During the same time period as Europe’s Middle Ages, refined orchestral music was performed at royal courts, banquet halls, and shrines in China, Korea, and Japan. Gagaku (雅楽), Japanese imperial court music, is the only surviving orchestral music from this era. It has endured as an unbroken legacy for a millennium, hosted by the Japanese royal family at Kyoto’s Imperial Court. Remarkably, it is also the world’s oldest surviving orchestral music, predating Western orchestras by over six centuries.
Despite the stark differences between Japanese and European music cultures, spanning vast time and geographical distances, there are intriguing parallels between them. Both cultures employ strings, winds, and percussion, and their origins can be traced back to their beginnings as forms of entertainment for royal households.
Japan (日本, Nippon) is an East Asian island nation located on the northwestern Pacific Ocean. It is home to a culturally refined and ancient society, with continuous habitation since the Upper Paleolithic period (30,000 BCE).
After a long period of rule by regional clans, Japan was unified under an imperial state in the fourth century CE—the early Middle Ages in Europe. Emperors ruled from the Heian-kyō imperial court from the fourth to ninth centuries, paving the way for a long legacy of art, literature, and music.
Cross-Cultural Origins of Gagaku
Gagaku literally means elegant music and, although now uniquely Japanese, its style, instruments, and technique descended from classical art music traditions of Korea, China, and other regions of Asia, most of which have long disappeared. This importation of foreign music and musicians to the Japanese imperial court occurred between the fifth and seventh centuries CE, and by the ninth century, a uniquely Japanese style of gagaku was established.
Repertoires
Gagaku music is divided into three main repertoires, two of which originate from ancient orchestras outside Japan:
Kuniburi no utamai (国風歌舞): Native Shinto religious music and imperial songs and dance.
Komagaku (高麗楽): Music of Korea and Manchuria.
Togaku (唐樂): Chinese and South Asian music (from Tang Dynasty).
Gagaku History | Introduction to Gagaku
Gagaku Musicians
The musicians are one of the unique aspects of gagaku. Since ancient times, gagaku was played by musicians belonging to hereditary guilds. Thus, the gagaku musical legacy was passed down from father to son for untold generations. The process of passing music from person to person, generation to generation, and between communities is called musical transmission.
Most current imperial gagaku musicians descend from ancient hereditary guilds and train for nine years in the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency. Although this repertoire is preserved in Japanese music notation, it is also transmitted aurally among family members as a living musical tradition.
Gagaku: The Court Musicians
Gagaku Style
Gagaku melodies are based on a type of pentatonic scale (five note scale) called the yo scale. Besides use in gagaku, the yo scale is incorporated into Buddhist chant and Japanese popular and folk songs.
Yo Scale | Pentatonic scale used in gagaku and traditional Japanese music.
Breath Rhythm
Gagaku pieces, especially the beginning sections, are characterized by a uniquely Japanese pulse known as breath rhythm: take a deep breath, hold it briefly, and then exhale. This type of pulse can't be counted or measured with a metronome and requires extensive rehearsal and careful listening to the other musicians to coordinate. In Western music, this type of rhythm is extremely rare. Musicologists label Japanese breath rhythm as non-metric—music with rhythm but lacking consistent pulse and meter.
The standard instrumentation of the kangen orchestra includes sixteen instruments:
Nine woodwinds: three hichiriki, three ryuteki, and three sho.
Four string instruments: two koto and two biwa.
Three percussion instruments: one shoko, one kakko, and one daiko (taiko).
Bugaku instrumentation is similar to gagaku but omits string instruments.
Koto | Goto Yujo, 1440-1512 | Sixteenth century Japanese koto with case and silk cover | Metropolitan Museum of Art
Endo Ghiaki by Tadao Sawai | Sound of the Japanese koto
Sho | Tokugawa era Gagaku mouth organ with cockroach and spider decorations | Metropolitan Museum of Art
Instrument Groupings
Instruments of the kangen orchestra divide into three choirs: woodwinds, strings, and percussion. Each choir has a specific function. The hichiriki (double reed) and ryuteki (flute) form the woodwind choir and present melodic materials. The percussion choir plays rhythmic patterns, marking off time units. The plucked-string instruments: koto and biwa, and the sho, enhance important percussive passages with motives and drone harmonies related to the melody.
Yaonkai | Kangen Gagaku | Masayo Concert Series | Nagoya, Japan (12:06)
Finally, here's an example of bugaku repertoire:
Nagaeko | Bugaku | Tokyo Music Institute (21:15)
Modern Gagaku
Contemporary gagaku ensembles emerged in the twentieth century. Reigakusha (伶楽舎) intermingles gagaku instruments with new works by composers such as Toru Takamitsu. This style of gagaku is called reigaku (伶楽).
Cross-Cultural Influences
Until the twentieth century, gagaku was not heard outside Japan for over one thousand years. Today, the Imperial Gagaku Orchestra tours and records its performances, influencing contemporary Western composers like Alan Hovhaness, Lou Harrison, and Henry Cowell. Gagaku’s influence extends beyond music, with courses offered at prestigious universities like UH Manoa and UCLA. UNESCO has recognized gagaku as a Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Remarkably, gagaku stands as a rare testament to a unique cultural tradition that has endured relatively unchanged despite centuries of contact with the West.
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Nippon 日本
Cross-Cultural Origins of Gagaku
Gagaku Musicians
Gagaku Style
Gagaku Instruments
Modern Gagaku
