This presentation examines the role of female musicians in Japan, putting emphasis on the change that occurred in popular music in the 1970s. Although women have always participated in Japanese music culture throughout its recorded history of c. 1500 years, they have rarely been socially recognized as makers of music; rather, their role has been diminished, and in many cases their participation in music making in the public sphere has been restricted. While this concerns especially music before the Meiji restoration, many significant female composers and musicians of the early years of Westernization are often excluded from music histories even today.

Against this historical background, changes in Japanese popular music of the 1970s were remarkable. The decade saw a rise of young female singer-songwriters: female singers who wrote most of their music themselves and were, in many cases, involved in the production as well. Musicians such as Arai Yumi (later Matsutōya Yumi), Nakajima Miyuki, and Takeuchi Mariya became phenomenally popular—that is, socially recognized independent music-makers in the public sphere without discrimination or diminishing based on gender.

In this sense, female singer-songwriters of the 1970s participated in promoting a change that the women’s liberation movement sought to achieve in Japan at the same time: it was a phenomenon from the viewpoints of both music and social history. This presentation examines this change and the significance of female singer-songwriters of the 1970s against historical and social background.