ancient Chinese chromatic scale; twelve pitches of Chinese music theory
Technical term from traditional Chinese music theory, adopted in Japan primarily for gagaku (court music). Refers to the twelve fundamental pitches, analogous to a chromatic scale but with historical tuning differences.
See also: 雅楽
In gagaku, scales based on the twelve pitches are used.
The twelve pitches originate from ancient Chinese music theory.
音階 is a general term for musical scale; 十二律 specifically refers to the twelve fundamental pitches of the Chinese-derived system.
From Chinese 十二律 (shí'èrlǜ), literally 'twelve pitches'. The term was adopted into Japanese as じゅうにりつ and is used in the context of traditional music theory.