Gagaku (the ceremonial music of the imperial court and the main Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in Japan) has long been ignored in scholarship on the cultural and intellectual history of Japan. This Critical Interventions Lab will discuss Gagaku as “cultural capital” in its intellectual, political, and economic implications, as well as its transnational ramifications, for the definition of cultural heritage and the formation of cultural identity in Japan from the Edo period until today.