Gagaku


is a type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances. was developed as court music of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and its near-current form was established in the Heian period around the 10th century. Today, it is performed by the Board of Ceremonies in the Tokyo Imperial Palace. is performed using wind, percussion, and string instruments. Each piece is based on a main melody which each instrument embellishes.
consists of three primary repertoires:
  1. Native Shinto religious music and imperial songs and dance, called
  2. Vocal music based on native folk poetry, called
  3. Songs and dance based on foreign-style music
  4. #A Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian form, called
  5. #A Korean and Manchurian form, called
, like, employs the yo scale, a pentatonic scale with ascending intervals of two, three, two, two, and three semitones between the five scale tones. Artistically it differs from the music of the corresponding Chinese form which is a term reserved for ceremonial music.

Etymology

The term originated in Japan in the year 701 when the Gagaku-ryō, a government bureau which oversaw music education and performance in the Japanese Imperial Court, was established. The word comes from the Chinese word yayue, originally meaning Confucian ritual music. is the Japanese reading for yayue, but by the time the word was introduced in Japan, its meaning had changed to be Chinese popular music and foreign music. Because was built on elements from foreign music, the Japanese application of the term to this repertoire aligned with how the word was being used in China at the time.

History

The prototype of was introduced into Japan with Buddhism from China. In 589, Japanese official diplomatic delegations were sent to China to learn Chinese culture, including Chinese court music. By the 7th century, the and the had been introduced into Japan from China. Various instruments, including these two, were the earliest used to play.
Even though the Japanese use the same term, 雅楽, the form of music imported from China was primarily banquet music rather than the ceremonial music of the Chinese. The importation of music peaked during the Tang dynasty, and these pieces are called . pieces that originated at a time earlier than the Tang dynasty are called , while those originating after the Tang dynasty are called . The term itself was first recorded in 701, when the first imperial academy of music was established.
Music from the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo had been recorded as early as 453 AD, and was eventually used as a term that covered all Korean pieces, the Goguryeo kingdom being referred to as Koma in Japanese. and became established in southern Japan during the Nara period. In 736, music from India and Vietnam were also introduced, known as and respectively.
During the Nara period in the 8th century, was performed at national events, such as the erection of the Great Buddha of Todai-ji Temple, by organizing performance groups at large temples.
From the 9th century to the 10th century, during the Heian period, traditional was developed further, becoming distinctly Japanese in style through its fusion with musical styles indigenous to Japan, changing it greatly. The form of was almost completed by the fusion of,, and which were introduced from Asian countries, with, traditional Japanese music, and, songs born in the Heian period. During this period, many pieces of music were created and foreign-style music was rearranged and renewed. was also reorganized, and foreign-style music was classified into categories called and. Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian style was classified as, and Korean and Manchurian style was classified as. and were also included in the category of.
The popularity of reached its peak between the 9th and 10th centuries, when court aristocracy began to hold private concerts, but declined in the Kamakura period when the power of the court aristocracy became diminished while that of the samurai rose. was played by musicians who belonged to hereditary guilds. During the Kamakura period, military rule was imposed and was rarely performed at court. At this time, there were three guilds, based in Osaka, Nara and Kyoto.
Due to the Ōnin War, a civil war from 1467 to 1477 during the Muromachi period, ensembles ceased to perform in Kyoto for about 100 years. In the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate revived and reorganized the court-style ensembles, the direct ancestors of the present ensembles.
After the Meiji Restoration 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, consisting of three wind instruments –,, and – and three percussion instruments – , , and or , supplemented by two string instruments – and.
also accompanies classical dance performances called. It may be used in religious ceremonies in some Buddhist temples.
In 1955, the Japanese government recognized and as important National Treasures.
Today, is performed in three ways:
  • as, concert music for winds, strings and percussion,
  • as, or dance music, for which the stringed instruments are omitted.
  • as kayō, singing and chanting poetry to the accompaniment of a musical instrument, classified into 10 categories.
survives only as.
Contemporary ensembles, such as Reigakusha, perform contemporary compositions for instruments. This subgenre of contemporary works for instruments, which began in the 1960s, is called. 20th-century composers such as Tōru Takemitsu have composed works for ensembles, as well as individual instruments. In January 2015 the Reigakusha Ensemble and Ensemble Modern performed together Music with silent aitake's by Belgian composer Frederic D'Haene, making and Western music co-exist.

