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Kanji for Music
The kanji most commonly used for "Music" are 楽、曲、譜.
楽
Kanji that mean Music
楽 (gaku / raku) began as a picture of an instrument — drums on a wooden stand — and split into two meanings Japan lives with daily: music (音楽, ongaku, “sound-music”) and ease or pleasure (楽しい, fun; 楽な, easy). The double reading is the point: in this character, music and joy are literally the same shape.
曲 (kyoku) is the piece — a tune, a composition, literally “a bend”: melody as a curved line. 一曲 is one song; 作曲 is composing. 譜 (fu) is the written page — 楽譜 is sheet music, 音符 a note.
Around them: 歌 (song, the character of karaoke 歌), 奏 (to play an instrument, as in 演奏), 響 (to resound — a popular name, Hibiki), and 音 (sound itself). Japanese builds its musical vocabulary the way an orchestra builds sound — each character a section.
Words using Music kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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音楽
おんがく
music
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作曲
さっきょく
composition (of music); setting; writing music
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楽譜
がくふ
score; sheet music
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楽器
がっき
musical instrument
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交響曲
こうきょうきょく
symphony
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系譜
けいふ
genealogy; lineage; family tree
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能楽
のうがく
noh play
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協奏曲
きょうそうきょく
concerto
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倶楽部
クラブ
club; fraternity; sorority
Before you use Music kanji
楽 is the richest single choice: it means music and joy at once, and every Japanese reader feels both. 音 (sound) reads more abstract and minimal. 曲 alone reads as "a tune" or "bent" — weaker on its own. For a musician, 奏 (to play) is an elegant, slightly insider pick and a lovely name kanji.