“Fukkyoku” (restored or revived music) refers to music that was once performed, but for which the knowledge of how it sounded has now been lost. In terms of Nagauta music for which only a written version remains, creating a restored version involves a process of guessing what the piece sounded like and adding sound accordingly, based on examination of information recorded in the written version and by considering the environment for arts and culture at the time, the social conditions, other works by the performers thought to be the composers, and contemporaneous Hogaku (Japanese traditional music).
Through this specific and practical procedure, organizers also aimed to boost the performance, composition (lyrics and music) and appreciation of other existing classical pieces.
For this project, organizers focused on a Henge-Buyo (series of dances with transformations) piece “Hina matsuri kamiji no momo,” first performed in 1758 by Tomijuro Nakamura 1st, reviving three of the piece’s seven transformations (role swaps) – “Kakitsubata,” “Yamagatsu,” and “Nuno-zarashi” – which were performed together with an existing Harukoma odori dance piece.