Gagaku in The Provinces - Imperial Court Music at The Ikeda Fief at Bizen - Shumway

"Gagaku" in the Provinces: Imperial Court Music at the Ikeda Fief at Bizen
Author(s): Larry V. Shumway

Source: Asian Music, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Spring - Summer, 2001), pp. 119-141
Published by: University of Texas Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/834251
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Volume XXXII, number 2 ASIAN MUSIC Spring/Summer 2001
Gagaku in the Provinces:

Imperial Court Music at the Ikeda Fief at Bizen
by
Larry V. Shumway
Japan, perhaps more than any other nation in the world, has been able
to preserve in living form much of the traditional music of each of its major
periods. In modem Japan this music commands a large following of
aficionados even as it exists side by side with a strong tradition of Western art
and popular music. A truly remarkable genre of traditional music is gagaku,1
the music and dance of the Imperial Court, which continues to be performed
today. First introduced from China in the 7-8' centuries, it became an
important part of the Japanese Imperial Court functions and the life of the
courtiers over the next two centuries. During the early Heian period (794-
1185), the music was gradually assimilated and modified to suit Japanese
tastes. By the eleventh century, it had assumed most of its present form.
Though suffering the vicissitudes of time, gagaku has survived down to modem
times which makes it probably the longest continuous high art ensemble
tradition in the world.
It may come as something of a surprise to learn that a strong regional

tradition of gagaku performance flourished outside the court in southwestern
Japan beginning in the middle of the seventeenth century and lasting down to
the early years of the Meiji era (1868-1912). It was instituted by the feudal
lord (daimy6) Ikeda Mitsumasa (1609-1682) at his fief at Bizen (modem
Okayama), and by all local estimates it strove quite successfully to emulate the
practices and standards of the court. The circumstances enabling such a
tradition to grow and flourish at such a distance from the court is a question of
some interest. The intent of this writing is to provide a proper explanation and
the essential background information of its growth and development and its
legacy to modem Japan.
These circumstancescan be discussed in three categories. First was the

revival and restoration in the late 16' and early 17th centuries of the Imperial
Court and its numerous ceremonies and performance practices which had
nearly disappearedor fallen into severe neglect during the long wars of the 15"
and 16' centuries. The second was the influence of Confucianism, the official
ideology of the Tokugawa government with its emphasis on duty and self-
cultivation. The third was the long-establishedtradition of gagaku performance
outside of the court context, held at shrines and temples usually near, but still
removed from the court.
The milieu of gagaku performance was the Imperial Court which was
at its height of development during the 1(Oh to 12h centuries. Thought of as the
golden age of Japan, the focus of national life was on the Imperial Court at
120 Asian Music: Spring/Summer 2001
Ky6to and its highly refined culture. Though the aristocratic classes (kuge)
responsible for this culture filled all government posts, their primary interest
was much more in aesthetic pursuits than in affairs of state. The ethos of the
courtier came to be increasingly dominated by refined sensitivities with the
result that aesthetic events were often construed as affairs of state, and thus
cultural pursuits came to occupy a large part of courtier life. To be a courtier
meant a lifestyle of refined taste, and participation in the abundant court
ceremonies and ritual occasions that provided many avenues for its expression.
Gagaku played a very important role in this life, ranging from large ensemble
and dance performances at major public functions to smaller chamber groups
at more private or informal occasions.
Late in the twelfth century the refined and urbane court life of the
aristocrats began to decline as political power passed into the hands of the
warrior, or samurai, class that had been developing steadily out in the
provinces. Gradually the court was stripped of any real political power though
it was allowed to remain intact with its aesthetic and ceremonial life style.
However, over the next several hundred years court fortunes declined and there
was a long slide toward impoverishment and reduced circumstances. Gagaku,
as an integral part of court life, continued to be furnished for court functions
and ceremonies by guilds of musicians who formerly were attached to and
supported by the court, but who now received stipends from the military
government. The government recognized three different groups of musicians
for support, collectively named the Sanb6 Gakunin, or musicians from the
Three Quarters; so called because they were dispersed to three locations, the
Iwashimizu Hachiman shrine near Ky6to, the KOfukuji temple and the Kasuga
shrine in Nara, and the Shitennoji temple in Osaka (Garfias 1975: 24).
Subsequently they were referred to simply as the Ky6to, Nara, and Osaka
musicians.
During these years, in spite of now being small, relatively poo

mostly powerless, the court was able to preserve, to a remarkable de
refined and ceremonial atmosphere of earlier times. However,
beginning with the Onin war of 1467 and the following decades of c
court fortunes plummeted. Ky6to was ravaged and mostly destroy
devastating effect on the court and its gagaku tradition. Many music
able to flee to the somewhat safer provinces, but a large number we
bringing to an end several hereditary musician houses (Yamagata T.
Gagaku survived only because of the musicians at the other locations
poverty of the court severely limited the tradition during the next cent
In the last quarter of the sixteenth century, three powerful men em

in succession from this chaos who were able to reunify and pacify
Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, with the latter setting u
military government that lasted to the middle of the nineteenth century
resulting peace and political stability led to a renewal of court
Shumway: Gagaku in the Provinces 121
institutions that made possible a renaissance of gagaku, first under Hideyoshi

and then Ieyasu. The groundwork for this renaissance was laid by Emperor
Ogimachi (reigned 1557-1586), who, "regretting the downfall of gagaku under
the
from shadow
variousofplaces
samurai regimes,....
to revive managed
the music to gather
of court serviceable
ceremonies" musicians
(Kokusai 1969:
5). He was on good terms with both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, but their warm
support of his efforts was mainly to secure and maintain good relations.
Though the court had no political or economic power, the person of the
emperor was the legitimating authority for any regime in Japan (Iotman 1983:
109), therefore a showcase refurbished court was in their best interest. An
example of how this legitimating function worked occurred in 1588 when
Hideyoshi invited Ogimachi's successor, Go-Yozei, to his newly completed
mansion-palace in KyOto, the Jurakudai. This was a "state" visit which lasted
five days and featured sumptuous entertainment, some of it certainly including
court ceremonies and music (Ponsoby-Fane 1956: 256). Both the court nobles
and the daimy6 were in attendance. The occasion had strong political
overtones, for it was meant to impress upon the lords the fact that Hideyoshi
had the backing of the emperor. In the presence of this showy display of
Imperial grandeur, the daimy6 were compelled to take an oath of fealty to the
throne by which they also acknowledged Hideyoshi as the Kampaku, or
representative of the emperor (Webb 1968: 56). While the emperor really had
no more political power or influence than before, his legitimating authority
made it imperative for Hideyoshi to have at least the aura of his backing in
order to prosper.
After Hideyoshi, Ieyasu continued the work of refurbishing the court

(Totman 1983: 111-113). In 1603 he was declared as military dictator, or
shogun, the supreme political power who presided over a Japan divided into
some 250 semi-autonomous political units known as han (feudatory or fief).
Each han was presided over in turn by a daimyo. Ieyasu moved cautiously on
many fronts to consolidate the power of his government, but it was his
treatment of the court that is of particular interest. Though he laid down strict
laws that isolated the court and neutralized its ability to interfere with shogunal
affairs, at the same time he saw himself as a most devoted subject of the
emperor. "He lavished gifts on the court, provided permanently for its upkeep,
and improved its material standard of living. He thereby enabled the emperor
and the court to perform their ancient rituals acts with a grandeur that they had
lost in the period of disunion" (Webb 1968: 58; Totman 1983: 111). Thus,
during his reign the court was revitalized, and many ceremonial practices which
had been neglected or even lost were reestablished or reconstructed. This is not
to say that the court returned to the wealth and influence of Heian times, but
through the support received from the military government during the
Tokugawa period, its aristocratic members had sufficient income to pursue their
traditional aesthetic activities and ceremonial life style.
The importance Ieyasu attached to the performance of the court rituals
is to be noted in a code of laws pertaining to the court aristocracy, Kuge Sho-

Hatto, which he promulgatedin 1615. In the first article he strongly counseled
them to "devote themselves to scholarship and the arts," pointing out "that
these had always been the special province of the imperial institution and that
their cultivation was essential to the state" (translation quoted in Webb 1968:
60). This not only elevated court ceremony and rite to the status of being the
official "work" of the Court, but made it clear that, in the eyes of the
shogunate, court functions, however unrelated to actual government they may
appear to be, were in reality essential to it (Webb 1968: 101). This calls to
mind the earlier view the court had of its cultural pursuits being important work
of the state. Thus once again, with shogunal support, gagaku flourished, and
though it never regained its former glory, it was now placed on a more stable
basis than at any time in the previous four hundred years (Kikkawa 1965: 190-
191).
While conceding that Noh was probably more popular with the warrior
class generally, we must note that gagaku also was popular among many of the
feudal lords and upper-levelsamurai (Kikkawa 1965: 190). Much of this was
due to Ieyasu's patronage of the revitalized court, and though he died in 1616,
his attitude towards the role of the court arts set the precedent for his
successors. Two important incidents may be mentioned here which
underscored the relevance of gagaku performance outside the court, the latter
one having a direct bearing on the development of gagaku in Bizen. In 1626
the emperor Go-Mizuno made a state visit to the Nijo castle, the official palace
residence in Ky6to of the shogun, built originallyby Ieyasu in 1603. The affair
was hosted by the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu. The purpose of the visit
was to enhance the authority of the shogunate with the prestige of an Imperial
visit. Since this was to be a public affirmation of the harmony between the two
institutions, the shogunate had spared no expense in extensive renovation and
new construction to create a palace setting befitting the magnificence of the
occasion (Doi 1980: 26). True to its expectations, the setting provided the
opportunity for the fullest expression of court ceremony, and among the many
activities, apparently Iemitsu was very moved by the music of the gagaku
performances (Kikkawa 1965: 191).
The second incident grew out of the first for it was likely this
experience that caused Iemitsu in 1642 to send several musicians from the
families of the Sanb6 Gakunin, usually second and third sons, to Edo to serve
permanently at a memorial shrine to built to commemorate Ieyasu. Such
shrines were called T6shd-ga, and this one was located on a hillock within the
Edo castle compound known as Momijiyama (Yamagata T. 1969: 27). Their
primary duties were to provide ensemble music (kangen) for religious memorial
services. On grand occasions, when other performers were needed, such as
dancers for bugaku, they were temporarily imported from Kyoto (Kikkawa
1965: 191; Kamo 1982: 517).
As music, gagaku also had a particular appeal to a burgeoning number

of Confucianist scholars and theorists. With its stress on loyalty to duty and
to one's superiors, Confucianism had become the official ideology of the
Tokugawa government. Its emphasis on the education and personal cultivation
of the ruling class was seen by many as providing the model for transforming
the warrior ethos to peacetime ideals.3 A fundamental tenet in self cultivation
was that proper music had an important role in ordering the inner self. Many
Confucianists saw gagaku as being the proper music. This was certainly the
case with the famous Confucian scholar Kumazawa Banzan, who was an
influential teacher and advisor to the shogunate as well as to several feudal
lords. It is important to note that he was employed by the lord of the fief at
Bizen, Ikeda Mitsumasa, for some twelve years, beginning in 1645. His
Confucian views both reinforced and shaped Mitsumasa' s ideas about gagaku
and the education of the samurai class. Interestingly enough, not long after his
departure from Mitsumasa' s employ, gagaku instruction became a part of the
Bizen fief school curriculum.
Gagaku at Bizen
While the usual performance context for gagaku was court ceremony,
from late Heian times on, several important court observances were festivals
celebrated at Shinto shrines some distance from the court (Garfias 1975: 20).
The stately character of gagaku, in fact, made it ideal for use as ceremonial
music in other settings outside the Imperial Court as well. In time gagaku came
to be performed widely in the larger Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines as
musical accompaniment for important annual ceremonies and festivals. As
noted above, in medieval times the gagaku musician guilds themselves were
attached to Buddhist Temples and Shinto Shrines. While their main duty was
to furnish music for court ceremonials, they also played for temple and shrine
functions and at the same time trained new musicians, priests included.
The development of a gagaku tradition at Bizen, far outside the court,
began in 1655 where it grew and flourished until 1871 when the whole feudal
system of Japan was abolished to make way for modernization. Its inception
was an invitationto court musicians from KyOto to come to Bizen to participate
in memorial services for Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun (Taniguchi 1961:
209). Surprisingly, provincial Bizen proved to be a fertile ground for a gagaku
tradition to develop and prosper. Of the many factors contributing to this, four
stand out. First was the standing accorded gagaku in the revitalized court at
Ky6to and the subsequent influence of its musicians reaching Bizen. Second
was the precedent set by the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, of calling
musicians from the court in Ky6to to serve at the memorial shrine of Ieyasu at
Momijiyama in the Edo castle compound. Third was the tone set at the Bizen
fief by its new lord, Ikeda Mitsumasa, which was thoroughly Confucian in
outlook and which became the normative influence on thought and behavior.
Fourth was the increasing number of public ceremonial occasions at Bizen for
which gagaku was eminently suitable and where its performance therefore
became required.
Ikeda Mitsumasa was assigned the fief at Bizen by the third Tokugawa
Shogun, Iemitsu, in 1632. Bizen occupied a strategic position, and Iemitsu
wanted the area to be in friendly, competenthands. Besides having a reputation
for competence, good character and especially loyalty to the Tokugawa,
Mitsumasa also had close family ties to them. His grandmotherwas a daughter
of Ieyasu, and as a child on a visit he had impressed Ieyasu as a person of
formidable potential.4 When Mitsumasa arrived in Bizen he immediately
embarked on a number of new programs to improve the affairs of fief which
included land reform, reclamation of new arable lands, and the development of
better methods of agriculture, flood control, and irrigation. An energetic man,
Mitsumasa was interested in the latest science and technology of the time, but
he was also traditional and thoroughly Confucian in outlook. Most notable was
his effort to establish a fief governmentbased on the rational and moral ground
of Confucianism. "The outstanding quality which [he] brought to Bizen was
a certain style of benevolent authoritarianismbased on Confucian principles of
governance. Mitsumasa built upon the foundation of ... his predecessors ...
[b]ut he went further and added to his rule the indispensable ingredient of
moral rationale" (Hall 1966: 403). Particularly after some devastating natural
disasters in 1654, his policies concerning education and public morals became
increasingly ideological as he tried to "create a new ethical orientation within
his domain" (Hall 1966: 407).
One of his tasks, the same as that facing all of Japan, was making a
successful transition to peacetime after decades of warfare. There were serious
problems among the samurai class as the individual warriors who had been
disciplined for war tried to cope with finding a meaningful existence in peace
time. This was made more difficult by their being separated from their former
lands and now living at their lords' castle on a fixed stipend for income. With
little to occupy themselves besides maintaining their skill at arms, it was
difficult for them to keep the self-discipline needed for an ordered, peaceful
society. In Bizen there were a number of untoward incidents arising from this
problem, but in the view of Mitsumasa the cause was a general decline or
deficiency in public morals. The enlightened Confucian ethics he brought to
bear on fief governingpolicies bore some fruit but there remained among much
of the population a number of continuing "evils" (Araki 1976: 1-2). One
thing he concluded was that a great stumbling block to his efforts to "reform"
public morality and order was popular music and its associated activities. This
seemed to have been a long-standing problem, for the previous lord had issued
injunctions in 1624 against performing music of the shamisen (long necked
plucked lute) and the shakuhachi (end blown flute) on the streets, as well as
begging, prostitution, and gambling (Hall 1966: 396). Accordingly, in 1642 he
issued an edict specifically prohibiting all types of singing and dancing within
the fief except traditional classical music (koten gein6, i.e., gagaku) and Noh
drama (Araki 1973: 51). It took time to fully implement all his reform
programs, and in fact it was not until just before his death in 1682 that the fief
finally settled into a stable, smoothly-running feudatory. But his plans were
well laid, and his edicts and reforms became the backbone of the fief
government until the abolition of the feudal system in 1871.
The edict against all music and dancing except the koten gein6 was
strictly enforced during Mitsumasa's lifetime, and at the outset, to set the
example, he fired all such musicians attached to his household.5 On the other
hand, gagaku, as koten gein6, enjoyed official sanction. Its position was greatly
strengthened by the influence of Kumazawa Banzan (1619-91), the famous
Confucian scholar, who was noted for his strong views and forceful
personality. Employed at Bizen in 1645, he rose rapidly, being taken into
Mitsumasa' s confidence in 1647 and finally becoming his chief advisor (Hall
1966: 406). Like his employer, Banzan strongly condemned popular music and
dance as injurious to public morals. However, rather than merely exempting
classical music and Noh from Mitsumasa' s prohibition, he held that the study
and performance of such music were absolutely essential for the cultivation of
personal character and, hence, the improvement of public morals (Araki 1976:
68-69). He himself had followed the Confucian prescription to cultivate
oneself through good music, and he is said to have been a good performer on
the sh6 and the hichiriki (Kibi 1958: 252).
The first recorded performance of gagaku at Bizen was in 1655 at

memorial services at a special Shinto shrine built to commemorate the first
Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu. Such shrines were called T6sh6-gi, after Ieyasu's
posthumous name, T6shO Dai Gongen, and could be built only with
government permission. Several such shrines had been permitted around the
country because keeping alive the memory of Ieyasu was one more way of
showing the legitimacy of Tokugawa rule (Hall 1966: 352).6 The most notable
ThshO-gu was the first one, built at Mt. Nikko, where his actual remains were
interred. Erected soon after his death in 1616, it was expanded to its present
form in 1636 by his grandson, Iemitsu, and an elaborate memorial service
continues to be held there annually on May 18 (Bauer 1965: 33-34). Partly
because of his family ties to the Tokugawa, and also because of his
unquestioned loyalty, Mitsumasa was granted permission to build the shrine in
1644, whereas severalrequests from others were denied. From then until 1871,
memorial services for Ieyasu were held there twice a year, fall and spring.
The circumstances leading to this first performance of gagaku at Bizen

are rooted in a series of natural disasters a year earlier, including a terrible
flood, that wreaked havoc on the domain. Mitsumasa saw the resulting
aftermath of widespread hunger and suffering as a personal reflection on his
administration; lax standards among his housemen were responsible for an
inadequate preparation to cope with the disasters. Seizing this as an
opportunity for reform, he strongly admonished them for their sloth and began
to seek ways to promote better behavior. Though always benevolent, his

administration became more authoritarian and more consciously Confucian, as
may be seen in his subsequent educational policies and the initiation of public
Confucian memorial services.
Perhaps thinking that the refining influence of gagaku would be of help

in the reform, the next spring, 1655, Mitsumasa invited gagaku musicians from
Kyoto to Bizen to participate in the memorial services for Ieyasu which was
known as Gongen-sai. A precedent had already been set earlier by Iemitsu
with the gagaku musicians being sent to serve at the Momijiyama TOshO-gQ at
Edo. His invitation was accepted, and three musicians came from Kyoto to
participate, Tsuji Hoki, a master of the sh6 (mouth organ), TOgi Shuri for the
fue (ryuiteki, a side-blown flute), and Kubo Shogen on the hichiriki (a double
reed) ( Araki 1973: 52; Taniguchi 1961: 209).7 It seems their presence
enhanced the festival so much that they were invited to return, which they did.
Beginning the next year, in fact, a pattern was set in which, though the
personnel changed, court musicians would continue to come to Bizen twice a
year for the next twenty or so years to perform at the TOshO-go ceremonies.
The Gongen-sai became the largest and most important festival to be

observed in Bizen.8 Like its Nikko predecessor, it featured a lengthy
procession accompanying the "god-body," which had been removed from the
Tash6-gi~ and enshrined in a portable shrine (mikoshi). It was taken to a
designated spot, the otabisho, where certain rituals were performed, and then it
was carried along a circuitous route through the town to be worshiped and
praised by onlookers and then taken back to its shrine (Mori 1994: 177).
Musicians of several sorts in the procession provided appropriate music. A
scroll dating about the middle of the nineteenth century gives us a visual record
of this procession showing a "float" (yatai) towards the beginning pulled by
farmers and carrying young male musicians playing flutes and drums. Toward
the rear of the procession, walking slightly ahead of the mikoshi are the gagaku
musicians with the winds in front, followed by the drums and gong (HOg6
1983: 14-15, 42-43).
Though performance at the Gongen-sai was the main duty of the

visiting court musicians, they also gave gagaku instruction to certain priests
connected with shrines in the area. In 1656, Mitsumasa decided it would be a
good idea to train local musicians in gagaku (Araki 1973: 54). Accordingly,
three area priests were designated to study gagaku: Omori Rizaimon from the
Ichi no Miya, Takeda Tarozaemon from the Sakeori-gu, and Yagi Magotaro
from the Kagamiishi-gi (Yamagata T. 1969: 26). Presumably, each studied to
become a specialist in his particular instrument. During the next few years the
number of gagaku students increased as the local training school for Shinto
priests put gagaku instruction into its curriculum (Yamagata T. 1969: 27).
As a man of learning himself, Mitsumasa had strongly encouraged his

