IÕm in no hurry so why not take a look? I usually don't listen to gagaku, but somehow that day it was different. Perhaps it was the satisfaction I felt after a hard day's work. Or, looking at it objectively, it was perhaps because I was drunk. In any case, hearing gagaku suddenly made me feel like a music critic.

As I neared the music I found a crowd of people. Apparently the Tokyo Gakuso was putting on a special performance, co-sponsored by the Chigo Shrine and the Tokyo Shrine Agency. Holding a lovely pamphlet, I was enraptured by the graceful sounds.

What is gagaku? It is music that is essentially Japanese, but at the same time very international. Brought to Japan from neighouring China in ancient times, its roots lie beyond the Silk Road, far west to India, Central Asia, Iran, and as far as western Asia. A traditional music echoing throughout the Eurasian continent. Later, I found out that gagaku is very popular right now. A commercial television company even broadcast a special program on gagaku. And the present popularity of gagaku can be attributed to one man.

His name is Hideki Togo. He studied gagaku with the Imperial Music division of the Imperial Household Agency, and played at official ceremonies. After resigning from the Imperial Household Agency he became a freelance gagaku-shi (court musician), and has been playing various kinds of music since. His looks have led him to be dubbed the "Prince of Gagaku." His activities are quite substantial: in addition to posing for magazines he has even published a photo collection. I imagine women are more aware of matters like this then men are.

However, there may one thing that Hideki Togo fans are not aware of: his roots. Like gagaku, his ancestors arrived in Japan via the Silk Road. He is related to a tribe of people that lived in a far-off land.

The progenitor of this distinguished gagaku Togi clan was Kawakatsu Hata, a close advisor to Prince Shotoku in the 6th-7th century. Kawakatsu Hata built many temples and shrines, including Koryu temple in Uzumasa, Kyoto, which is famous for its Buddha Miroku which was the first national treasure to be so designated.

Kawakatsu had many children. His fourth and sixth sons called themselves Togi Hata, later dropping the Hata part of their name. They were distinguished in gagaku and dance, and became well-known ceremonial musicians at the Shintennou Temple founded by Prince Shotoku. The present-day Togi clan are their descendants.

Thus, Togi was once Hata Togi, which was originally Hata. The Hata clan had great influence in ancient Japan, constructing the city of Heian. Many of the gigantic burial mounds in the Kawachi area were by the Hata clan.

No doubt they were a hi-tech group. But the roots of their technical prowess lay in the Korean peninsula. According to the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) and the Nihonshoki (Chronicle of Japan), they arrived from Kudara (Paekche) in ancient Korea during the reign of the fifteenth emperor, Ojin, in the 4th to 5th century. To be more precise, they came from a country called Shinra (Silla), or Gaya. Furthermore, their origins lay with nomads from China, the western reaches of the Silk Road, west Asia, and even from the Middle East.

And in fact, they were Jewish. Israel and Palestine, areas presently shaken by the Middle East conflict, were the original home of the Hata clan. Furthermore, they were not just Jews. Their ancestors were early Christians.

Psalms are sung and organs played in churches; gagaku, too, is played and dedicated to shrines. Such customs of playing music at sanctuaries may have its origins in Judaism.

King David, known as the Messiah of ancient Israel, was a master of the harp. Even now, the harp in Judaism is still closely associated with King David. In Chinese, King David is written <> (Davi), which closely resembles the Japanese <> (ohsake). As strokes are often omitted and change, scholars feel that <> represents King David.

In addition there is a shrine, the Oosaka Shrine, dedicated to King David in Uzumasa, Kyoto. It was built by Kawakatsu Hata, and is where he himself is enshrined. Kawakatsu, of course, is Togi's ancestor. Jews who came to Japan must have strove to preserve their traditions. They brought their music from western Asia after a long, long journey. And which undoubtedly gave birth to the gagaku of today.

Hideki Togi, in his book Gagaku once said, "I often travel the Silk Road. Although the musical instruments are not exactly the same as the gagaku instruments in Japan, everywhere I heard music with the same kind of logic and instruments with same familial resemblance. To me, that seems only natural."

Although the faces of Middle Eastern Jews and Japanese are not similar, there is a certain family resemblance. When we think of Togi's ancestors traveling the Silk Road to come to Japan, this too may seem perfectly natural.

Translated by Rie Ishida