Music and Neo-Confucianism in Edo Japan: Gyokudō’s Adaptation of saibara to the Chinese guqin

• In Event: Music and Cultural Intersections in East Asia

Abstract

Aside from possessing the world’s oldest extant notation of the piece, “Youlan” (Wild Orchid) for the guqin (Chinese seven-string zither), guqin notation is rarely discussed in Japanese music history for several reasons: minimal transmission of practical knowledge due to the discontinuation of guqin tradition after the Edo period; difficult access to the Chinese vocal texts; and the relative lack of innovation among Japanese guqin players in the Edo period, compared to their counterparts in late-Ming to Qing China.

Guqin in Japan primarily followed the standard repertoire established by the Chinese Zen master, Tōkō Shin’etsu (Donggao Xinyer in Chinese) in the seventeenth century, and there were few musical attempts to produce new repertoire or style except for a few cases. The transcription of saibara (gagaku songs) for guqin by the literati musician, Urakami Gyokudō (1745-1820), is a case in point.
Gyokudo was generally regarded as peculiar by his contemporaries. However, if we contextualize his collections of saibara transcription, entitled Gyokudō Kimpu (Gyokudō’s Qin Scores), in his broader intellectual network, we can begin to understand that his attempts reflected a philosophical and ideological strand of his time. I shall analyse the Gyokudō Kimpu in terms of its musical features, texts and ideological background to show how his musical creativities was part of a counter-movement against Neo-Confucianism, dominant in politics and education during that period, as a way to pursue a return to Confucian reigaku (rite and music).

Author

• Minoru Aihara, Chinese University of Hong Kong