Traditional Japanese music 

or hōgaku (邦楽)—meaning literally (home) country music, as

opposed to yōgaku (洋楽) or Western music—is the folk or traditional music of Japan. Japan's
Ministry of Education classifies Hōgaku as a category separate from other traditional forms of
music, such as Gagaku (court music) or Shōmyō (Buddhist chanting), but
most ethnomusicologists view Hōgaku, in a broad sense, as the form from which the others
were derived.[1] Outside of ethnomusicology, however, Hōgaku usually refers to Japanese music
from around the 17th to the mid-19th century.[2] Within this framework, there are three types of
traditional music in Japan: theatrical, court music (called gagaku), and instrumental.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF JAPANESE

1. Shakuhachi

One of the most popular traditional Japanese wind instruments is the shakuhachi. Better known
as the Japanese flute, this instrument has been used by Zen Buddhists as a spiritual tool for
meditation practices known as ‘suizen’ (吹禅).

Held vertically, the shakuhachi has four holes on the front and one on the back and is
traditionally made of bamboo.

Used for meditative purposes, shakuhachi music was originally used for personal spiritual
enlightenment rather than public performance.

Today, however, you can see monks play honkyoku, or traditional shakuhachi repertoire,
in concert.

2. Koto
Regarded as the national instrument in Japan, a koto performance needs to be on your
must-see list. The koto is a Japanese string instrument that is placed on the ground and
plucked and is similar to the Korean gayageum and Chinese Zheng.

Traditionally, the koto comes in two varieties, a 13 -string type and a 17-string type. Now,
you can find some with 20, 21, or 25 strings! The koto is very large — usually about 180
cm (about six feet!) long — and made of kiri wood.

The music made from the koto is said to be romantic. Notable koto artists include
Yatsuhashi Kengyo, Tadao Sawai, and Kazue Sawai.

3. Sanshin

The island music of Japan is quite different than that of the Caribbean. The sanshin, a Japanese string
instrument made with snakeskin from Okinawa, has more of a twang to it than the laidback beats you
might normally associate with island life.

‘Sanshin’ translates to ‘three strings’, and this instrument has just that. You have the male string, the
middle string, and the female string, with the male string producing the lowest notes and the female
string producing the highest.

The sanshin is often compared to the banjo, but unlike the banjo, it is plucked. The sanshin can be heard
in traditional Ryukyuan folk music or at graduations and other special ceremonies in Okinawa.
Interestingly, sanshin scores use chinese characters as notes.

4. Shamisen
One of the most popular Japanese instruments today is the shamisen. The shamisen is a 3-string lute
thought to be a variation of the Okinawan sanshin. While the neck of the shamisen is similar in length to
that of a guitar, it has no frets.

During the Edo period, the shamisen was popularly used in traditional theater such as bunraku
and kabuki, as well as accompanying vocal performances in styles such as Kouta, Jiuta, and Nagauta.

Today, shamisen has adapted and taken off. Modern shamisen players like the Yoshida Brothers have
brought more personality to their music and style to bring shamisen music into the modern century. In
fact, their song “Kodo” was seen in Nintendo Wii ads in North America in 2006.

5. Biwa

Another Japanese instrument you need to hear is the biwa. The biwa is a short-necked
lute played with a large plectrum known as a bachi.

Traveling biwa players known as biwa-hoshi were popular for some time. The music
accompanied stories, the most renowned of which was The Tale of the Heike.

Used in gagaku (traditional Japanese court music) since 7th century, the instrument
eventually lost popularity with the influx of modern music during the Meiji Era.

The biwa has many variations, but typically has three to five strings and four to six frets.
The most famous is the satsuma biwa.

In recent years, musicians have tried to revitalize the Japanese string instrument by
incorporating it into Western music. One such composer, Toru Takamatsu, incorporates
the biwa into Western orchestral music with compositions like “November Steps”.

6. Taiko
Arguably the most well-known Japanese instruments internationally are taiko drums. Taiko drums are the
drums seen at many summer festivals in Japan and at Japanese culture ceremonies worldwide.

Wa-daiko (和太鼓), or Japanese drums, come in many sizes and shapes. One example is the tsuzumi, an
hourglass-shaped rope tension drum. Another is the byo-uchi-daiko, a drum made out of a single piece of
wood. The most dramatic taiko is the oo-daiko.

Oo-daiko are the large drums you see in the back of a taiko ensemble. You can see all of these drums
used in a taiko drum ensemble, called kumi-daiko (組太皷), where each drum has a specific role and
voiced calls help players coordinate. Also, you can try your hand at taiko; visit one of the many arcades in
Tokyo to play Taiko no Tatsujin, or Taiko Drum Master, to play this traditional Japanese instrument to
modern j-pop melodies.

Listening to traditional Japanese instruments can give you a whole new perspective on Japanese culture.
These instruments have not only survived, but traditional Japanese music has adapted to to remain
relevant in modern Japan. Be on the lookout for these six traditional Japanese instruments next time you
visit Tokyo!

Music of China
Music of China refers to the music of the Chinese people, which may be the music of the Han
Chinese as well as other ethnic minorities within mainland China. It also includes music
produced by people of Chinese origin in some territories outside mainland China
using traditional Chinese instruments or in the Chinese language. It covers a highly diverse
range of music from the traditional to the modern.

