in
Japanese
Research Centre for Japanese Traditional Music
Kyoto City University of Arts
Outline of Centre
2001
Home > Archive
> Outline of Centre > Outline, 2001
Contents
Introduction to the Centre
The Research Centre for Japanese Traditional Music was founded at
the Kyoto City University of Arts on April 1, 2000, with the aim of undertaking
comprehensive research on traditional music and performing arts within the society
and culture of Japan.
In the more than one hundred years since the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan
has followed a path of modernization and Westernization, which has become more
pronounced in the fifty something years since the end of World War II. We have
reached a time ripe for the reconsideration of Japans traditional culture,
and the development of new approaches to it. The founding of the Research
Centre for Japanese Traditional Music at the Kyoto City University of Arts
is of particular significance in view of the fact that Kyoto has long been the
living centre of Japans traditional culture.
Kyoto is rich in physical evidence of its traditional culture, what we may term a visual heritage; with the establishment of this new body, however, the city authorities have demonstrated a deep respect towards its aural heritage. As a new centre for research on Japans traditional music, the Research Centre aims to make a broad and significant contribution to the field of Japanese music, by means of sharing and exchanging information and the results of research with researchers, other research establishments and performers, not only within Japan but throughout the world.
The Research Centre for Japanese Traditional Music thus hopes to link
the past with the present through a unique range of activities in research and
creation, within the wider context of Japans traditional culture.
Top of Page
Activities
- Collecting, ordering, and preserving research materials of relevance to the
study of Japans traditional music and performing arts:
- Documentary materials (books, periodicals, old documentary sources, copied
and non-printed materials including microfilm, etc.)
- Audio-visual materials
- Instruments and related materials
- Pictorial materials
- Materials in electronic form, such as existing databases and the like
- Individual research on Japans traditional music and performing arts:
- Research by individual members of the full-time staff
- Research on particular themes by scholars employed as part-time research fellows
- Research commissioned from scholars outside of the Research Centre on their
fields of speciality
- Team research on Japans traditional music and performing arts:
- Team research undertaken from an interdisciplinary and international perspective
by research teams based at the Research Centre, formed for that purpose with the
cooperation and participation of researchers and performers from both Japan and
overseas
- Surveys in collaboration with other bodies and/or individuals
- Bringing the results of research to a wider audience through the following
activities:
- Public events including lecture series, seminars, workshops, and lecture-demonstrations
- Publications including a regular newsletter, an annual bulletin, and collections
of research materials
- Electronic publications such as databases available for use online
Top of Page
Fields of Research
The research fields of the Research Centre encompass the past, present and
future of Japans traditional music:
1. The development and transmission of music prior to the Meiji Restoration
of 1868
- Prehistoric times
- Religious song and performing arts (including archaeological study of surviving
examples of instruments, etc.)
- Ancient times
- Buddhist music (shoomyoo, etc.)
- Ceremonial and entertainment music of the court (gagaku, etc.)
- Medieval times
- Buddhist performing arts (biwa-accompanied narrative, zoogei,
shakuhachi, etc.)
- Performing arts of the warrior class (noo, kyoogen,
etc.)
- Popular song (imayoo, medieval kouta, etc.)
- Pre-modern times
- Music from foreign sources (so-called Christian music, Chinese
qin music in Japan, minshingaku)
- Theatrical music (gidayuu-bushi, other types of jooruri
including tokiwazu-bushi, etc., nagauta, hayashi
music in kabuki, etc.)
- Non-theatrical music (jiuta sookyoku, other shamisen
genres, biwa-accompanied vocal genres, shakuhachi, etc.)
- Popular song (kouta, hauta, etc.)
2. Developments in traditional music since the Meiji Restoration
- The development of traditional music and its possibilities, including composition
- The reception of traditional music and the place of traditional music in education
3. Music in daily life, in the broadest terms
- Folk transmission and the music and performing arts of areas related to Japan
and of its indigenous minorities
- Music and the performing arts in daily life (childrens song and folk song;
folk performing arts including festival music)
Top of Page
(Position, research fields and current research topics)
- HIROSE Ryoohei (Director; Composition; Contemporary music for traditional
instruments)
- Stone flutes of Joomon culture and music that can be played on them
- Japans traditional music as a source for creation
- KUBOTA Satoko (Professor; Historiography of Japanese music)
- Research on the sankyoku music world after the abolition of the
Toodoo Shokuyashiki
- Research on works of the jiuta and sookyoku repertoires
- NAGAHIRO Hitoshi (Professor; Contemporary music for traditional instruments)
- Historical study of the genre of contemporary works for traditional instruments
- Documentation and cataloguing of broadcasts of contemporary works for traditional
instruments
- Steven G. NELSON (Associate professor; Historiography of Japanese music)
