Gagaku (雅楽, lit. "elegant music") is a type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances. Gagaku was developed as court music of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and its near-current form was established in the Heian period (794–1185) around the 10th century. Today, it is performed by the Board of Ceremonies in the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

Gagaku consists of three primary repertoires:

Native Shinto religious music and imperial songs and dance, called Kuniburi no utamai (国風歌舞) Vocal music based on native folk poetry, called Utaimono (謡物) Songs and dance based on foreign-style music A Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian form (specifically Tang dynasty), called Tōgaku (唐楽) A Korean and Manchurian form, called komagaku (高麗楽)

Gagaku, like shōmyō, employs the yo scale, a pentatonic scale with ascending intervals of two, three, two, two, and three semitones between the five scale tones. Artistically it differs from the music of the corresponding Chinese form yayue (雅楽) which is a term reserved for ceremonial music.