is the
Japanese term for military music. While in standard use in Japan it applies both to Japanese songs and foreign songs such as "
The Battle Hymn of the Republic", as an English language category it refers to songs produced by the
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...
in between roughly 1877 and 1943.
History
Meiji Restoration period
During the
Meiji Restoration Period, Western composers and teachers taught Japanese people to write and make music in the
Western classical tradition.
Military marches were adopted in Japan, as part of a trend of Western customs integrating into the
Japanese culture
Japanese culture has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world.
Since the Jomon period, ancestral ...
. ''Gunka'' was one of the major Western-influenced musical forms that emerged in this period and were used to encourage patriotism in the post-restoration era.
Empire of Japan
In 1871, Japan founded the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy band. During the late nineteenth century, Japanese conductors
japanized the band repertoire.
In the period of
imperialist expansion of Japan in Asia and the Pacific, ''gunka'' was used to glorify anyone that "fought" on the home front.
Japanese ''gunka'' were consciously constructed to engender loyalty and warm feelings towards the nation.
In 1921, a disarmament agreement signed at the Washington Conference of 1921 obligated Japan to reduce its army during the
Taishō Era (1912-1926) and the first years of
Shōwa, which included the suspension of five of six army bands.
As the Japanese Navy was not affected by the agreement, the Navy bands remained without problems.
In this peace period, the main topic of ''gunkas'' was the importance of working hard, such as happened the songs "Battleship Duties" (''Kansen Kinmu'', by Setouguchi Tōkichi), and "Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Friday" (''Getsu Getsu Ka Sui Moku Kin Kin'', by Egucho Yoshi).
Up until the surrender of the wartime Japanese
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
in 1945, ''gunka'' were taught in schools both in Japan proper and in the larger Empire. Some ''gunka'' songs derived from children songs called
''shōka''.
In 1893, the Japanese educator
Isawa Shūji released the ''shōka'' public school song "Come, Soldiers, Come" (''Kitare ya Kitare''). This song became a melody in military marches, called "Defense of the Empire" (''Teikoku no Mamori'').
Another ''gunka'' derived from a ''shōka'' was ''War Comrade'', released in 1905 and remains popular.
The song talks about loyalty and friendship and advocated assisting a fellow soldier in battle, which was against the Japanese military code. For that reason, the song was banned during the Asia-Pacific War.
''Shōka'' songs "Lieutenant Hirose" (''Hirose Chūsa'', 1912), "The Meeting at Suishiying", (''Suishiei no Kaiken'', 1906) are other examples of public school songs that became part of the ''gunka'' repertory.
Post-war period
During the Occupation ''gunka'' performance was banned. However, the ban was lifted with the signing of the
Treaty of San Francisco in 1952, and these ''gunka'' experienced a mild "boom" in the late 1960s, and by the early 1970s they had regained popularity in Japanese-controlled
Micronesia and parts of
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
.
[Sugita 1972, iv-v] A famous example of a Japanese ''gunka'' was the song "
Sen'yū" written during the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
.
''Gunka'' were common in pachinko parlors and are still commonly played in karaoke bars and shrine gates.
Characteristics
Instruments
Instruments of
Western musical tradition are common in ''Gunka'' songs, such as
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
,
trombone,
tuba,
timpani
Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...
,
cymbals,
glockenspiel
The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...
,
snare, and
woodwind instruments as
clarinet
The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell.
Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
,
flute
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
and
piccolo.
Metre, rhythm and tone
Due to its origin in military marches, ''gunka'' has a
metre
The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...
in four-four time. The most common
rhythmical motif is a music theme of six quarters and a triplet pair. ''Gunka'' marches are composed in a
major tone.
Topics
Fighting on the battlefield, sending a son to war, and waiting for a father's return were common topics in Japanese war songs.
Notable ''gunka''
*"
Aa Kurenai no Chi wa Moyuru"
*"
Battōtai"
*"
Fujin Jūgunka"
*"
Roei no Uta"
*"
Shussei Heishi o Okuru Uta"
*"
Teki wa Ikuman"
*"
Umi Yukaba"
*"
Yuki no Shingun"
References
Bibliography
* Satoshi Sugita (1972).
Cherry blossoms and rising sun: a systematic and objective analysis of gunka (Japanese war songs) in five historical periods (1868-1945)". Dissertation submitted to Ohio State University.
{{Authority control
Music of Japan
*Gunka
Military music