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This is a Sokyoku piece in the Kumiuta style from the Ikuta Ryű school . This piece was composed for koto by Kitajima Kengyo .

History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
One of the most profound of the kumiuta that are classified into the deep interior (oku) category of the koto music repertoire (1), this song cycle ‘Hagoromo no kyoku’ (‘Celestial Robes’) is played frequently as part of the first musical event of the New Year Hikizome, a traditional ceremony that accompanies the First Reading, the First Writing and other ceremonies that begin the New Year in Japan.

(1) Kumiuta are traditionally classified into four categories according to the degree of profundity and stylistic proficiency required and sometimes the technical difficulties involved. These are omote (lit. "outside"), ura (lit. "inside"), naka (lit. "interior"), oku (lit, "deep interior"). By way of illustration, it may be helpful to imagine these categories as representing the structure of the imperial palace or a Shinto shrine with outer and inner walls, and further inside, the outer and inner sanctuaries. It should also be mentioned that these categories represent stages of a student’s progress in the learning of the koto repertoire, and are regulated by the issuing of diplomas along the way.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
The imperial grace is
Proof that the dynasty is
Unshakeable,
Not to be swept away
Even once
Like the Great Rock
At the touch of the goddess
In celestial robes.

The heavens spread
Unclouded
This first day
Of spring,
This peaceful morning,
Soft as the clouds,
As the Emperor celebrates
The stars.

Amid the gentle sounds
Of white waves
Stirred on the stream at Nara
By the evening breeze
The rites of purification
Quiet the hearts of the gods:
A testimony to
The arrival of summer.

The dew of the chrysanthemums
Gathered
By the ancient hermit
Is fragrant on his sleeve.
May he greet
A thousand autumns
As easily as he brushes
The dew drops away.

See out on the surface
Of Lake Biwa
How the moon rests
Between the waves
Cold, crystalline,
At the break of day
The bridge at Seta stretches
White with snow.

For ten thousand years
The pine and bamboo
Have grown together,
Their deep green
Never changing,
As if they had promised
One another
Never to grow old.

Hagoromo no Kyoku appears on the following albums:

Album	Shakuhachi	Koto	Shamisen
Abe Keiko Record Set - 01  (Listen)		Abe Keiko
Sokyoku Jiuta Taikei 05  (Listen)		Koshino Eisho I