Traditional Japanese music

History and character

Traditional Japanese music (hōgaku) includes very different genres, born in different eras and social settings. The oldest is gagaku, the court music of Chinese and Korean origin (the term appears in 701 with the establishment of the court music office, Gagaku-ryō; “Japanese” form in the Heian era, 794–1185; today preserved by the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency and recognized as a cultural property), with shō (mouth organ), hichiriki (oboe), ryūteki (flute), biwa, koto and drums. Shōmyō is the Buddhist liturgical chant. Theater produced the music of nō (14th century: utai singing, the jiutai chorus and the hayashi ensemble with nōkan flute, kotsuzumi, ōtsuzumi and taiko), of kabuki (nagauta with shamisen and voices, hayashi percussion, offstage effects) and of bunraku (puppet theater with the gidayū narrator and the futozao shamisen).

From the Edo period (1603–1868) came the flourishing of chamber music for koto (Yatsuhashi Kengyō, 17th century, with pieces such as Rokudan no shirabe), for shamisen (jiuta) and their combination with the shakuhachi or the kokyū (sankyoku); the shakuhachi of the komusō monks of the Fuke sect, with the meditative honkyoku repertoire; the min'yō folk songs (work, fishing and festival songs: Sōran-bushi, Kokiriko-bushi), accompanied by shamisen, shakuhachi, drums and shouts (kakegoe); and the music of festivals (matsuri-bayashi). In the north, Tsugaru-jamisen, virtuosic and improvised, arose in the early 20th century, made famous around the world by the Yoshida Brothers (2000s). The kumi-daiko drum ensemble was born in 1951 with Daihachi Oguchi and spread with groups such as Ondekoza and Kodō (Sado, 1981). Okinawa has its own tradition (sanshin, ryūkyū scale, eisā dance).

Modern Japan has fused these traditions with Western music: Michio Miyagi (koto and modern music, Haru no umi, 1929), Tōru Takemitsu (November Steps, 1967, for biwa, shakuhachi and orchestra), enka (sentimental song with the yonanuki pentatonic scale and kobushi ornaments), pop and rock with traditional instruments (Wagakki Band), music for anime and video games (Joe Hisaishi, Nobuo Uematsu), and the electronic music of Isao Tomita and Ryūichi Sakamoto. Aesthetic concepts: ma (the value of silence and the interval between sounds), jo-ha-kyū (slow introduction – breaking/development – fast conclusion), wabi-sabi (the beauty of imperfection and impermanence), attention to timbre and to noise as part of the sound (the breath of the shakuhachi, the sawari buzz of the shamisen and the biwa).

Scales and keys

Japanese music mainly uses pentatonic scales (anhemitonic and hemitonic) organized, according to Koizumi Fumio's theory, in tetrachords with two “nuclear tones” a perfect fourth apart and a movable intermediate note. Roman numerals in minor are relative to the natural minor; the chords are only approximations for modern arrangements (the tradition is monophonic or heterophonic).

Yō (“bright” scale, min'yō)

• Formula 1 2 4 5 6 (semitones 2-3-2-2-3) — in D: D E G A B (source: Wikipedia, Yo scale).
• Characteristic note: no semitones; an open, folk, festive sound; used in gagaku, shōmyō and folk songs.
• “Min'yō” variant (second mode): D F G A C (1 b3 4 5 b7), the basic scale of the 1.8 shakuhachi (Ro Tsu Re Chi Ri = D F G A C).
• Chords (approximation): i (Dm) III (F) IV/iv (G) VII (C), or harmonizations without a third.

In / miyako-bushi (“dark” scale, city)

• Formula 1 b2 4 5 b6 (semitones 1-4-2-1-4) — in D: D Eb G A Bb (source: Wikipedia, In scale).
• Characteristic note: the semitones b2 and b6 above the nuclear tones: melancholy, urban elegance; the scale of the koto and shamisen of the Edo period (Sakura Sakura uses this type of scale).
• Chords (approximation, relative to the natural minor): i (Dm or D5) bII (Eb) iv (Gm) VI (Bb).
• Use: koto (hirajōshi tuning), jiuta, nagauta, many “Japanese” melodies in film.

