Yoshida, Tsunez¯

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Yoshida, Tsunez̄

Yoshida, Tsunez̄, Japanese ethnomusicologist; b. Kohama, Fukui prefecture, Feb. 3, 1872; d. Kyoto, May 16, 1957. After graduating from the Tokyo School of Music (1897), he taught at training colleges in Fukui (1897-1903) and Kyoto (1903-35). In 1920 he began studying Buddhist music in collaboration with Dönin Taki (1890-1943), a priest of the Tendai sect and a performer of Buddhist chant, with whom he produced several books and transcription anthologies on Buddhist chant, beginning with Kada ongaku ron (On the Music of Ḡth̄; 1934). Yoshida founded a research inst. on Buddhist music at Enryaku-ji (the headquarters of the Tendai sect) in 1950. He received a number of honors during his lifetime, including the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon (1955).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire