Chopin in Japan: From Ongaku Torishirabe Gakari to Forest of Pia

Abstract

This paper traces the reception of Chopin’s music and its evolution in Japan from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. The reception of Chopin’s music in Japan during the Meiji era (1868–1912) took place through direct and immediate person-to[1]person contact. One of the important figures in early piano education in Japan was Shige Uryū (1862–1928). The musical education she received in America from 1871 to 1881 is a significant factor in explaining why Chopin’s music was played in Japan at such an early stage. She taught piano at the Ongaku Torishirabe Gakari (Institute for Musical Research). In the last year of the Meiji era, the first solo piano recital in Japan was given by Ryūkichi Sawada (1886–1936). Its programme consisted exclusively of works by Chopin. Then, during the transition period from the Meiji era to the Taishō era (1912–1926), SP records became popular in Japan. At that time, concert styles and formats were diversified, and people started to embrace Western music as part of mass entertainment. In the Shōwa era (1926–1989), the reception of Chopin’s music and its evolution in Japan finally reached a culminating point with the appearance of the first two Japanese pianists at the 3rd International Chopin Piano Competition in 1937. This inaugurated a tradition of Japanese participation in the Chopin Competition in Warsaw that has continued to this day, to the extent that we may reasonably question whether it is any longer appropriate to refer to the ‘reception’ of Chopin in Japan. The Chopin competition also became a main theme for a cartoon series titled Forest of Piano. The composer is now an integral part of Japanese culture.