''Rōkyoku'' (; also called ''naniwa-bushi'', ) is a genre of traditional Japanese narrative singing. Generally accompanied by a '' shamisen'', ''rōkyoku'' became very popular in Japan during the first half of the 20th century. In modern Japanese slang, "naniwabushi" is sometimes used to mean "a sob story", since the songs were often about sad subjects.

Notable performers

Takeharu Kunimoto was a prominent Japanese ''shamisen'' player and ''rōkyoku'' singer. In addition to performing and recording traditional music, he was also the only prominent ''shamisen'' player to perform and record bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a gen ...

* Kumoemon Tochuken *

Yoshida Naramaru is a name taken on by several ''rōkyoku'' singers. Yoshida Naramaru II (July 27, 1879 - January 20, 1967) was a notable ''rōkyoku'', or streetcorner singer of the late nineteenth century in Japan. The type of singing practiced by Naramura diffus ...

Haruo Minami , (born ; July 19, 1923 – April 14, 2001) was an enka singer in postwar Japan. Early life He was born Bunji Kitazume (北詰文司 ''Kitazume Bunji'') in Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan. Career In 1939, at the age of 16, Bunji debuted as a performer ...

Hideo Murata was a Japanese rōkyoku and enka singer. He took part in the Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live s ...

Ichirō Satsuki (7 July 1919 – 4 September 2014) was a Japanese rōkyoku ''Rōkyoku'' (; also called ''naniwa-bushi'', ) is a genre of traditional Japanese narrative singing. Generally accompanied by a ''shamisen'', ''rōkyoku'' became very popular in Jap ...

Storytelling Japanese styles of music Japanese traditional music {{Japan-music-stub