retainers to likewise pursue learning. He founded a fief school, the Hanahata
Kyojo, in 1641 (Taniguchi 1964: 209-210). In his nine article set of rules
governing the school, the Hanazono Kaiyaku, article four mentions the study
of reigaku (music and rite [etiquette]) as being the most important of the six
major fine arts.9 In 1666 the school was substantially enlarged and upgraded
and moved to a precinct within the castle grounds known as Ishiyama. It was
renamed the Kari Gakkan. Because of an increasing number of students,
Mitsumasa had larger facilities built at Nishi Nakasange, and the school moved
there in 1669 where it continued to function as the official fief school until
1871 (Okayama Han 1988:193). Kumazawa Banzan was invited for the
ceremonies attending the important occasion of this move. He had been a great
influence in the formulation of the ideals behind this school (Taniguchi 1964:
210-211). The Kari Gakkan was solely for the educationof the children of the
samurai class, but the training school for Shinto priests, complete with its
gagaku instruction, was merged into it, forming a special department within the
school (Yamagata T. 1969: 27; Tanabe 1982: 682). Besides the fief school,
which served the warrior class, a number of schools for commoners were also
established. Only one survived into the 19th century: the Shizutani school,
founded in 1673 (Taniguchi 1964: 217).
With the fief school housing the training center for the local musicians,
gagaku instruction became more formalized and focused. A special teaching
area, the Plum Room, was set aside in the school for use of the visiting court
musicians when they came. A number of good students had developed under
their tutelage, but the need for advanced and more thorough training was
evident. To attain this, the practice developed of sending the more promising
students to Kyoto for extended periods of time to study closely with the
musicians there (Araki 1973: 54). For example, in both 1667 and 1668, six
students went to Kyoto for further instruction (Yamagata T. 1969: 27).
Although the court musicians were in Bizen for only a few weeks at a
time, their influence remained during the rest of the year in the form of musical
guidance and instruction by the advanced students. As more students returned
from extended stays in Kyoto, the level of such instruction continued to rise.
The practice of sending students to Kyoto for study continued until 1870,
resulting in a line of unbroken musical influence between the musicians of the
court and those at Bizen. Though the Kyoto musicians themselves stopped
coming to Bizen somewhere around 1680, by then the gagaku tradition had
become firmnly established (Yamagata T. 1969: 28). There was a cadre of well-
trained musicians to keep it going, and the institutional practice of sending
students to Kyoto for instruction assured a continuing supply of competent
performers.
Behind all of this gagaku activity of performance and training is to be

found the supportive hand of the fief lord, Mitsumasa. His encouragement of
gagaku owed not just to his Confucianist views on its efficacy in promoting
ethical behavior. It appears that he also had a deep interest in it as music, for
he was himself proficient enough on the sh6, or mouth organ, to impress the
Kyoto musicians (Araki 1973: 52-53). His fondness for gagaku is further
borne out by accounts of his inviting the aforementioned Tsuji Hiki and other
musicians to his mansion in Edo (Tokyo)'0 in 1663 for a gala performance of
bugaku, at which time he also performed on the sh6 (Yamagata T. 1969: 27;
Taniguchi 1961: 209).1 This personal interest was a positive factor in setting
the official attitude towards gagaku in Bizen.
Two important new venues for gagaku performance opened up in the

1680s, both connected with memorial services. The first was in honor of
Confucius conducted in special halls built on the grounds of the two main
schools: the fief school in 1682 and the Shizutani school four years later. The
annual Confucian rites took place in February and were always accompanied
by gagaku (Araki 1973: 54). By 1702 the music accompanying the ceremony
had become set, with a specific piece assigned to each part of the ceremony.
The titles of these pieces follow.
"Netori," The opening of the door and lifting the screen

"Butokuraku" Opening the coffers (or treasure chest)
"Shukoshi" The wine offering
"Genjoraku" Closing of the chest
"Katen no Kyu" Giving of the offering
The instrumentation given for the performance in 1702 was 3 sho

(mouth organ), 2 hichiriki (double reed), 2 ryuteki (side-blown flute), 1 gong,
and 1 drum. These numbers probably indicated only the regular musicians for
the apprentice musicians would also have been playing. Thus, the actual
number of players likely exceeded those listed (Yamagata T. 1969: 27).
A second venue for gagaku performance came with the death of

Mitsumasa in 1682. As the first lord of the fief, he had been greatly respected
by his subjects and was admired as well by the shogunate as a loyal, skilled
administrator. Beginning soon after his death, he was memorialized twice
yearly at services conducted with great solemnity in the Nishi-no-Maru section
of the great castle at Bizen. These memorial services continued twice a year
until 1870. Gagaku was an integral part of these ceremonies, a complete piece
being played for each of the seven (sometimes eight) parts of the ritual. The
following is a listing of the pieces performed in what appears to have become
a set order (Araki 1973: 55-56). Note that with one exception, the spring
service used pieces in the Sojo mode, while the fall pieces were in the Hyojo
mode.
Spring Fall
Opening Ceremony (Joi) "Ranjo" "Ranjo"
Hoshushui "Shundenraku" "Shundenraku"
Kishin "Ryukaen" "GoshOraku"
1st offering "Katen" "Rokunshi"
2"nd offering "SattO" "Sandai[en]"
3rd offering "Juha" "Etenraku"
Yashoku "Konju" "Ringa"
Tea offering "RyO-6" "Taiheiraku"
Closing "Butokuraku" "Genj6raku"
It is worth noting that the pieces performed here and i

ceremonies are the more famous works in the gagaku rep
to mount such performances bespeaks at the very least a f
on the part of all concerned.
The training of musicians at the fief continued, and

more proficient, it seems that new occasions arose
performance would be appropriate. The staple venues we
Gongen festivals, the annual Confucian rites, and the M
services, but the music was also used in other settings as
gagaku was to be found at functions for the more important
Buddhist temples,12 public occasions such as the send-off
retinue for the periodic trek to Edo or the welcome back, or
at the castle to entertain an Imperial or shogunal envoy or pe
another province (Yamagata T. 1969: 28).
To meet the increasing demand, the gagaku training pro

school was made more systematic and rigorous. In 1710 p
lineages were chosen to become hereditary musicians at the f
given gagaku instruction fifteen days of every month. By
had matured to the point where nine were chosen to be at
permanently and given stipends (Yamagata T. 1969:
originally chosen to study gagaku, Takeda Tarozaemon' sn
these musicians, as well as the family names of the other
1969: 28). Among the nine chosen, eight different fami
Migaki, Omori, Kaneya, Yagi, Imamura, Sasaki, Takeda, a
are two Migaki, the one being designated later as the head
musicians were Shinto priests who heretofore had been
shrines, where musical performance was consideredto be a
in their new status as permanent musicians, their musical stu
more rigorous and time consuming, about half of their time
Plum Room in the study, practice, and performance of ga
In 1715 a set of regulations was drawn up setting for

