The tuning method of the four-stringed lute has been preserved in Japan, but it is not in China. So we are now going to study the pitch and melody of this lute score, basically relying on the study of Japanese music law experts.
——Ge Xiaoyin
We know that the traditional chinese music tuning method uses the rhythm pipe to tune the rhythm, that is, the pitch is fixed. But the lute does not have a fixed pitch, its pitch is relative, so how to set the tone? The pipa tuning method preserved in Japan is of great use to our study of the pipa tune of the Tang Dynasty. At the beginning of the last century, we found a large number of Dunhuang ancient scrolls from the Dunhuang Tibetan Scripture Cave, including a batch of Dunhuang pipa notations. Therefore, this has become a hot topic in the contemporary international music industry. The symbols of these scores in the Dunhuang ancient scrolls are very similar to the ancient music scores left in Japan, but it should be noted that the pipa used in the Tang Dynasty at that time was called the plucked pipa, which had four strings and four columns, which was different from the pipa we use now. So now you can see that the Dunhuang Grottoes, the Maijishan Grottoes, and the grottoes in Xinjiang have a lot of murals, and the pipa in the stone carvings are all four-stringed, called four-string pipas. In fact, the Tang Dynasty also had five strings and five pillars of pipa, but the Tang people did not care that it was called pipa, but called it five strings. Therefore, in general, the Tang Dynasty said that the pipa must refer to the four-string pipa. So how exactly does the four-string lute set the tone? Its set-tone method has remained in Japan, but we in China have not. So we are now going to study the pitch and melody of this lute score, basically relying on the study of Japanese music law experts. At that time, there was a Japanese musician named Owari Hamasho, who also studied in the Tang Dynasty during this period, correcting many of the mistakes of Tang music and dance in Japan. It is said that at the age of 113 he was able to dance like a teenager.
After returning to Japan, the Master Yuanren, whom I mentioned earlier, who wrote the "Journey to the Tang Dynasty and Seeking the Dharma", became the first senior monk in Japanese history to be named a master, that is, Master Cijue. Legend has it that he brought the shakuhachi to Japan, but unfortunately the shakuhachi wind instrument was lost in China after the Tang Dynasty. Although there is no record of Emperor Akihito sending Envoys to Tang since then, there are still a number of new Tang music in later generations, such as in 921 AD, when the Japanese court played a kind of Tang music that had never been heard before, and these song titles can be seen in Chinese literature, which should have been passed down after Seongwa (the era name of Emperor Akihito's reign), and may have been mainly disseminated through folk channels. In fact, during the Chenghe period, it was the last time that Japanese officials sent Tang envoys on a large scale. Later, there was turmoil in the Tang Dynasty, during the Tang Wuzong period, the policy of "destroying the Buddha" was implemented, and many monks at that time suffered, so the Yuanren Master at that time could hardly return to Japan, and there was a relevant record in the book he wrote.
So from the situation that we now know about the transmission of some music to the east, Tang music spread to Japan mainly in the early 8th century to the 9th century for more than 150 years. According to my statistics, the number of Tang le recorded in China's literature now adds up to about 570 songs, but this number is not very accurate, because many of them are song names with the same name but different forms. However, according to the records of Japanese sources, when Japanese musicians studied in the Tang Dynasty, they already knew 700 kinds of songs, and 180 kinds of songs were transmitted to Japan. However, the data recorded in various sources is still very different, such as the 161 kinds of Tang music recorded in the "Great History of Japan, Reishi", of which 87 are not recorded in Chinese literature. Therefore, some of these 87 kinds may be Japanese imitation Tang music, or it may be that the title of the song is written incorrectly, and some of them are indeed not found in Chinese literature. Among the remaining 74 songs with the same name, many of them are different songs with the same name. In addition, Japan also retains a part of Koryo music, and some of this part of Koryo music is also our Tang music.
Japanese Tang music is still being staged, just now I talked about more than 70 kinds of music, of which more than 30 kinds are also accompanied by dance, who is performing? The main thing is, of course, the music club of the Japanese Imperial Household Agency, as well as temples throughout the country, organizations affiliated with religious corporations, and many teams playing music in the Fankai. Therefore, the inheritance of Gagaku is a miracle in the history of world culture, which has been secretly passed down by musicians since the Heian Dynasty, which is equivalent to our late Tang Dynasty, after the reform of Japaneseization, and has been preserved until now. Including the basic movements of those music and dance, costumes, musical instruments, masks, as well as a large number of ancient music scores, musical instruments, and many other assets for performing gagaku in various monasteries, that is, what music and dance were performed in which year, which character wore what clothes, shoes and socks, etc., are clearly recorded. These materials have been preserved, and it can be said that there has not been much change, so it is called "fossil culture". These tangible and intangible materials are very valuable for our study of Tang Le today.
