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Komagaku and togaku arrived in Japan during the Nara period (710-794), and settled into the basic modern divisions during the Heian[?] period (794-1185). Gagaku performances were played by musicians who belonged to hereditary guilds. During the Kamakura period (1185-1333), military rule took over and gagaku was performed in the homes of the aristocracy, but rarely at court. At this time, there were three guilds based out of Osaka, Nara and Kyoto.
After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, musicians from all three guilds came to Tokyo and their descendents make up most of the current Imperial Palace Music Department[?]. By this time, the traditional instruments, the biwa, koto and shakuhachi had been supplemented by various drums, shamisen[?] (a three-stringed lute, modified from a native Okinawan instrument) and shinobue[?] (a transverse flute).
As Japan moved towards representative democracy in the late 19th century, leaders hired singers to sell copies of songs that aired their messages, since the leaders themselves were usually prohibited from speaking in public. This developed into a form of ballad called enka, which became quite popular in the 20th century, though its popularity has waned among generations at all most age.
Westernized pop music is called kayokyoku[?], which is said to have begun with "Kachusha no uta" (1914; see 1914 in music). The song was composed by Nakayama Shimpei[?] and first appeared in a dramatization of Resurrection[?] by Tolstoy, sung by Matsui Samako[?]. The song became a hit among enka singers, and was the first major best-selling records in Japan.
A number of Japanese composers have written in the western classical music tradition, with Toru Takemitsu being the best known.
J-Pop artists include:
Traditional Instruments:
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump