JAPANESE MIND

Japan’s Ancient Court Music By Shiba Sukeyasu

Photos: Music Department, Imperial Household Agency Origin of Gagaku : Ancient Gala Concert

A solemn ceremony was held at Todai-ji – a majestic landmark Buddhist temple – in the ancient capital of Nara 1,255 years ago, on April 9 in 752, to endow a newly completed Great Buddha statue with life. The ceremony was officiated by a high Buddhist priest from India named Bodhisena (704-760), and attended by the Emperor, members of the Imperial Family, noblemen and high priests. Thousands of pious people thronged the main hall of the temple that houses the huge Buddha image to “Gagaku” is performed by members of the Music Department of the express their joy in the event. Imperial Household Agency. Traditionally, kakko (right in the front row) On the stage set up in the foreground is always played by the oldest band member. of the hall, a gala celebratory concert was staged and performing arts from Tang music that he aspired to learn the instruments various parts of Asia were introduced. music in Tang. Legend has it that his were three wind Outstanding among them was Chinese wish was finally granted in 835 when he instruments – music called Togaku (music of the Tang was aged 103. His willpower was sho (mouth organ), hichiriki (oboe) and Dynasty). Clad in colorfully unruffled by his old age and he returned ryuteki (seven-holed flute) –, two string embroidered gorgeous silk costumes, to Japan after learning music and instruments – biwa (lute) and gakuso Chinese musicians played 18 different dancing for five years. He was 113 (Japanese harp koto) – and three instruments and greatly impressed the years old when he performed a dance percussion instruments – kakko audience. The scene was reminiscent of his own making before Emperor (cylinder-shaped wooden drum), taiko of a gala concert held by musicians of Ninmyo and later greatly contributed to (hanging drum) and shoko (plate- Liyuan, then the best music school in the development of gagaku music in shaped bronze gong). Furthermore, the world, opened by Emperor Japan. Gagaku has since been used as music itself was remade in the Japanese Xuanzong (685-762) of the Tang a term describing the Imperial court style, with sho and biwa playing tunes, Dynasty. music and dancing as a whole. and gakuso playing the Tang musical Many participants in the event were scale. Hichirki and ryuteki adopted the so charmed by the performance that a Heritage of Gagaku : Japanization Japanese native scale. number of them sought to go to Tang to of Tang Music However, logical, imposing and learn the music by boarding Japanese articulate Chinese music turned out to ships carrying official delegations to The early part of the Heian Period be inconsistent with the characteristic that country. One such Japanese was around 820 produced a large number of Japanese rhythm and conflicted with Owarino Hamanushi, a Shinto priest at talented musicians in Japan, which the Japanese musical sense, which the Atsuta Shrine. He was about 20 prompted studies on the ensemble of embraces seasonal colors produced years old when he attended the Todai-ji Tang music as well as its composition. by Japanese nature and consists of a temple concert. Hamanushi, who was The Japanization of Tang music started delicate pitch. Furthermore, the learning dancing and flute called ryuteki with the choice of music instruments, Japanese and Chinese scales do not while serving as a Shinto priest, was so with eight instruments adopted from 18 necessarily hit it off well and their impressed by the live performance of Tang instruments. The eight ensemble even produced discord.

