The Present Condition of Japanese Court Music

The Present Condition of Japanese Court Music
Author(s): Eta Harich-Schneider

Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan., 1953), pp. 49-74
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/740034
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THE PRESENT CONDITION OF
JAPANESE COURT MUSIC
By ETA HARICH-SCHNEIDER
N any approach to authentic Japanese music, we must call attention

to the many and complicated obstacles that bar the way to serious
analysis. These obstacles are particularly apparent in the case of the
oldest Japanese music, the court music or gagaku. To begin with, no
serious research work can be undertaken without a fairly thorough
knowledge of the Japanese language: the musicians entrusted with this
music do not speak foreign languages. Furthermore, Japanese traditional
music is preserved and cultivated by a great many different social
groups, comparable to our old musicians' guilds. The traditions and inter-
ests of these groups are manifold and often contradictory. Information
on Japanese music, readily offered by individual musicians, can never
be generalized but must be evaluated in relation to the informant's per-
sonal interests and affiliations. Finally, the almost religious awe in which
the court music was regarded raised impenetrable barriers to any free
study by a foreigner prior to the surrender in 1945-
Struggling, step by step, through all these obstacles, the language
studies, the study of the various types of bourgeois entertainment music'
and its representative instruments koto and samisen,2 I finally succeeded
in establishing contact with the Imperial musicians when after the war
I was invited to coach them in the interpretation of Western music. My
special passport gave me access to the palace grounds, at the northern
side of which the "music department" (gakubu) is situated. I was able
to attend freely the rehearsals of court music and dance, to collect a
complete set of the court music instruments, to copy the partbooks of
1 Fairly well known in America, especially among the Japanese immigrants in
California.
2 The popular koto is a thirteen-stringed zither, tuned by movable bridges and

plucked with three artificial fingernails on the thumb, index, and middle finger of
the player's right hand. Samisen, the best-known geisha instrument, is a three-stringed
guitar played with a wooden plectrum.
49
50 The Musical Quarterly
the repertory, and to learn how to play the instr
friendly guidance of the best specialists. By then, the
trated experimenting had sufficiently convinced me
knowledge of the instruments and practical perform
would open the door to some understanding.
The following remarks are based on my musica
impressions and on the information I received from
cians in the course of the years 1946-49. They show,
situation of today: it is impossible to decide how far
what points of view the court music was remolded wh
restoration,s the remains of the old cult and the dete
were refurbished for reasons of Imperial prestige. I
ever, that the performance of certain court-music nu
the directions given in earlier sources and that the pa
use do not show divergences from earlier ones. On th
strange willingness of the court musicians to adapt t
trends of the time-at the moment, American taste-s
the existence of such a tendency in earlier periods, pa
which the Imperial musicians were under less strict c
theory of a strictly secluded court music, unchanged
ravages of time, is difficult to judge: it seems to be
and a shrewdly and skilfully staged myth in other p
of court music on no,4 on kabuki,5 and on many kind
is indisputable. The reverse is also true: the tritone a
microtone shadings that have crept into the performa
music in bold defiance of the partbooks originate in
style of the common people.
The word gagaku is of Chinese origin, meaning
music. It is used for the various types of ancient mus
Imperial court of Japan, which include utamai, the
songs, presumably of Japanese origin; togaku, mu
T'ang dynasty (618-907), introduced in Japan togethe
and Buddhist art between the 7th and 9th centuri
Korean music introduced about the same time or poss
3 The Meiji restoration put an end to the usurpation of pow
Tokugawa (i6oo-I868) and restored the full authority of the
Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), grandfather of the present Emp
' The classical aristocratic dance pantomime, represented aut
plays of the dramatist, actor, and dancer Seami (1363-I444).
5 In contrast to the formal art of no, kabuki is the colorfu
bourgeois theater of the Tokugawa period.
The Present Condition of Japanese Court Music 51
ing the Heian period (782-1185) two Japanese contributions to gagaku
were made: saibara (old folksongs arranged with Chinese orchestra)
and roei (sections of Chinese or Sino-Japanese poetry recited in cantilla-
tion and underlined by melody instruments). With the gradual devel-
opment of a bourgeois music (zokugaku or "vulgar" music) the term
gagaku was used also for the music of the shinto rites and the entertain-
ments of the high aristocracy.
What are, precisely, the characteristics of court music and what is

the fundamental difference between this and other kinds of Japanese
music? A Japanese would probably say: "There are two kinds of music,
sacred music and secular music. The sacred music, gagaku, is a symbol
of the Imperial House and performed for the pleasure of the gods. It
belongs to the national treasures. Secular music is mere entertainment.
There are also two kinds of instruments, sacred and secular, and two
kinds of musicians, the highly respectable musicians in Imperial employ
and the common entertainers." The elevated ethical and social stand-
ing of court music looms higher in the Japanese view than any specifically
musical characteristic.
As observed fact, court music possesses a striking solemnity and noble

