Gagaku
Encyclopedia
Music of Japan
The music of Japan includes a wide array of performers in distinct styles both traditional and modern. The word for music in Japanese is 音楽 , combining the kanji 音 with the kanji 楽...
that has been performed at the Imperial Court in Kyoto
Imperial Court in Kyoto
thumb|left|350px|Front view of Kyoto imperial palaceImperial Court in Kyoto was the nominal ruling government of Japan from 794 AD until the Meiji Era, in which the court was moved to Tokyo and integrated into the Meiji government....
for several centuries. It consists of three primary repertoires:
- Native Shinto religious musicReligious musicReligious music is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence.A lot of music has been composed to complement religion, and many composers have derived inspiration from their own religion. Many forms of traditional music have been adapted to fit religions'...
and folkFolk musicFolk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
songs and dance, called kuniburi no utamai - A GoguryeoGoguryeoGoguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in present day northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
and Manchurian form, called komagakuKomagakuKomagaku is a form of Gagaku, or court music, that appeared in Japan around the beginning of the Nara period . It originated in Korea and is often played as a dance accompaniment....
(named for Koma, one of the Three KingdomsThree Kingdoms of KoreaThe Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium...
) - A ChineseChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and South Asia form (specifically Tang DynastyTang DynastyThe Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
), called togakuTogakuTōgaku is the Japanese pronunciation of an early style of music and dance from the Tang Dynasty in China...
.http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-321526/komagaku
Gagaku, like shomyo
Shomyo
Shōmyō is a style of Japanese Buddhist chant, used mainly in the Tendai and Shingon sects. There are two styles: ryokyoku and rikkyoku, described as difficult and easy to remember, respectively....
, employs the Yo scale
Yo scale
The yo scale, which does not contain semitones, according to a traditional theory is a pentatonic scale used in much Japanese music, excluding gagaku and Buddhist chanting...
, a pentatonic scale
Pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave in contrast to a heptatonic scale such as the major scale and minor scale...
with ascending intervals of two, three, two, two, and three semitones between the five scale tones.
History of gagaku
By the 7th century, the gakuso (a zitherZither
The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary citera, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China...
) and the gakubiwa (a short-necked lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
) had been introduced in Japan from China. Various instruments including these two were the earliest used to play gagaku.
Gagaku, the oldest classical music in Japan, was introduced into Japan with Buddhism from the China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. In 589, Japanese official diplomatic delegations were sent to China (during the Sui dynasty
Sui Dynasty
The Sui Dynasty was a powerful, but short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty. Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes. It was followed by the Tang Dynasty....
) to learn Chinese culture, including Chinese court music, Gagaku.
Komagaku and togaku arrived in Japan during the Nara period
Nara period
The of the history of Japan covers the years from AD 710 to 794. Empress Gemmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō . Except for 5 years , when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until Emperor Kammu established a new capital, Nagaoka-kyō, in 784...
(710-794), and settled into the basic modern divisions during the Heian
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...
period (794-1185). Gagaku performances were played by musicians who belonged to hereditary guilds. During the Kamakura period
Kamakura period
The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....
(1185-1333), military rule was imposed and gagaku was performed in the homes of the aristocracy, but rarely at court. At this time, there were three guilds based in Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Nara
Nara, Nara
is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture...
and Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
.
Because of the Ōnin War
Onin War
The ' was a civil war that lasted 10 years during the Muromachi period in Japan. A dispute between Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen escalated into a nationwide war involving the Ashikaga shogunate and a number of daimyo in many regions of Japan....
, a civil war from 1467 to 1477 during the Muromachi period, gagaku in ensemble had been stopped playing in Kyoto for about 100 years. In the Edo era, Tokugawa government re-organized the court style ensemble, which is the direct roots of the present one.
After the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
of 1868, musicians from all three guilds came to the capital and their descendants make up most of the current Tokyo Imperial Palace Music Department. By that time, the present ensemble composition had been established, which consists of three wind instruments – hichiriki
Hichiriki
The is a double reed Japanese fue used as one of two main melodic instruments in Japanese gagaku music, the other being the ryūteki. The hichiriki is difficult to play, due in part to its double reed configuration. Although a double reed instrument like the oboe, the hichiriki has a cylindrical...
