Introduction to Japanese Music

Week 2 - Shōmyō

Origins

• Buddhism began in India…

• …spread through China…

• …and entered Japan, c. mid-6th century

• Diffused through society

Languages

• Sanskrit: bon-san

• Chinese: kan-san

• Japanese: wa-san

Founders

• Shingon:

• Kukai (774-835)

• Kanchō (916-998)

• Tendai:

• Saichō (767-822)

• Ennin (794-864)

Shingon and Tendai

• Two major sects to use shōmyō chant

• Further sects appeared, but derived chant styles from these two

• Shichi no bongo

Rite and Ritual

• Ceremony (hōe) and rite (hōyō)

• A symmetrical form around the central element

• One, two or four-part ritual

Four Standard Pieces

• Bai

• Sange

• Bonnon

• Shakujō

Instrumentation

• Instruments provide structural signals

• Narashimono (instruments) – more than twenty, including bells, gongs and other percussion.

Modes and Theory

• Ryo and ritsu scales, the same as gagaku – as well as the chukyoku scale

• Shingon makes use of five modes…

• …while Tendai use three with movable finals.

Melodic construction

• Chants built from short melodic fragments

• Three categories of melody, relating to three scales

• Nuclear tones create a system of tetrachords

Kōshiki

• A narrative genre of shōmyō

• Rokudo Koshiki

• ‘Dan’ structure

Shomyo expansion

• Shingon and Tendai firmly established by 12thC

• At its height during Kamakura period

• Sects began to schism – increase in koshiki

Transmission and Sources

• Shōmyō-yōjinshu (1244)

• More organised and standardized in Edo period – printed shōmyō more available

• Gyosan Sosho (mid-19thC)

• Melodies recorded with hakase

Influence and Legacy

• Narrative genres

• Biwa

• Nō theatre

Other Sources

Orchestration in Gagaku

https://ccrma.stanford.edu/groups/gagaku/index.html

‘Gradual Modifications of the Gagaku tradition,’ Robert Garfias, Ethnomusicology 4/1 (1960)

‘The Systematic, Parallel and Balanced Characteristics of Bugaku: from Costume motifs to Music,’ Wai Ng Kwok, Asian Cultural Studies 27 (2001)

Interview with Kojun Arai (Shomyo performer) http://www.performingarts.jp/E/art_interview/0705/1.html

Musical resources

• The Ongaku Masters: An Anthology of Japanese Music, vol. 1 (Celestial Harmonies, 2004)

• Shomyo - Buddhist Liturgical Chant (Megadisc, 1995)

Musical resources

Spotify Web Player:

• Gagaku – Ancient Japanese Court and Dance Music

• Gagaku – Ancient Japanese Court Music

• Shomyo – Buddhist Liturgical Chant