Women in Japanese music

Main Genres



Gagaku/Kagura

     No female players

     Kagura-mai (dances in Shintô rituals, mainly folk tradition)

          Sometimes dancers are women

Shômyô

     Sung by Buddhist priests, no women

Nô

     No female actresses/singers or instrumentalists

Kabuki

     Performed by women for a while (Woman Kabuki)

     Woman Kabuki was prohibited by the Edo Shôgun

          The Goberment thought that it was corrupting public
          morals

     Onnagata: female roles played by men

     No female players

Minyô (folksongs)

     Male/female singers

Lullaby

     Sung by mothers

Popular music (Enka, Kayô-kyoku, J-POP)

     Male/female singers and instrumentalists

Western music (Yôgaku)

     Male/female singers and instrumentalists



Instruments

Biwa

     Male/female players

     Goze (folk biwa tradition): no male players

     Gaku-biwa (biwa for Gagaku): men only

Shakuhach

     Never be played by women

     Originally was a tool for a Zen meditation

     Originally played by Zen priest only (Fuke-shakuhachi)

     

Koto

     Male/female players

     Composers/performers: men only (until Meiji period)

     Symbol of an "educated woman"

          Today this image is substituted by the piano or violin

     Gaku-sô (koto for Gagaku): men only

Shamisen

     Male/female players

     Played by a prostitute

     Played by a Geisha

     Koto player frequently play this instrumnt, too

Kokyû

     Male/female players     

     

Composers



Traditional music: men only

Music after 1889 (after Meiji period): male/female composers



Non-Japanese people in Japan



Okinawa music

     Male/female play instruments

		--Koten (classical) music: mostly men play sanshin; women mostly play koto
		--Minyo: both men and women play instruments
     Male/female singers

     Daners: Mele/female dancers

Ainu (naitive Hokkaido people)

     Musical activities: mainly by women