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Paper short abstract

This paper analyses radio broadcasts and public performances to examine how the biwa and koto were utilised in distinct ideological roles during the Asia-Pacific War. Taking a comparative approach, it reveals how references and narratives were selectively constructed through music.

Paper long abstract

During the Asia-Pacific War, art and media functioned as a key medium through which ideologies were articulated and disseminated to and among the population of Japan and its colonial territories. Specifically, music served as a potent medium for affect and memory. The roles of instruments historically associated with Japan's ancient history have received less attention than military songs and Western-style compositions, which have been the main focus of current musicological studies. This paper aims to fill this research gap by analysing the biwa and koto as contemporary musical actors in wartime media and performances.

Focusing on radio broadcasts and public performances from the late 1930s to 1945, this paper adopts a comparative approach to analyse how these two instruments were framed and mobilised in distinct ideological roles. Drawing on broadcast programming, public performance records, contemporary commentary, and audio-visual resources, the paper explores how meanings were constructed not only through sound but through the implied contexts and narratives that these instruments carried, as well as the institutional contexts in which they appeared. The biwa, with its frequent associations with narrative performance and historical warfare storytelling, was positioned as a sound conduit to heroic individuals of the past and used to inspire ideas of heroic sacrifice, bravery, and national destiny. In contrast, the koto interacted more with moralised and gendered representations of daily life, operating more in relation to ideas of domesticity and aesthetic discipline.

Rather than treating the biwa and the koto as embodiments of an unchanging tradition, this research argues that they functioned as contemporary instruments whose meanings were actively and selectively shaped within wartime ideological frameworks. The paper also reflects on how these wartime structures continue to influence contemporary perceptions of the biwa and koto, contributing to enduring assumptions about their historical and cultural significance.

By foregrounding the biwa and the koto within wartime culture, this paper contributes to broader discussions of the use of media and art in modern Japanese ideology, highlighting the complex ways in which cultural experiences and understanding were moderated under conditions of wartime mobilisation.