aloofness, two characteristics totally absent from the sensuous and
affected entertainment music. Musically this impression derives from
richer instrumentation, a broader formal structure, a more precise and
regular metrical form, and generally greater melodic variety-all ele-
ments probably inherited from a bygone musical efflorescence in China.
Entertainment music uses the human voice, the koto, and the samisen.
No great variety of tone color, no sonorous depth is attainable in this
combination. Occasionally, koto and samisen are joined by the lovely
shakuhachi, a bamboo fife without mouthpiece. Although the shaku-
hachi has an appealing quality of tone, when used in the popular com-
bination with koto and samisen (san-kyoku, "trio") it cannot balance
the aggressive string tone. Like the recorder, this very old instrument
is at its best when played solo, in the open air. Court music, in its most
representative forms, works with a much richer and better-balanced
instrumentation: three high-pitched woodwinds contrasting in color,
three percussion instruments contrasting in pitch, and two or three low-
pitched string instruments. The prevalent miniature form of entertain-
ment music is preconditioned by its text, the irregular form of the Japa-
nese short poem. It is like an apergu, gracious and vague, charming but
short of breath. By contrast the court music moves in long, regular
phrases, with periodic returns underlined by a gradual increase in rhyth-
mic intensity. Finally, the melodies of entertainmen
more or less on the Japanese scale that developed du
period, an arrangement in which the supertonic is a h
tonic and the tritone between supertonic and fifth pl
role. Court music uses the six modes of the Chine
though, as we shall see, in a somewhat distorted form
The Imperial musicians are popularly called the gak
recruited from a small number of families with i
claiming more than a thousand years of uninterrupt
origin is traced in three lineages: from the aborigina
dancers of the first Yamato chieftains,8 and from K
music teachers, who emigrated to Japan. Originally s
Nara, and Ise, after the Meiji restoration the three g
trated in Tokyo and reestablished as Imperial musicia
employ. Although many a gap in the tradition may h
or some imposing pedigree brushed up a little, in the
19th-century cultural renaissance, it still remains a f
and musical traditions have been handed down for th
with a tenacity equalled only by Buddhist9 and Ch
The guild of the gakunin has produced prominent
most important old treatises on court music are writ
whose descendants are still represented among the co
today.
The musical heritage of gagaku is maintained in two ways: in written
6 The word gakunin means "musician."
7 An anecdote from my experience somewhat deflates this awe-inspiring claim.
A group of impressionable foreigners had just been retold the story about the descent
of the gakunin from Chinese and Korean princes. When they had left, a very
prominent court musician, over a glass of whisky, told me, chuckling: "After all,
there are exceptions. My original name is Morita. I was only adopted by the ***
family at the age of eighteen. And I just hated it!"
8Yamato is the small district between Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka, where the
conquering tribe of the Yamato people, coming from Kyushu, first settled under the
semi-mythical Emperor Jimmu. Japanese historians formerly dated Jimmu's reign
from 7 x to 585 B.C. The German scholar A. Wedemeyer has placed the invasion
under Jimmu in the first or second century A.D. His theory is now generally accepted.
See A. Wedemeyer, Studien zur Japanischen Friihgeschichte, in Publikationen der
Deutschen Gesellschaft fiir Natur- und V1ikerkunde Ostasiens, Suppl. to Vol. XI,
Berlin, 1930.
9 Shomyo, Buddhist cantillation, may have influenced the vocal style of gagaku.
1oKyokunsho, by Koma Chikazane et al., c. 1231; Taigensho, by Toyohara
Sumiaki, I5I0-I2; Gakkaroku, by Abe Suenao, I69o. All contain collections of
material on gagaku, easily accessible in modern Japanese editions (Koten-zen-shu,
Tokyo, 1933).
partbooks and by oral tradition. The Imperial musicians contend that
the partbooks are more or less similar to those of T'ang China. The
questions of age, origin, and occasional alterations of these partbooks
are still open and furnish basic starting points for future research. A
great number of the pieces preserved in the partbooks have not been
performed for generations. The partbooks indicate the titles of the pieces,
the pitch, melody, harmony, meter, a small number of embellishments,
and, to a certain extent, even the phrasing. The oral tradition is little
concerned with the written collections, and from ancient times has fol-
lowed its own line of development. In establishing its own rules, which
seem to have fluctuated continually, the tradition includes matters of
tempo, rhythmical variations, dynamics, detailed phrasing, and the most
important melodic ornament, the lowering and raising of the pitch
observed in the parts of vocalist, flute, and oboe-like double reed while
the rest of the instruments proceed in the unaltered intervals indicated
in the partbooks. These microtone shadings are called meri-kari ("down-
up") and produce the weird, clashing dissonances that are so character-
istic of Japanese court music. Deplorably enough, none of the modern
transcriptions of court music make it clear that meri-kari are embellish-
ments and not a part of the basic line.
In the music department, under the rigid tutorship of the elder

