Description

‘The Six Hours’ cycle of three solo works for bassoon, viola and tenor saxophone provides ritual time and space for human beings to adjust their inner time connected to nature and the universe. It is also a musical variation of “Shomyo”, a Japanese Buddhist chant.

In the Jodo sect of Buddhism and the Shuni-e ceremony at Todai-ji temple, the Buddhist memorial service is dedicated in a form that is divided into six time periods during the day. This is called the observance of the Six Hours (Rokuji no gyobo). The Six Hours are Nicchu (Noon Watch), Nichimotsu (Sunset Watch), Shoya (First Evening Watch), Han’ya (Mid-evening Watch), Goya (Latter Evening Watch), and Jinjyo (Dawn Watch).

The three solo works aim the condense the format of the one-day memorial service into approximately 40 minutes. ‘The Six Hours I’ for bassoon covers the first two periods (Nicchu and Nichimotsu), ‘The Six Hours II’ for viola represents the second two periods (Shoya and Han’ya), and ‘The Six Hours III’ for tenor saxophone defines the third two periods (Goya and Jinjyo).