Sukeyasu Shiba's Gagaku Universe

The Japan-based Reigakusha Gagaku Ensemble performs the Washington, D.C., premiere of Mai Fu Jin 35 at the Freer Gallery’s Meyer Auditorium on February 24, 2010. Composer Sukeyasu Shiba is seen playing side-blown flute (ryuteki) just to the left of the red hanging drum. The visible instruments are (L–R): small gong (shoko), side-blown flute (ryuteki), hanging drum (tsuridaiko), double-reed (hichiriki), lute (biwa), small drum on stand (kakko), and two mouth organs (sho).

The instruments of the gagaku orchestra began arriving in Japan, through Korea, in the sixth century, along with Buddhism. A gagaku ensemble is depicted in this late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century Japanese painting showing the arrival of Korean Buddhism in Japan. All of the instruments seen here are part of the modern gagaku ensemble, including (L–R): a large hanging barrel drum, mouth organ, side-blown flute, and a double-reed instrument (or perhaps an end-blown flute).

Detail, Korean Ambassadors Introduce Buddhism to Japan; screen panel (mounted as a hanging scroll); Japan, late 17th–early 18th century; ink and color on paper; gift of Laurence I. Hewes III in loving memory of Laurence I. Hewes Jr. and Patricia E. Hewes; F1998.308.2

The large pear-shaped lute at center is the ancient Japanese biwa, introduced to Japan from China (where it is called pipa) in the seventh century. The instrument found its way into all strata of Japanese society, played by the aristocracy and blind beggar-priests, accompanying Buddhist sutras and secular stories. The biwa used by the Reigakusha ensemble is modeled after instruments preserved in the eighth-century imperial treasure house in Nara known as the Shosoin.

In Japanese Buddhism, the biwa (pear-shaped lute) is associated with the goddess Benten (Benzaiten). She presides over all things that flow, from water and snakes to language and music, and is thus the patron of geishas, dancers, and musicians. Her shrines are usually located near water, and paintings often show her seated on a rock by the sea, as in this eighteenth-century silk panel.

Detail, Benten on a Rock by the Sea; hanging scroll (mounted on panel); Japan, Edo period, 18th century; color and gold on silk panel; gift of Charles Lang Freer; F1903.111

This woodblock print from 1824 was commissioned by a kabuki actor to serve simultaneously as an elaborate New Year’s greeting, a gift, and an advertisement. The image invokes a well-known kabuki play, in which a male actor portrays a high-end courtesan (oiran), here in the guise of the goddess Benten with her trademark lute (biwa). She is joined by two characters from the Chinese zodiac, Monkey and White Rat, who display a schedule of upcoming kabuki plays in which the actor will perform. Benten gazes at a potted flower while surrounded by tufts of pine, plants associated with springtime. The two humorous poems (kyoka) above the image use wordplay to reference tidings of spring and Benten, the only female Japanese god of fortune.

Benten; by Totoya Hokkei; Japan, Edo period, 1780–1850; album leaf, color on paper; purchase; F1975.61rr

The rarely heard Japanese panpipe (haisho, second from left) is seen here in the Reigakusha ensemble’s performance of Chosa Join, an ancient work reconstructed from manuscript notations preserved in the eighth-century treasure house in Nara known as Shosoin. The other instruments in the ensemble are (L–R): gaku-so (zither), hichiriki (double-reed), and genkan (long-necked lute). The performance of the work, reconstructed in 1983, had its Washington, D.C., premiere at the Freer Gallery’s Meyer Auditorium on February 24, 2010.

This Japanese wood panel shows a panpipe (haisho) being played by an apsara, or Buddhist celestial being. Though rarely heard in Japanese music today, the panpipe was an original part of the ancient gagaku ensemble. The eighth-century repository in Nara known as Shosoin includes a large panpipe among its collection of gagaku instruments, which served as the model for the instrument used in this concert.

Detail, Buddhist Apsara Playing Music; wood panel; Japan; gift of Charles Lang Freer; F1903.284

Composer and director Sukeyasu Shiba (fourth from left) is flanked by dancer/choreographers Stephen Pier (left) and Maya Sakai (right), along with the rest of his Reigakusha Gagaku Ensemble, following their performance at the Freer Gallery’s Meyer Auditorium on February 24, 2010.

Text and photographs for this slideshow by Michael Wilpers, concert manager. Research on artwork images by Andrew Hare, Yumi Shintani, and Moonsil Lee.