Hirajōshi (koto tuning)

• More than a scale, it is the standard tuning of the 13-string koto; Western sources give different versions of the “hirajōshi scale”, all modes of the same 2-1-4-1-4 structure (e.g. C D Eb G Ab; source: Wikipedia, Hirajōshi scale).
• Tuning example (relative): D G A B♭ D E♭ G A B♭ D E♭ G A (a practical datum; the tonic varies).

Insen and Iwato

• Insen: 1 b2 4 5 b7 — in D: D Eb G A C (source: Wikipedia, Insen scale).
• Iwato: 1 b2 4 b5 b7 — in D: D Eb G Ab C: the most dissonant and mysterious color.

Ritsu and ryo (gagaku)

Scales of Chinese origin used in gagaku: ryo (similar to the major pentatonic with a passing #4) and ritsu (similar to Dorian/yō).

Ryūkyū (Okinawa)

• Formula 1 3 4 5 7 — in C: C E F G B.
• Characteristic note: semitones 3–4 and 7–1 with the major third: the sunny, “tropical” sound of the sanshin and of Okinawan songs (e.g. Shima Uta by The Boom, 1992, written with Okinawan colors).
• Chords (approximation): I (C) IV (F) V (G) iii (Em).

Yonanuki (enka and Shōwa pop)

• Yonanuki chō-onkai (major without the 4th and 7th): 1 2 3 5 6 — major pentatonic. Yonanuki tan-onkai (minor without the 4th and 7th): 1 2 b3 5 b6 — in A: A B C E F (source: Wikipedia, Enka). It is the melodic basis of enka and of a lot of mid-20th-century Japanese pop.

How to choose

Yō and min'yō for the folk and the festive, in/miyako-bushi for the melancholy elegance of the koto and shamisen, iwato/insen for the mysterious, ryūkyū for Okinawa, yonanuki for enka; ritsu/ryo to evoke gagaku. The color also comes from the nuclear intervals (fourths) and the ornaments (slides, slow vibratos, kobushi), not only from the scale.

Harmony

Melody, heterophony and sonorities

• Traditional Japanese music is monophonic or heterophonic: voice and instruments play the same line with variants and offsets; there is no functional harmony.
• Gagaku: the shō plays the aitake, chords of 5–6 notes (clusters of seconds and fourths) that support the melody of the hichiriki: a static, luminous sonority that doesn't “progress”.
• Koto and shamisen: dyads of fourths, fifths and octaves, short arpeggios, repeated notes; the “harmony” arises from the resonances of the open strings.
• Nō and kabuki: a free relationship between singing, flute and percussion, with structural meeting points (not chords).
• Ma: the pauses and decays are part of the form; a sound dying away is worth as much as a chord.

Modern harmonization (enka, pop, film, anime)

• Pentatonic melodies harmonized with Western progressions: IV–V–iii–vi (“royal road”, 4536), vi–IV–V–I, i–VI–VII–i in minor, cadences with V7 (enka).
• Open chords (fourths and fifths, sus2, add9) so as not to “Westernize” too much; pedals under in/miyako-bushi scales.
• Takemitsu: post-impressionist harmonies (Debussy, Messiaen) juxtaposed with traditional timbres.

