() is a genre of accompanied vocal

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

court music that existed during the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

in the

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

and

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

regions. It draws from traditional folk music () of the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

and is accompanied by '' togaku'' instruments, with the exception of the , which are replaced by , wooden sticks used for keeping

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

Development

It may have developed out of music to drive horses along, as the Chinese characters that compose its name seem to indicate, and , hence ''saibara'' = music to drive horses along as they toil. but, according to German musicologist Eta Harich-Schneider, there are several other theories.

Repertoire

About 55 pieces have been transcribed into modern Western notation from original 12th century sources by Elizabeth Markham. The few songs that have survived into modern times have changed over the centuries. Song texts are short and simple in character and describe scenes of life. The repertoire was once estimated at some 400 songs. In the late

the aristocracy became more interested in complex foreign musical imports.

Emperor Horikawa was the 73rd emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 堀河天皇 (73)/ref> according to the traditional List of emperors of Japan, order of succession. Horikawa's reign spanned the years from Heian period, 1087 through 1107 ...

(1079-1107), despite the taste for Chinese culture since the Nara period, also cultivated an interest in . Courtiers sang songs for entertainment. A fashionable aristocrat was not regarded ''à jour'' if he did not know of the latest Chinese imports, such as music. In the 14th century, because of the many wars, the repertoire of declined, as many were lost due to the turmoil, and it was only at the crowning ceremony of emperor

Emperor Go-Mizunoo , posthumously honored as , was the 108th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Go-Mizunoo's reign spanned the years from 1611 through 1629, and he was the first emperor to reign entirely d ...

, who ruled from 1611 to 1629, at Nijo Palace that a reconstruction of the old pieces was attempted and the famous piece "" was performed at the Imperial palace in

Kyōto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it the ninth-most pop ...

. The emperor's wife, Fujiwara no Fusahi, tells in her court chronicles how little old material could be found. The repertoire today includes newly created folk songs, .

Text of '' (Sea of Ise)

('Near the sea at Ise we want to harvest sea-wheat, while we collect mussels and sea shells we collect pearls, I want to find one pearl.')

References

Harich-Schneider, E: Saibara, Deutsches Jahrbuch für Music, 1963, Harich-Schneider, E: A history of Japanese Music, Oxford UP, 1980 Gagaku Markham, Elizabeth. Saibara: Volume 1, Text: Japanese Court Songs of the Heian Period. Cambridge, 1983/2009. Markham, Elizabeth. Saibara: Volume 2, Music: Japanese Court Songs of the Heian Period. Cambridge, 1983/2009. {{music-genre-stub