is a type of Japanese folk music

Music of Japan

The music of Japan includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern. The word for music in Japanese is 音楽 , combining the kanji 音 with the kanji 楽...

 genre.

The Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 term , originally used in Buddhist folk music in Japan, simply means "melody". Like the generic term ondo

Ondo (music)

is a type of Japanese folk music genre.- Etymology and description:The literal translation of "ondo" is "sound head." Kanji, or the Chinese characters used in the Japanese language, often have literal and abstract meanings, here the kanji for "sound" having a more abstract meaning of "melody" or...

, bushi, the voiced

Voice (phonetics)

Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate...

 form of fushi, is used as a suffix for Japanese folk songs.

It is found in many Japanese traditional and folk songs, usually shamisen

Shamisen

The , also called is a three-stringed, Japanese musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usually "shamisen" but sometimes "jamisen" when used as a suffix . -Construction:The shamisen is a plucked stringed instrument...

 or sanshin

Sanshin

The sanshin is an Okinawan musical instrument and precursor of the Japanese shamisen. Often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings....

 songs. Some examples include: Ringo bushi, Tsugaru

Tsugaru-jamisen

Tsugaru-Shamisen is a genre of shamisen music originating in Aomori prefecture in the northernmost area of the Japanese island of Honshū. It is today performed throughout Japan, though associations with the Tsugaru area of Aomori remain strong....

 yosare bushi, Tsugaru aiya bushi, Tsugaru jongara bushi, , Hōnen bushi and Itokuri bushi. Yasaborō bushi is one of the most well known, and dates back over 300 years. These folk songs are most commonly heard at local festivals in Japan

Japanese festivals

Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions. Some festivals have their roots in Chinese festivals but have undergone dramatic changes as they mixed with local customs....

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