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''Uzagaku'' was primarily an oral tradition, passed on from masters to students through direct in-person instruction without the use of any written notation. The only written records of ''uzagaku'' music - that is, the melodies and not just the lyrics - come from a [[1913]] interview of [[Kokuba Koken|Kokuba Kôken]], at that time one of the last surviving court musicians from the time of the kingdom, conducted by scholar [[Yamauchi Seihin]].<ref>Kina Moriaki and Okazaki Ikuko, ''Okinawa to Chûgoku geinô'', Naha: Hirugi-sha (1984), 52.</ref>
''Uzagaku'' was primarily an oral tradition, passed on from masters to students through direct in-person instruction without the use of any written notation. The only written records of ''uzagaku'' music - that is, the melodies and not just the lyrics - come from a [[1913]] interview of [[Kokuba Koken|Kokuba Kôken]], at that time one of the last surviving court musicians from the time of the kingdom, conducted by scholar [[Yamauchi Seihin]].<ref>Kina Moriaki and Okazaki Ikuko, ''Okinawa to Chûgoku geinô'', Naha: Hirugi-sha (1984), 52.</ref>
===Restoration===
The restoration of the central structures of the palace complex at Shuri castle, following their destruction in 1945, was completed in 1992. Though efforts to reconstruct and revive ''uzagaku'' are generally said to have only just begun at that time, an ''uzagaku'' performance accompanied the first ''kaimon shiki'' (gate-opening ceremony) at the newly-restored castle on November 3, 1992.<ref>Advertisement for Shuri Bunka Sai (Shuri Culture Festival), ''Ryukyu Shimpo'', 2 Nov 1992.</ref>
Prof. Higa Etsuko of the Okinawa Prefectural University of the Arts, with government funding and the help of Prof. Wang Yaohua and others, formed the Uzagaku Fukugen Ensô Kenkyûkai ("Uzagaku Restoration and Performance Research Association"), and began in 1993 to visit museums and other collections across Japan to investigate historical musical instruments and other materials held at such institutions. Yamauchi Seihin passed away in 1986 and was never able to witness the restoration of Shuri castle, or of ''uzagaku''; his work, however, was published in a "collected works" in 1993.<ref>Yamauchi Seihin, ''Yamauchi Seihin chosaku shû'' 山内盛彬著作集, 3 vols., Naha: Okinawa Times, 1993.</ref> Following continued research in [[Nagasaki]], [[Fujian province]], and [[Taiwan]] in the late 1990s, they worked with a Chinese luthier to have new sets of ''uzagaku'' instruments made.<ref>Yeh, 38-40.</ref>
==Instrumentation==
==Instrumentation==