Biwa is an Oriental stringed instrument. It originated in Persia and Arabia and came to Japan through India and China in the Nara Period(710-784). The body, which is made of wood and oval shaped, is strung with four or five strings, and it is played with a plectrum. It is well-known for being used in chanting of "Heike-monogatari," and there are concerts by female artists.
Bunraku is puppet theater that has flourished in the seventeenth century. It constitutes the three major classical theater with Noh and Kabuki. Puppet manipulation is combined with joruri, the ballad drama that is formed by narrative chanted to shamisen accompaniment, and plot lines are developed. Except for the puppets, it is very similar to Kabuki, and spectators are unconsciously drawn in by the skillfulness of the puppets' movements. The playwright CHIKAMATSU Monzaemon wrote scripts for both Bunraku and Kabuki and greatly influenced both forms. Bunraku puppets have faces, bodies, hands, feet and costumes, and are from one to one and a half meters tall. Usually, three puppet operators are on stage to manipulate one puppet, but, because of the skill of their movements, spectators are not conscious of the operators.
Joruri is chanted narration with shamisen accompaniment. It originated in the narratives of the Muromachi Period(1392-1573), taking as its material the romance of young samurai Ushiwakamaru and Princess Joruri, and, after its popularity became widespread, new narratives came to be called joruri. In the Edo Period(1603-l867), joruri split into several schools. At present, these function respectively as independent entities, and the term joruri sometimes indicates gidayu-bushi, one of the well-known schools. In addition, there is Bunraku, a form of puppet joruri which combines joruri and puppet theater.
Takigino means "a Noh for the firewood party" and was originally Noh performed on the occasion of offering firewood to the Kofukuji, a temple in Nara. Later it was discontinued for a time and in recent years was revived in a simplified form. Recently, outdoor Noh performances in the evening cool after dark use light from the burning firewood in place of lighting. These too are called takiginoh. Noh performed in the firelight with the sea and woods at night as background yields a yugen, the subtle and profound, all the more intense and has aroused renewed popularity.
Gidayu, a shortened form of gidayu-bushi, is a school of ballad drama(joruri) that developed together with Bunraku. The name comes from TAKEMOTO Gidayu an accomplished shamisen player at the end of seventeenth century, who brought joruri to its highest form. Compared to other schools of joruri, gidayu has a strong narrative aspect, marked particularly by its characters' clear expression of feelings, and the accompanying shamisen uses strong tone coloration in the low notes.
Rakugo, a vaudeville performance developed in the Edo Period(1603-1867), is performed in entertainment halls called yose. The rakugo artist sits on stage on a dais, wearing a kimono, and performs his humorous piece solo, with puns and wordplay, usually in the form of a dialogue. The main feature is applying the "punch line" at the end of the piece. Folding fans and hand towels are used for props. In making these sorts of props come alive, rakugo artists lead the spectators into an imaginative world. Rakugo is a conversational art form in which the refinements that have piled up come from men doing the reciting; it uses the same device as Kabuki with men taking female parts. However, recently female rakugo artists have emerged and are much talked about.
This is a kind of vaudeville performance in which two comedians as a team make spectators laugh by their humorous verbal exchanges. The singing and dancing that once served to celebrate New Year changed into a vaudeville performance, and in the early part of the Showa Period(1926-1989) became dialogue-oriented. Compared to comic storytelling(rakugo), manzai is contemporary. The two comedians divide their comic roles and entertain the spectators with the skillfulness of their humorous, ad-libed exchanges. Like rakugo storytellers, manzai artists appear regularly on television variety shows.
Koan, a typical vaudeville performance, like comic storytelling, began in the seventeenth century. While tapping a small table called a shakudai with a paper-covered folded fan, the professional storyteller relates tales of war and martial valor in a unique tone. After the 1920's, there was a period of stagnation, being surpassed by movies and light theatrical performances, and with master storytellers disappearing. But in recent years they have shown signs of making a comeback in which female storytellers are conspicuous and new compositions are being released.
Hogaku in the broad sense refers to the music of Japan, but it usually indicates such music as that of shamisen, koto with 13 strings, and a five-holed bamboo clarinet, which developed in the modern era(after around 1600), and does not include ancient court music and folk songs. The general classifications of hogaku can be divided into narrated stories, including ballad drama(joruri), and sung or chanted pieces, including long epic songs and little ballads. Both have in common the shamisen as the principal accompanying instrument. Because hogaku is traditional music, it is at present mainly performed and appreciated by specialists and enthusiasts, rather than by everybody. However, recently there are some young music bands, trying to create a new kind of music through using Japanese and western instruments in combination, thus uniting the two kinds of music.
Putting music to Chinese poetry and reciting it is called shigin. It came to be recited by general public in a form of only taking the part for recitation from Japanese lute songs, which accompaniment is Japanese lute, and leaving out the rest part. Since it's easy to master compared to Japanese lute song and lifting the voice is good for the health, there are many shigin lovers. Every year the number of schools and head families continues to increase.