court musicians, the gakunin is trained from early boyhood to master
the limited number of dances and instruments to which he has been spe-
cially assigned. There is no balanced musical training, no systematic
study of history, form, and performing style of court music. The train-
ing is strictly practical, the information limited to the current repertory.
As a result of this emphasis, general musicianship in our sense of the
word is an exception in the guild. Since most court musicians also play
Western music, however, a certain smattering-so much more dangerous
than downright ignorance-of Western music theory has resulted in
attempts to "arrange" the valuable ancient music in Western style.
Phrasing, ornaments, and meri-kari are taught by a strange and
probably unique method, called shoka, literally meaning "sing-song."
Beating the meter on his knee (One, Two) and the floor (Three, Four),
the student sings his part on certain abstract syllables that suggest phras-
ing, embellishments, and pitch-wavering. Flutist, oboist, and mouth-
organ player use different sing-song syllables. Percussion and string play-
ers use the same syllables as the mouth-organ player. In this way, the
student memorizes his entire repertory before he is allowed even as much
as to touch his instrument. It is probable that we owe the survival of
court music to this painstaking rote method: it ham
interpretation into the student's brain for life. On
young musician not only loses much of his natural
but he also feels no necessity for acquiring a dee
origin and system of the rules he follows. It is quite
rapidly shrinking repertory the musicians will forg
cution of all numbers not continually performed.
The instrumentation of gagaku varies with the d

music. Three kinds of flutes, all bamboo transverse
togaku, saibara, and roei employ the Chinese flu
"dragon flute") with a range from c#" to c"'; k
Korean flute (komabuye) with a range from d#
utamai, the kagurabuye, with a range from bb' to
flute playing uses florid embellishments and pitch w
The double-reed oboe, hichiriki, is used in all t

ranges from g' to a". Making much greater use
ments than the three flutes, the hichiriki produces
choly wailing, restless and weird. A long-sustained
rarely occurs. Flute and oboe generally proceed in o
which they add their individual embellishments.
In togaku, saibara, and roei the woodwinds are join

mouth-organ, sho, a mouth-harmonica with vibratin
pitch. It is made of seventeen bamboo (or other
are circularly fitted into a soundbox (see the illu
are mute; the other fifteen are tuned on a', b', c#",
a", b", c'", c#"', d"', e"', f#"'. In saibara and r
contributions to gagaku, the sho plays the same part
stable pitches.12 The much older togaku makes a be
harmonic possibilities. In togaku the sho proceeds i
five) tones, the lowest of which is usually in "impu
oboe. Ex. I shows the ten standard chords. The ch
chord occurs generally between two measures or
11 According to information received from Mr. Oku, first
orchestra, Tokyo.
12 In Zeitschrift fiir Musikwissenschaft, XIV (1932), 2

reviews an important Japanese publication: Denkmaler Japan
Hofmusik, I. Heft: Saibara, Tokyo, 1930. Hornbostel discusses
which he calls "unreines Unisono." See also: Harich-Schnei
the Saibara of Imperial Court Music, in Monumenta Nipp
University, 1952.
measure.1 The chord progression is typically stately and slow; frequently
one chord is held over two or three measures; faster changes, such as
two chords in one measure, are exceptional." There is no calculated
"six-part progression." On the contrary, the major second a"b", which
is always sustained, is a kind of "inverted pedal." Evidently the musical
function of these strange harmonies is mainly to provide a background
of oscillating tone color to the melodic progression. Much attention is
paid to the breathing technique, the regular alternation of inhaling and
exhaling from measure to measure. It is called iki-gae, "return of
breath." Every chord begins piano, increases gradually, and ends on a
distinct forte with the purpose of making the transition to the next chord
or measure.
Because of its Chinese origin the sho is usually bann

formances of komagaku."5 Flute and oboe perform to the
ment of three percussion instruments. The individual emb
the two woodwinds are clearly discernible; closer inspection
however, must lead to disagreement with the often repea
that they proceed in "counterpoint.""'6 (See Ex. 2.) It i
our example, which is one of the most popular komag
simultaneously sounding tones of different pitch are prod
of 32 measures. But a tendency to independent two-par
be found only in mm. 5-6, 13-I4, I5-I6, and 17-22.
The partbooks written in the last century contain strin
ments for togaku, komagaku, saibara, and utamai. The ro
seem to have always been performed without strings or per
ments. Today the komagaku string accompaniment is abo
former existence is never even mentioned (Ex. 2). The
ments used in togaku and saibara are the biwa, or bass
from E to eb', and koto, the thirteen-stringed zither, rang
ct"'. The biwa plays drones, simple or inverted; the six cl
13 With one exception, the meter is always binary, either co

4/4 + 2/4.
14 In the togaku number Ko-in-ju no ha, which consists of 40 m

into five 8-measure sections, 32 measures contain one chord, 7 us
equal length, and only one contains three chords, in the pa
first of which is held over from the preceding measure. Three
sections hold the final chord over the last three measures, two
measures. Other long-sustained chords occur in measures 3-5, 9-10,
15 Save for occasional exceptions. In Korea, however, where a

