Ryukyuan music

Ryukyuan music (琉球音楽, Ryūkyū ongaku), sometimes called Nanto music (南島歌謡, Nantō kayō), is an umbrella term that encompasses diverse musical traditions of the Ryukyu Islands The term "Southern Islands" (南島, Nantō) is preferred by Japanese scholars in this field. Unlike in the West, the Japanese notion of "Ryukyu" is associated with the former Ryukyu Kingdom based on Okinawa Island and its high culture practiced by the Yukatchu class in its capital of Shuri. By contrast, most scholars cover a much broader region and lay emphasis on folk culture.

Comprehensive studies on diverse musical traditions of the Ryukyu Islands was done by Hokama Shuzen and his colleagues. Prior to that, the scopes of research were limited to each island group (Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, or Yaeyama), or even narrower areas. These studies were done under the heavy influence of folklorists Yanagita Kunio and Orikuchi Shinobu, who searched for the origin of Japanese culture in the Ryukyu Islands.

The research on Okinawa's musical traditions was started by Tajima Risaburō at the end of the 19th century. He was followed by Katō Sango and Majikina Ankō among others. Under Tajima's influence, Iha Fuyū, who is known as the father of Okinawaology, conducted extensive research on a wide range of music genres of Okinawa, primarily by analyzing texts. Although he paid attention to Miyako and Yaeyama, his studies on these subfields remained in a preliminary stage, partly due to the limited availability of documented sources. In Miyako and Yaeyana, pioneering work in collecting and documenting folk songs was done by Inamura Kenpu and Kishaba Eijun, respectively.

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