Let us now turn to the second question. The fact that Japanese Tang Le can be preserved like a fossil is related to the way Japanese Gagaku was passed on. Let me elaborate on what Gagaku is. The concept of gagaku is actually originally Chinese, and Chinese gagaku mainly refers to the music of court sacrifices, including some music used in major ceremonies. The content of Japanese gagaku is very broad, and it mainly contains three parts: the first part is Japan's own kagura, daigaku, waku, toei, Kume song, etc., which are ancient music related to Japanese gods and dynastic ceremonies. The second part is the music of Korea, China, India, and the Western Regions that was transmitted to Japan from antiquity to the Middle Ages, as well as similar music and dance imitated by Japan, which were mainly performed at court ceremonies or banquets. The third part is some of the folk songs that spread among the upper nobility of Japan after the Heian Dynasty, such as horse-urging music and lang yong.
The main part of our study is the second part, because most of the content of the second part is derived from the music and dance of the Tang Dynasty. Although these music and dances have passed for a thousand years, and have been gradually Japaneseized through the musical reform of the Heian Dynasty, to a considerable extent, they still retain their original style. This is due to the system of preservation of music and dance and the way in which it is passed on. Japan relies mainly on two institutions to preserve Gagaku, one called Yarakuliao, which was set up during the Daiho period (Emperor Bunmu's era name, 701-704 AD), and its duty was to perform programs at imperial court banquets, emperor outings, sacrifices, festivals, and Buddhist meetings. However, it gradually declined after the 12th century. In addition, at that time, the Japanese imperial court also had internal teaching workshops that imitated the Tang Dynasty, and we know that the Tang Dynasty had foreign teaching workshops and internal teaching workshops. The Inner Teaching Workshop is the teaching workshop within the court, and the Foreign Teaching Workshop is the teaching workshop outside the court. In Japan, there are mainly Uchiha workshops, and the dancers are all women. After the 12th century AD, the situation of the Inner Church is not very clear. After the decline of Yaleliao, it was replaced by the Weifu Leren. The Weifu is the Konoefu around the Emperor, and they were originally mainly in charge of honor guards, subordinates, and such things as competitions, sumo wrestling, and horse racing. Then often after the competition, there will be some after-performance dances. In addition, the 1st, 11th, 16th, and 21st of each month are the days when the emperor listens to the government at the Purple Palace, and the Weifu also plays music. After the 11th century, these dancers were mainly managed by the musicians of the Weifu, and the musicians were also supplied by the Weifu.
In addition, the Japanese court also has a music center for preserving Gagaku, which was founded by Emperor Murakami in 948 AD. After the decline of Yaleliao, some musicians were recruited into the music house, divided into two kinds, the upper hall and the underground, the musicians on the Zichen Hall were called "hall people", all of whom were nobles, and the underground musicians later became the most important force in inheriting the Sui and Tang music and dance. But in the 12th century, these entertaining dance music was basically dominated by underground musicians. These musicians have been passed down from generation to generation, and many families have become professional musicians. The ancient Japanese court attached great importance to dance music, so this is why Japanese gagaku can be passed down to this day in a relatively complete way.
mentor
kudzu
dawn
sound
Professor Emeritus of Boya, Peking University, Doctoral Supervisor of Guoxue College. He was a professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Graduate School of the University of Tokyo and a chair professor at the Department of Chinese at Hong Kong Baptist University. He has long been engaged in the study of the literature of the Six Dynasties of Han, Wei, Sui and Tang Dynasties. His major works include "History of Poetry of the Eight Dynasties", "The Unauthorized Change of Han and Tang Literature", "Research on the Pastoral Poetry School of Landscape and Water", "Tang and Song Prose", "Chinese Scenic Spots and History and Culture", "Exploration of Ancient Poetry Art", "Study of Poetic Asanas of the Six Dynasties of the Pre-Qin, Han, and Wei Dynasties".
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