gagaku

I mentioned gagaku before in a post concerning Takemitsu's modern piece In An Autumn Garden for gagaku orchestra. For some interesting points concerning gagaku check out this site. Unfortunately only the home page is in English. But even so the information here is quite nice. Consider the following descriptions of some of the instruments:

Sho ... The light that penetrates from the Heavens
Ryuteki ... The dragon that ascends dancing in the Sky
Hichiriki ... The voices echoing on the Earth

When all sound together a Cosmos can be heard

The two Chinese characters (kanji) that make up the word literally mean "elegant music".

So there is a nice correlation between the instruments and the cosmos. Of course to get a more nuanced feel for gagaku one would have to plumb the depths of Heian culture more generally. Especially regarding the concept of wabisabi which is, as the WWWJDIC translates the term,the "aesthetic sense in Japanese art emphasising quiet simplicity and subdued refinement". Also the sadness that a cultivated soul feels upon experiencing beauty knowing its transient nature.