court music has existed possibly for two millenniums, the sho was g
16 Hisao Tanabe, Japanese Music, Tokyo, 1936, p. 15.
modes in which these types of gagaku were compo
discernible in spite of the parasitically flowering em
woodwinds. They are as follows, the first tone of
full weight of a ground tone:
ist mode (ichikotsu-cho), d e ft a b (ryo scale)
2nd mode (hyojo), e f# a b c$ (ritsu scale)
3rd mode (sojo), g a b d e (ryo scale)
4th mode (oshiki-cho), a b d e f~ (ritsu scale)
5th mode (banshiki-cho), b c# e f# g$ (ritsu scale)
6th mode (taishiki-cho), e ft a b c# (ritsu scale) and e f
The biwa is tuned in the following patterns:
Ist mode: A d e a
2nd mode: E B e a
3rd mode: G A d g
4th mode: A c e a and A B e a (sui-cho, or "water-mode," a rarel
parallel mode)
5th mode: F# B e a
6th mode: A d e a
In the Ist and 5th modes, where the lowest string is tuned on the f
instead on the ground tone, the drones proceed in ascending b
fourths. Only at the end of the piece is the final ground tone str
isolatedly. Not a few of the togaku pieces are composed in A B A f
In these pieces the B section ends sometimes on the fifth or the superto
of the mode.
The koto is tuned:
Ist mode: d' d a b d' e' f#' a' b' d" e" f#" a"
2nd mode: b e f# a b c#' e' fM' a' b' c" e" f#"
3rd mode: G g d e g a b d' e' g' a' b' d"
4th mode: e' a b d' e' f#' a' b' d" e" f#" a" b"
5th mode: f#' b ct' e' fM' g#' b' c#" e" f#" g$" b" c$'"
6th mode: ritsu b e f# a b c#' e' f#' a' b' ct" e" f#"
ryo b e ft g# b c#' e' ft' g#' b' c#" e" f$"
The tone material is taken exclusively from the respective scale or
mode. Change of pitch by pressing down the strings is not used in
gagaku, wherefore the koto is in no position to indulge in microtone
embellishments. The koto accompaniment is arranged in two stereotyped
patterns, comparable to the Alberti basses of the I8th century. They are
called shizugaki (quiet plucking) and hayagaki (quick plucking). Only
fie
occasionally interrupted by glissandos or other graces, these patterns
are carried on from the beginning to the end of a piece.
Another zither used in gagaku is the six-stringed wa-gon or yamato
koto. This instrument must once have been used in saibara, since the
partbooks still exist; today, however, it is employed only in utamai, the
ritual shinto dances.
The tunings of the six strings are I 2 3 4 5 6

d' a d g b e
and I 2 3 4 5 6
f#' c#' b a' e' a
With a slender horn plectrum the right hand of the player strikes th
strings in quick succession, either up or down, after which the left
stops the vibrations of four or five strings, so that clear intervals or sin
tones sound on.
IL I I-- -
TT'' ~~~ T
These arpeggios and echo effects are intersp

the ori ("breaking"), which are played with
hand:
a. 9F4L
and the tsumi ("pinching") in wh
dlEtru1m T b ' C an plec

niddle finger
The togaku percussion instrumen

a) kakko, a braced side-drum
wooden cylinder. The instrumen
struck with two slender, unpadd
tightening or loosening the brac
tones of the respective mode. I
There are three drumming patte
even and much slower than th
sharply accented single tap, struck with the right
repeated, accelerating beats struck with the left-hand
lowed by the right-hand accent.
b) shoko, a bronze gong suspended on silk cords in
stand. It is struck with two padded sticks. A double
a right-hand stroke, and a left-hand stroke are used
nations.
c) taiko (also tsuri-daiko, da-daiko), a huge hanging drum struck

with two heavy drumsticks with leather-padded knobs. The left-hand
stroke is always piano and called the female stroke, the right-hand stroke
is always forte and called the male stroke (Exx. 3a and b). Shoko and
taiko are also used in komagaku, but the kakko is replaced by the san-no-
tsuzumi, a dumb-bell-shaped side-drum, struck only on one side. In
consequence no roll exists in the percussion patterns of komagaku (Ex.
2).
The percussion instrument of utamai and saibara is a wooden clap-
per, called shakubyoshi. It consists of two pieces of hard wood; the one
in the right hand is struck against the one in the left (Ex. 4) -
In all types of gagaku the percussions move in fixed and repeated
patterns, which correspond to the length of the melodic strains. The
most common patterns cover four or eight measures of common time or
4/4+2/4 meter. Only very rarely does one encounter strains of seven,
six, or five measures. The meter 3/4+2/4, a contraction of 4/4+2/4
by elimination of the last beat of the 4/4, occurs only in three dance
numbers. Simple ternary meter does not exist.
These patterns offer the most valuable internal evidence for the
influence of ancient Indian music on gagaku. The continental-to a
great extent Indian-influence on gagaku has been repeatedly mentioned
by Japanese scholars," but the living proof inherent in the music itself
is not known in the West.
The Indian word tala ("rhythm") has four different meanings:18

I) it is the name of a percussion instrument, the cymbals; 2) it desig-
nates the person who marks the rhythm; 3) it denotes the division of
time units in a single measure (beats) ; 4) it refers to the rhythmical pat-
tern spread over a group of measures, corresponding to melodic sec-
tions. Precisely in the same way the Japanese word hyoshi ("rhythm")
stands for I) the shakubyoshi, the wooden clapper (Ex. 4); 2) the
17 Hisao Tanabe, op. cit., pp. 8-17.
18Joanny Grosset, Inde, in Encyclopedie Lavignac, I (1914), 257-376.
hyoshitori, the person who marks the rhythm; 3) the single beat; 4) the
longer or shorter patterns which cover strains of several measures in
length.
This important similarity was overlooked by Sir Francis Piggott,"'