- Comprehensive research on the Junshi oojoo kooshiki
- Research on the methods of musical construction employed in early performances
of kooshiki texts
- TAI Ryuuichi (Associate professor; Ethnomusicology, Japanese performing arts)
- Comparative research on the hayashi music of dashi festival
floats
- Research on the hayashida folk music genre of the Chuugoku District
- TAKAHASHI Mito (Associate professor; History of the performing arts, Japanese
music and information technology)
- Comparative research on central and peripheral bugaku dance traditions
- Construction of a database on Japans traditional music instruments
Top of Page
- NAKAHARA Kanae (Part-time lecturer, Kyoto Seika University)
- Research on music treatises and music tales of the medieval period
- OKADA Mariko (Part-time lecturer, Kyoto University of Art and Design)
- Research on the kabuki music of the Kamigata region during the
late Edo period
- OZEKI Yoshie (Part-time lecturer, Nara University of Education)
- Research on the methodology of education in Japanese music
- UESUGI Koodoo (Visiting professor, Takasaki Junior College of Arts)
- Acoustic and organological research on early stone and clay flutes
- WADA Katsuhisa (Third head of the Kyoogoku school of koto music)
- The wagon zither in Rikkokushi, the six early national
histories
- Compilation of a centennial history of the Kyoogoku school
Top of Page
- IZAWA Toshiharu (President of the Study Group for Enlivening the Kamigata
Region)
- Research on the zashiki songs of the Kamigata region: their background
and metaphors
- YAMADA Chieko (Part-time lecturer, Kyoto City University of Arts)
- Musicological research on gidayuu-bushi: model patterns and the
range of variation in katari narration
Top of Page
Long-term Projects (from fiscal 2001)
(1) The music iconography of the traditional music of Japan
- Project leader:
- Steven G. NELSON
(2) Japanese music instruments and reconstruction
- Project leader:
- TAKAHASHI Mito
- Advisers:
- FUKUSHIMA Kazuo, GAMOO Satoaki, TILMAN Seebass
- Joint members:
- AKAISHI Atsuko, AKITA Shingo, Monica BETHE, ENDOO Tooru, FUKINBARA Yasushi,
FUKUHARA Toshio, HASEGAWA Yumiko, HIGUCHI Akira, HIGUCHI Makiko, IRIE Nobuko,
IZUMI Takeo, KASUYA Makoto, KATSUMURA Jinko, KUBOTA Satoko, MIYAZAKI Mayumi, NAKAMIZO
Kazue, NOGAWA Mihoko, OKADA Mariko, ONO Makoto, OOKAJI Haruhiko, SAKAMOTO Mamiko,
SEKINE Toshiko, SHIMA Kazuhiko, SIMURA Satosi (SHIMURA Satoshi), TAI Ryuuichi,
TAJIMA Midori, TAKAKUWA Izumi, TAKEUCHI Yuuichi, TANIMOTO Kazuyuki, YAMADERA Mitsutoshi,
YAMASHITA Yuuji, YUHI Kuniko
Regular Projects (from fiscal 2000)
(1) Texts of Japanese vocal music 1: Jiuta-sookyoku
- Project leader:
- KUBOTA Satoko
- Other members:
- IGUCHI Haruna, MANABE Masahiro, NAGAIKE Kenji, Steven G. NELSON, NOGAWA Mihoko,
ONO Mitsuyasu, SASAKI Mika, SUZUKI Yukiko, YAMANE Michihiro
(2) Aspects of the hayashi music of dashi festival floats
- Project leader:
- TAI Ryuuichi
- Other members:
- AOMORI Tooru, FUKUHARA Toshio, HIGUCHI Akira, IRIE Nobuko, IWAI Masahiro,
KAKITOO Toshihiro, MASUDA Takeshi, UEKI Yukinobu, YONEDA Minoru
(3) The lineage of the Japanese zithers: the instruments, documentary materials,
and performance techniques
- Project leader:
- Steven G. NELSON
- Other members:
- AOKI Hiroyuki, ENDOO Tooru, KUBOTA Satoko, ISO Mizue, TSUGEI Yukio, WADA Katsuhisa
Top of Page
- Director:
- IMAI Hiroshi
- Chief:
- NOMURA Mariyo
- Clerical Staff:
- SAIDA Noriko
Top of Page
- Librarian:
- IGUCHI Haruna
- Research Assistants:
- IMAI Toshiyuki, ITOO Shino, MIZUOCHI Manabu
Top of Page
History
- 1991
- The need for a new Kyoto centre for research on Japans traditional music
expressed by HIROSE Ryoohei at an international conference of the worlds cities
- 1993
- Expansion of the Kyoto City University of Arts proposed within the citys
plans for its renewal
- 1996
- Initial plans for the Research Centre and Doctoral Course within the graduate
programme of the Faculty of Art tabled; preparatory committee for the Research
Centres founding established
- 1997
- Budget allocated for planning the new building and surveying the site
- 1998
- Construction begun (completed early 2000)
- 2000
- Commencement of activities (April); opening ceremony (December 2)
Top of Page
Facilities
The Research Centre for Japanese Traditional Music is situated on the 6th to
8th floors of the Universitys Shinkenkyuutoo (New Research Building), with a
total area of approx. 1500m2.
- 6th floor:
- Directors office, administration, committee meeting room, reference
library, materials management room, individual offices
- 7th floor:
- Seminar rooms (2), instrument storeroom, special collection
- 8th floor:
- Individual offices (5), fellows rooms (2), audio-visual studio, training
rooms (2)
Top of Page
- Kyooto Kootsuu Bus:
- Buses for Kameoka from Kyoto Station (JR lines), the eastern side of Katsura
Station (Hankyuu line), and Kawaramachi Shijoo, to the bus stop Geidai-mae, followed
by a short walk to the entrance of the university.
- City Bus:
- Bus 1 or 5 from the western side of Katsura Station (Hankyuu line) or Bus
73 from Kyoto Station (JR lines) to the bus stops Shinbayashi-ike Kooen or Kokudoo
Kutsukake-guchi, followed by a 10-minute walk west.
- Taxi:
- From the western side of Katsura Station (Hankyuu line) or the western side
of Mukoomachi Station (JR lines) to Kyooto Shiritsu Geijutsu Daigaku.
How to Get to Kyoto City
University of Arts
Top of Page
Home > Archive
> Outline of centre > Outline, 2001
Research Centre for Japanese Traditional Music, Kyoto City University
of Arts
13-6 Ooe Kutsukake-choo, Nishikyoo-ku
Kyooto-shi, 610-1197, Japan
tel: +81-75-334-2240
fax: +81-75-334-2281
Administrative Secretariat: jtm-www@kcua.ac.jp