1 Hour Koto Music for Sleep – Autumn Moon-Viewing Night, Heian Japan c. 1000

The autumn moon rises over the eastern hills, and in a Heian-kyō garden the lattice shutters are raised so the court can watch its reflection in the pond. In 794 the imperial court moved to Heian-kyō, today's Kyoto, and for nearly four centuries it nurtured one of the most refined aristocratic cultures in history. Around the year 1000, the age of Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shōnagon, courtiers gathered on the fifteenth night of the eighth month to admire the full autumn moon, composing poetry and playing music, sometimes from boats on their garden ponds, admiring the moon's reflection in the water. Court music of the era, gagaku, used instruments such as the shō mouth organ, the ryūteki flute, the biwa lute, and the koto zither, and the literature of the age, such as The Tale of Genji, shows nobles also playing for themselves in private. How that private music actually sounded is largely lost; this hour imagines one moon-viewing night, from dusk to the stillest hour before dawn. 🎧 About the music These are imagined, historically inspired pieces, not reconstructions. They were selected, edited, and sequenced by The Sounding Past. Instruments evoked: koto, shō, ryūteki, gaku-biwa, wagon, hichiriki. ⏱ Chapters 0:00:00 Dusk over Heian-kyō 0:02:35 Waiting for the Moon 0:05:20 Shutters Raised to the Garden 0:07:33 Moonrise over the Eastern Hills 0:10:13 Bell Crickets in the Autumn Grass 0:12:58 Moonlight on the Garden Pond 0:15:40 Boats with Dragon Prows 0:18:34 The Moon in a Sake Cup 0:21:08 Poems Written on Fans 0:23:58 Behind the Bamboo Blind 0:26:43 A Flute from the Far Wing 0:28:51 Court Music Drifting from the Palace 0:31:27 Red Leaves on the Kamo River 0:34:12 The Incense Contest 0:36:27 Letters Tied to Autumn Branches 0:39:12 A Reply in Pale Ink 0:41:35 A Koto Heard Through the Pines 0:44:20 Dew on the Bush Clover 0:47:04 Deep Night in the Palace 0:49:54 Lamps Burning Low 0:51:46 Night Breeze Through the Blinds 0:53:26 The Moon Sinks toward the Western Hills 0:56:06 The Last Crickets 0:58:40 Before the Temple Bell 🖼 Artwork Heian Period Courtier on a Moonlit Beach · Kobayashi Kiyochika · 19th century · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access) Moon and Autumn Grasses · Tawaraya Sōtatsu · mid- to late 17th century · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access) Scenes from The Tale of Genji · Tosa School · early 17th century · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access) “Butterflies” (Kochō), from the Tale of Genji · Tosa Mitsuyoshi · late 16th–early 17th century · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access) Poems about Plum Blossoms, from the “Sekido-bon Version of Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern” · Fujiwara no Yukinari · mid- to late 11th century · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access) The Plains of Musashi · Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · 17th century · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access) The Autumn Full Moon at Ishiyama · Utagawa Hiroshige · ca. 1832 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access) Flowers and Grasses of the Four Seasons · Kano Mitsunobu · late 16th century · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access) Three poems from the Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern (Kokin wakashū), known as the “Imaki Fragment” (Imaki-gire) · Fujiwara no Norinaga · 12th century · The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 (Met Open Access) Fujiwara no Yasumasa Plays the Flute by Moonlight · Tsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1883 · Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 Public Domain Designation Ishiyama Moon, from One Hundred Aspects of the Moon · Tsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1885–92 (series) · Library of Congress · No known restrictions (free to use and reuse) Akazome Emon, from One Hundred Aspects of the Moon · Tsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1885–92 (series) · Library of Congress · No known restrictions (free to use and reuse) #HeianJapan #JapaneseMusic #SleepMusic