The introduction of Western culture during the Meiji era (1868–1912) brought many changes to the music world of Japan. Musicians responsible for the gagaku tradition were among the first to study Western music, and created many new songs that fused elements of the two traditions. Some of these songs became famous, and are still sung today.
The reijin (court musicians) who studied Western music
Many of the reijin (the official designation for court musicians) who worked at the Gagaku-kyoku (Music Department) established within the Ministry of the Imperial Household in the early years of the Meiji era (1868–1912) were required to study Western music. This music was still unfamiliar to most of the Japanese of the time, and the reijin played an important role in its introduction. Concrete results of their activities can be seen in their production of many new songs of the genre shōka. (The word shōga, written with the same characters, refers in the traditional gagaku world to the singing of instrumental parts to mnemonic syllables.)
As Japan recast itself as a modern nation-state, new songs became necessary, for singing at various state ceremonies and within the new education system. The reijin developed a new modal theory, combining traditional and Western elements, and composed many new songs in this hybrid idiom. One of these songs, Kimigayo, is now sung as the Japanese national anthem.
The birth of Kimigayo
The text of Kimigayo is a variant version of a well-known waka poem from the first imperial anthology, the early 10th-century Kokin wakashū (‘Collection of Early and Modern Japanese Poetry’). The first anthem-like setting was composed in 1870 by John William Fenton, an Irish military band leader. Fenton’s melody proved unpopular, however, and a new version was composed in 1880 by the young court musician Oku Yoshihisa. This version became a well-known shōka song, often attributed to Hayashi Hiromori, a senior court musician and one of Yoshihisa’s superiors. It was harmonized in Western fashion by the German naval band instructor Franz Eckert soon after its composition, and it is this version that is now sung as Japan’s national anthem.
