In Japanese, gagaku means "refined" (ga ) "music" (gaku ) and so is perfectly in line with the Heian cultural value of miyabi , or "courtly refinement." Since the emphasis is on refinement or taste, gagaku was largely experienced in the Heian period as an elite or esoteric music, a "high culture" music in contrast to other Japanese musical traditions. Like other early Japanese musical traditions, gagaku is not "music alone" but rather music and dance or pantomime. The entire gagaku experience, from the music to the singing to the story to the dance was regarded as refined and elegant. It's important, however, to understand that gagaku is not a distinct musical classification, like "Baroque," but is a category that subsumes several musical and performance genres. It is largely a distinction between music for refined, courtly tastes, and all other types of music.
Like ancient court music, gagaku is largely divided up according to the origin of the musical style. The highest style is the Togaku , or T'ang courtly music,following the programmatic rules of the "Ten Styles of Music." Next to the Togaku was the Komagaku , or musical styles from the Korean kingdoms. Distinct from this group were Japanese vocal music accompanied by elaborate, masked and costumed pantomimes. Finally, the last group of gagaku music were the saibara , or Japanese folk songs (sung in Chinese) and roei , or courtly songs written in T'ang style.
