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How "Old" is "Ancient"? Are So-called 'Shakuhachi Honkyoku' "Ancient"?
The answer is very straightforward and simple:
No, 'shakuhachi (hon)kyoku' music pieces are in no way "ancient"!
So-called "Shakuhachi Honkyoku" - NB: only referred to once in 1694,
and first again in 1847! -
are certainly not in any way "ancient".
Here's a definition according to Wikipedia - anything "ancient" ends before the year 500 CE,
in 476 CE, in fact, with the fall of the Roman Empire in Southern Europe:
"Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity.
The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script.
Ancient history covers all continents inhabited by humans in the period 3000 BC – AD 500,
ending with the expansion of Islam in late antiquity."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_history
The first time that Edo Period 'shakuhachi kyoku' music titles were ever recorded in print was in 1732, in a document titled Shakuhachi denrai-ki.
1732: The Fascinating Shakuhachi denrai-ki Document.
Early Edo Period 'Shakuhachi' Music History.
The Oldest Known List of 'Komusō' Melody Titles
However, the first ever known piece of shakuhachi music presented and preserved in actual notation is dated 1769 (Tsukitani, 2000, page 61).
2000: Tsukitani Tsuneko, Overview of Titles and Notations
- Never Were There Any 'Honkyoku' in the Edo Period, only 'Kyoku'!
Only thereafter do many more titles of 'shakuhachi kyoku' suddenly appear in writing.
That means, logically, that the whole repertory of preserved pieces of Edo Period 'shakuhachi kyoku' is not any older
than that of "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America" that was agreed upon, adopoted and signed on July 4, 1776.
That was only a quarter of a millenium ago - about 250 years at the most, so:
Not "ancient" at all •
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