The Japanese said to have been the first to own a guitar was Hiroshi Hiraoka (1856-1934). In 1871, at the age of 15, he went to America and worked at the Manchester Rail Works in New Hampshire (his family owned a rail works factory in Japan). When he returned in 1877 he brought three important things with him: baseball, ice skates, and a guitar. He is recognized at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Tokyo as one of the founders of baseball in Japan. It is uncertain exactly what kind of guitar he brought back with him, but it is known that he was not an advanced player. According to an interview (by Sei’ichi Konishi) with his son, Hiraoka mainly accompanied his singing of American minstrel songs with simple melodies on the guitar. His main devotion in life was the shamisen.
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Hiroshi Hiraoka (1856-1934) is considered the first Japanese to own a guitar. He returned from America with a guitar, but that was in 1877. Moreover, he could only sing simple American folk songs. His truly outstanding contribution was the development of the shamisen, a traditional Japanese instrument.
Hiroshi Hiraoka
There were teachers who could play guitar at the time, but none of them thought of incorporating guitar into their curriculum and teaching it to students. Everyone just wanted to enjoy playing it themselves.
It wasn’t until 1926, 70 years after the guitar was introduced to Japan, that Fukuichiro Ikegami performed his first solo guitar recital. However, judging from the performance, almost no one cared.
At that time in Japan, the trend was to form mandolin bands, while the guitar was always considered an accompaniment instrument, hovering on the margins and playing an obscure supporting role.