Chinese influences were beginning to be assimilated and modified during the Heian period (794-1185). Instruments were still essentially Chinese, but the musicians were Japanese, and the music gradually developed Japanese characteristics. The Kamakura period (1185-1333) was the era of the Shogun. The international characteristics had largely disappeared, and court music was declining.

Instead there was an emphasis on Buddhist chants, vocal and dramatic music. Dramatic and theatrical music continued to flourish during the Muromachi period (1333-1568), preparing the way for noh drama. At the same time, shakuhachi bamboo flute began to be heard, played by wandering priests.

Noh continued to flourish during the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600), also noted as the era during which the sanshin (lute) was introduced to Okinawa, soon to arrive on the Japanese mainland and transformed into the shamisen.

The Edo period (1600-1868) marks a period of status quo, and the development of a bourgeois art and the development of the pleasure quarters of the bigger cities. Shamisen, koto and shakuhachi all flourished during this period.