Japanese musicologists

Yumiko Kurisu is a Japanese classical soprano, a musicologist and an academic teacher. She has recorded cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach with the Bach Collegium Japan, both as a soloist as a member of the ensemble.

Hisao Tanabe (田辺 尚雄, Tanabe Hisao, August 16, 1883 – March 5, 1984) was a Japanese musicologist responsible for initiating the study of Asian music in Japan. He was learning the principles of musicology from a French missionary when he began his studies in 1920, researching the musical traditions of the Imperial House of Japan. In April 1921, he visited Korea and single-handedly rescued the dying music tradition of the Joseon court. He took film and audio recordings, and published a widely circulated report extolling Korea's court music and comparing it to Japanese court practice. Later in 1921, he invented a new type of kokyū for playing high notes.

Sakunosuke Koyama (1864–1927) was a Japanese composer and music teacher. He was the founder and president of the Japanese Music Education Federation.

Shigeo Kishibe (岸辺 成雄, Kishibe Shigeo, June 6, 1912 – January 4, 2005) was a Japanese musicologist specializing in the study of East Asian music.

Jun Yamaguchi (山口 淳, Yamaguchi Jun) is a Japanese composer of contemporary music, pianist and musicologist.

Okuda Hiroko (奥田 広子) is the Japanese inventor and musicologist who, at the start of her career in 1980, composed the rhythm and bass preset backing tracks included in Casio's electronic keyboards. These included the "rock" rhythm, which became the ubiquitous Sleng Teng Riddim, heralded the Ragga movement, and has since underpinned hundreds of hit reggae songs. Okuda and Casio have allowed her backing-rhythm work to proliferate under a free attribution-only license, which have contributed to their popularity and widespread use. She holds more than a dozen patents in the fields of electronic musical instruments and presently works at the intersection of electronic music and visual art.

Atsutada Otaka (尾高 惇忠; 10 March 1944 – 16 February 2021) was a Japanese composer and musicologist. He studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts. After studying also in Paris, he became professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts. He has written works for various genres. Some of his works have been recorded on CD and also known in countries outside Japan.