Activities of the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency

The Music Department of the Board of Ceremonies of the Imperial Household Agency (referred to below as the Music Department) is the body now responsible for passing down the more than one-thousand-year tradition of Japan’s gagaku. As well as training the next generation of performers, it also undertakes many activities to foster the understanding and appreciation of gagaku by giving concerts both in Japan and overseas.

Performances at the imperial palace include those at religious ceremonies and official banquets, as well as spring and autumn imperial garden parties. Since 1956, the Music Department has held a series of concerts twice annually, in spring and autumn. These are open to cultural groups and the public. Performances are also held outside of the capital when requested by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and regional boards of education. Public concerts are also held at Tokyo’s National Theatre on average twice a year.

Overseas concerts began in 1959, with a concert at the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, and have been held in major cities throughout the world.

Regular autumn gagaku concerts

The regular autumn concerts held at the Music Department on the imperial palace grounds are open to the public, who are invited to apply for free tickets in a lottery system.

Dates and programs for the concerts, as well as application procedures, are published in newspapers in early July, and publicized on radio and the homepage of the Imperial Household Agency.

The musicians and dancers of the Music Department are all classed as transmitters of this ‘Important Intangible Cultural Property’ of Japan, and each year the competition grows stronger for tickets to live performances of this performing art, registered as it is today on UNESCO’s ‘Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind.’