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The Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies, founded in 1968, is an international liaison and research center designed primarily to serve European and American scholars in all disciplines whose main area of study focuses on pre-Meiji era Japan.
The overall purpose of the Institute is to encourage research on neglected aspects of premodern Japanese civilization, especially during the medieval period (primarily, but not exclusively, the Kamakura and Muromachi periods 1185-1600), centuries which, until the 1970s, had received scarce attention by Japanese and Western scholars alike.
Upcoming Events
The Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies presents:
Yoko NISHI, koto
Yasuka NAMBU, flute
Japan Rising -- The NINA Duo
Celebrating Japanese Composers
Saturday, December 3, 2011, 2 pm
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
Click here to purchase tickets from the Carnegie Hall website.
Program List Forthcoming
Yoko Nishi (koto) started learning koto at the age of four and formally studied koto under the modernist performer-composers Tadao Sawai and Kazue Sawai. In 1980, Ms. Nishi won a prize at the Sankyoku competition at the age of sixteen. After graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts, she performed in front of the Japanese Emperor and Empress at the Imperial Palace as a representative from the University at an event organized by the Imperial Household Agency. Her repertory ranges from traditional pieces to contemporary works by John Cage and Yuji Takahashi, collaborations and improvisations with Western instruments, DJs, poets, and artists. She has also become one of the lead performers of ancient musical instruments at the National Theatre, Tokyo. She has performed for international festivals and venues including the Moers Jazz Festival (Germany), Bang on a Can Festival (USA), Transonic2003 (Germany), and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. In 2008, Ms. Nishi performed at an event organized by the governor of Tokyo at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She was also invited to the London Chelsea Festival in the U.K., and had solo concerts in the USA (Washington, D.C., New York, and Chicago) that same year. In 1009 she gave concerts in Hungary (Budapest) and Germany (Berlin, Koln, Frankfurt, and Munich), and 2010 she performed at the Shanghai Expo, and at the Carnegie Hall JapanNYC Festival (Artistic Director, Seiji Ozawa). She has released three solo albums Fantasma (2002), Seasons of Kumano (2010), and The Sea in a Moonlight Night (2011). Miss Nishi has been a visiting professor of Kansai University (2008-2011) and is currently artist-in-residence at Columbia University (2010-2012). She debuts with Yasuka Nambu (flute) in the launching of the NINA Duo at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in December 2011.
Yasuka Nambu (flute) moved to the U.S. at the age of nine. After graduating from the Juilliard Pre-College, she received her Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude in only two years at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) on Baur Scholarship. She went on to receive her Master of Music degree, also at CCM on full scholarship, in orchestral conducting. She then went back to her flute studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, Germany, where she studied with Prof. Erdmuthe Boehr to receive her performing arts diploma with the highest mark. Since returning to Japan five years ago, Miss Nambu has quickly established herself as one of the leading flutists in Japan. Recipient of the 2007 Osaka Arts Award, the 2008 Sakai Tokitada Music Award of Hyogo Prefecture and the 2009 Kobe City Arts Award, she has performed with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio and Baroqueorchester Arco, Hannover, among others. Concerts and recitals take her throughout Japan and Germany, China (including Hong Kong) and the U.S. In addition to major concert and recital halls, her performing venues include: the Expo 2010 Shanghai, the MS Asuka II Cruise, the Junko Koshino Collection, NHK-TV (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) "Gurutto Kansai Plus," figure skating exhibitions at the Kansai University, Evangelische Schlosskirche Wittenberg and other churches throughout Germany, and the University of California at Long Beach, USA. She is a Visiting Associate Professor of Ashiya University and an artist-in-residence at Columbia University. She debuts with Yoko Nishi (koto) in the launch of the NINA Duo at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in December 2011.
Spring Events
Gagaku Composers Workshop
Friday, March 25, 2011, 5:00 - 9:00 pm
Philosophy Hall, Room 301, Columbia University
Click here to view a poster of the event.
Three composers, Ed Green, Kevin Baldwin, and Alexa Babakhanian, will be premiering 3-5 minute works composed for any Gagaku instruments (hichiriki, shō, ryūteki) and up to one Western instrument for the workshop and they and other participants will have discussion and give feedback. Composers and musicians are welcome to attend the workshop. Anyone interested in attending needs to RSVP to
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with their name, and affiliation.
Glories of the Japanese Traditional Music Heritage - Concert II (Gagaku)
Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 6:00 pm
Miller Theatre, Columbia University
Click here to register for the concert!
Mayumi Miyata, Shō
Hitomi Nakamura, Hichiriki
Takeshi Sasamoto, Ryūteki
Bridget Kibbey, Harp
Chris Washburne, Trombone
Columbia Gagaku Instument Ensemble
Traditional Pieces
Hyōjō no netori
Etenraku (Music of the Divine Heavens)
Taishikichō no netori
Chōgeishi (In Lasting Celebration)
Batō (Wild Mane)
Sōjō no chōshi
Shundeiraku (Spring Garden Music)
Contemporary Pieces
Yozora (The Night Sky) (1987) (US Premiere)
Utsurohi (Transient) (1986)
Ashibune Bontoro Gō (The Reed Boat “Bontoro”) (2011) (World Premiere)
Reimei (Before the Dawn) (2009) (New York Premiere)
Click here to view a poster of the event.
Protected by the Imperial Japanese Court for more than 1,000 years, gagaku is the world's oldest living orchestral music. The program includes traditional pieces, as well as works by contemporary composers at the forefront of a revival of this traditional art form.
Empress Komyo-Related Memorial Events in Nara, Japan
List of Events (in Japanese)
View Photos of Hinaeshiki, Hokkeji, Nara
Updates
Japanese Textile Conservation Fund Established
The JAHF Chino Prize committee is delighted to annouce Hyunjung Cho as the winner of the 2009 Chino Kaori Memorial Essay Prize.
New Publications
Amamonzeki: A Hidden Heritage: Treasures of the Japanese Imperial Convents
In Iris Fields
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