, ryūteki
Ryuteki
The is a Japanese transverse fue made of bamboo. It is used in gagaku, the Shinto classical music associated with Japan's imperial court. The sound of the ryūteki is said to represent the dragons which ascend the skies between the heavenly lights and the people of the earth...
, and shō (bamboo mouth organ used to provide harmony) – and three percussion instruments – kakko (small drum), shoko (metal percussion), and taiko
Taiko
means "drum" in Japanese . Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming...
(drum) or dadaiko (large drum), supplemented by gakubiwa.
Gagaku also accompanies classical dance performances (called bugaku 舞楽), and both are used in religious ceremonies by the Tenrikyo
Tenrikyo
Tenrikyo is a monotheistic religion originating in revelations to a 19th-century Japanese woman named Nakayama Miki, known as Oyasama by followers...
movement and a few Buddhist temples.
Gagaku is related to theater, which developed in parallel. Noh
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
was developed in the 14th century.
Today, gagaku is performed in two ways:
- as kangen, concert music for winds, strings and percussion,
- as bugaku, or dance music for which the stringed instruments are omitted.
Komagaku survives only as bugaku.
Contemporary gagaku ensembles, such as Reigakusha (伶楽舎), perform contemporary compositions for gagaku instruments. This sub-genre of contemporary works for gagaku instruments, which began in the 1960s, is called reigaku (伶楽). 20th century composers such as Tōru Takemitsu
Toru Takemitsu
was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...
have composed works for gagaku ensemble, as well as individual gagaku instruments.
Instruments used in gagaku
Wind, string and percussion instruments are essential elements of gagaku music.Wind
- HichirikiHichirikiThe is a double reed Japanese fue used as one of two main melodic instruments in Japanese gagaku music, the other being the ryūteki. The hichiriki is difficult to play, due in part to its double reed configuration. Although a double reed instrument like the oboe, the hichiriki has a cylindrical...
, oboe - O-hichiriki
- RyūtekiRyutekiThe is a Japanese transverse fue made of bamboo. It is used in gagaku, the Shinto classical music associated with Japan's imperial court. The sound of the ryūteki is said to represent the dragons which ascend the skies between the heavenly lights and the people of the earth...
, transverse flute - Shō , mouth organ
- U , large mouth organ
- KomabueKomabueThe is a transverse fue that is used in traditional Japanese court music.- Construction :The komabue is typically constructed from bamboo. It is a transverse flute with six finger-holes. It is 36 cm, shorter than the ryuteki flute....
- Azuma-asobi-bue
- ShakuhachiShakuhachiThe is a Japanese end-blown flute. It is traditionally made of bamboo, but versions now exist in ABS and hardwoods. It was used by the monks of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism in the practice of...
- Haishō
String
- GakubiwaBiwaThe is a Japanese short-necked fretted lute, often used in narrative storytelling. The biwa is the chosen instrument of Benten, goddess of music, eloquence, poetry, and education in Japanese Shinto....
, 4-stringed lute - GakusoKoto (musical instrument)The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...
(koto), 13-string zither of Chinese origin - Kugo, angled harp used in ancient times and recently revived
- GenkanRuan XianRuan Xian , a Chinese scholar who lived during the Six Dynasties period, is one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. He was a skilled player of the Chinese lute, an old version of pipa which has been called ruan after his name since the Tang Dynasty. His achievement in music reached such high as...
- YamatogotoYamatogotoThe ', also called ', is a six- or seven-stringed zither which, unlike the koto and other stringed instruments, is believed to be truly native to Japan, and not imported from mainland Asia...
, zither of Japanese origin, with 6 or 7 strings
Percussion
- ShōkoShōkoThe shōko is a small bronze gong, struck with two horn beaters, used in Japanese gagaku. It is suspended in a vertical frame and comes in three sizes.-See also:*Kane...