Forms of Performance

Two of the main ways that is performed are kangen and bugaku. Kangen is performed using wind, string and percussion instruments while bugaku usually does not include strings.
can be classified into two categories. Tōgaku, or "music from the left", includes music brought over from China and Southeast Asia. Komagaku, or "music from the right", includes music brought over from Korea and Bohai. In tōgaku, pieces are further classified into categories based on size. Taikyoku, chūkyokū, and shōkyoku are large, medium, and small pieces respectively. All komogaku pieces are dance pieces and therefore do not include strings.

Instruments used

Wind, string and percussion instruments are essential elements of music. Some instruments, such as Haishō, Gogen biwa, Kugo had been removed from the ensemble during Heian period and reconstructed based on the old documents and some remains of the instruments in the Shōsō-in during Showa Era.

Wind

  • Azuma-asobi-bue, also called chukan
  • Paixiao, panpipes
  • Hichiriki, oboe
  • Kagurabue, transverse flute larger than ryūteki, used in kuniburi no utamai
  • Komabue, transverse flute smaller than ryūteki, used in komagaku
  • O-hichiriki
  • Ryuteki, transverse flute used in tōgaku
  • Shakuhachi
  • Shō, mouth organ
  • Yu, large mouth organ

    String

  • Gaku Biwa, 4-stringed lute
  • Koto, 13-string zither of Chinese origin
  • Ruan
  • Gogen biwa, 5-stringed lute
  • Konghou, angled harp used in ancient times and recently revived
  • Yamatogoto, zither of Japanese origin, with 6 or 7 strings

    Percussion

  • Da-daiko, large drums used at festivals
  • Fangxiang
  • Ikko, small, ornately decorated hourglass-shaped drum
  • Kakko, small hourglass-shaped drum struck with two wooden sticks
  • San-no-tsuzumi, hourglass-shaped drum
  • Shakubyoshi, clapper made from a pair of flat wooden sticks
  • Shōko, small gong, struck with two horn beaters
  • Suzu, a bell tree clapper, specific to Mikomai dance performed as Mi-kagura
  • Tsuri-daiko, drum on a stand with ornately painted head, played with two padded sticks
  • Tsuzumi, hourglass drum, specific to Shirabyōshi dance performed as Mi-kagura

    Form

The basis of a piece is one melody which is interpreted by all members of the ensemble at the same time on their respective instruments. It is not played with sheet music but from memory, so it is not exact and it remains fluid as each musician remains perfectly in sync with one another. Each instrument adds its own touch, which makes music sound unique. This melody is always the main focus, and one of the distinguishing features of music is that each of the eight instruments plays a distinct version of the melody that is their own. These eight instruments may vary depending on the type of, but having eight different parts is typical of music. In some ensembles, parts are doubled so there may be more than eight players, but there are always only eight distinct parts.
The roles of each instrument within this form are as follows:
  • Three wind instruments play the main melody as the most prominent voices in the ensemble.
  • * Hichiriki is the main melody voice and embellishes the melody with microtones made possible by the larger reed.
  • * Fue uses its higher range to play a variation on the melody.
  • * Sho plays simplified version of the main melody and colors it with five and six tone harmonies.
  • Two string instruments play simplified versions of the main melody.
  • * Biwa plays both single tones and four voice chords.
  • * Koto plays repetitive melodic patterns.
  • Three percussion instruments provide an anchor point for the rhythm and emphasize the phrasing of the melody.
  • * Taiko plays the primary accent in each phrase.
  • * Kakko is the leader of the entire ensemble and controls tempo changes.
  • * Shoko provides rhythmic support.

    Influence on Western music

Beginning in the 20th century, several western classical composers became interested in, and composed works based on. Most notable among these are Henry Cowell, La Monte Young, Alan Hovhaness, Olivier Messiaen, Lou Harrison, Benjamin Britten, Bengt Hambraeus, Ákos Nagy, Jarosław Kapuściński, Sarah Peebles, Michiko Toyama, and Tim Hecker.
One of the most important musicians of the 20th century, Masataro Togi, instructed American composers such as Alan Hovhaness and Richard Teitelbaum in the playing of instruments.