Harmonic rhythm

Nonexistent in the tradition; in modern pop 1–2 chords per bar.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

• Jo-ha-kyū: a tempo principle that applies to a piece, a section or even a single phrase: slow, free beginning (jo), development and acceleration (ha), fast conclusion (kyū), then often a final slowing down.
• Free rhythm and breath: shakuhachi honkyoku (durations according to the breath), gagaku (very slow, elastic pulse), nō introductions.
• Ma between the strokes: in nō and kabuki the percussion (kotsuzumi, ōtsuzumi) alternates strokes and kakegoe (rhythmic shouts “yo”, “ho”, “iya”) that measure the space between the sounds.
• Min'yō: regular meters in 2/4 or 4/4 (dance songs, bon-odori) or free (work songs like oiwake, with long melismas).
• Matsuri-bayashi and kumi-daiko: ostinato rhythms in 2/4 and 4/4 with basic patterns (ji-uchi) and variations, collective accelerations.
• Tsugaru-jamisen: speed, improvisation and percussive strokes of the bachi on the skin.
• Shōwa pop/enka: slow 4/4, 6/8 and 3/4.

Drums

Japanese percussion

• Taiko: a family of drums (barrel-shaped nagadō-daiko, small, tightly roped shime-daiko, giant ōdaiko, okedō) played with sticks (bachi). In kumi-daiko (ensemble, since 1951) one drum keeps the ji-uchi (basic pattern, often a shime-daiko with “don-ko don-ko”), the others play phrases, solos, unisons; the choreography (posture, movements) is part of the performance.
• Kotsuzumi (hourglass drum on the shoulder, sound varied by squeezing the cords) and ōtsuzumi (on the hip, a dry, high stroke) in nō and kabuki; kakko and shōko (gong) in gagaku.
• Chappa (small cymbals), kane (gong), hyōshigi (wooden blocks struck in kabuki), shamisen used percussively (Tsugaru).

How they think

• The stroke and the silence after the stroke are equally important (ma); the kakegoe are a vocal rhythm that coordinates the musicians.
• In kumi-daiko the form grows through layering and acceleration (jo-ha-kyū), with unisons of all the drums at key points and a fortissimo ending.
• Extreme dynamics: from a touch on the rim to the stroke of the ōdaiko (physical, felt in the body).

In pop, film and video games

Sampled taiko as “epic drums” (trailers, Hans Zimmer, The Last Samurai); in traditional J-rock (Wagakki Band) rock drums with taiko on top; use ensembles of real or sampled taiko with round robin, tuned and with room to breathe.

Typical mistakes

Using taiko like a continuous 4/4 drum kit, with no silences; samples with no variation; ignoring the kakegoe; reverbs too long that smear the fast strokes.

Bass

• In the tradition there is no bass line: the low end comes from the ōdaiko and the nagadō-daiko, from the low strings of the koto (and from the jūshichigen, the 17-string bass koto created by Michio Miyagi in 1921), from the futozao shamisen (bunraku), from the biwa.
• Drones: the shō in gagaku, the shamisen with open strings (honchōshi C–F–C, niagari C–G–C, sansagari C–F–B♭: source Wikipedia, Shamisen).
• Pop and enka: electric bass with roots and fifths; double bass in orchestral enka; synth bass in anime theme songs.
• Relationship with the percussion: the modern bass must leave room for the low end of the ōdaiko (40–80 Hz).

Harmonic instruments

• Koto (13 strings, movable bridges ji, tsume picks on three fingers): arpeggios, glissandi (the “waves” of Sakura), dyads, ornaments by pressing the string to the left of the bridge to raise the pitch (oshide).
• Shamisen (3 strings, stretched skin, bachi plectrum): types hosozao (nagauta), chūzao (jiuta), futozao (gidayū, Tsugaru); sawari (a buzz obtained by making the low string vibrate against the nut); tunings honchōshi, niagari, sansagari.
• Biwa (4–5-string lute with high frets; satsuma-biwa and chikuzen-biwa for narrative epics, with sawari).
• Shō (mouth organ with 17 bamboo pipes: aitake).
• Sanshin (Okinawa, 3 strings, snakeskin).
• Kokyū (3–4-string bowed instrument).
• Voicing: open strings and resonances; dyads of fourths and fifths; clusters of the shō.

