Abstract:
In “The Arts of Living with Nature," I would like to introduce Gagaku, Japan's oldest performing art. In Japan, there are various traditional performing arts such as Noh and Kabuki, but Gagaku is distinct from these. Rather than being an art that emerged from the people and was subsequently refined to become a traditional art form, Gagaku’s source music, instruments, style, and musical theory is taken mostly from music imported from Tang Dynasty China. The number of instruments and the precision of the musical theory are unrivaled by other traditional Japanese performing arts, making it truly an ancient orchestra.
For 1,200 years, Gagaku has been used in Japanese religious rituals as an art that connects humans with the gods and Buddha. In Japan, Shintoism is the foundation of Shinto-Buddhist syncretism; the reverence for sacred nature exists at the oldest level. As a consequence, Buddhist ceremonies or Shinto rituals are as a rule performed outdoors in nature. Gagaku, the ritual music, is also played in nature. In other words, Gagaku was also the "art" of communing with nature as a sacred transcendence.
Japanese temples and shrines are built on natural sites that are thought to hold sacred power, as a circuit to interact with that power while making its presence explicit. That holy power is ambivalent to humans and can never be "managed" because it sometimes rages as a wild spirit. In this circuit, Gagaku was meant to invoke the sacred power, to make offerings, and to return and be pacified.
It can be said that Gagaku is an important clue to examine the Japanese people's religious consciousness and the way they live with nature as transcendence.
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Tennoji Gakuso Garyokai
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