The Honkyoku of the Kinko-Ryu: Some Principles of Its Organization
Eliott Weisgarber · Ethnomusicology · 1968
Among the exotic contents found in the Shoso-in, the repository in Nara which houses the personal possessions of the Emperor Sh6mu whose reign lasted from 724 to 749 A.D., there are several shakuhachi which had been used in the court orchestra performing at the dedication ceremonies of the Great Buddha of T6dai-ji in 756. These instruments were constructed along Chinese lines, producing the Chinese five-tone scale: D E G A B (D). After the removal of the court to Nagaoka and finally to Heian-kyo (now Kyoto) in 795, the instrument flourished for awhile, then gradually died out, its music lost.