Ancient Japanese Music

The Ancient Japanese Music was most probably involved in two areas of Japanese tradition; Ritual/spiritual and Elite entertainment.

During the late Yayoi and Jomon periods the tombs of musicians were preserved, which shows that the people of that time respected and appreciated the arts. Before Chinese, Korean and other music arrived in Japan many scholars believe that the indigenous music was quite primitive.

Early Japanese music was heavily influenced by Chinese music, and then began to take on a unique shape of its own. In the Nara period (beginning in 710) we begin to see not only folk and working music from the countryside, but Japanese Court Music (known as Gagaku) and Buddhist music beginning to spread.

Buddhist and spiritual music associated with Shomyo (Buddhist Chant) is the foundation of Japanese music.

In a Shingon Buddhist journal(Chisan-ha), the famous shakuhachi bamboo flute player Zenyouji Keisuke (2001, p 28) states that the shakuhachi is more than just music, it is an offering to the Shinto gods and Buddha. Similarly, this music is the gateway and link between the human and spiritual worlds.

Shingon Buddhism sees music as a way of self realization and connecting with spiritual realms. This concept holds true in both ancient Japanese music and contemporary music as well.

He goes on to say that Shingon’s mystical incantations and chants are the same as some of the original honkyoku and that we express these incantations via the shakuhachi sounds.

The Shingon sect specifically recognizes enlightenment through many other various forms of music as well. Horagai, or conch shell, players are often associated with Shugendo (mountain ascetics) which is closely related to Shingon and Shinto.

However, it is Shomyo (Buddhist chants, similar to hymns) that is said to be where the roots of most Japanese music today lies. Shomyo is specific to the Mikkyo schools of the Shingon and Tendai sects.

Ancient Japanese music came about from absorbing foreign cultures and creating something uniquely Japanese. Stylizing somehting to fit their aesthetic tastes and making it a part of their own culture is the reoccuring pattern of traditional Japanese customs.

Japanese Music
Buddhist Chant - Shomyo
Shakuhachi- Japanese Bamboo Flute