Xinyue

• Chinese/Japanese: 心越 (Xīnyuè / Shin'etsu)

Xinyue was a Chinese Ch'an (Zen) priest credited with introducing Ming Dynasty qin music into Japan in 1677.

While the qin grew quite popular within certain literati circles, the introduction and popularization of "Ming music" more broadly is usually credited to Gi Shien (Wei Zhiyan), who settled in Nagasaki in 1672, and to his great-grandson Gi Shimei, who published a book of Ming music in 1768.

References

• Britten Dean, “Mr. Gi’s Music Book: An Annotated Translation of Gi Shimei’s Gi-shi gakufu,” Monumenta Nipponica 37:3 (1982), 326n29.