Japanese Music

Traditional Japanese music is basically meditative in character. Its performance is highly ritualized, as much in the music itself, as in the composure of the musicians when performing it. Japanese chamber and solo music have a slow meditative pace. Westerners obviously discern melodies and musical structures, but ones which do not have much in common with Western music.

The performance of Japanese music has traditionally been of a spiritual character, similarly to martial arts and other art forms of arts such as the tea ceremony and calligraphy, for example. The musician works on an inner strength in mastering of his or her instrument, more than simply perfecting a technique of some sort and providing entertainment. Audiences are looking for this self-mastery in musicians. For this reason, among many, this music has become highly ritualized. Musicians must show this spiritual self-mastery in their performance and composure.

Traditional Japanese music uses concrete elements which serve to represent natural sounds and the sounds of life. Contrary to Western music, the musician's self-expression is minimized through the ritualistic and contemplative use of these concrete sounds and effects. Many Westerners feel there is not much emotion in Japanese music. This important distinction in their aesthetic of music is important for Westerners to understand, and for the appreciation of Japanese traditional music.

Although composers were signing their works during the Nara period (553-794 AD), much earlier than the Europeans, composers and writers alike did not consider they had intellectual and individual rights over their work (though this has changed since the 20th century following Western influences). There are apparently two reasons for this. First, music, as well as theatre and poetry, are based on strict forms and patterns of composition, which are strictly followed. The concept of individual rights, thus, did not apply in this context. The second reason is that for the Japanese mind, the social and collective ego has precedence over the individual ego. So, when a musician writes a new musical work, it is done in the spirit of the school of which he or she belongs, and it is considered part of the repertoire of that school first and foremost. In this sense, tradition and the tradition of the school one belongs to have precedence over one's individuality. In this line of thought it is even accepted for another musician, member of a school or not, to adapt and modify a piece from another musician according to the style of their own school. Many pieces have different versions according to a musician's or a school's style.

For Japanese, the basic principle governing the universe is not God or man, but time - a time which is a primordial flowing energy, through which everything evolves and becomes. The concept of naru, meaning becoming, is very important in Japanese traditional music and all other Japanese forms of art. It is even considered a natural law. All art evolves through its own temporal movement and flow. This includes as well the movement of the painter or the sculptor in creating their works, the musician performing a piece of music, a poet reciting a poem or an actor performing in a play.

One of the most important aesthetic principles in Japanese music follows from this concept of naru. This principle is called jo-ha-kyû, which means roughly introduction, development and conclusion. It is a temporal aesthetic principle on which music is based, from a single note to entire pieces. It regulates the flow of time in a piece of music so that all notes, words and parts flow flawlessly between each other. Jo-ha-kyû manifests the flow of nature in temporal arts.

There is another principle which is very important in Japanese arts: the ma, which is generally translated as space; but it is not a physical space but it is more a sensory space, which involves physical space as well as the space of time. In music, it is felt through the silences between musical phrases or single notes, or through the jo-ha-kyû while playing a single note or a phrase. In a flower arrangement, it is felt through the arrangement of the different flowers, branches or leafs. Or, in a Japanese tea room, one might see a beautiful kimono hung on a corner. The ma is felt not through its physical place in the room, but through what a kimono evokes in one's mind when notices it: the beauty of wearing such a beautiful kimono. The ma is sensory in relation to what is evoked in a person's mind when experiencing something.