John William Fenton

John William Fenton (12 March 1828 – 28 April 1890) was an Irish musician of Scottish and English descent and the leader of a military band in Japan at the start of the Meiji period.

The regiment had been sent to protect the small foreign community in Yokohama during the transitional period at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate and the early years of the Meiji restoration.

[2] When Fenton's battalion left Japan in 1871, he remained for an additional six years as a bandmaster with the newly formed Japanese navy and then the band of the imperial court.

Although the melody is based on a traditional mode of Japanese court music, it is composed in a mixed style derived from Western hymns.

Some elements of the Fenton arrangement are retained;[6] In 1879–1880, a German musician and foreign advisor (Oyatoi gaikokujin) adapted the melody using Western style harmonies.

[8] Fenton's regiment left Japan in 1871, but he stayed for a further six years as a bandmaster with the newly formed Japanese navy and then the band of the imperial court.

[2] The cost of his salary during this period was shared by the navy and by the Imperial Palace Music Department (Gagaku bureau).