gagaku

File:Bugaku(Naiku) 01.JPG (Naiku), Ise city, Mie Prefecture]]

The prototype of {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} was introduced into Japan with Buddhism from China. In 589, Japanese official diplomatic delegations were sent to China (during the Sui dynasty) to learn Chinese culture, including Chinese court music. By the 7th century, the {{Transliteration|ja|koto}} (the 13-stringed zither) and the {{Transliteration|ja|biwa}} (a short-necked lute) had been introduced into Japan from China. Various instruments, including these two, were the earliest used to play {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}}.

Even though the Japanese use the same term, {{lang|ja|雅楽}} ({{Transliteration|cmn|yǎyuè}} in Mandarin Chinese), the form of music imported from China was primarily banquet music ({{Transliteration|ja|engaku}}) rather than the ceremonial music of the Chinese {{Transliteration|cmn|yǎyuè}}. The importation of music peaked during the Tang dynasty, and these pieces are called {{Transliteration|ja|Tōgaku}} (Tang music). {{Transliteration|ja|Gagaku}} pieces that originated at a time earlier than the Tang dynasty are called {{Transliteration|ja|kogaku}} (ancient music), while those originating after the Tang dynasty are called {{Transliteration|ja|shingaku}} (new music). The term {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} itself was first recorded in 701, when the first imperial academy of music {{Transliteration|ja|Gagakuryō}} was established.

Music from the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo had been recorded as early as 453 AD, and {{Transliteration|ja|komagaku}} was eventually used as a term that covered all Korean pieces, the Goguryeo kingdom being referred to as Koma in Japanese. {{Transliteration|ja|Komagaku}} and {{Transliteration|ja|Tōgaku}} became established in southern Japan during the Nara period (710–794). In 736, music from India and Vietnam were also introduced, known as {{nihongo||天竺楽|Tenjikugaku}} and {{nihongo||林邑楽|Rinyūgaku}} respectively.

During the Nara period in the 8th century, {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} was performed at national events, such as the erection of the Great Buddha of Todai-ji Temple, by organizing {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} performance groups at large temples.

From the 9th century to the 10th century, during the Heian period, traditional {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} was developed further, becoming distinctly Japanese in style through its fusion with musical styles indigenous to Japan, changing it greatly. The form of {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} was almost completed by the fusion of {{Transliteration|ja|Tōgaku}}, {{Transliteration|ja|Komagaku}}, {{Transliteration|ja|Tenjikugaku}} and {{Transliteration|ja|Rinyūgaku}} which were introduced from Asian countries, with {{Transliteration|ja|Kuniburi no utamai}}, traditional Japanese music, and {{Transliteration|ja|utaimono}}, songs born in the Heian period.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160826124132/https://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/dglib/contents/learn/edc22/rekishi/re3.html The Indigenization and Accomplishment of Gagaku] Japan Arts Council During this period, many pieces of {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} music were created and foreign-style {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} music was rearranged and renewed. {{Transliteration|ja|Gagaku}} was also reorganized, and foreign-style {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} music was classified into categories called {{nihongo3|left side|左方|Sahō}} and {{nihongo3|right side|右方|Uhō}}. Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian style was classified as {{Transliteration|ja|Sahō}}, and Korean and Manchurian style was classified as {{Transliteration|ja|Uhō}}. {{Transliteration|ja|Tenjikugaku}} and {{Transliteration|ja|Rinyūgaku}} were also included in the category of {{Transliteration|ja|Tōgaku}}.Ortolani 1995, pp. 42–43.

