A variety of musical scales are used in traditional Japanese music. While a twelve-tone ( dodecatonic) Chinese scale has influenced Japanese music since the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

, in practice Japanese traditional music is often based on

pentatonic A pentatonic scale is a musical scale (music), scale with five Musical note, notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale, which has seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale). Pentatonic scales were developed ...

(five tone) or

heptatonic A heptatonic scale is a musical scale that has seven pitches, or tones, per octave. Examples include the major scale or minor scale; e.g., in C major: C D E F G A B C—and in the relative minor, A minor, natural minor: A B C D E F G A; the m ...

(seven tone) scales. In some instances,

harmonic minor In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which also ...

is used, while the

melodic minor In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which al ...

is virtually unused.

Pentatonic scales

* Japanese mode: a pentatonic musical scale with the intervals of the scale a major second, minor second, major third, minor second, and major third *

Akebono scale The Akebono scale is a musical scale commonly used in traditional Japanese music. Akebono and the Diatonic scale use the same intervals, but Akebono has no fixed tonic; as such, any Akebono note can be the tonic. The 1891 ''Transactions of the ...

* Hirajōshi scale *

In scale The ''in'' scale (also known as the ''Sakura'' pentatonic scale due to its use in the well-known folk song ''Sakura Sakura'') is, according to a traditional theory, one of two pentatonic scales used in much Japanese music, excluding '' gagaku'' and ...

Insen scale Insen (or In Sen; kanji: 陰旋; hiragana: いんせん) is a tuning scale adapted from shamisen music by Yatsuhashi Kengyō for tuning of the koto. It only differs from the hirajoshi scale by one note. In D mode it consists of: D-E-G-A-C so ...

Iwato scale The ''iwato'' scale is a musical scale that is similar to the Locrian mode (spelled 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7), seventh mode of the major scale, different in that it has no 3rd or 6th notes, thus making it pentatonic. Its spelling is therefore 1 b2 4 b ...

Ritsu and ryo scales The ''ritsu'' and ''ryo'' scales are anhemitonic pentatonic scales -- five-note scales without semitones -- used in a type of Japanese Buddhist chant called shōmyō. The ''ritsu'' scale is built up by intervals of major second, minor third, ma ...

Yo scale The ''yo'' scale, which is like the Mixolydian but does not contain minor notes, according to a traditional theory is a pentatonic scale used in much Japanese music including gagaku and shomyo. The ''yo'' scale is used specifically in folk songs ...

References

Musical scales Japanese music {{japan-music-stub

Pentatonic scales

Further reading

References