Shigeo Kishibe
Shigeo Kishibe (岸辺 成雄, Kishibe Shigeo, June 6, 1912 – January 4, 2005) was a Japanese
Life
Kishibe was born in
Upon graduation, he co-founded (with Tadasumi 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 surviving aak and yayue forms, 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 the
He married Yori Sasaki in 1941 and they had three children together. She was an eminent
Research
His book on the musical institutions of the Tang dynasty, Tōdai ongaku no rekishiteki kenkyū: Gakusei-hen 唐代音楽の歴史的研究, was awarded the Japan Academy Prize in 1961. His last book, Edo jidai no kin-shi monogatari 江戸時代の琴士物語 [Tales of qin (guqin) players during the Edo period], was awarded the Tanabe 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 played
.References
- Steven G. Nelson. "Dr. Kishibe Shigeo: his career and research." In English Commentary on Tōdai ongaku no rekishiteki kenkyū: Gakusei-hen, Zokukan. Osaka: Izumi Shoin, 2005. Pages 42–45.
