Gagaku/Bugaku
One of the most unique features to bugaku is its uninterrupted survival from the eighth century to the present day. In these court dances, aspects of performing arts from ancient India, Tibet and China that have disappeared in their native countries, can still be experienced in a meaningful way. The brilliant achievements of Asian dance and music during the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries were imported to Japan and preserved in what is considered to be the world’s oldest tradition of continuous performance. Twelve centuries of bugaku performances by Japanese artists did inspire indigenous addition and interpretation. Bugaku was treated very creatively during its period of introduction from China of the T’ang Dynasty (618-906) and its subsequent adaptation to Japanese taste. Little by Little, impulse toward change declined, giving way to the lofty forms of stylized elegance dictated by the taste of a highly ceremonial etiquette that still exists today.
The Chinese character of gaku in the composition of the names of most Japanese entertainments is usually translated as “music” (bugaku-dance music, dengaku - field music). This concept of music is not restricted to its technical meaning or sound, It appears rather to be used with a broader meaning which includes a number of performing arts. Bugaku is often referred to as gagaku or included in gagaku. Gagaku is commonly used a generic term which includes both purely orchestral music and music accompanied by dance.
Gagaku is the classic court music which was brought to Japan from China in 8th C. and attained it greatest popularity between the 9th and 11th, the Heian period. The Chinese term was ya yue (“correct” or “elegant” music) but this does not correspond to the Japanese gagaku artistically. What was introduced to Japan by Chinese and Korean musicians and by Japanese students coming back from Chinese centers of learning was primarily banquet music and not the “correct” music of the Confucian ceremonies. The repertory of gagaku consisted largely of pieces that would have been classified as “informal” or “barbarian” and considered ethically perverse according to traditional Chinese standards. The Japanese do not seem to have been seriously preoccupied with the moral implications of music. Aesthetic beauty seems to have been the Japanese focal point. Consequently the real meaning of gagaku in the minds of the Japanese was probably “elegant” rather than “correct” music.
All the pieces originating before the T’ang dynasty are caked kogaku (ancient music) and those after shingaku (new music) that include pieces created in Japan according to imported patterns.
Gagaku reached the zenith of its popularity through official performance as a private pursuit of court noblemen during the 10th C. A complicated system allowing for the co-existence of a retired and a reigning emperor provided Kyoto with a number of smaller courts in addition to the Imperial court. These lesser courts were filled with entertainments in the forms of poetry, dance and music. Chinese poems were chanted, and patterned folk songs also became very popular, as did the banquet music.
The first time gagaku appeared in official Japanese documents was in 701 when the Gagakukuryo (Imperial Academy of Music) was instituted that comprised oover 400 members. Many of the officers of instruction came from China and Korea. At this time, native Japanese music was not included but relegated to the Outadokoro “big song place” in the palace. During the first half of the 9th C. the retired Emperor Soga and his officers reorganized the structure of gagaku orchestra and its repertory. This created a division into “music of the left” (sagaku) and “music of the right” (ugaku). Togaku became the term for all the music on the right and komagaku for all lyrical compositions of Heian and Manchurian origin from the “music on the right.” Similarly bugaku is divided between samai- “dances on the left” and umai –“dances on the right.” The designations are believed to have originated in the location of the dressing rooms for the performers.
In bugaku the dances usually follow each other in pairs one from the left “answered” by one from the right. After the splendor of the aristocratic culture around the emperor’s court in Kyoto in the Heian period (794-1185), the Kamakura period saw the prestige and effective power of the aristocracy sharply reduced. The power of the military or samurai class became the decisive factor in Japanese political, social and cultural life. Consequently, gagaku and bugaku the musical and theatrical expressions of the vanishing aristocratic class followed their patrons into the shadows. The great gagaku orchestras were disbanded and it was often difficult to find enough musicians for a performance. It was only during the 16th C during the process of reunification of the country under the great generals Hideyoshi and Ieyasu that the samurai started to show some interest in gagaku and bugaku. Hideyoshi organized the remaining artists into two main groups: one continuing at the Imperial court in Kyoto and the other in Edo, the Shogun’s capital. Only about one tenth of the hundreds of the musicians and dancers of the Heian period remained. The Meiji Restoration (1868) with it fervor for modernization and Westernization, had even less interest in the traditional court music and dance. Only a few musicians and dancers have continued the tradition up to the present time. After WWII, the government recognized gagaku and bugaku as an important national treasure (1955). In 1960 they were performed for the first time in America and occasionally performances are telecast in Japan.
Types of Bugaku Dance
A. Bubu (military dances) have some connection with war, celebrating mythical or historical victories. Swords, spears and shields are used as props. Costumes follow patterns of ancient warriors garments. Movements are broad and strong and include slow solemn simulations of battle movements.
B. Bumu (literary or court dances) these represent the majority of all dances. They illustrate the values of peaceful culture, for example Shundeika which represents four noblemen of the Heian period enjoying the cherry blossoms.
C. Warawamai (children’s dances) are performed by elaborately costumed children. Karyobin is a typical dance and usually performed in feathered headgear and with wings on their shoulders carrying copper cymbals.
D. Onnamai (women’s dances) were performed during the Heian period by women, now they are done by masked male dancers.
There are long, medium and short pieces. The number of dances (2, 4, 6) were a determinant of the designation. Due to changes made over time, this is no longer as decisive as in the past. Because it became the structure pattern of every Noh play and program, jo ha kyu dynamics (Jo – exposition, ha – development, kyu – climax) are important. They are the standard musical movements that designate the tempo of the piece. The three gagaku movements of a major piece are independent compositions, that are linked loosely.
Exquisite, brightly-dyed silk brocades associated with the Japanese stage are not originally from Japan. The favorite color for clothing in pre-Buddhist Japan was white made of mostly hemp or mulberry bark fiber. The robes of Shinto priests and shrine maidens often performers of kagura (shrine dances) were and often still are white. Bugaku dances of Japanese origin were generally performed in the official uniform of the dancer’s court rank.
The introduction of Buddhism with its colorful ceremonies and strong Chinese influence were responsible for the new court fashion of vividly colored silk attire. When weaving and dying techniques reached a high level in the beginning of the 10th C. the complex patterns woven into the rich silk brocades of many bugaku costumes became fashionable. Maintenance of these costumes has become more difficult over time.
Bugaku masks cover only the face. A distinguishing feature is a separate chin that is tied with strings to the jaw, similar to the okina masks used in Noh. They have been replicated with great fidelity. Bugaku pieces of Japanese origin never use masks. They were usually carved by professional sculptors who also produced images of the Buddha.Most Bugagku masks are called kamen, divided by size and usually represent supernatural beings often animal gods or faces of people from the Asian continent. Each mask is used for only one piece.
Gagaku music provides a solemn, archaic musical background, a theme is repeated with slight variations to suggest the evolution of the universe in the limitless, cyclical flow of time. Musical instruments for a bugaku performance include: drums: dadaiko, tsuri-daiko, san-no-tsuzumi and kakko. String instruments: zithers- wagon, gaku-so and koto, lute: biwa and wind instruments: hichiriki, kagura-bue, yokobue, mouth pipe organ - sho.
Impersonally beautiful sound and emotionally detached dance were the means through which the Japanese Imperial Court of the 7th,8 th, and 9th centuries expressed its comprehension of the vast, solemn force which gives birth to all movement.
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