Piano Day

What Is Piano Day?

Every July 6th is "Piano Day" (ピアノの日, Piano no Hi) in Japan. On the 6th day of the 7th month of Bunsei 6 (1823) in the traditional Japanese calendar — August 1823 in the Western calendar — German physician and naturalist Philipp Franz von Siebold (フィリップ・フランツ・フォン・シーボルト) brought a piano to Japan — reportedly the first piano to arrive on Japanese soil. Siebold was stationed at the Dutch trading post on Nagasaki's Dejima as a physician. A square piano said to have been given by Siebold survives at the Kumaya Art Museum in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and is said to be the oldest piano in Japan. The presence of a Western keyboard instrument at Japan's most significant point of contact with the outside world introduced piano music to Japan nearly half a century before the Meiji era's broader Western music adoption.

The Piano in Japan's Musical History

Siebold's 1823 piano was an extraordinary curiosity in Edo-period Japan, where Western music was essentially unknown. The piano's eventual adoption in Japan — accelerating through the Meiji era's embrace of Western culture — transformed Japanese musical education and professional music. Japan developed a passionate relationship with the piano: Japanese pianists have won major prizes at international competitions, such as Nobuyuki Tsujii's gold medal at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Japanese Piano Manufacturing

Japan developed world-class piano manufacturing through companies including Yamaha (ヤマハ), whose roots go back to 1887, and Kawai (カワイ), founded in 1927 by Koichi Kawai, a former Yamaha engineer. Both are now among the world's most respected piano makers. Yamaha's Hamamatsu manufacturing complex and Kawai's production facilities produce instruments used by professional performers and students worldwide. Japan's piano manufacturing expertise extends to electronic keyboards and digital pianos, where Japanese companies lead global production.

Fun Facts

• Siebold's piano: The piano in Hagi is said to have been given by Siebold, when he left Japan, to the Kumaya family, wealthy Hagi merchants with whom he was friendly.
• The name "piano": It is a shortened form of "clavicembalo col piano e forte" (a harpsichord that can play soft and loud), the instrument built by the Italian maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around the turn of the 18th century.
• 88 keys: Pianos with the 88-key range began to be made in the late 19th century and became the standard after World War I.
• Yamaha's origins: Yamaha Corporation (ヤマハ株式会社) was founded in 1887 by Torakusu Yamaha to repair and manufacture Western musical instruments — beginning with reed organs before expanding to pianos. Yamaha's motorcycles are made by Yamaha Motor, which was spun off as a separate company in 1955.
• Piano boom and bust: Japan's piano production peaked around 1980 with millions of families purchasing upright pianos for children's music education. The market subsequently contracted significantly as electronic keyboards offered more affordable alternatives and cultural priorities shifted, leaving Japan with millions of unused pianos in homes and the challenge of piano disposal or donation.