things, a music training schedule and a musician ranking
days a month (3rd, 8", 13", 18", 23r) in joint lessons, the musicians were to be
tested on their knowledge of the rhythm and melody of a given work. On the
21st there was a full rehearsal, and on the 8', individuals were to be chosen by
lot to be examined in front of the others on the rhythm and melody of several
selected pieces (Yamagata T. 1969: 27). In terms of organization, the
regulations also called for a head musician, whose office was to be hereditary,
and three ranks of musicians: regular (migakujin), assistant (miyatoi), and
apprentice, (minarai). It also appears that certain families were to become
instrumental specialists, or iemoto,'3 who would be responsible for training
others playing that instrument and particularly for maintaining its tradition. By
about the mid-eighteenth century, the shM (mouth organ) was the province of
the Migaki family, the fue (side-blown flute) of the Takahara family, and the
hichiriki (short but powerful double reed) of the Kishimoto family (Yamagata
T. 1969: 28).
As may be inferred from such a rigorous schedule and the manifest

investment of time and effort that the fief (lord, retainers, commoners) viewed
gagaku performance as one of its serious enterprises. We should note again
here the crucial importance of the custom of sending the more talented
musicians to Kyoto for advanced work in nourishing, maintaining, and
strengthening the tradition. This constant renewal of ties with the court served
to keep music performance standards at the fief high and to counteract any
deviation of style that might creep in, due either to influences from other
musical traditions or to a faulty memory of the locals so far removed from the
court.
Referring once again to the titles of pieces performed at the Confucian

and Mitsumasa memorials, we see some of the most famous pieces of the
repertoire. One is impressed that musicians able to play this music were to
found here in this rather rural fief. Of course there is no telling how well the
music was performed, but Yamagata infers from oral tradition that the
performances showed a high level of musicianship and aesthetic taste. A
widespread epigrammatic saying, "Kaga no Noh, Bizen no gagaku," bot
compares and praises the Noh of the fief at Kaga (the second largest in Japan),
and the gagaku of Bizen (Yamagata T. 1969: 28). This indicates that at least
the provinces, the gagaku of Bizen was held in high esteem.
Thus, within sixty years, from 1655 when Mitsumasa first invited the
musicians from Kyrto to 1715, a flourishing traditionof gagaku had develop
in Bizen. It was fostered by an atmosphere of respect for the music at all levels
of samurai society, complete with an abundance of performance occasions a
a system for training musicians. In summary, the important factors in th
development of this remarkable provincial tradition were (a) the intellectu
climate at Bizen with its strong Confucian bent, (b) the initial training of local
musicians by the Ky~to court musicians and their continuing ties with the cour
(c) the growing number of occasions requiring the music performance of
gagaku, and (d) Mitsumasa's own fondness for the music and the esteem in
which his thoughts and works were held by succeeding family rulers. These
provided the fertile field in which a vigorous tradition of gagaku could grow
and maintain itself.
The Life of a Bizen Gagaku Musician
To illustrate the above more fully it will be useful now to look at the life
of one of the gagaku musicians of Bizen as a case study of their training and
development. This is based on a chronology provided by Yamagata, Tsugio
(1969). Kishimoto Yoshihide was born in 1821, the son of the ninth generation
hereditary priest of the Shinto shrine, Kuni-jinja, who was also a third
generation gagaku musician for the Bizen fief and the local specialist on the
hichiriki. Kuni-jinja was located on a small mountain some three miles from
the fief castle headquarters, and though the shrine had undergone several name
changes, it had been in the hands of the Kishimoto family since the mid-
sixteenth century. There are unsubstantiated reports that the Kishimoto family
became fief musicians sometime in the early eighteenth century. However, the
first Kishimoto known to be connected with gagaku was the sixth generation
Inaba, born in 1721. His name appears at the head of the roll of local
musicians playing in the Sengu festival of the Ifuku Hachiman Shrine in 1752
(Yamagata T. 1969: 33). Although little is said about his official connections,
two things indicate him to have been a musician of stature. After 1780 he is
listed in the old record of temples and shrines as the musician in charge at the
large festivals when the head musician was unable to attend.'4 More significant,
however, was that sometime in the late 1770s or early 1780s (it is not clear
when), he was designated as the local specialist, or iemoto, for the hichiriki.
This honor coming to Inaba established the Kishimoto family as one of several
iemoto houses that were to furnish guidance and leadership in all fief gagaku
activities.15
Inaba was succeeded by his son, Yoshihisa, in the 1790s. Born in

1753, Yoshihisa began his musical studies at an early age and in 1773 was
awarded a prize for diligence. In 1776 he was promoted to assistant musician
and became a full-fledged musician in 1785. Yoshihisa succeeded his father
as the iemoto some ten years later. In local records of the late eighteenth
century, both his and his father's names appear often as the recipients of
awards and prizes for both diligence and musical accomplishments. In 1814,
at age sixty-one, Yoshihisa retired, passing the headship on to his son. During
his lifetime he had received many citations for meritorious service to both the
Ikeda family and the school. Thus, by the first part of the nineteenth century,
two generations of Kishimotos had established the family within the fief as the
preeminent performers of the hichiriki who figured prominently in all fief
musical activities.
Yoshihisa's son, HOk6, who succeeded to the headship of the family in

1814, was also a promising musician. He moved up quickly through the ranks
of the fief school, becoming an assistant musician at age 17 and a full-fledged
regular musician at age 25 (1814). Unfortunately he became ill and died the
next year, leaving a young wife and baby. This crisis in family succession
threatened the iemoto status of the house and forced Yoshihisa to come out of
retirement. Though older, he was still capable of performing the job well, but
his immediate concern was the family succession. In accordance with Japanese
custom, he found another husband for his widowed daughter-in-law and then
adopted him as his legal son, who would then be heir to the headship of the
house. Though a mature man of about thirty-six, he took as his new name
Kishimoto Yoshikage.
Yoshikage was from a respectable family in the area, but little is known
about any previous musical background. He immediately began the study of
gagaku, becoming an assistant musician (miyatoi) in 1823 and a full-fledged
musician in 1826, ten years after he had begun. His ability in gagaku is
attested to in a reference found in a biographical sketch of his son, Yoshihide,
etched on a stone memorial tablet now found in the garden of the family home
in Okayama.16
This brief background gives us some idea of the tradition into which
Yoshihide was born-a respected family of musicians who were an important
part of the musical activities of one of the more significantfiefs of Japan. Since
his parents had lost their first two children, they were particularly careful with
Yoshihide, and from an early age he and his father seemed to have developed
a strong relationship. At age seven, Yoshihide began learning the vocal solfege
(shoga) of the hichiriki part of the repertoire from his father, and he soon
showed signs of great talent. In a few months he had memorized the entire
repertoire and began learning the actual playing techniques. In a matter of ten
months or so the boy's "tone had become firm." When Yoshihide was nine
years old the fief lord, making his rounds of inspection, stopped by the
Kishimoto home one day for a drink and to rest. He had heard something
about the boy's musical ability so asked him to play. Yoshihide played several
tunes, among them "Goshoraku," "Ringa," and "Bairo." Very impressed,
the lord immediately put him in the fief school and made him an apprentice
musician (Yamagata K. 1927: 83; Kibi 1958: 234).
When Yoshihide was ten years old, his father died, an event that had a
profound effect on him. He went into mourning for fifty days, spending much
of the time in front of the family altar singing the gagaku shoga to the pieces
he had learned up to then in a low voice to assuage his sorrow and to comfort
the spirit of his departed father. At one point in the piece, " Sfuren," he forgot
the syllables. But in a dream he seemed to hear his father's voice singing the
syllables, and his memory immediately returned. For whatever reason,
Yoshihide continued this practice for almost a thousand days, repeating the
pieces over and over (Kibi 1958: 236-37; Yamagata T. 1969: 35). Though
tender of years, this experience seems to have strengthened his feeling of
responsibility to the honor of the family to be the best musician possible and
a faithful servant to the fief lord." From the standpoint of technique there can
be little doubt that this extended repetition solidified his knowledge of the
music.
With the death of Yoshikage, the musical responsibilities of the family

