku or orchestral court music, both of
which date to the Nara and Heian periods.

4. The biwa - Chinese: pipa), a form of short-
necked lute, was played by a group of itinerant
performers (biwa hōshi) who used it to
accompany stories.
The taiko, is a Japanese drum that
comes in various sizes and is used to
play a variety of musical genres.
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

5. Japanese folk songs (min'yō) can be grouped and classified in
many ways but it is often convenient to think of four main
categories: work songs religious songs (such as sato kagura, a
form of Shintoist music), songs used for gatherings such as
weddings, funerals, and festivals (matsuri, especially Obon), and
children's songs (warabe uta).
Okinawan folk music Ryukyuan music
Umui, religious songs, shima uta, dance songs,
and, especially kachāshī, lively celebratory music,
were all popular.

6. Arrival of Western music
After the Meiji Restoration introduced Western
musical instruction, a bureaucrat named Izawa
Shuji compiled songs like "Auld Lang Syne"
and commissioned songs using a
pentatonic melody.
Western music, especially military marches,
soon became popular in Japan.

7. Two major forms of music that developed
during this period were shoka, which was
composed to bring western music to schools,
and gunka, which are military marches with
some Japanese elements

8. Western classical music
Western classical music has a strong presence in Japan and the country
is one of the most important markets for this music tradition
Jazz
From the 1930s on (except during World War II, when it
was repressed as music of the enemy)jazz has had a
strong presence in Japan.[
J-Pop
J-pop, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a loosely defined musical
genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s

9. Modern J-pop has its roots in
1960s pop and rock music, such as The
Beatles, which led to bands such as Happy
End fusing rock with Japanese music.
Japanese idol musical artists are a significant
part of the music market, with girl
groups and boy bands regularly topping
the singles chart.

10. Other Genres
•Rock
•Punk rock /alternative
•Heavy metal
•Extreme metal
•Hip hop
•Electro pop and club music
•Theme music
•Game music