Music from the Tang Court

During the two centuries before 841, the Japanese Court borrowed a large amount of secular entertainment music from China, chiefly music of the Sui and Tang Courts. This music, known as 'Tang Music' is preserved in manuscripts written between the eighth and thirteenth centuries and to be seen today in the library of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and in other Japanese libraries. This second fascicle includes two further suites from the Ichikotsu-chō mode-key group, namely Toraden, which probably originated in the early eighth century, and Shunnō-den, a ballet-suite believed to have its source in a late seventh-century piece in imitation of Cettia diphone cantans - a bush warbler with a nightingale-like song. In addition, and continuing the study of the first fascicle, a justified, conflated text of Ō-dai hajin-raku on a single stave will be included. In the light of this, a version for performance can be established.