again reverted to the grandfather, Yoshihisa, who once more had to come out of
retirement at age seventy-seven. He willingly resumed his former duties,
carrying them out while walking to and from the school, leaning on his young
grandson, Yoshihide, by this time already an apprentice musician at the school.
In 1831, when Yoshihide was eleven years old, he was elevated to regular
musician status, bypassingthe assistant musician rank, and was given a stipend
(Yamagata T. 1969: 35).
Two years later, in 1833, Yoshihisa passed away at age eighty, and the
leadership for the musical responsibilities of the Kishimoto house now fell
upon Yoshihide. While it was expected that he would succeed to the position
of iemoto, still this was an awesome burden for a thirteen-year-old boy. His
mother, worried that taking on these duties at such a tender age would prevent
him from developing properly as a musician, arranged for him to go with a
servant to Kyoto the next year to study. Several court musicians who had been
both friend and teacher to his father took him under their wings, particularly
Abe Sueharu [Utanosuke], the head, or iemoto, of the court hichiriki specialists
(Kibi 1958: 237; Yamagata T. 1969: 35). He remained there for some time.
In 1840, when he was twenty, Yoshihidewent again to KyOto for about

a year. During this time he made phenomenal progress and received special
recognition from his teacher (Abe). After some insistence on his part, he was
given instruction in the secret (hikkyoku) and the "great" (taikyoku) pieces.
Abe mentions in a letter to a Hashimoto Hachirozaemon that he taught
Yoshihide the "great piece" Sogou, and that though the young man had already
studied hichiriki for some years, it was unprecedentedin his [Abe's] experience
to teach this piece to one so young (Yamagata T. 1969: 36). Another indication
of how his accomplishments at this time were respected may be seen in gifts
given him by two Imperial Princes, Fushimi no Miya and Kanju-ji no Miya
(Sato 1927: 26).
On his return to Okayama the second time, letters of commendation

were sent to his superiors, and he was given a certain sum of money by the fief
lord as a reward for his diligent study and great accomplishments. He
surprised his colleagues with his performing abilities on other instruments.
Despite these accomplishments, however, Yoshihide still felt the need for more
study. Accordingly, in 1845, at age twenty-five he went to KyOto for yet a third
time for further study, this time to obtain the certificate of full proficiency
(menkyo kaiden)."8 This accomplished, he returned to Bizen, where a

homecoming ceremony was held at the fief school to formally acknowledge his
receipt of this prestigious certificate. His versatile performing abilities
astounded everyone in attendance (Kibi 1958: 238).
These events established Yoshihide's credentials as a musician of first

rank at the fief, worthy to be the iemoto of the house of Kishimoto. With that
reputation among the samurai and musicians, he soon had many students. Of
the next twenty-five years of his life there does not seem to be much recorded.
Judging from the regimen he set for himself during his younger years, it can
first be surmised he set like standards for his students, and second that he
exerted a substantial influence on the standards of musical performance at the
fief. His students remember him as a stern man, rather grim in appearance, who
when walking always sang or whistled under his breath, and who also delighted
many a small child by cutting down a bamboo from his back yard and making
it a whistle or a flute on the spot (Kibi 1958: 255). He was characterized by a
younger colleague as a man to whom thrift and economy of time meant a great
deal, one who would do three things at once if he could; for example, while
looking after his child he would pound rice and read a book (Yamagata T.
1969: 36). While giving lessons he usually did something else as well, such
as making paper string for household use or repairing or re-stringing an
instrument. A disciplinarian, he made his students tend to business, demanding
their best. He himself avoided activities not connected with music or the
business of getting on with life, saying, "I am a musician and know nothing but
music" (Kibi 1958: 253).
If Yoshihide's training and life as a musician paralleled that of other