Melody and vocals

• Melodic instruments: shakuhachi (5-hole bamboo flute, meri/kari techniques to lower/raise the pitch by tilting the head, muraiki = explosive breath, slow vibratos, glissandi), ryūteki, nōkan (nō flute with a deliberately high and “dirty” sound), shinobue (folk festival flute), hichiriki (double reed of gagaku, “enbai” slides).
• Singing: in min'yō a powerful chest voice, melismas, kobushi (an irregular oscillation inside a note, also typical of enka); in nō utai singing with wide vibrato and an “inward” timbre; in gidayū narration with many voices and characters; in nagauta tense, controlled singing.
• Kakegoe: rhythmic shouts and shouts of encouragement.
• Chorus: the jiutai of nō (male chorus in unison); festival choruses in unison.
• Ornamentation and intonation: microintervals and glissandi are style; the timbre (breath, buzz, noise) is part of the melody.

Instruments

Gagaku: shō, hichiriki, ryūteki, komabue, gakubiwa, gakusō (court koto), kakko, taiko, shōko. Theater: nōkan, kotsuzumi, ōtsuzumi, shime-daiko, shamisen (hosozao, futozao), hyōshigi. Chamber and folk: koto (13 strings), jūshichigen (17 strings), shamisen, shakuhachi, kokyū, biwa (satsuma, chikuzen), shinobue, taiko (nagadō, shime, ōdaiko, okedō), chappa, kane. Okinawa: sanshin, sanba (clappers), parankū (drum). Modern: strings, guitar, bass, drums, synth in enka and pop.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• Prophet-5 V — YMO-school synths: Yellow Magic Orchestra (Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, Ryūichi Sakamoto) used the Prophet-5: pads, leads and sequences for electronic fusions with Japanese pentatonic scales.
• Modular V — Isao Tomita-style electronics: Tomita worked with a large Moog modular: oscillators, filters and envelopes for synthetic flutes and bells, also useful for evoking the shakuhachi and the gong.
• CS-80 V — Japanese pads and brass of the '80s: The CS-80 is a Yamaha synth symbolic of '80s soundtracks; expressive pads with ribbon for glissandi similar to the shakuhachi.
• DX7 V — FM koto and bells: The DX7 (Yamaha) has historic presets of FM koto, bells and marimba: useful for city pop, anime and video game arrangements of the '80s–'90s.
• Augmented Strings — Strings for anime and film: Slow strings under koto and shakuhachi (Joe Hisaishi style); filter to leave room for the midrange frequencies of the traditional instruments.

Song structure

Traditional forms

• Jo-ha-kyū as a formal principle at every level (the program of a day of nō, a single performance, a piece, a phrase).
• Danmono for koto.
• Honkyoku for shakuhachi: free form built from breathed phrases.
• Nō: a fixed sequence of sections (shōdan) with singing, dance and instruments.
• Min'yō: verses with a refrain and kakegoe; shamisen instrumental introduction (maebiki).
• Tsugaru-jamisen: improvisation on traditional themes (Tsugaru jongara-bushi), with a slow exposition and virtuosic sections.
• Kumi-daiko: ritual introduction, ji-uchi, solos in turn, unisons, final acceleration.

Pop, enka and film

Enka: instrumental intro (often guitar or strings) – verses – chorus – interlude – verses – ending with a held note and kobushi. J-pop: A-melo – B-melo – sabi (chorus).

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

Timbre, silence and space: each instrument with its own grain (the breath of the shakuhachi, the sawari of the shamisen, the attack of the koto), great attention to decays and pauses (ma), wide dynamics, realistic acoustic environment (wooden hall, temple, nō stage: short, warm reverb; outdoors for the taiko). References: the studio and live recordings of Kodō, the Yoshida Brothers, the Nonesuch Explorer editions (Japan: Shakuhachi), Takemitsu (November Steps).

