Japanese Sacred Court Music

Gagaku, Japanese for 'elegant music', is the oldest classical music in Japan. Introduced into Japan along with Buddhism from Korea in the 6th century, gagaku can also accompany classical dance performances called bugaku. Gagaku musicians belonged to special guilds who were not allowed to perform this music for the general public. We are grateful to curator Barbara Ruch, director of the Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies at Columbia University, for making our performance of Japanese Sacred Court Music possible for our JapanOC festival, as well as South Coast Plaza for its generous sponsorship.