Originally popularised by geisha as an alternative to nagauta ('long songs'), kouta are typically no longer than 3 minutes in length,[1]: 9 are played on the shamisen,[2]: 56 and are generally accompanied by singing and traditional dance.
The Japanese term kouta has been used for a number of inconsistent musical styles throughout Japanese history, though the term is used in the modern day exclusively to refer to the style of short, informal songs first developed in the late Edo period (1603–1867) and popularised in the early Meiji period (1868–1912).
[3]: 26 During the Heian period, the term kouta was broadly applied to court songs performed by women such as yūjo ('woman of pleasure') and shirabyōshi.
[1]: 15 The style of kouta performed in the present day originated in the late Edo period as short, improvised songs created by musicians already versed in the katarimono ('narrative shamisen music') styles of shamisen music, including hauta ('short songs').
[4] The first modern kouta piece is said to have been composed in 1855 by jōruri puppet theatre singer Kiyomoto Oyō (1840–1901), and was titled Chiru wa Uki ('Those that fall float').
[4] Performing a hauta piece in the kiyomoto style at a faster tempo, Oyō would go on to compose a number of early kouta, typically through borrowing lyrics from kamigata hauta ('short songs from Kamigata'), edo hauta ('short songs from Edo') and utazawa – a style of shamisen music characterised as "classy" and "graceful", itself having resulted from governmental reforms aimed at suppressing the excessive erotic expression of late 17th century kouta.
[3]: 26 During the 18th century, kouta had grown to become emblematic of the rising merchant (chōnin) classes of Japan; by the end of the Edo period, these classes had come to favour geisha as the most fashionable female companions, in contrast to the beginning of the Edo period, where courtesans had been considered fashionable.
Kouta were considered easy and relatively cheap to learn in comparison to other traditional forms of music, and could be composed quickly, with little need of others to perform fully.
"[1]: 13 Despite their poetic nature, in the Edo period, kouta, like geisha and the shamisen, were considered to be a relatively low-class form of entertainment, regardless of their wide popularity.