Shigeo Kishibe(Ngạn biên thành hùng,Kishibe Shigeo,June 6, 1912 – January 4, 2005)was a Japanesemusicologistspecializing in the study of East Asian music.
Life
editKishibe was born inTokyoin the district ofKanda-Jinbōchō,to Fukuo Kishibe, an educator and children's writer. He was first exposed to music through music in his father's stories, and made his first record and stage appearance at age 9 (byEast Asian age reckoning) and first appeared on the radio at age 14. As a teenager, he became fascinated by Asian history. At this time he also met the eminent scholar of Japanese and Asian musicHisao Tanabe.In April 1933, he enrolled at theTokyo Imperial UniversityDivision of Asiatic History of the Faculty of Letters, studying underHiroshi Ikeuchi.He graduated in 1936, with a graduate thesis on modal systems of popular music of theSuiandTangDynasties.
Upon graduation, he co-founded (withTadasumi Iida) a new academic society for the study of Asian music, the Tōyō Ongaku Gakkai (Society for Research in Asiatic Music). During this period he was supported by grants from the Imperial Academy and the Keimei Foundation and was active in colonial field research in Korea (visited in 1941) and China (visited in 1943). Upon these visits, he encountered the survivingaakandyayueforms, as well as popular theatrical and instrumental forms. In the 1940s, he taught senior high school and lectured in Asian and Japanese music history.
From 1949 to 1973, he taught at theUniversity of Tokyo,first as an associate professor, as a full professor after 1961, and becomingEmeritusProfessor upon retiring. In this retirement, he continued to teach as a professor atTeikyo Universityuntil 1994. He also lectured at numerous other universities, includingTokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music,Soai Women's University,Niigata University,Hirosaki University,andWaseda University.He was also a research fellow atTokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.In 1957–58, 1962–63, and 1973–74, he visited theUnited Statesand held visiting positions atHarvard University,University of California Los Angeles,University of Hawaii,University of Washington,andStanford University.He also held advisory positions with several international organizations for music research. In 1982, he was invested with theOrder of the Rising Sun,3rd class.
He married Yori Sasaki in 1941 and they had three children together. She was an eminentkotoandshamisenplayer in her own right, and was awarded theOrder of the Sacred Treasure,fourth class in 1992.
Research
editHis book on the musical institutions of the Tang dynasty,Tōdai ongaku no rekishiteki kenkyū: Gakusei-henThời Đường âm lặc の lịch sử nghiên cứu, was awarded theJapan Academy Prizein 1961. His last book,Edo jidai no kin-shi monogatariGiang hộ thời đại の cầm sĩ vật ngữ [Tales of qin (guqin) players during the Edo period], was awarded theTanabe Hisao Prize.
Although most of his research was historical in nature and dealt with very old music, he also conducted fieldwork in various regions in Japan, China, and other parts of Asia. To his students, he emphasized the importance of having practical experience performing the music one studies. He himself playedgagaku(theshōand thehichiriki), thenōkan,nagauta,itchu-būshi,and the Chineseguqin.
References
edit- Steven G. Nelson. "Dr. Kishibe Shigeo: his career and research." In English Commentary onTōdai ongaku no rekishiteki kenkyū: Gakusei-hen, Zokukan.Osaka: Izumi Shoin, 2005. Pages 42–45.