In scale

The in scale (also known as the Sakura pentatonic scale due to its use in the well-known folk song Sakura Sakura) is one of two pentatonic scales commonly used in Japanese folk music, excluding gagaku and Buddhist shōmyō. The in scale, which contains minor notes, is used specifically in music for the koto and shamisen and is contrasted with the yo scale, which does not contain minor notes.[1]

In scale on D with auxiliary notes (F) & (C). 1-b2-(b3)-4-5-b6-(b7) Playⓘ.

More recent theory[2] emphasizes that it is more useful in interpreting Japanese melody to view scales on the basis of "nuclear tones" located a fourth apart and containing notes between them, as in the miyako-bushi scale used in koto and shamisen music and whose pitches are equivalent to the in scale:[3]

Miyako-bushi scale on D, equivalent to in scale on D, with brackets on fourths. 1-b2-4-5-b6 Playⓘ.
  1. ^ Titon, Jeff Todd (1996). Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples, p.372. ISBN 0-02-872612-X.
  2. ^ Koizumi Fumio (1974). Nihon no ongaku (Japanese music), 76. Tokyo: National Theater of Japan.
  3. ^ Titon (1996), 373.