Jiuta

is a style of traditional Japanese music. In the Edo period (1603–1867), pieces in the style were played on the , and were mostly regional to Kamigata. The name means of (Kamigata in this instance),

Introduction of the and origin of#

It can be regarded that introduction of the and the birth of occurred at the almost same time; therefore, has the longest history amongst varieties of music. The (Chinese lute) arrived in Japan at Sakai, Osaka via Ryukyu near the end of the Sengoku period. Blind musicians known as at Tōdōza improved the instrument and created what would be the . They used the plectrum of the Japanese to play the , thus creating the beginning of as music. Ishimura-Kengyo is particularly regarded as originator of music. After that, musicians, mainly at Tōdōza, performed, composed and handed down . The existing oldest piece is considered as a work of the early years of Edo period.

Emergence of#

Around the Genroku era, , which feature a consistent story, appeared. , a blind official often engaged in music, apparently started to compose in Edo. The famous composers are Asari-kengyo and Sayama-Kengyo, and it seems that before long composers in Kamigata also took this style for their work. In the course of time, came to be used as musical accompaniment of kabuki.

Emergence of#

Another tide around this era, instrumental aspect was focused intensively as well as vocal composition, so that pieces took an instrumental part without vocal, typically it was located in the middle part of a song. This musical interlude, instrumental part between singing is called , and this style is called . In the early stages of the emergence of , simple works were common; however, this style developed hugely in the later Edo period and gained status as the mainstream type of music of .

Emergence of and its boom#

Miscellaneous pieces which are not categorized as above were also composed. These kind of pieces are called . contain some elements of popular music and light music, and this character of the style became the contact points between and popular songs. were composed not only by professional blind musicians, but also by amateur musicians, whose works were generally lyrical. In the middle of the 18th century, a great number of were composed, with the style becoming more sophisticated as a result. The center of that boom was Osaka. Notable pieces were , , and .

and ensembles#

Originally, blind musicians were engaged in three instruments used in – the , and – from the early years of Edo period. The all-inclusive term for these three instruments is . These three instruments developed on their own course, and developed their own musical genres ( for , for , for ); ensembles including all three did not exist in early years. In the Genroku era, Ikuta-kengyou in Kyoto began creating ensemble pieces with and , hence and developed concurrently afterwards. Most of the existing pieces are composed by with an added part, so it can be regarded that was initially created as music, before came to develop with concurrently or afterwards. The was often used together with other instruments, before finally all three instruments – , and – were used together, creating the ensemble.

Emergence of and influence from Noh and#

At the end of the 18th century, composed many pieces which feature lyrics and stories taken from Noh. This was called . From the Genroku era to the end of 18th century, musical elements from were introduced into . Thus, has some relation with performing arts such as Noh and .

Emergence of#

Around same time, a genre called emerged. This genre has comical contents. For example, animals such as rats, snails and raccoon doga are protagonists and make efforts to escape from difficult situations. Narrativity dominates this genre and sound effects are used. is referred to special category within the field of , and requires variety of highly trained technical skills.

Maturity of#

From the middle to the end of Edo period, pieces which had high musical achievement were composed. Key developments were long interludes and instrumental parts between blocks of vocal parts called . Many pieces in this style, known as , have been handed down and are extant today. Minesaki-koutou, active in the end of 18th century in Osaka, achieved success in the field. He defined as long and technical instrumental parts within a piece and composed great number of pieces which focused on the ’s technical playing. His follower, Mitsuhashi-koutou, increased the part within a piece, resulting in becoming longer and more varied than ever. As a result, came to have and emphasized instrumental part in the course of its development.

Beginning of polyphonic composition and development of ensemble#

Around the Bunka era, Ichiura-kengyo from Osaka elaborated the ensemble playing of the . Most previous compositions had been almost in unison in ensembles; in contrast, Ichiura began composing polyphonic ensembles. Polyphonic parts for the were known as , a style which Yaezaki-kengyo sophisticated. Ensemble playing of the was also popular in that era, and pieces for were also composed. Another similar style was ; composition of another piece based on an original piece, which would be played at the same time.