The popularity of {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} reached its peak between the 9th and 10th centuries, when court aristocracy began to hold private concerts, but declined in the Kamakura period (1185–1333) when the power of the court aristocracy became diminished while that of the samurai rose. {{Transliteration|ja|Gagaku}} was played by musicians who belonged to hereditary guilds. During the Kamakura period, military rule was imposed and {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} 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, {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} 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 {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} 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 – {{Transliteration|ja|hichiriki}}, {{Transliteration|ja|ryūteki}}, and {{Transliteration|ja|shō}} (bamboo mouth organ used to provide harmony) – and three percussion instruments – {{Transliteration|ja|kakko}} (small drum), {{Transliteration|ja|shōko}} (metal percussion), and {{Transliteration|ja|taiko}} (drum) or {{Transliteration|ja|dadaiko}} (large drum), supplemented by two string instruments – {{Transliteration|ja|gakubiwa}} and {{Transliteration|ja|gakusō}}.

{{Transliteration|ja|Gagaku}} also accompanies classical dance performances called {{nihongo||舞楽|bugaku}}. It may be used in religious ceremonies in some Buddhist temples.{{cite web |url=http://www.kyuhaku-db.jp/dazaifu/archives/25.html |title= 正行寺の報恩講と雅楽 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071124150953/http://www.kyuhaku-db.jp/dazaifu/archives/25.html |archive-date=24 November 2007 |work= Kyushu National Museums}}

In 1955, the Japanese government recognized {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} and {{Transliteration|ja|bugaku}} as important National Treasures.

Today, {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} is performed in three ways:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngo5Zs_Sg3w&t=330s "Enjoy gagaku. What kind of music is Gagaku?"] Doyusha Video

• as {{Transliteration|ja|kangen}}, concert music for winds, strings and percussion,
• as {{Transliteration|ja|bugaku}}, or dance music, for which the stringed instruments are omitted.
• as {{Transliteration|ja|utaimono}}, singing to the accompaniment of a musical instrument, classified into 10 categories.

{{Transliteration|ja|Komagaku}} survives only as {{Transliteration|ja|bugaku}}.{{Cite web |url=http://aris.ss.uci.edu/rgarfias/gagaku/music.html |title=...overview, University of California site |access-date=2007-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819070626/http://aris.ss.uci.edu/rgarfias/gagaku/music.html |archive-date=2014-08-19 |url-status=dead }}

Contemporary {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} ensembles, such as {{Nihongo|Reigakusha|伶楽舎}}, perform contemporary compositions for {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} instruments. This subgenre of contemporary works for {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} instruments, which began in the 1960s, is called {{Nihongo||伶楽|reigaku}}. 20th-century composers such as Tōru Takemitsu have composed works for {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} ensembles, as well as individual {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} instruments. In January 2015 the Reigakusha {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} Ensemble and Ensemble Modern performed together Music with silent aitake's by Belgian composer Frederic D'Haene, making {{Transliteration|ja|gagaku}} and Western music co-exist.[http://www.ravellorecords.com/catalog/rr8008/index.html] Ravello Records released the CD in 2018.

Wind, string and percussion instruments are essential elements of gagaku 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.

• {{Nihongo|Azuma-asobi-bue|東遊笛}}, also called chukan
• {{Nihongo|Haishō|排簫}}, panpipes
• {{Nihongo|Hichiriki|篳篥}}, oboe
• {{Nihongo|Kagurabue|神楽笛}}, transverse flute larger than ryūteki, used in kuniburi no utamai
• {{Nihongo|Komabue|高麗笛}}, transverse flute smaller than ryūteki, used in komagaku
• {{Nihongo|O-hichiriki|大篳篥}}
• {{Nihongo|Ryūteki|龍笛}}, transverse flute used in tōgaku
• {{Nihongo|(Ancient) Shakuhachi|尺八}}
• {{Nihongo|Shō|笙}}, mouth organ
• {{Nihongo|U|竽}}, large mouth organ

• {{Nihongo|Gaku Biwa|楽琵琶}}, 4-stringed lute
• {{Nihongo|Gakusō|楽箏}}, 13-string zither of Chinese origin
• {{Nihongo|Genkan|阮咸}}
• {{Nihongo|Gogen biwa|五絃琵琶}}, 5-stringed lute
• {{Nihongo|Kugo|箜篌}}, angled harp used in ancient times and recently revived
• {{Nihongo|Yamatogoto|大和琴|extra=also called wa-gon}}, zither of Japanese origin, with 6 or 7 strings

