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Many styles of traditional music are included in the music of Japan. Numerous performers can be found across the country, playing a lot of styles of folk and classical music. more...

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The word for music in Japanese is 音楽 (ongaku), combining the kanji 音 (sound) with the kanji 楽 (music, comfort).

The modern Japanese music scene includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles of both traditional and modern styles, ranging from rock, salsa and tango to country music and hip hop. Local music often involves karaoke, a form of amateur performance in small nightclubs .

Characteristics

Outside of Japan, the country's music has an image closely tied to its pop music, which is generally bubblegum songs with Japanese lyrics and often incomprehensible English refrains. Pop stars (aidoru kashu) of this scene are generally attractive singers, boy bands and girl groups. However, music author John Clewley has described Japan's musical output as a "wide range... from ancient Buddhist chanting and court music to folk and old urban styles, from localised popular styles like kayokyoku and enka to Western classical, jazz and every form of pop... found in the West" .

Japanese music has long been tied to Japanese rituals, literature and dance. Theatrical music is the most historically important field of Japanese music, which East Asian musical scholar Isabel Wong attributes to the "Japanese love of storytelling and preoccupation with ritual". She also notes the Japanese preoccupation with the "words and literature" of music, as opposed to the instrumentation, and that all Japanese instruments were "developed to emulate the human voice". She describes Japanese instrumental music as inherently chamber music "in its conception" .

Japanese music is eclectic, having borrowed instruments, scales and styles from neighboring cultures. Early poems, songs, and temple music employed only a few notes. Importations, particularly Chinese, began in the 5th century. Gagaku, which is still performed today, came from China while Buddhist song came from Korea — both in the 6th century. Many instruments, such as the koto, was introduced in the 9th and 10th centuries. The accompanied recitative of the Noh drama dates from the 14th century and the popular folk music, with the guitarlike shamisen, from the 16th.

Classical music

There are countless types of classical music in Japan. Two of the oldest are shōmyō (声明), or Buddhist chanting, and gagaku (雅楽), or orchestral court music, both of which date to the Nara and Heian periods.

Read more at Wikipedia.org