Also known as:  Onkyokei, Onkyo-kei, 音響系

Onkyo is a kind of Japanese music that focuses on the exploration of the physical traits of sound rather than music as a form of expression. Since onkyo is based solely on these actions of the musicians with their works, the genre is inclusive to a variety of different musicians and aesthetics. Still, performances are minimal with the inclusion of large gaps of silence; as well, these performances tend to be stoic, but this last feature is not a requirement for something to be classified as "onkyo."

To illustrate just how vast the onkyo spectrum is, it's important to note the wide variety of instruments that notorious performers use. Musicians like Taku Sugimoto, Masafumi Ezaki and 木下和重 [Kazushige Kinoshita] are known for their use of acoustic instruments in their solo projects and their collaborations, as opposed to artists like Sachiko M and Toshimaru Nakamura, who have carved out unique aesthetics for themselves using electronic instruments. Generally though, the electronics used in onkyo performances are not conventional. For example, Nakamura has exercised purposeful misuse of technology to create feedback loops within his music, while Sachiko has pioneered the usage of an empty sampler that is only able to use and control the sampler's test tone sine waves. She has also been experimenting with the usage of contact microphones, which is another instrument that is used often within said scene. Oftentimes, musicians will use vibrating objects against these contact microphones to record the otherwise inaudible vibrations produced by these objects.

This is one of many ways that onkyo has ties to Lowercase. However, this style also has ties to Free Improvisation and EAI, due to the fact that many onkyo performances are improvised, oftentimes with notorious EAI performers. A mistake that is made when classifying things as onkyo is that all onkyo performances have to be improvised; this is not necessarily true, so long as the compositions focus on the physical attributes of the sounds on display rather than using music as a form of expression. Composed onkyo pieces are very rare, though, especially as you look at the origins of onkyo. The owner of the venue known as Off-Site, which was vital to the genre's development, encouraged quiet, improvised explorations of sound. Therefore, most onkyo releases are live improvisations. However these aesthetic differences are not all required, so long as the performance was recorded within Japan with the intentions to explore the sound spectrum in physical terms.

Top releases (See all)
	Various Artists Improvised Music From Japan
	Taku Sugimoto Opposite
	Toshimaru Nakamura No-Input Mixing Board
	Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura & Otomo Yoshihide Sachiko M Toshimaru Nakamura 大友良英 [Yoshihide Otomo] Good Morning Good Night
	Taku Unami / Takahiro Kawaguchi Taku Unami 川口貴大 [Takahiro Kawaguchi] Teatro Assente
	Toshimaru Nakamura Egrets
	Choi Joonyong, Hong Chulki, Sachiko M & Otomo Yoshihide Sweet Cuts, Distant Curves
	秋山徹次 [Tetuzi Akiyama] Route 13 to the Gates of Hell: Live in Tokyo
	Burkhard Stangl & Taku Sugimoto An Old Fashioned Duet
	Toshimaru Nakamura Maruto
	Ichiraku / Kinoshita / Unami Yoshimitsu Ichiraku 木下和重 [Kazushige Kinoshita] Taku Unami Cymbal Violin Lapsteel
	大蔵雅彦 [Masahiko Okura], Taku Sugimoto & Taku Unami Chamber Music Concerts Vol. 1
	Keith Rowe & Sachiko M Contact
	Masahiko Okura - Günter Müller - Taku Sugimoto - Otomo Yoshihide 大蔵雅彦 [Masahiko Okura] Günter Müller Taku Sugimoto 大友良英 [Yoshihide Otomo] Metal Tastes Like Orange
	I.S.O. I.S.O.
	Toshimaru Nakamura No-Input Mixing Board 3
	Toshimaru Nakamura No-Input Mixing Board 2
	大友良英 [Yoshihide Otomo] Ensemble Cathode
	I.S.O. Gravity Clock
	Taku Sugimoto Fragments of Paradise
	Toshimaru Nakamura No Input Mixing Board #8
	Ami Yoshida & Toshimaru Nakamura Soba to Bara
	Filament Filament Box
	Andrea Neumann & Toshimaru Nakamura Atøn
	Otomo • Rowe • Sugimoto 大友良英 [Yoshihide Otomo] Keith Rowe Taku Sugimoto Ajar