who misinterpreted the ambiguous word hyoshi as "beat" and thus
took the four-measure pattern for one common-time measure, the eight-
measure pattern for one 8/4 measure, the six-measure pattern for one
6/4 measure, and the compound 4/4+2/4 meter for triple time. He
repeated his error in all his later publications"2 and even such prominent
scholars as Maurice Courante have followed him. Among modern scho-
lars only E. W. K. Miiller2 gives a correct description of the gagaku
percussion patterns and of the gagaku meter. As physician to Emperor
Meiji he was in a position to carry on first-hand research. His careful
and reliable report outranks by far the numerous later second-hand
publications.23
The remains of gagaku are fragments. Among the five types, togaku
is not only by far the most numerous, but also the best preserved and
superior to the others in craftsmanship. It seems to have strongly
influenced the other forms. Purely instrumental togaku is called kangen
("pipes and strings") of which o05 numbers are preserved. In olden
times they all may have been combined with dances (bugaku, "dance
and music"), but the repertory of the court dances has decayed deplor-
ably and only twenty-five of the kangen are now performed with dances.
In these cases the strings are omitted. Less well preserved are the
komagaku, of which 38 numbers still exist. They are always performed
with dance. Of all the dances, the utamai, the old cult dances and
Imperial shinto rites, have suffered most from the passing of time. They
probably originate from very early folk-dances and burlesques of the
islands and the continent. They were remolded and probably simpli-
fied during the Meiji renaissance, but it is possible to trace the original
substance of music and text.
19 Sir Francis Piggott, The Music of the Japanese, in Transactions of the Asiatic
Society of Japan (1891), p. 310o ff.
20 See the Bibliography of Asiatic Musics, in Notes, VII (1950).
2 Maurice Courant, Japon, in Encyclopidie Lavignac, I (1914), 242-56.
2 E. W. K. Mfiller, Einige Notizen fiber die Japanische Musik, in Mitteilungen

der Deutschen Gesellschaft fiir Natur- und VOilkerkunde Ostasiens, 1874-76.
23A full translation of the percussion partbooks and transcription of the patterns
by the author will be published under the title The Rhythmical Patterns of Gagaku
and Bugaku in the near future by E. J. Brill in Leiden.
In ancient times these compositions were evidently f
"sonatas" in at least three, often more, movements: jo, a
rhythm; ha, a broad middle movement; and kyu, a rapi
most common of these movements. The existence of a m
ei ("song") indicates vocal contributions. The best pr
sonata, Goshoraku, a composition in the second mode
ments jo, ha, ei, and kyu. The text of the ei-movement is no
Some pieces exist in several versions. Exx. 3a and b sh

ment of Butokuraku in the first and in the third mode
Etenraku (Chinese temple music) exists in the second, f
(ritsu) mode.
Gagaku programs usually include compositions in various modes. The

first number of every mode must be preceded by a little prelude which
has the purpose of establishing the mode. The woodwind players call
this prelude netori ("to draw the tone"), the string players refer to it as
kakiawase ("to adjust the plucking") (Ex. 5). Performed immediately
after the tuning, for which the mouth-organ sets the pitch, these minia-
ture pieces are a sort of pitch test as well as a preparation of the right
atmosphere and mood. They are played slowly, solemnly, in a very free
style and continually fluctuating tempo and rhythm. Stabilized metrical
relationships between the parts are carefully avoided. Ex. 5 shows that
the written part of the mouth-organ contains many deviations from
the scale and mode that is supposed to be established. Only the first
mode is clearly recognizable. In most of the regular togaku numbers
mode and scale are much more strictly observed. This apparent incon-
sistency seems to support the contention that the netori are original
Japanese contributions to gagaku. They may have been altered many
times in the course of the centuries. Besides the six togaku netori (Ex. 5)
there exist a number of so-called "secret" netori, which belong to certain
togaku dances (bugaku)," three komagaku netori, and several utamai
netori.
Another genuine Japanese contribution to gagaku are the choshi,

extremely long preludes formed by chains of many musical sections, or
motifs of irregular length. They occur in togaku and are used some-
times after the netori, sometimes replacing the latter. The loose formal
structure of the choshi is similar to one of the oldest forms of Japanese
24 The word bugaku, meaning "dance and music," is used for both Chinese
(left style) and Korean (right style) court dances. "Right" and "left" style will be
dealt with presently.
The
:kM -
AL
The Author, playing the mouth-organ
The kagurabue (bamboo flute)
,; M-111 Xi
-11M
I; wf:. F:
A.j
W?M...
WOO
..... .... .. .
ox.
........ ..... .
-M.,X
. .......... K?.
... ..... .. .....
X.Mv.
.......... ......
.. .... ...... ....
Sm,
11N.
The bicbiriki (double-reed oboe)
t I 1j
Above: The tubes and the ring,

Below.: The position of the han
%'U
T7,i ~t~' T"?~~a
00 ~how
0 ,a~
IM"4
Japanese notation for the Butokuraku (Military Virtue

