The <i>qin</i> materials of Nagata Chosen preserved at the Research Archives for Japanese Music, Ueno Gakuen College

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  • 永田聴泉琴楽資料について -上野学園日本音楽資料室蔵書を中心として-
  • ナガタ チョウセンキンラク シリョウ ニ ツイテ ウエノ ガクエン ニホン オ

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Abstract

Nagata Chosen (1872-1937) was a sinologist and one of the last qin _??_ Players to inherit the qin tradition of Toko-zenji Shin'etsu (Ch. Xin-yue _??__??_, 1639-1712), the founder of the qin tradition in Japan. Nagata Chosen, named Takashige, styled Shijun, with the literary name Chosen and the common name Junjiro, was born in the village of Minami Toyoshima, Toyonogun, Osaka-fu, on 20 January, 1872. He studied sinology and was excellent at composing Chinese poems. He began his study of the qin under the instruction of Obata Shoha (1855-1936) and later mastered the instrument under Mega Yusho (1826-1896). In the drafts of his lectures on the music of the qin he called himself the eighth descendant in the Kansai district of the qin tradition of Shin'etsu. Engaging in earnest research into the history of the qin and its music in both China andJapan, he tried to maintain and promote the qin tradition through his lectures and broadcasting.<br>Chosen's qin materials which are now preserved at the Research Archives for Japanese Music, Ueno Gakuen College, are classified into the following three groups: (1) printed qin handbooks; (2) hand-written qin manuscripts; and (3) drafts for his lectures and broadcasts, letters, genealogies of the qin tradition of Shin'etsu, and other miscellaneous documents.<br>(1) Only three printed qin handbooks are preserved: a part of the Qin-xue-cong-shu _??__??__??__??_ (Qin-sui _??__??_4 vols., Qin-hua _??__??_4 vols., Qin-bu _??__??_3 vols.), the Cheng-yi-dang-qin-bu-da-chuan _??__??__??__??__??__??__??_, and the Qin-xue-ru-men _??__??__??__??_.<br>(2) (a) Nine manuscripts which can be ascribed to Chosen's transcription, including five of (J.) Toko-kimpu _??__??__??__??_. (b) (J.) Dankin _??__??_ by Matsui Yuseki (1859-1926) and two manuscripts of Toko-kimpu once owned by Ga Reishi. The transcribers of these manuscripts are unknown.<br>(3) Some drafts for broadcasts and lectures madethrough Osaka Chuo Broadcasting Corporation on 29 May, 1927, and read at the Buddhist Hall in Osaka on 2 November, 1935. Among five letters three were addressed to Chosen by Matsui Yuseki, and mention the sources of some qin handbooks. One of the three genealogical tables of the qin tradition after Shin'etsu is written very precisely with concise remarks on each qin performer, and emphasises the tradition of the Kansai district. Among miscellaneous documents are: the program for a concert in memory of Shin'etsu held at the Kanzanji temple in Osaka on 4 November, 1926; letters of invitation to the concert; an article concerning the concert taken from the newspaper Geijutsu-tsushin, issue of 15 November, 1926; and so on.<br>His intensely scholarly attitude towards the investigation of many qin handbooks and the correction of errors in hand-writing in the manuscripts give evidence of his accomplishment on the instrument. The drafts made for his lectures and broadcasts also illustrate his enthusiastic inquiry into the history and techniques of qin music. Yuseki's letters to Chosen suggest that they were close friends and that Chosen was greatly assisted by Yuoseki's knowledge of the qin tradition and of qin handbooks. Yuseki wrote Dankin, a book in two volumes on qin music and qin players in Japan. This book seems not to have been published, but was copied and preserved by Chosen and Obata Shoun, the eldest son of Shoha, although the second volume is not found in Chosen's qin materials.<br>According to Chosen's qin genealogy after Shin'etsu, the first transmitters of the tradition were Hitomi Chikudo and Sugiura Kinzen, the second Onoda Tozen, the third transmitter and the founder of the Kansai tradition was Sugiura Baigaku, the fourth Nagata Rado, the fifth the priest Chokai, the sixth

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