ABSTRACT
As was suggested in the previous chapter about nagauta composition, the stereotyped patterns that constitute nagauta compositions are not limitations of the art, but model forms that allow for the reproduction of elegance, grace and purity by singers, musicians and composers. As a musician who followed this kata of nagauta, Kikuoka was clearly a traditionalistic conservative of Japanese music, in spite of his progressive efforts at reforming nagauta social organization. Despite his challenge to the status quo of iemoto, Kikuoka’s final goal was always to achieve purity, an ultimate value in Japanese art and society. In his own compositions, Kikuoka was a purist of nagauta. Although his compositions departed from typical nagauta enough to be recognized as twentiethcentury works, Kikuoka’s compositional choices were entirely motivated by the stereotypical forms of the tradition he inherited. While some of his works extensively feature modern techniques, Kikuoka never strayed from the appropriate kata of nagauta composition and was able to maintain the grace, elegance and purity essential to the music. This chapter shows how Kikuoka created within the prescribed boundaries of nagauta tradition by examining two works, one that stays fairly close to tradition, and another that incorporates modern techniques that are unconventional by nagauta standards. Examination of Kikuoka’s compositions and his personal philosophy behind nagauta reveals an individual composer who simultaneously shaped, and was shaped by, the musical tradition of nagauta.