Music), Ex. 3a. The symbols appearing here in gray
are red in the source and represent the lute part; the
black symbols are for mouth-organ.
poetry, the naga-uta ("long song") preserved in the Man-yo-shu.25
In gagaku, certain rules of performing are very carefully observed.
The individual musician has little freedom to shape his part according
to his temperament; improvisation of any kind is excluded and seems
always to have been forbidden. Dynamic modifications in flute and
oboe, though somewhat restrained, are noticeable. The mouth-organ
has a strong crescendo towards the end of each measure. Great atten-
tion is paid to the contrast between piano and forte on the big drum
and the side-drum. The strings proceed in a uniform harsh forte, except
for certain isolated melody tones on the lute (marked pizzicato in our
examples). These are produced by tapping the string on the fret with
the bare finger of the left hand. The resulting tone is muffled, pianissimo,
like a distant echo of the leading melody. Tempo and rhythm are far
from strict. Every piece begins in a manner that might be called senza
tempo, lentissimo, wavering, yet ends rather fast. The phrasing of the
woodwinds underlines the chord-progressions of the mouth-organ, a sus-
tained tone frequently being held over to the first beat of the follow-
ing measure, after which it breaks off and is taken up again (kiri,
"break"). Today the increasingly shrinking repertory consists almost
exclusively of short numbers in the ritsu mode. The microtone deviations
(meri-kari) in the ritsu mode almost invariably change the major second
and the major sixth to minor. A most convincing proof of the popu-
larity of ritsu and the decline of ryo are the deviations given in Ex. 4.
This typical ryo melody is first changed to ritsu, and then, by lowering
the second and the sixth, to the zokugaku scale of Japanese folksongs.
The oldest bugaku are dances of continental origin and still show
distinctive features of ritual and magic meaning. Bairo hachingaku
("music to smite the enemy") is said to be of Indian origin. Danced
before a battle, Bairo predicted victory or defeat; a certain glowing tone-
color in the flutes and oboes was an auspicious sign. Prince Shotoku
Taishi26 asked for the prophecy of Bairo before the battle against
Mononobe no Moriya. So did Minamoto no Yoshiie in the wars of
1056-63 and Io65. Under Emperor Meiji the old belief had given
way to a more rational approach: not before but after the victory over
25 Man-yo-shu ("Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves") is an anthology of poems
compiled in the 8th century. Generally Otomo no Yakamochi is considered the
compiler. The collection, covering the time from 313-765, contains 4496 poems,
among them 262 naga-uta. Among the poets of the Man-yo-shu are many men and
women from all social classes; many poems are anonymous. The most prominent poet
is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (d. 709 or 71o), a courtier of lower rank.
26Regent from 591 to 621.
the Chinese in 1895, Emperor Meiji ordered a pe
decorative warrior dance. Another dance with an or
ing is the Chinese dance Ryo-o ("King Ryo"). T
dragon's mask and a sceptre. Certain steps and ge
transformation into a wizard-bird. The central section of the dance
apparently contained the incantation, since the music breaks off an
the dancer continues with his own rhythm and murmurs some unintel
ligible words (evidently the magic formula) behind his mask. This sec-
tion is called saezuri, which means "chattering" or "bird's twitter." The
words are lost and even the inner meaning is so completely forgotten
that nowadays the saezuri is usually skipped in performances, bein
considered lengthy and dull.27 Other examples of the decay of bugaku
might be given. The element of sorcery in the dance is still most strongl
felt in the only dance of malignant effect, the famous death-dance
Saisoro. Supposed to bring calamity to the country and certain death
within a year to the dancer, Saisoro has been banished from the repertor
for generations. During the Heian period the Japanese contribute
some dances to bugaku. Clearly distinguishable from the much olde
bugaku, these dances are decorative, refined, and impressionistic. Tai-
kyoku, the great ballet-pantomimes in cyclic form with many move-
ments, are still preserved in partbooks and choreographic descriptions,
but for more than thirty years they have been deleted from the repertory
because of their great length and scenic requirements.
The division of bugaku into "right" and "left" may possibly have an
old hidden meaning. Today this meaning seems forgotten; the styl
difference consists mainly in the choice of colors for the costumes and
in the choreographic arrangements on the stage. The "left-style" dance
comes on stage by the stairs at the left; the "right-style" dancer from
the right. The dance positions, which are as well defined as those of ou
classical ballet, are the same in both styles, except that the left-style
dancer always begins with the left foot, the right-style dancer with the
right. When learning these dances, the student is never allowed to sepa
rate his steps from the gestures of the arms and hands. The "positions,"
characteristically, are called the te, which means "hands." Each number
is preceded by the te-awase ("adjust the hand"), which has the same
purpose as the netori. The number itself is a complete "sonata," con
27 In Zur Frage der Ei und Saezuri, in Monumenta Nipponica, Tokyo, x941
p. 296f., Hans Eckardt suggests that both ei and saezuri were melismatic improvisa-
tions. The preserved ei and saezuri do not contain anything to support this contention
nor does the gagaku practice indicate any likelihood of an erstwhile art of im-
provisation.
sisting in movements called "opening hand," "ascending hand," "central
hand," "descending hand," "concluding hand," and others. The move-
ments of the dancer on the stage are strictly measured, like geometry
in motion.
NOTES ON THE TRANSCRIPTIONS
The transcription of Ex. 2 was made by ear, during rehearsals. In the opinion
of Mr. Oku, who kindly revised my transcription, the regular, unadorned melody
uses G? and C#. The sharpened G in the flute part is an embellishment and
somewhat lower than G# proper; correspondingly, the CO in the oboe part is only
a somewhat lowered C#.
Except for Ex. 2 all transcriptions were made from the Japanese partbooks
revised in 1877, and then compared with actual performances.
Signs of embellishments in the examples
slow tremolo with noticeable alterations of pitch
glissandos between skips, of indistinct pitch.
Ex. 3a, b: The introductory measures are always played by the flute alone
(fuye ondo, "the flute leads") in very slow, free tempo. The + marks the successive
entries of the other instruments. The whole orchestra plays the first measures only
in repetitions.
Speeding From the
up gradually, first strong
especially drum-beat
towards the end, the tempo
when is strict ( -=
the percussion 60 or
beats are66).
augmented, it reaches sometimes = 100oo. The ending (tomede, "the hand
stops") is played molto ritardando.
Exx. 3b and 4: According to an oral tradition the use of F# in the chord "ju"
(Ex. I) is prohibited in the third mode, unless the FS is especially called for.
It would be enlightening to trace the age of this tradition.
In Ex. 4 flute and oboe have been omitted, because the oboe plays in unison
with the singers, and the flute --more or less - in octaves or unison with the
mouth-organ. When asked to sing the unchanged written part, so that a tape
recording could be made for study purposes, the Imperial musicians unanimously
rejected the request. Assuming, however, that the dissonances between voice part
and mouth-organ were too much for Western ears, they re,adily offered other
amendments: the mouth-organ player offered to play chords instead of single
tones "in order to drown the dissonances" and the lute player offered to tune in
G minor instead of in the 3ojo mode.
In Ex. 5 each part should be read separately and with no concern for the
simultaneous sounding of other parts.
Ex. 1. The ten standard chords on the sho
kowsu i hia ba otsu ge j bi gyui hi
Ex. 2. Komagaku. "Nasori no kyu"

