The library of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music has Heikyoku written on staff notation. It was done by the Hôgaku Chôsagakari (Department of Research in Japanese Traditional Music) which was attached to the Tokyo Ongaku Gakkô (Tokyo Academy of Music), the former Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.
The writer was given the opportunity to investigate this notation, and was able to understand how it came to be written. Through this writer's investigation, the circumstances how it was done became fairly clear. TATEYAMA Zennoshin, who was extremely devoted to Heikyoku, lamented the declining interest in this tradition and encouraged the preservation and study of traditional music. Through his efforts, the Department of Research in Japanese Traditional Music was established in 1907 (Meiji 40). The department's major project was to write traditional music onto staff notation.
According to the written record of the department, there are four pieces still remaining as well as five pieces and a piece with just a biwa part, which, because they were probably incomplete, were believed not to have been submitted to the department (See Figure 1).
In these written records, the writer was able to learn when and by whom these staff notations were done. Certain descriptions in the “Heike Ongakushi (the History of Heike Music)” written by TATEYAMA, who himself sang for the notation, conflict with some of the points in the written records. In his book TATEYAMA described the proper notation of Heikyoku used by the performer. These proper notations, copied by KUSUMI Bansui, include 650 stories in 5 volumes. At present, three of the volumes are owned by TATEYAMA Kôgo in Sendai, the fourth son of Zennoshin.
Considering that the biwa was used when the notation was done, the writer believes, at least in regard to these four extant pieces, that the biwa may not have been used. This is because there are mistaken pitches in the staff notation that could not have occurred if the biwa had actually been used.
Since there are only a few Heikyoku performers at present, the notated music is highly valuable. Furthermore, each of the four pieces shows interesting characteristics. The ‘Nasu-no-Yoichi’ was written showing two different singing methods: the first can be refferred to as su-gatari or “plain singing” while the second can be called kurai-gatari or “performance-singing”.
According to the characteristic of its music, Heikyoku can be divided to two categories, hushi-mono and hiroi-mono. ‘Kiso Saigo’ represents hiroi-mono and ‘Naishi-dokoro Miyako-iri’ represent hushi-mono. Therefore from these two pieces we can see the various aspects of these music.
Because ‘Yasaka-ryû Hôgetsu’ retains some of the characteristics of the Yasaka-ryû style which had discontinued in the middle of the Edo period, it provides an important example for the study of the older styles of Heikyoku.
Since TATEYAMA gives a detailed explanation of the proper notation, it is possible to understand how to perform what is written in the proper notation. In other words, his explanation can be corroborated through the notated music. For all these above reasons, the writer believes that the study of this notation along with the performances of Heikyoku as they are transmitted to this day are indispensable for studying the musical aspect of Heikyoku.

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There is a confusion about the school to which the heikyoku tradition in Nagoya belongs among some heikyoku players. The reason for the confusion lies in the fact that there are certain differences between the heikyoku in Nagoya and the Maeda school heikyoku tradition handed down by a family from Tsugaru.
Present Tsugaru tradition started with KUSUMI Taiso who learned heikyoku from the Maeda school master, ASAOKA kengyo Chosaiichi at the end of the Edo period. There was another heikyoku school called Hatano school which centered in Kyoto. Because of the many differences, it has been thought that heikyoku in Nagoya must belong to this Hatano school. But in considering the following four points, it is clear that Nagoya heikyoku belongs to the Maeda school: (1) the text; (2) the vocal melody; (3) the instrumental techniques and (4) the lineage of styles passed on from teachers to desciples.
(1) By comparing the actual vocal narration of the Nagoya school with the written text of the Maeda school and the Hatano school, the oral text in Nagoya is much closer to the Maeda school.
(2) The vocal melody of Nagoya heikyoku has more ornamental movements and complicated vocal techniques than Tsugaru heikyoku. This has been regarded as a characteristic of the Hatano school. But five-line staff notations of the Hatano school heikyoku from the Taisho period and that of Tsugaru heikyoku from the end of the Meiji period have clarified that Tsugaru heikyoku was more similar to Nagoya heikyoku. At the same time, Nagoya heikyoku has increased its ornamental movements since the 1960s, thereby increasing the melodic differences between Tsugaru and Nagoya.
(3) The second string of the biwa is tuned a major third above the first string in Nagoya, as was the biwa of the last blind heikyoku player of the Hatano school. On the other hand, it was tuned a minor third above the first string in the Tsugaru tradition until the 1960s. The documents on biwa from the Edo period show that the pitch of the second string was not always fixed and the Maeda school also used the major third. So the difference of the tuning does not mean there was a difference of the school.
Sawari sound is used for the biwa in Nagoya, but not in Tsugaru. A document from the Meiji period proves that sawari was used by the blind players of the Maeda school but not by the amateur players. So the existence of sawari does not mean that the Nagoya heikyoku belongs to the Hatano school.
(4) There was an innovation of the notation system by OGINO kengyo Chiichi/Tomonoichi in Nagoya at the end of the 18th century. As he learned heikyoku from both schools, Maeda and Hatano, it was uncertain which school he taught to the disciples in Nagoya. One source tells that OGINO regarded himself as a Maeda school player, while another shows that his desciple in Nagoya, NAKAMURA kengyo, taught the Maeda school heikyoku.
Therefore we can conclude that heikyoku in Nagoya belongs to the Maeda school.

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