Traditional music[edit]
Female music by Qiu Zhu (fl. 1565–1585)

Instrumental
Musical instruments were traditionally classified into eight categories known as bayin.[7] Traditional
music in China is played on solo instruments or in small ensembles of plucked and bowed stringed
instruments, flutes, and various cymbals, gongs, and drums. The scale is pentatonic. Bamboo
pipes and qin are among the oldest known musical instruments from China; instruments are
traditionally divided into categories based on their material of composition: animal skins, gourd,
bamboo, wood, silk, earth/clay, metal, and stone. Chinese orchestras traditionally consist of bowed
strings, woodwinds, plucked strings and percussion.

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The Moon reflecting in Erquan Pool, a masterpiece written for erhu by the blind composer Abing.

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Zuiyu Changwan (The Evening Song of the Drunken Fisherman) for qin from the Tianwen Ge Qinpu (1876).

Instruments

 Woodwind
dizi, xiao, suona, sheng, paixiao, guan, hulusi, bawu, xun

 Percussion
paigu, gong, bells, cymbals, bianzhong, fangxiang, paiban, bianqing

 Bowed strings
erhu, zhonghu, dahu, banhu, jinghu, gaohu, gehu, yehu, cizhonghu, diyingehu, leiqin

 Plucked and struck strings

guqin, sanxian, yueqin, yangqin, guzheng, ruan, konghou, liuqin, pipa, zhu

Re-enactment of a traditional music performance at Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan.

Chinese vocal music has traditionally been sung in a thin, non resonant voice or in falsetto and
is usually solo rather than choral. All traditional Chinese music is melodic rather than harmonic.
Chinese vocal music probably developed from sung poems and verses with music. Instrumental
 pieces played on an erhu or dizi are popular, and are often available outside of China, but
the pipa and zheng music, which are more traditional, are more popular in China itself.
The qin is perhaps the most revered instrument in China, even though very few people know
what it is or seen and heard one being played. The zheng, a form of zither, is most popular
in Henan, Chaozhou, Hakka areas, and Shandong. The pipa, a kind of lute, believed to have
been introduced from the Arabian Peninsula area during the 6th century and adapted to suit
Chinese tastes, is most popular in Shanghai and surrounding areas

Korean music, the art concerned with combining vocal or instrumental sounds for beauty
of form or emotional expression, specifically as it is carried out in Korea, or the Korean
peninsula, where a strong indigenous tradition has been influenced by the Chinese and
the Mongols.

Shaman Music

The earliest references to music in Korea are found in a 3rd-century- CE Chinese text that
comments on agricultural festivals (nong’ak) with singing and dancing among the tribes of
northwestern Korea. Such events are still a strong part of Korean life. Another ancient but long-
lived tradition in Korea is shamanism, or communication with the unseen world by a shaman in
a state of trance. This is of special interest because such a belief is historically characteristic not
only of all northern Asian tribes but also of other peoples (such as Eskimos [Inuit]) who live in
the northernmost regions of the world. Korea is one of the few regions south of the Arctic that
maintains strong shamanism in the face of foreign religious adoptions such
as Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity.
Korean shamans
Contemporary Korean shamans, one playing a gong (left), petitioning the spirits to protect the community's
fishermen.

The globular flute (hun), mentioned as one of the very earliest artifacts of Chinese music, has
been played in Korean Confucian temples since the 12th century, as has a chi flute, which has a
bamboo mouthpiece plugged into the mouth-hole with wax. In addition to five finger holes it has
a cross-shaped hole in what on other flutes is the open lower end. The lower end of the chi can
thus be closed by the little finger of the left hand. This unique flute, known to have been in Korea
by at least the 11th century, has totally disappeared from the rest of East Asia. By contrast,
the p’iri cylindrical double-reed aerophone (wind instrument) has many relatives in Asia, but
the rich saxophone-like tone produced by its deceptively narrow tube body and large reed are
not heard elsewhere. It is heard in many varieties of Korean musical contexts, from folk festivals
to urban parties.

p'iri

Much of what is known about the origin of instruments is derived from Chinese and Korean
historical books and administrative documents, such as the grand list of presents sent by the
Chinese Song emperor to Korea in the year 1111. The list includes 10 sets of stone chimes and 10
bronze bell sets, along with five iron equivalents that sound in a higher register and numerous
other instruments. Korean musicians performed successfully at the Chinese court, and Korean
monks attended the international training centres in China to learn Buddhist chant. During the
reign of Sejong (1419–50), new imperial shrine music and traditional Confucian ritual music
were emphasized along with musical settings of epics written in the newly
developed Hangul (Chosŏn muntcha) Korean alphabet. The grand traditions of China were
preserved under the guidance of the court master of music, Pak Yŏn (1378–1458).
kayagŭm

The survival of so many old traditions is partly due to the preservation of notation books. Many
are in the traditional Chinese forms. In the late 15th century, however, a Korean mensural
system (i.e., a notation showing time values) was created that, through the use of columns of 16
squares, gave a clearer indication of rhythm and tempos than do most Chinese notations. This
system, usually with modifications into 6- or 12-square groups, continues to be used to notate
the six-beat rhythms of Korean music.

ajaeng
Excerpt of a performance of Korean sanjo music on an ajaeng, a seven-stringed bowed zither;
recorded at the National Centre for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, Seoul.
Korea Britannica Corp.