2009 Volume 39 Issue 2 Pages 1-11
This study focused on three points through an investigation of the ‘Ongaku Torishirabe Gakari Jidai Bunsyotsuzuri (Documentary Files on the Research and Musical Educational Institution)’, speeches in jounals from the Meiji period, contemporary reminiscences of those connected with the ‘Tokyo Ongaku Gakkou’ (the Tokyo Academy of Music) and ‘Tokyo Ongaku Gakkou documentary files’.
First, I pointed out that according to the timetable of Ongaku Torishirabe Gakari, ‘technical koto lessons’ and ‘koto lessons’ were conducted from 1883 to 1885. Traditional koto music was assigned as an examination subject for ‘common koto lessons’ in 1884 and for ‘the technical music instrument, koto’ in 1885. Thus, judging mainly from these historical sources, it can be concluded that at the Ongaku Torishirabe Gakari, traditional music was possibly learned as the subject ‘technical music instrument, koto’ as mentioned above. Second, there existed musical scores for ‘koto learners’ and teachers as koto accompaniment to elementary school songs, and these scores were possibly used for practical lessons during the Ongaku Torishirabe Gakari era. Finally, curriculum data from the Tokyo Ongaku Gakkou documentary files indicate that lessons to play the koto as an accompaniment to elementary school songs had been taught for about 20 years, that is, until 1900.
