Japanese Traditional Music

Japanese traditional music encompasses the court, theatrical and chamber traditions developed in Japan over more than a millennium. Its principal strands include gagaku, the ceremonial ensemble music of the imperial court; the theatrical scores of Noh and Kabuki; and solo and chamber repertoires for the koto, shamisen and shakuhachi. The sound favours sparse textures, flexible timing and attention to timbre and silence, with pentatonic and modal melodies carried by plucked strings, bamboo flutes and percussion. Shakuhachi playing by *Goro Yamaguchi* and the koto school of *Michio Miyagi* exemplify its modern recorded canon.