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Accordingly, the ensemble of Nara are the archetypes of most introduced to ancient China after Japanese and Chinese music initially gagaku instruments. deftly adopting music from various was not accepted by Japanese people. Sho is a mouth organ made up of oasis countries. Yang Guife, the Strangely enough, however, the bamboo wood sticks bundled famed Chinese princess of the Tang discord rather helped gagaku express together in a ring-like shape. The Dynasty, is said to have been a biwa its intrinsic shade and luster, and thus shape purportedly represents the master-hand. It is played with a added modulation and depth to gagaku figure of a mythological sacred bird in boxwood pick from the low to high sound. It took 50 years to reduce the Chinese lore. Sho can give a single strings like arpeggio. number of instruments used for note, as a matter of course. But as its Gakuso is a zither-like string Japanese gagaku and Japanize Tang characteristics, sho, unlike other wind instrument with 13 strings stretched music. The Japanization prompted the instruments, can give chords of five over the paulownia-wood rectangular Emperor, Imperial Family members and or six notes. Its tone sounds like a box body. It is played with picks put noblemen to learn gagaku music and bundle of sounds extending straight over the thumb, index finger and dancing and enjoy the ensemble of up, like the sunlight shining in middle finger of the right hand. Tone wind and string instruments and through a break in the clouds. is adjusted by changing the position songs, whereby gagaku flourished in Hichiriki is an oboe-like, end-blown of the string bridge. this country. wind instrument so small as to fit into Kakko is a cylinder-shaped wooden With the rise of the warrior class the hands. The player attaches a reed drum. Both sides of the drum are from the Kamakura Period (1192- into the opening in the upper part and covered by hide membrane, which is 1333) onwards, gagaku declined fast. blows over it. Hichiriki can give a fastened on the shell with a metal frame But gagaku players, protected by the wide range of tones, solemn to and tightened by hide threads. The feudal government as well as Shinto humorous, which sound like the player beats the drum from both sides shrines and Buddhist temples, worked moves of animals roaming around. with a pick made of rosewood. Kakko hard to preserve the art and pass it on Ryuteki is a transverse, seven-holed has the role of giving a sense of tension to future generations. Thus gagaku, Chinese flute made of bamboo. It to the otherwise slow tempo of gagaku. which embodies the aesthetic sense of originated in India and was introduced Gaku-taiko is a drum hanging from a the Heian Period (794-1185), has been to China. Bound with cherry bark, wooden frame. It is also called tsuri- retained for a millennium to this day. ryuteki is held by the player like a flute, taiko (hanging drum). Its shell is to the right of the face. It gives painted with three lions as a practice Gagaku Instruments pleasant, jumping notes. The ensemble observed since ancient times. The of sho, hichiriki and ryuteki is said to player beats alternately and periodically Gagaku instruments are made express a microcosm, with sho giving a with sticks held by both hands. mostly of bamboo and other wood. heavenly note, hichiriki expressing Shoko is a plate-shaped bronze gong But hide, silken threads, metal and animals on the ground and ryuteki and, like gaku-taiko, hangs from a lacquer are used for some. The linking the heaven and the earth. wooden frame. The player beats the ancient musical instruments kept at Biwa is a lute popularly played in inside of the gong with a rosewood the Imperial warehouse Shosoin in western Asia in ancient days. It was stick, which has an ebony ball on its tip.

Photos: Reigakusha

Band formation (from left): (Back row) ryuteki (2 players), hichiriki (2) & sho (2); (middle row) gakuso & biwa; (front row) shoko, gaku-taiko & kakko. Right photo: The instrument held vertically is sho, and in the back is hichiriki.

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Photo: Music Department, Imperial Household Agency

Bugaku dance “Bairo”: One of the most famous ancient “Rinyugaku” dances introduced from China in the Tenpyo Era (around 740 AC). All dancers also play “gagaku” instruments.

Photo: Reigakusha Bugaku however, I sense something like a universe, an acoustic world that is Bugaku is dancing accompanied by boundless, eternal, infinite and vast, gagaku. Bugaku dances consist of totally unrelated to such peculiar Western Asian, Chinese and Japanese Western sentiments.” dances. They are classified according In the past, gagaku may have had to costume and arrangement. various attributes. But as it survived Rinyugaku dance, introduced to through legacy for 1,000 years, Japan by Indian priest Bodhisena who gagaku gradually lost feelings and performed at the Todai-ji ceremony in sentiments, and gagaku performances Nara, consists of eight types, all of have become uniform. I suggest that A music score for a “shoga” song restored to life by the author. It describes the melody and which are masterpieces still when you listen to gagaku, you give how to play the relevant instruments. performed frequently. yourself up to the sound while thinking of natural phenomena like the Conclusion Guide to Gagaku flow of a long river, the waves breaking on the beach and the winds The heritage of the Heian Period, Today, Western music permeates blowing through a vast plain. Also, when Japanese culture such as Japan. And so, both musicians and while you listen to gagaku, you can architecture, paintings, sculptures, music listeners are instilled with enjoy it better if you remind yourself literature and music bloomed, has Western musical rules. When such of music scenes written in old Chinese still retained its high artistic value rules are applied in the appreciation poems or Japanese classic literature. without losing its luster over a long of gagaku, ancient Japanese music If you wish to further pursue gagaku, period of some 1,000 years. could sound like noise. A noted you should learn shoga (singing), As the inheritor of a traditional art Japanese composer of Western music which is essential to read gagaku Japan can boast to the world, we makes the following remark on music, and remember gagaku gagaku players are duty-bound to gagaku: “European-originated music melodies. By so doing, you can find learn the history and spirit kept in is based on such attributes as gagaku closer to you. Shoga, indeed, gagaku, brush up our skill, nurture humanity, emotion, feeling, structural is the foundation that has supported successors and pass down gagaku to beauty and color. In gagaku, gagaku for a millennium. future generations.

Shiba Sukeyasu, a former member of the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency, is a gagaku player and music director of the “Reigakusha” gagaku ensemble performance group he set up in 1985. Actively performing in and outside Japan, he is also a member of the Japan Art Academy.

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