(鉦鼓), small gong, struck with two horn beaters - KakkoKakkoThe is a Japanese double-headed drum. One way in which the kakko differs from the regular taiko drum is in the way in which it is made taut. Like the Shime-Daiko and tsuzumi, the skin of the heads are first stretched over metal hoops before they are placed on the body, tying them to each other and...
(鞨鼓), small hourglass-shaped drum struck with two wooden sticks - Tsuri-daiko (釣太鼓), drum on a stand with ornately painted head, played with a padded stick
- Ikko, small, ornately decorated hourglass-shaped drum
- San-no-tsuzumi (三の鼓), hourglass-shaped drum
- Shakubyoshi , clapper made from a pair of flat wooden sticks
- HōkyōFangxiangThe fangxiang is an ancient Chinese metallophone. The instrument consists of 16 tuned rectangular iron slabs laid in a frame in two rows. The slabs are struck with a hammer and played melodically...
Influence on Western music
Beginning in the 20th century, several western classical composers became interested in gagaku, and composed works based on gagaku. Most notable among these are Henry CowellHenry Cowell
Henry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:...
(Ongaku, 1957), La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
(numerous works of drone music
Drone music
Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
, but especially Trio for Strings, 1958), Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
(numerous works), Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
(Sept haïkaï, 1962), Lou Harrison
Lou Harrison
Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...
(Pacifika Rondo, 1963), Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
(Curlew River
Curlew River
Curlew River — A Parable for Church Performance is the first of three Church Parables by Benjamin Britten. The work is based on the Japanese noh play Sumidagawa of Juro Motomasa , which Britten saw during a visit to Japan and the Far East in early 1956...
, 1964), and Bengt Hambraeus
Bengt Hambraeus
Bengt Hambraeus was a Swedish organist, composer and musicologist.-Life:...
(Shogaku, from Tre Pezzi per Organo, 1967).
One of the most important gagaku musicians of the 20th century, Masataro Togi (who served for many years as chief court musician), instructed American composers such as Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
and Richard Teitelbaum
Richard Teitelbaum
Richard Teitelbaum is an American composer, keyboardist, and improvisor. Born in New York, he is a former student of Allen Forte, Mel Powell, and Luigi Nono. He is best known for his live electronic music and synthesizer performance. For example, he brought the first moog synthesizer to Europe...
in the playing of gagaku instruments.
Other Cultural Influence
The American poet Steve RichmondSteve Richmond (poet)
Steve Richmond was an American poet from Southern California whose notoriety comes primarily from his association with the mid-career of poet Charles Bukowski in the 1960s. He is also associated with the "Meat School" of American poetry, known for a direct, tough and masculine style of writing...
developed a unique style based on the rhythms of gagaku. Richmond heard gagaku music on records at U.C.L.A.'s Department of Ethnomusicology in the early 1960s. In in a 2009 interview with writer Ben Pleasants, Richmond claimed he had written an estimated 8,000-9,000 gagaku poems.
See also
- EtenrakuEtenrakuis a Japanese gagaku melody and dance. It is usually played with a hichiriki or ryūteki, and is accompanied by other traditional instruments such as the shō, koto and kakko.- History :The origin of Etenraku is not fully known...
- YayueYayueYayue , Wade-Giles ya-yüeh; ; ; ) was originally a form of Chinese classical music that was performed at imperial courts. The basic conventions of yayue were established in the Western Zhou. Together with law and rites, it formed the formal representation of aristocratic political power...
- Korean court musicKorean court musicKorean court music refers to the music developed in the Joseon Dynasty . Very little is known about the court music of earlier Korean kingdoms and dynasties.It was partly modeled on the court music of China, known as yayue...
- AakAakAak is a genre of Korean court music. It is an imported form of Chinese ritual music. Aak is often labeled as "elegant music" in contrast with other traditional Korean music...
- DangakDangakDangak is a genre of traditional Korean court music. The name means "Tang music," and the style was first adapted from Tang Dynasty Chinese music during the Unified Silla period in the late first millennium...
- HyangakHyangakHyangak, literally "village music," is a traditional form of Korean court music with origins in the Three Kingdoms period . It is often accompanied by traditional folk dances of Korea, known as hyangak jeongjae...
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