gagaku musicians at the fief, there was a musical side of him that differed
substantially. As an interesting departure from the usual regimen followed by
Bizen gagaku musicians going to KyOto to study, it appears that even during
his first sojourn Yoshihide did not concentrate solely on one instrument, in his
case the hichiriki, but also took up flute and koto (Kibi 1958: 237). During hi
second stay as well he continued to take lessons on other instruments. He
studied sh6 with Tsuji HOki no Kami and Bunno Chikugo no Kami, and
ryuteki with Oku Tanba no Kami, all well-known court musicians. Besides
gagaku he also seems to have found time to study Noh music of the Kanze
school and popular music (Yamagata T. 1969: 36; Sato 1927: 26).
During his career, in spite of his many duties as musician, teacher, and
Shinto priest, he still found time to study as well as to teach other genres of
music and styles. Yamagata records that after his last return from Kyoto he
studied Tokiwazu, a popular narrative genre with shamisen accompaniment,
with a Ms. Watabe (Yamagata T. 1969: 36). Tanabe says that he was almost
as well known locally for his ability on the koto and shamisen as for his all-
around gagaku musicianship (Tanabe 1965: 80).
The times in Japan before and after the Meiji Restoration (return of
political power to the Emperor, 1868) were turbulent and full of political and
social turmoil. The social disorders accompanying the ideological unrest were
causing a perceptible decline in public order, morals, and taste. As a measure
to curb this at Bizen, the governor of the area, Ikeda Akimasa, sent some of his
musicians to the Kasuga Shrine in Nara in 1870 to learn Yamato Mai, a newly
restored part of the gagaku repertoire.'9 His hope was that the performance of
Yamato Mai in Bizen would help to calm down any unrest. It is interesting to
note here the Confucian tenor of this idea and how similar it is to that expressed
some 230 years earlier in the edicts of his distant ancestor, Mitsumasa.
Among the musicians sent for this training was Yoshihide. After a
three-month period of study, they earned their certificates and returned to
Okayama. Their first performances were very well received. However, this
training was to come to naught, for very soon thereafter the whole feudal
system in Japan was abolished and replaced by a new social order bent on
creating a modem nation. In summary to this case study, we note that
Yoshihide came from a line of hereditary musicians and was raised in the
musical environment of gagaku performance. His training as a gagaku
musician at the fief appears similar to that of other musicians. While he
seemingly had a great innate talent, it was the environment and the musical
traditions of the fief that made it possible for him to be in contact with superior
musicians and to be shaped by demanding performance standards that drew out
his talent and brought it to a high level of development. Though his was a
singular talent, that is not to say there were not others who also excelled during
the long period of time when the tradition was active. One wishes to have been
a fly on the shrine or temple wall during those long years of gagaku
performance.
The Gagaku Legacy in Bizen
Gagaku performance at the Ikeda fief continued until the feudal system
was abolished in 1871 when it lost its supporting institutions and was
abandoned. The Trsho5-gii reverted to common shrine status and was
renamed the Tamai-gfi. The great gongen festival and the semi-annual rites
honoring Mitsumasa likewise disappeared.2" The fief school came under the
jurisdiction of the new government, and the gagaku department as well as the
Confucian rites were eliminated. The eleven hereditary musicians attached to
the fief school at this time were now released and had to go out and find new
livelihoods (Yamagata T. 1969: 28). Some became teachers of other subjects
in the new school. Others joined the military. Kishimoto Yoshihide, on the
other hand, decided to stay with his music and embark on a new career of
service to the emerging modern Japan. His Confucian orientation led him to
see a need for a new musical tradition that would have the same normativeforce
on the generalpopulace of the new nation, conveyingto them the essence of the
Japanese spirit as gagaku had had on the ruling classes during the earlier era
(Tanabe 1965: 80).2 Being well grounded in other, more popular musical
genres and knowing that the gagaku sonority would be too austere for plebeian
ears, Kishimoto proceededto blend gagaku with these more popularforms. His
intent was to make the new music more mellow and thus more accessibleto the
general populace while still retaining the essence and normative capacity of
gagaku.
The result was a new musical genre, basically vocal, using texts ranging
from classical poetry to medieval tales of valor and loyalty. It retained the basic
instrumentation of the gagaku ensemble except that instrumental roles were
reversed and the biwa (lute) and kakko (small drum) were dropped. With the
voice being the primary melody instrument, the koto became the primary
accompanying instrument with an accordingy elaboratedline. The three winds,
mouth organ, double reed, and flute, formerly the main melody instruments in
gagaku, now took the diminished role of merely providing support for the vocal
line. The resulting sonority was gagakuesque but startlingly different.
At first Kishimoto's new music was called by different names, but

finally Kibigaku became the term by which it would henceforth be known,
"Kibi" being an ancient name for the Okayama area. Kibigaku was well
received and enjoyed wide popularity locally as well as in higher circles in
Tokyo (see Sat: 1927 for extendeddescription of performances before nobility
and royalty). It even appears some authorities thought enough of it to promote
it as a candidate for inclusion in the new school system curriculum (Kibi 1958:
248).
As epilogue to the life of this remarkable musician, we have seen that

Yoshihide did indeed embark upon a new career in music. Being the energetic
and competent teacher he was, he could have had a comfortable living with just
the income from teaching his many students, supplemented with the stipend he
would receive as a member of the former samurai class. However, as heir to
the Confucian idea that proper music was an indispensable ingredient to one's
education and development, he saw a greater responsibility for himself. This
responsibility was to reach out to a new generation of students, from all classes,
and bring to them, in a form they could understand, the "saving grace" of this
great music, gagaku, so that they would be able to absorb the essence of the
Japanese spirit and thereby be properly prepared for citizenship in a new Japan.
On the face of it, his determination to create a "new musical tradition" for the
nation may seem ambitious, perhaps even audacious. In fact, however, he
succeeded admirably.
Brigham Young University

Provo, Utah
Notes
The term gagaku is used to describe the various types of ancient music and dances
performed by both professional musicians and the upper nobility at the Imperial Court a
Heian (Kyoto) during its heyday from the tenth to twelfth centuries. The music figured
prominently in both public and private court life. It was urbane and sophisticated, and even
today the traditional costumes and the bearing of the musicians and dancers reflect th
restrained yet graceful, stately, and serene quality of life that was the ideal of the Court.
2 The court became so poor in the first half of the sixteenth century that funds were not
available to bury Emperor Go-Tsuchi who died in 1500, and the funeral was postponed fo
six weeks. His successor, Go-Kashiwabara, reigned for twenty years before there was money
enough to pay for his enthronementceremony. His successor, Go-Nara likewise had to wa
ten years before being enthroned. Go-Nara's poverty was such that he had to sell hi
calligraphy as well as household items in order to eke out a living (Cole 1967: 16-18).
3 This proved to be a difficult and troublesome undertaking. As peace and stability settle
in there was not much to occupy the time of the general population of warriors who had now
been separated from the land and brought to the castle environs of their lord on a stipend.
They were susceptible to any number of activities that tended to undermine the disciplined
behavior expected of them, and required strenuous shepherding to maintain public order an
decorum (Totman 1983: 115-117; 180).
4 When Mitsumasa was five years old he visited his great-grandfather, Ieyasu who gave him
a short sword and invited him to sit on his lap. While stroking his head Ieyasu said to him,
"Hurry and grow into a fine man." Mitsumasa then lifted up the sword, pulled it from it
scabbard, and staring at it said in a serious voice, "Um. This is the real thing." Seeing th
danger of a child with a real blade, Ieyasu quickly put it away but said after Mitsumasa had
left that this was no ordinary child (Taniguchi 1961: 25).
5 This act also echoes his grandfather, Ieyasu, who expelled all singing and dancing girl
(women's kabuki) from his castle domains at Sumpu in 1608 (Totman: 117). Araki list
a number of representative examples of punishment meted out by Mitsumasa during th
ensuing years for people caught defying the ban (1973: 11-16).
6 Hall continues, "But more directly supportive of the Tokugawa house was the development
of the cult of Ieyasu centered on the great shrine of NikkO. Upon Ieyasu's death, th
shogunate, 'leading all the daimy6 of the land, deified and established his spirit on Mt.
NikkO; the whole nation followed them and gave tributes; the emperor, also, praising hi
virtue, sent envoys bearing offerings, and conferred the religions title T6-Sh6-gfi.' This wa
the beginning of the establishment of several shrines to Ieyasu throughout the country and
the practice of conducting annual ceremonies of reverence to his memory."
7 Note that Yamagata lists a different character for the name Kubo.
8 In general outline, this festival began with the transfer of the "god-body" to the mikoshi
its purification and transport to the otabi-sho. There the local daimy6 would participate i
a ritual of blessing after which the portable shrine wended its way down through the town
to receive the adulation of the local populace and finally returned to its permanent resting
place. See Mori, p. 177.
9 The other five listed are Confucianism,calligraphy, martial arts, reading, and spearmansh
In the word, reigaku, the rei means showing respect for others, in other words, good
etiquette, and gaku means music that harmonizes the heart. It is clear that along with the
emphasis on learning reigi, there was an emphasis on training in music, both to appreciate
and to perform (Araki 1976: 68).
0o At this time it was required that feudal lords spend alternate years in Edo where they could
be under the watchful eyes of the central government. It was therefore necessary for the lords
to maintain a residence there commensurate with their status and the size of their fief.
"~ Taniguchi tells us of Mitsumasa's musical training and ability and his great interest in the
sh5 (mouth organ). His musical prowess is illustrated in a story of him playing the sh5
during a moon viewing excursion at the Autumn Equinox when there is a full moon. As he
began playing the moon was obscured by clouds. But as he played the clouds cleared
showing the full moon. It was a time of great emotion shown by the tears shed by his
accompanying retainers. It elevated him in their eyes as someone having the power to move
clouds by his music (1961: 208). Araki tells us further that Mitsumasa personally studied
with the Kyoto musicians when they came, both on the sh5 and on the flute (yokobue).
They were impressed with his progress on the sho (Araki 1976: 69).
12 At this time there were 203 Shinto shrines and 80 Buddhist temples with endowment lands
(Hall 1966: 418). The larger of these would command some of the fief musical resources for
their main festivals.
13 lemoto is a general term denoting the person who is the leader of a group, or guild. In
function, the iemoto is the embodiment of the values of the group, here meaning the best
and most experienced musician.
14 Yamagata, on page 33, lists two sources for this: the Biyo Kuni Gakkiroku [School
Records of the Biyo Area] (Biyo meaning the larger area around Bizen) and the Shaji Kyuki
[Old Chronicle of Shrines and Temples].
15 Yamagata notes that the stipend Inaba received was go-nin fuchi [five person stipend]
which would provide enough rice for five people for a year. This salary was supplemented
by money paid for various performances (1969: 33).
16 The content of this tablet is transcribed in its entirety in Sat6, p. 17.
17 This information is found on Yoshihide's inscription stone. It also appears in an article

