Hōgaku
/hoːɡakɯ/noun
Traditional Japanese music, especially music performed on indigenous Japanese instruments and associated with classical genres.
Did you know?Hōgaku became especially useful in modern Japan as a cultural counterterm to yōgaku, meaning Western music, during the period of rapid Westernization.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient China
Old Chinese
樂
“Music; ritual or instrumental music”
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese
ngak
“Music, the source of the Sino-Japanese reading gaku”
Classical Japanese
Japanese
邦
“Country, homeland, or Japan”
Meiji Period
Japanese
邦楽（ほうがく）
“Music of Japan; a term increasingly contrasted with Western music”
20th Century–Present
English
hōgaku / hogaku
“Traditional Japanese music, used in English-language writing about Japanese musical culture”