OGYU Sorai on music, his musical research and practice: From basic research to a comprehensive picture of his work

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K02305
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Aesthetics and studies on art
• Research Institution: Kansai University
• Principal Investigator: YAMADERA Mikiko 関西大学, 東西学術研究所, 非常勤研究員 (90601097)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 荻生徂徠 / 古楽 / 雅楽 / 礼楽 / 楽律 / 琴 / 日本近世

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, I investigated a wide range of primary sources of OGYU Sorai's writings regarding music. Organized by subject, I transcribed the texts into machine-encodings, collated them, and translated and annotated the texts. These efforts eventually revealed a complete picture of Sorai's writings―including newly-discovered materials―regarding music together with details of his musical research, in particular, his study of musical pitches through exploration of the ancient system of the Zhou dynasty-era of great rulers and investigating the music of antiquity, as well as his study of the Chinese qin and Japanese gagaku, both of which he claimed showed vestiges of ancient Chinese music. Careful reading and examination of the collected documents also delivered many discoveries and insights into historical traces of Sorai's work concerning music and the realization of those musical performances. These findings were presented in papers and other forums.

Free Research Field

日中音楽文化史――主に琴(きん、七絃琴、古琴)・楽律・楽譜を含む文献・儒者による研究と実践に関して

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

荻生徂徠の音楽に関する著作は、既刊の徂徠全集には未収録である。本研究では、そのような徂徠の音楽関連著作と周辺資料の全面的な基礎研究を行い、いくつかの著述については、彼の見解の典拠も含め、詳細な訳注を作成し、部分的に公刊した。それらは、今後の徂徠研究や儒者の礼楽論の研究等に役立つであろう。また本研究では、新資料も紹介し、徂徠が何を行ったのか、という史実を掘り起こすことができた。本研究が示した情報は、音楽史の分野では見過ごされがちな、近代以前の東アジア漢字文化圏における音楽の有り様を見直す一つの視座となり、思想史の分野では、儒者徂徠の音楽研究と実践の実態を具体的に理解する一助となると期待される。