• {{Nihongo|Da-daiko|鼉太鼓}}, large drums used at festivals
• {{Nihongo|Hōkyō|方響}}
• {{Nihongo|Ikko|一鼓}}, small, ornately decorated hourglass-shaped drum
• {{Nihongo|Kakko|鞨鼓/羯鼓}}, small hourglass-shaped drum struck with two wooden sticks
• {{Nihongo|San-no-tsuzumi|三の鼓}}, hourglass-shaped drum
• {{Nihongo|Shakubyoshi|笏拍子|extra=also called shaku}}, clapper made from a pair of flat wooden sticks
• {{Nihongo|Shōko|鉦鼓}}, small gong, struck with two horn beaters
• {{Nihongo|Suzu|鈴}}, a bell tree clapper, specific to Mikomai dance performed as Mi-kagura
• {{Nihongo|Tsuri-daiko|釣太鼓}}, drum on a stand with ornately painted head, played with two padded sticks
• {{Nihongo|Tsuzumi|鼓}}, hourglass drum, specific to Shirabyōshi dance performed as Mi-kagura

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 Cowell (Ongaku, 1957), La Monte Young (numerous works of drone music,Zuckerman, Gabrielle (ed.), [https://web.archive.org/web/20061003051403/http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/interview_young.html "An Interview with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela"] (Archive.org copy of 2006), American Public Media, July 2002, musicmavericks.publicradio.org: "So, this contribution of Indian Classical music is one of the biggest influences on me, but there are other influences on me too. [...] We have the effect of Japanese gagaku, which has sustained tones in it in the instruments such as the Sho." but especially Trio for Strings, 1958), Alan Hovhaness (numerous works), Olivier Messiaen (Sept haïkaï, 1962), Lou Harrison (Pacifika Rondo, 1963), Benjamin Britten (Curlew River, 1964), Bengt Hambraeus (Shogaku, from Tre Pezzi per Organo, 1967), Ákos Nagy (Veiled wince flute quartet 2010), Jarosław Kapuściński (numerous works), Sarah Peebles (numerous works), Michiko Toyama (Waka, 1960), and Tim Hecker (Konoyo and Anoyo, 2018 and 2019 respectively).

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 and Richard Teitelbaum in the playing of gagaku instruments.

The American poet Steve Richmond 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 a 2009 interview with writer Ben Pleasants, Richmond claimed he had written an estimated 8,000–9,000 gagaku poems.{{cite web|last=Pleasants|first=Ben|title=American Rimbaud: An interview with Steve Richmond|url=http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/american-rimbaud-an-interview-with-steve-richmond/}}

• Aak
• Etenraku
• Gigaku
• Kagura
• Nhã nhạc
• Yayue

• Alves, William (2006). Music of the Peoples of the World. Thomson Schirmer.
• Garfias, Robert (January 1960). "Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku Tradition". Ethnomusicology, Vol. 4, No. 1. pp. 16–19.
• Malm, William P. (1959). Japanese Music and Musical Instruments. Japan: Charles E. Tuttle Co.
• Matsumiya, Suiho (1959). "Traditional Music in Japan To-Day: Its Stability and Evolution." Journal of the International Folk Music Council. Vol. 11. pp. 65–66. {{doi|10.2307/834861}}. {{JSTOR|834861}}.

• [http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/e-culture/gagaku.html Gagaku (Japanese Imperial Court Music) – The Imperial Household Agency]
• [http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=00011&RL=00265 Gagaku – UNESCO]
• [http://www.gagaku.net/index.ENG.html Gagaku Japanese Court Music & Dance]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070113172402/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ANCJAPAN/MUSIC.HTM Ancient Japan: The Earliest Japanese Music]
• [http://ccrma.stanford.edu/groups/gagaku/ Gagaku music: Repertoire, Instruments and Orchestration]

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Category:Japanese styles of music

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