Rokudan no shirabe

Rokudan no Shirabe (六段の調 abbreviation Rokudan 六段) is one of Yatsuhashi Kengyo's famous pieces. It was originally a soukyoku, a kind of chamber music with the koto playing the leading part, but nowadays the part of the koto is more widely known than the original. The music is made from six columns (thus 'Roku' -- six, 'dan' -- columns), and there are exactly fifty-two beats in each column, except for the first row, which has four beats more. Each column first begin slowly, and then gets faster and faster, but slows down to the original tempo at the end. Along with the Midare, it is one of the most popular soukyoku. The piece is used as Japan's theme song in Sid Meier's Civilization V.

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