is a genre of accompanied vocal Japanese court music[1] that existed during the Heian period in the Nara and Kyoto regions.[2] It draws from traditional folk music of the Nara period[3] [4] accompanied by togaku instruments, with the exception of the, which are replaced by, wooden sticks used for rhythm.
About 55 pieces have been transcribed into modern Western notation from original 12th century sources by Elizabeth Markham. The few songs that have survived into modern times have changed over the centuries.
It may have developed out of music to drive horses along, as the Chinese characters that compose its name seem to indicate[5] but, according to German musicologist Eta Harich-Schneider, there are several other theories.
Song texts are short and simple in character and describe scenes of life. The repertoire was once estimated at some 400 songs. In the late Nara period the aristocracy became more interested in complex foreign musical imports. Emperor Horikawa (1079-1107), despite the taste for Chinese culture since the Nara period, also cultivated an interest in . Courtiers sang songs for entertainment. A fashionable aristocrat was not regarded à jour if he did not know of the latest Chinese imports, such as music. In the 14th century, because of the many wars, the repertoire of declined, as many were lost due to the turmoil, and it was only at the crowning ceremony of emperor Emperor Go-Mizunoo, who ruled from 1611 to 1629, at Nijo Palace that a reconstruction of the old pieces was attempted and the famous piece "" was performed at the Imperial palace in Kyōto.The emperor's wife, Fujiwara no Fusahi, tells in her court chronicles how little old material could be found. The repertoire today includes newly created folk songs, .
('Near the sea at Ise we want to harvest sea-wheat, while we collect mussels and sea shells we collect pearls, I want to find one pearl.')
Harich-Schneider, E: Saibara, Deutsches Jahrbuch für Music, 1963,Harich-Schneider, E: A history of Japanese Music, Oxford UP, 1980
Markham, Elizabeth. Saibara: Volume 1, Text: Japanese Court Songs of the Heian Period. Cambridge, 1983/2009.
Markham, Elizabeth. Saibara: Volume 2, Music: Japanese Court Songs of the Heian Period. Cambridge, 1983/2009.