It’s important to understand the cultural context in Japan throughout history and today, the influence of Buddhism and other religions, the second World War, the country’s distinctive natural and geographical properties.

Sound sculptures have traditionally been a part of Japanese culture, for example the suikinkutsu is a type of garden ornament that creates splashes of water which ring the inside of a koto, producing pleasant bell-like sounds.

The Japanese would use sound sculptures like the suikinkutsu or the shishi-odoshi for practical use. The latter was originally intended to startle deer or boars away from agriculture, but shishi-odoshi became primarily a part of the visual and sonic aesthetic of a traditional Japanese garden.

I find it interesting that some of the aural signatures that make up the Japanese sound as we know it came from practicality and were originally conceived to serve a purpose, rather than purely for aesthetic enjoyment.

Gagaku

Gagaku is the oldest Japanese traditional performing art. It began between the 5th and 7th centuries, when music from Korea and China made its way to the Japanese islands. It is characterised by long, slow songs and dance-like movements. It is performed at banquets and ceremonies in the Imperial Palace and in theatres throughout Japan. A Gagaku ensemble consists of 16 to 30 musicians, divided into woodwinds, strings and percussion. Instruments include the sho (mouth organ), the hickiriki (double reed flute), the ryuteki (transverse flute), kaki and taiko drums, shoko (bronze gong) and koto and biwa strings. In ancient Japan, commoners were not allowed to hear Gagaku – it was sacred, and only members of the Imperial court were allowed to attend a performance.

Artists

Keijiro Sato is an artist whose work explores the concepts of sonic materialism.

Hitoshi Nomura is a Japanese contemporary artist. He explored many ways of thinking about time throughout his career as an artist

Akio Suzuki is a legendary Japanese sound artist, born in Pyongyang, North Korea. He has been performing, building instruments and presenting sound installations since the 70s. He uses unique self-made instruments such as the Analapos. His music sounds pure, it is very easy to lose yourself in its simplicity. He worked with younger Japanese artists like Aki Onda as well as with international artists such as David Toop.

Dallas Museum of Art (collections.dma.org)

Ryo Ikeshiro and Atau Tanaka, Sound in Japan: Silence, Noise, Material and Media