The Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games is seen as an opportunity to create an environment for the stable succession of Japan’s traditional music “Hogaku” by familiarizing more people with it, leading to an increase in the number of enthusiasts in future. To that end, concerts were held twice in March and August for five days in a row, offering a program in which audiences could enjoy four different Hogaku genres each day for the low cost of 1,000 yen.
Organizers enlisted promising young performers from each genre, who each put in plenty of practice for the concerts and performed their specialty program.
The concerts also served as something of a trial run in terms of preparation and experimentation, as organizers aim to hold regular Hogaku performances going forward.

Performance genres: Sankyoku, Biwa, Nagauta, Tokiwazu, Gidayu, Kiyomoto, Shinnai, Kouta