Traditional pop music Music of Japan

after meiji restoration introduced western musical instruction, bureaucrat named izawa shuji compiled songs auld lang syne , commissioned songs using pentatonic melody. western music, military marches, became popular in japan. 2 major forms of music developed during period shoka, composed bring western music schools, , gunka, military marches japanese elements.

as japan moved towards representative democracy in late 19th century, leaders hired singers sell copies of songs aired messages, since leaders prohibited speaking in public. street performers called enka-shi. @ end of 19th century, osakan form of streetcorner singing became popular; called rōkyoku. included first 2 japanese stars, yoshida naramaru , tochuken kumoemon.

ichiro fujiyama, influential ryūkōka singer

westernized pop music called kayōkyoku, said have , first appeared in dramatization of resurrection tolstoy. song kachūsha no uta , composed shinpei nakayama, sung sumako matsui in 1914. song became hit among enka-shi, , 1 of first major best-selling records in japan. . ryūkōka, adopted western classical music, made waves across country in prewar period. ichiro fujiyama became popular in prewar period, war songs later became popular when world war ii occurred.

kayōkyoku became major industry, after arrival of superstar misora hibari. in 1950s, tango , other kinds of latin music, cuban music, became popular in japan. distinctively japanese form of tango called dodompa developed. kayōkyoku became associated entirely traditional japanese structures, while more western-style music called japanese pop ( or jpop ). enka music, adopting japanese traditional structures, became quite popular in postwar period, though popularity has waned since 1970s , enjoys little favour contemporary youth. famous enka singers include hibari misora, saburo kitajima, ikuzo yoshi , kiyoshi hikawa.