in the Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbun, dated October 11, 1878, where it alludes to an admonition
(kunkai) of this tenor from his father in the dream restoring his memory of the forgotten
solfege. This article is produced in full in SatO (1927: 25-27).
18 The implication of this term is that the student has achieved full proficiency in an art,
having received a total knowledge from his teacher.
19 Yamato Mai was originally part of the gagaku repertoire but was lost and forgotten during
the wars of the 16th century. Only the people at the Kasuga shrine continued to try to
preserve it. Work was begun there in 1748 to reconstruct it from old manuscripts and
remaining bits of oral tradition. In 1870 the shrine published some material and sent it
throughout the country to publicize the completion of the work. Ikeda's action was perhaps
in response to this (Tanabe, 1965: 79-80; Yamagata T. 1969: 37).
20 In what appears to be a carryover of the Gongen-sai however, is a procession and religious

ceremony sponsored by the Kurozumi-kyo, a local neo-ShintO church. The procession,
complete with mikoshi and musicians, wends its way from the old shrine headquarters in the
Omoto (western) section of Okayama to a site within the Korakuen park which is designated
as the otabisho. This is near the old fief castle. At the otabisho a religious ceremony is
conducted, after which the processions returns to Omoto. The music accompanying the
procession and the religious ceremony is not gagaku but rather a music patterned after
gagaku, called kibigaku, that was created in the latter part of the nineteenth century by a
former fief gagaku musician, Kishimoto Yoshihide. See the concluding section of this
article.
21 As noted above, as the official state ideology, Confucianism provided the essential
framework for defining proper behavior during the Tokugawa period, 1600-1867. As peace
settled in at the beginning of the period the warrior class was admonished to pursue learning
and self-cultivation in addition to the ways of the warrior. There were many who took
seriously the Confucian concept that proper musical training was essential to cultivation of
personal character. For most of them such proper training included Noh and Gagaku.
References
Araki, Sukeomi
1973 Ikeda Mitsumasa No Keisei Kabu Onkyoku Hatto (Ikeda
Mitsumasa's Proscription of Prostitution, Singing, and
Dancing). Okayama: Private Publication.
1994 Bizen Ikeda Han Hisshi (The Secret History of the Ikeda
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Gagaku in The Provinces - Imperial Court Music at The Ikeda Fief at Bizen - Shumway

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"Gagaku" in the Provinces: Imperial Court Music at the Ikeda Fief at Bizen

Author(s): Larry V. Shumway

Gagaku in the Provinces:

It may come as something of a surprise to learn that a strong regional

These circumstancescan be discussed in three categories. First was the

During these years, in spite of now being small, relatively poo

In the last quarter of the sixteenth century, three powerful men em

institutions that made possible a renaissance of gagaku, first under Hideyoshi

After Hideyoshi, Ieyasu continued the work of refurbishing the court

The importance Ieyasu attached to the performance of the court rituals

is to be noted in a code of laws pertaining to the court aristocracy, Kuge Sho-

As music, gagaku also had a particular appeal to a burgeoning number

The first recorded performance of gagaku at Bizen was in 1655 at

The circumstances leading to this first performance of gagaku at Bizen

to seek ways to promote better behavior. Though always benevolent, his

Perhaps thinking that the refining influence of gagaku would be of help

The Gongen-sai became the largest and most important festival to be

Though performance at the Gongen-sai was the main duty of the

As a man of learning himself, Mitsumasa had strongly encouraged his

Behind all of this gagaku activity of performance and training is to be

Two important new venues for gagaku performance opened up in the

"Netori," The opening of the door and lifting the screen

The instrumentation given for the performance in 1702 was 3 sho

A second venue for gagaku performance came with the death of

It is worth noting that the pieces performed here and i

The training of musicians at the fief continued, and

To meet the increasing demand, the gagaku training pro

In 1715 a set of regulations was drawn up setting for

As may be inferred from such a rigorous schedule and the manifest

Referring once again to the titles of pieces performed at the Confucian

The Life of a Bizen Gagaku Musician

Inaba was succeeded by his son, Yoshihisa, in the 1790s. Born in

Yoshihisa's son, HOk6, who succeeded to the headship of the family in

With the death of Yoshikage, the musical responsibilities of the family

In 1840, when he was twenty, Yoshihidewent again to KyOto for about

On his return to Okayama the second time, letters of commendation

(menkyo kaiden)."8 This accomplished, he returned to Bizen, where a

These events established Yoshihide's credentials as a musician of first

If Yoshihide's training and life as a musician paralleled that of other

The Gagaku Legacy in Bizen

At first Kishimoto's new music was called by different names, but

As epilogue to the life of this remarkable musician, we have seen that

Brigham Young University

16 The content of this tablet is transcribed in its entirety in Sat6, p. 17.

17 This information is found on Yoshihide's inscription stone. It also appears in an article

20 In what appears to be a carryover of the Gongen-sai however, is a procession and religious

Bauer, Helen, and Sherwin Carlquist

Hall, John Whitney

Kokusai Bunka ShinkOkai

Sat6, Norio, ed.

Tanabe, Hisao, and Kenji Hirano

1971 Ikeda Mitsumasa. Tokyo: Yoshikawa K6bunkan.

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