Folk and Other Music

Folk Music
     The folk music of Japan includes many styles and forms but some of the most frequently found are Minyo (song), Odori (dance) and Matsuri (festival).  Minyo (民謡, Min-yo, folk songs) can be divided into categories based on their usage or setting.  For example, taue-uta is about planting rice, tairyo-utaikomo is sung while fishing, kiyari songs are about construction, and yama-uta are mountain climbing songs.  The melodic scales used in folk are the "yo" and "in" scales (the "in" scale is also used in shakuhachi pieces).

     Rhythmically, many are in free meter, such as those for solo voice (sometimes joined by shakuhachi).  Other minyo are more clearly rhythmic, and are accompanied by handclaps, drums, flute or shamisen (“Tairyo Utaikomo”).  In these performances, the flute sometimes plays a countermelody, while a shamisen plays melody variations or drones.  Other times the shakuhachi may play a heterophonic variation line and the shamisen may play a tremolo drone to support a vocal solo.

 

      Folk theatrical music is called Minzoku-geino, and these are often ceremonial (festival-based).  These include Bon festival dances (Bon-odori, or Urabon) with Hayashi flute and drums (and sometimes strings) (“Awa-odori”, taiko-odori, hanagasa-odori…).  Festival music includes those for Matsuri Bayashi (“festival hayashi” performed in summer/autumn), which has 5 movements including 4 main sections: Yatai (slow), Shoden (faster), Kamakura (slower) and Shichome (fastest).  These sections are supplemented by additional interludes.

Ethnic Music of Okinawa and Hokkaido
     Besides the historically-famous music based around Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Kyushu, other "ethnic" forms of music still survive in various parts of the country.  For example, Okinawan music is fairly well-known, and can be divided into three types:

• Ei-sah: drum dance
• Kacha-sie: brisk dance accompanied by sanshin/jamisen (“Hatoma-Bushi”)
• Ryukyo Court Music: part of Ryukyu-buyoh dance ritual (strings, flute, perc, chant), generally slow but playful, uses jamisen/sanshin and koto, folk flutes, taiko, used for ceremonies or costumed dances, comes from the Ryukyu Islands with influences from China and Indonesia

 

     Ainu Music is a form of "aboriginal" music from the northern area of Hokkaido, which uses hand-clapping and "animal voices" (such as in a sword dance, bird dance, ritual bear sacrifice, or in “Rekukkara”, below).  Additional instruments are also sometimes used, such as a tonkori (a stringed drone instrument) or Makkuri (jew’s harp).  Hokkaido also hosts the music of the Gilyaks and Orochon peoples, which are similarly "eskimo-like".

In Rekukkara, one singer sings the melody and the other "shapes" the vowels through air pressure.

Miscellaneous Instruments and Styles
Kokyu: The bowed kokyu has 2-4 strings, and was once used in koto Jiuta trios (Sankyoku).  It can also be found in dance accompaniment, puppet plays, and street music (though rarely used nowadays outside of theater) and features a wide vibrato in its technique.

Shin Nihon Ongaku:  This genre features Pre-war 20th century contemporary Japanese music adapting Western influences.  Some composers include Yanekawa Kino, Miyagi Michio, Nakanoshima Kiniti (Jiuta sokyoku), Nakao Tozan (shakuhachi), etc...

Gendai Hogaku: This is Post-war music for traditional instruments.  Some composers include Moroi Makoto (shakuhachi), Matsumura Teizo, and Urata Kenjiro.

 
Moroi Makoto: "Shosanke, for electronic sounds and Japanese traditional instruments" (1969)

Japanese Music & Musical Instruments, William Malm, 1959