This study situates musical analysis in the context of its creation, demonstrating that traditional Japanese music is an active socio- cultural system that has been reproduced in Japan from the seventeenth century to the present day.

Jay Davis Keister is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He received his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles. As part of his field research in Japan, he has had training in the nagauta and gagaku ensembles of Japanese traditional music.

Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. A career in Nagauta: Kikuoka Hiroaki Chapter 2. Learning Nagauta: An Ethnographic Account of Teacher-Student Relationships Chapter 3. Nagauta as Social Institution: the Shaping Forces of form Chapter 4. Nagauta as Cultural Document: the Shaping of Sukeroku Chapter 5. The Shape of Nagauta in the 20th century: Two Compositions by Kikuoka Conclusion: Shaped by Japanese Music Appendix A: Transcription: Sukeroku Appendix B: Transcription: Yuki Musume Appendix C: Transcription: Sakura Emaki Glossary Bibliography Index