Major development of#

Later, the majority of composition moved to Kyoto. At first, Matsuura-kengyo composed a number of sophisticated in the Kyoto style; composed in Kyoto were called or . Kikuoka-kengyo (1792–1847 composed and contributed its development in Kyoto. Yaezaki-kengyo (1776–1848), who was also active in same era, composed the part of most pieces and arranged Kikuoka’s compositions. The two musicians contributed greatly to their development, and can be said to have created the heyday of as a style; by integrating and together, here reached the perfection of its craft as music.

Improvement of plectrum#

Around this era, Tsuyama-kengyo from Osaka invented an improved plectrum used in playing.

Emergence of independent#

Mitsusaki-kengyo, a junior fellow musician of Kikuoka-kengyo, was active then. He was also a pupil of Yaezaki-kengyo. He focused on the because it had the possibility to develop more than , which had been developed far enough that there seemed to be little room to develop further. He composed some pieces featuring a solo , and this became a trigger to develop independently. Yoshizawa-kengyo took over and promoted this movement, then began to develop it gradually.

Integrated parts#

Mitsusaki-kengyo composed traditional , and in his original works, he composed both parts of and as the only composer, a novel concept at the time. Thus the instrumental parts were integrated and refined. His junior followers also took over this method. One of his followers, Yoshizawa-kengyo, went further; he composed three instrumental parts of , and by himself. In the last years of the Edo period, became popular across Japan and was influenced and integrated into local styles of music.

Disorder after the Meiji Restoration and popularization of#

In the Meiji period, developed independently, and composition of declined. composition did not disappear entirely, and some composers continued to create their own works; however, tunes composed only for the increased overwhelmingly. , having already reached its perfection, saw little further room for improvement or innovation, whereas the could easily deal with the tonal scale elements from Western music and Chinese music. The modernising and fresh spirit of the Meiji period was suitable for the tone of the better than the , whose Edo-period sound reminded people of love affairs and the pleasure districts. As the new government dissolved , musicians there lost their status, which had previous been protected by the privilege system, and musical activity changed accordingly. who lost their authority faced hardship, and had to earn their living by appearing in popular theater. Meanwhile, music had a chance once again to be well known by the general public, specifically in the eastern part of Japan such as Tokyo, where was not so much performed. Many musicians from the western part of Japan, such as the Kyusyu region and Osaka, found their way to Tokyo. Later, after the period that Western things were valued exclusively had gone, became a popular music spread whole of country as well as and , and developed a wide range of listeners. Meanwhile, new compositions of reduced. However, the had taken a larger role in compositions in place of the , and pieces in the style accompanied by were far fewer in number. One notable composer was Michio Miyagi. Up to today, composers habe tried to introduce various forms (such as Western sonatas) to the style. Today, ensembles consists of the , and . The has replaced the role of the in modern ensembles, though ensembles with the have not disappeared entirely.

Musical features#

In early modern Japanese music which involved the use of the , one feature was for a player to sing their own accompaniment. flourished in the Kyoto and Osaka regions, and thus was called or played by groups of blind men (see ). After the middle of the Edo period, – , and – started to contain common pieces to play in ensemble, then integrated themselves gradually, before finally consolidating with each other. After end of the Edo period, , which had been developing along with , marked advanced development – thus sometimes is included in . However, originally was created for music, and early -oriented music such as accordingly is not in origin.

Introspective pieces#

Most pieces for have been composed by blind musicians; thus, is regarded as an expression of emotion, and not of visual impression. As a musical style that has developed without relation to the performing arts, the general expression of is introspective and delicate, and less dramatically expressive than those styles developed in tandem and for accompaniment with the performing arts.

Genre family: Japanese traditional music