Shakuhachi and flutes

• Condenser microphone at 50–100 cm, to the side of the mouthpiece (the breath should be captured but must not dominate); no pop filter in front.
• EQ: high-pass 100–150 Hz; the breath (4–8 kHz) should be controlled but not eliminated; no heavy compression (the pianissimo and the muraiki are expressive).
• Space: hall or temple reverb 1.8–3 s, pre-delay 20–40 ms.

Koto

• Stereo pair at 40–80 cm above the instrument (it is 1.8 m long: the low strings on one side, the high ones on the other) + possibly a microphone underneath/behind for the body.
• EQ: high-pass 60–80 Hz; −2 dB at 300–500 Hz if boomy; +1/+2 dB at 4–8 kHz for the attack of the tsume.
• Compression: light (2:1).
• Stereo: wide but natural (L/R 40–60).

Shamisen and biwa

• Microphone at 30–50 cm aimed between the skin and the neck; the sawari (buzz 1–5 kHz) is essential: no EQ that erases it.
• Tsugaru-jamisen: the bachi strokes on the skin have enormous transients: 3:1 compression with attack 10–20 ms, soft clipper for the peaks; high-pass 80 Hz.

Taiko

• Ōdaiko and nagadō: microphones at 1–2 m (the sound develops at a distance), plus an ambient pair; close dynamic mics only for reinforcement.
• EQ: low end +2/+3 dB at 50–80 Hz, −3 dB at 300–500 Hz, attack 2–4 kHz; shime-daiko high-pass 150 Hz, +2 dB at 3–5 kHz.
• Compression: light or none in acoustic recording (the dynamics are the message); in pop and film, parallel compression.
• Space: large hall or outdoors; reverb 1.5–2.5 s.
• Panning: according to the layout of the ensemble (ōdaiko in the center at the back, nagadō L/R, shime in front).

Voice (min'yō, enka, nō)

• Condenser at 20–40 cm; high-pass 80–100 Hz; presence +1/+2 dB at 3 kHz; opto compression 2–3:1 (min'yō has strong dynamics).
• Enka: very close voice, plate or long hall (2–2.5 s) and tape echo, heavier compression (4:1).
• Nō: microphone at 1–2 m to capture the “inward” singing and the hall.

Pop and anime with traditional instruments

Traditional instruments as leads: koto and shakuhachi up front (not buried in the pad), drums and bass with complementary EQ; light sidechain of the pads on the voice.

Buses and groups

Winds, plucked strings, percussion, voices, modern elements; shared hall reverb and a long one for the shakuhachi.

Master

• Traditional: −20/−14 LUFS integrated, LRA 10–20 LU (taiko and shakuhachi have extreme dynamics), true peak −1 dBTP.
• Pop/enka/anime: −11/−8 LUFS.

Common mistakes

• Eliminating the breath, the buzz and the noises: they are part of the aesthetic.
• Compressing taiko and shakuhachi in an acoustic context.
• Filling the silences with reverbs or pads: the “ma” is the content.
• Using koto/shamisen samples without articulations (oshide, glissandi): they sound fake.

Reference tracks for mixing

• Kodō — O-Daiko (from the group's live albums).
• Yoshida Brothers — Rising.
• Tōru Takemitsu — November Steps (1967).
• Michio Miyagi — Haru no umi (1929).
• Ryūichi Sakamoto — Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983).

Reference listening

• Gagaku — Etenraku (repertorio di corte, tōgaku)
• Yatsuhashi Kengyō (attr.) — Rokudan no shirabe (XVII secolo)
• Honkyoku — Shika no tōne (repertorio per shakuhachi)
• Tradizionale — Sakura Sakura
• Michio Miyagi — Haru no umi (1929)
• Tōru Takemitsu — November Steps (1967)
• Maki Ishii — Monochrome (per ensemble di taiko, 1976)
• Ryūichi Sakamoto — Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)
• Takahashi Chikuzan — Tsugaru jongara-bushi
• The Boom — Shima Uta (1992)
• Yoshida Brothers — Rising
• Joe Hisaishi — One Summer's Day (La città incantata, 2001)