The transmission of gagaku and its introduction to regional areas by military clans
A bugaku mask for the dance Ryōō, held by the Kamakura shrine Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, shrine of the Minamoto clan
Kamakura period (13th century)
As music and dance became increasingly popular at court, the court musicians were supplied with a temporary place to wait until their services were required. This arrangement eventually became permanent, with the Gakudokoro (or Gakusho, ‘Court Music Office’) of the court situated within the Inner Imperial Palace from the mid-10th century. Offices like these were also established at Nara and the Osaka temple Shitennō-ji, where music and dance were an indispensable part of religious ceremony.
As the older Ritsu-ryō administrative codes became weaker, the functions of the official Bureau of Music were assumed by the Court Music Office, which became central to music and dance at court. The gakunin musicians of the Court Music Office formed hereditary families, known as gakke, specializing in certain aspects of performance.
From the late 12th century, the power held by the court nobles gradually shifted to newly emergent military clans. They, too, learned and sponsored gagaku. The Taira (or Heike) established a center for the performance of gagaku at Itsukushima Shrine in Aki province (Miyajima, present-day Hiroshima prefecture), while the Minamoto (or Genji) did the same at the Kamakura shrine Tsurugaoka Hachimangū (present-day Kanagawa prefecture).
Gagaku spread and established in regional areas
Although bugaku matured as a performing art at court, it gradually spread to various parts of the country. While the centers established by the Taira and Minamoto were the major developments, many other local shrines and temples used bugaku in their festivals and ceremonies.
Instruments and masks survive at shrines and temples from Aomori prefecture in the far north of Honshu, to Kyushu in the south. Regional varieties of bugaku, some with distinctively different traditions from those of the center, testify to the spread of gagaku throughout the Japanese archipelago.
The destruction of the Ōnin war
After the decline of court culture, the military leaders of the successive Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates continued their support and patronage of the gagaku tradition. In the 15th century, however, fighting between members of the warrior class gradually became more violent and destructive, leading to extensive social disruption.
The Ōnin war of 1467–77, which began in Kyoto but spread throughout the country, marked the beginning of about a century of continuing warlike conditions. During this time, Kyoto and its court society suffered great devastation, and gagaku faced the threat of extinction.