Iledt~ l-, 18~tzttf
I~fT
1 ) 1 *) 1 ) * ) cntinue
r f T V_~ ~
am Ir
Sia~h. vPT ?c~la. (r...a.) *.= 3,u3 ?,1, t;
8"_-'y' J~b PJ br P Ilt ~ v
gfff r r ~~eTss 4b
41 ~ ('~ec) i_ P
Ex. 3a. Butokuraku (Military Virtue Music)

First mode (ichikotsu)
Ryo-scale
Flute ? 'J J Af4-1 A1L
s " _ Pl i 1'.i _ + S _ . .
r.aA I 1 r. 2
1. D.r6. . 61.
_.~ J . t I "' " I+ _,
. .Lute. n r +
cW.-
+.0!! ,hi, m
Pi ~Pi A.,I
W" r I.- W 6,6- . _ -

M! m m F .. .
;1m--111 , , _ I MR
A- - I., :B
rI
,,: ill.r.
I _ 6l t>.
--i "if' ." - : - "" -- - --- , -

_ n A_ - - "
6. 1 :1.. r1 6. J.
.,-A .
ar. 1A 1 . r. r.
!-.3 " ,,J .--A- A.L
$,~i d .. . '
..... s _ _ P
Aa
rim.
. '. .r. r .r.
piu
>________
1ia I-, . . ...-"
- lr . 1
PC L:~ It
,I (. ,_ -
i. L~. ~ .P. i. Ok
1 . . ..
F il iti > E~Z
10.9c; - - - - w__ _
Pi L? 'I I - - P ?> tvAC~
a= r. tweet
AJ L I~
pP. tr f"
~L4> AM~
Ex. 3b. Butokuraku (Military Virtue Mu

Third mode (sojo)
Ryo-scale
Flute__ ____
Sd it -- j. _- __ 4
Zir 1 r.
-~~~ ~~~
BasLuk_ - _ - .: .. - J- . _
p Pin.
S ,r.
.1'0
t--- _
']i -- Z~lI~ -- + 1 "
4h
.V - F IF i "- ,# ,
PI~L
L9L
i x~
" . . . . . - _. . .,r" . '

m 'an A ..t.
r _ar.
- i.
_ r.
I z,
> PIZZ qc. >~t
Ing --
Lr r. . . ,,, . ? . .
/4vk
do o
PI
prop, .A_ ,,j , _
1. r. I. l . Ix.
Pi I
__.- r,... !,- i, 4-1'1

>. I i ff
fiti
1.r. 9. " 1.r. 1. 1.1. 1.

