Gagaku Reforms During The Heian Era Of Japan

The Tang dynasty is known as the golden age for developing Chinese art and culture.With a large number of ancient Tang art and music culture being introduced to Japan,it has exerted a profound impact on Japanese music,which can still be found today.Japanese gagaku,the imperial court music and dance,is the most important music genre within the classical music of Japan,referring to the "standard music" in Chinese.In a narrow sense,it refers to the music introduced from the Asian mainland to Japan,further divided into left focus on Tang music and right focus centered on san kan gaka.In the Nara era,Japan largely received music culture of the Tang dynasty.After entering the Heian era,Japan welcomed the arrival of the era of national custom culture.In the period of RenMing emperor,music system reforming is the embodiment of the cultural movement regarding the music,since then,Japanese royal refined music has been born formally.In the reform of music system,the instruments used in the Japanese gagaku,the constitution of musicians,music selections as well as the played space and occasions have changed a lot,which considered its cultural history.The buildup of cultural music was a key in creating Japanese nationalism and also a point of differentiation from mainland Asia in feudal Japan.This thesis aims to describe the gagaku reform in the initial stage of the Heian age and to provide more detailed information for future studies.Based on original data of Japan before the 10 th century,the content is mainly divided into three parts: First,the evolution of gagaku,describing it from the Nara era to Heian era.Meanwhile,the standards of Japanese gagaku are described with historical fact from the Nara era to Heian era,including band classification,form of performance,modal tonality,musical instruments,music,performance and the musicians.Then combining the subtle evolution Japanese gagaku within the two periods,ways,rules and characteristics of gagaku reform during the initial stage of Heian era.Finally from aspects of society,culture and music,the cause and the effect of gagaku reform in the initial stage of Heian age are discussed,historical position and value of the gagaku reform.