Japanese

Music
By: Lila, Sam and Aidan

About Japanese Music

The music of Japan includes a wide array of styles both
traditional and modern. The word for music in Japanese Is
Ongaku.

The Variety of Japanese Music

J-Pop is an abbreviation for Japanese Pop. Traditional Japanese music is quite
different from Western music as it is often based on the intervals of human breathing
rather than mathematical timing. There are two forms of traditional Japanese music.
They are shmy , or Buddhist chanting, and gagaku or orchestral court music. Biwa is
an instrument that is used all across parts of Japan. Taiko is another instrument that
is used in Japan.

Some of the Japanese Instruments

Biwa
String

Koto
String

Sanshin
String

Taiko
Percussion

The Biwa
The Biwa is a Japanese short necked instrument kind of like a guitar. It is often used in
Japanese storytelling. The Biwa is the chosen instrument of Benten and is the
goddess of music. It was educated in Japanese Shinto.

Biwa

Japanese
Shinto

Shamisen
The shamisen or samisen (, literally "three strings"), also called sangen (, literally "three
strings"), is a three-stringed, Japanese musical instrument from the Chinese instrument sanxian. It is
played with a plectrum called a bachi. The shamisen is a plucked stringed instrument. Its construction
follows a model similar to that of a guitar or a banjo, with a neck and strings stretched across a resonating
body. The neck of the shamisen is fretless and slimmer than that of a guitar or banjo. The body, called the
d (), resembles a drum, having a hollow body that is covered front and back with skin, in the manner of
a banjo.

Shamisen Video

Koto
The koto is a traditional Japanese instrument. This instrument is similar to the
Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum, and the Vietnamese n tranh. Kotos are
about 71 inches (in length ). They have 13 strings with 13 movable bridges on top of the
strings. To play this instrument you pluck the strings using three fingers, your index
finger, middle finger and your thumb.

Sanshin
The Sanshin is another string instrument that is referred to as the Japanese
Banjo. It is a smaller and skinnier version of the Biwa. In mainland Japan, many
people refer to the sanshin as jabisen or jamisen , "snake three strings") because
the body of the instrument has a snakeskin covering. The body is specifically made
of Burmese Python skin.

Sanshin Video

Taiko
Drumming

Taiko. ... In Japanese,

the term refers to any
kind of drum, but
outside Japan, it is used
to refer to any of the
various Japanese
drums called wadaiko
("Japanese drums")
and to the form of
ensemble taiko
drumming more
specifically called
kumi-daiko ("set of
drums").

Taiko Drumming Video