At_
_ ____ ____ - _
6" t d L
_____ 'V ____ __- -IL'

___ ___ ___ II,
---- - - --
-i yJem UA rol
- -.
v ena ing vwv? Iti- ?7'. 2
t~23W~2~E. ~2 3AA
r9 i ~. = p izz ,
Ex. 4. Mushiro-da
(Saibara in the third mode, ryo)

Free OtrcF
}AmoUhEargan and plu
The un1haebari. wrifte
Mu- - - shiro-da "o - - - ya . . _

Zi;he.r
rLM,- abi
BassLuke >j .
0 I
i u i i 5- - -. t - i - vT - .-- -t----
-1- b - -o
.-+-~I_7
I J,
stT or I-
-/A 4J,. to
S- T _ _ - ___ P -
3E 3E~-----
==3
U n--IA M - V-1=~"~-=I~ L
2,A SoO h i lb 1 ~
l. Su- m - - - u tsu - nu - u n - - o
3.A
3. - -Aso
- 0-
- -a ie a-
- _ __ -eU
- ru- - -
=I*"ll- f mI ' Is:rlal 0l ' mL I ' >
pi m. .
-I' > 1*:" 'J " J IL > -.

lo,...emg.,
-- mr
u =- I-I u t+u
I aI = E-
=,ro) LIL - - O o- O-Y a,
F I
'I. . -
at 0 , ie- - m - ft - .n~
Text
In Mushiroda
Mushiroda no ya
Mushiroda no In Mushiroda
Itsunuki kawa ni ya At Itsunuki River

Sumu tsuru no There lives the crane
Sumu tsuru no ya There lives the crane
Sumu tsuru no The crane -
Chi tose wo kanetezo Hope for a thousand years

Asobi aeru Of playful, blissful life;
Yorozuyo kanetezo World will last ten times a thousand years
Asobi aeru. Of playful, blissful life.
Ex. 5. Netori
First mode (ichikotsu)
(ryo)
Obo h " f r b ;. r
*-49 - -_s"Sides Dk 'r '
Second mode (hyojo)

(ritsu)
Flute ate
Oboei i P
1 , 1 1 F . 1 * 1 0 r T:
Third mode (sojo)
(ro F l ute>
Fourth mode (oshiki-cho) Flue
(ritsu) Ob ,-
Fifth mode (banshiki-cho)

(rio - a0 it-u _ )
ni~i~ga. J.. J f"
"rm- . .o so - '
Sixth mode (taishiki-cho)

(ryo and ritsu) ' _
) -_ - - - ,
B~asoe Luke

The Present Condition of Japanese Court Music - Schneider

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The Present Condition of Japanese Court Music - Schneider

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Author(s): Eta Harich-Schneider

N any approach to authentic Japanese music, we must call attention

2 The popular koto is a thirteen-stringed zither, tuned by movable bridges and

What are, precisely, the characteristics of court music and what is

As observed fact, court music possesses a striking solemnity and noble

In the music department, under the rigid tutorship of the elder

The instrumentation of gagaku varies with the d

The double-reed oboe, hichiriki, is used in all t

In togaku, saibara, and roei the woodwinds are join

12 In Zeitschrift fiir Musikwissenschaft, XIV (1932), 2

Because of its Chinese origin the sho is usually bann

13 With one exception, the meter is always binary, either co

14 In the togaku number Ko-in-ju no ha, which consists of 40 m

15 Save for occasional exceptions. In Korea, however, where a

16 Hisao Tanabe, Japanese Music, Tokyo, 1936, p. 15.

The tunings of the six strings are I 2 3 4 5 6

These arpeggios and echo effects are intersp

and the tsumi ("pinching") in wh

dlEtru1m T b ' C an plec

The togaku percussion instrumen

c) taiko (also tsuri-daiko, da-daiko), a huge hanging drum struck

The Indian word tala ("rhythm") has four different meanings:18

18Joanny Grosset, Inde, in Encyclopedie Lavignac, I (1914), 257-376.

This important similarity was overlooked by Sir Francis Piggott,"'

20 See the Bibliography of Asiatic Musics, in Notes, VII (1950).

2 Maurice Courant, Japon, in Encyclopidie Lavignac, I (1914), 242-56.

2 E. W. K. Mfiller, Einige Notizen fiber die Japanische Musik, in Mitteilungen

Some pieces exist in several versions. Exx. 3a and b sh

Gagaku programs usually include compositions in various modes. The

Another genuine Japanese contribution to gagaku are the choshi,

The Author, playing the mouth-organ

... ..... .. .....

The bicbiriki (double-reed oboe)

Above: The tubes and the ring,

Japanese notation for the Butokuraku (Military Virtue

26Regent from 591 to 621.

NOTES ON THE TRANSCRIPTIONS

slow tremolo with noticeable alterations of pitch

glissandos between skips, of indistinct pitch.

Ex. 1. The ten standard chords on the sho

kowsu i hia ba otsu ge j bi gyui hi

Ex. 2. Komagaku. "Nasori no kyu"

Ex. 3a. Butokuraku (Military Virtue Music)

Flute ? 'J J Af4-1 A1L

W" r I.- W 6,6- . _ -

--i "if' ." - : - "" -- - --- , -

!-.3 " ,,J .--A- A.L

. '. .r. r .r.

F il iti > E~Z

Pi L? 'I I - - P ?> tvAC~

Ex. 3b. Butokuraku (Military Virtue Mu

" . . . . . - _. . .,r" . '

prop, .A_ ,,j , _

__.- r,... !,- i, 4-1'1

1.r. 9. " 1.r. 1. 1.1. 1.

_____ 'V ____ __- -IL'

v ena ing vwv? Iti- ?7'. 2

(Saibara in the third mode, ryo)

The un1haebari. wrifte

Mu- - - shiro-da "o - - - ya . . _

-I' > 1*:" 'J " J IL > -.

Itsunuki kawa ni ya At Itsunuki River

___ 'V - -IL'