Uehara Rokushiro was born in 1848 in Tokyo, Japan. He was the son of a retainer of the Iwatsuki Clan (Saitama Prefecture).
He studied Chinese classics and medicine in his early youth and studied French at Kaiseijo (predecessor of Tokyo University) from 1869. After graduating served at the Military Academy (1875).
Together with Shuji Izawa was appointed a member of Musical Research Institute and later director and lecturer at Music School. Taught music and acoustics for 30 years at Higher Polytechnical, Higher Normal School and Fine Arts Academy.
During the Seinan Affair invented a balloon to relieve Kumamoto Castle besieged by the rebel army (1877). He is the author of Zokugaku Senritsu-ko (Study of the Rhythm of Popular Japanese Music). This book took him 17 years to complete and is recognized for its originality.
Uehara studied shakuhachi under Araki Kodō II. With Araki Kodō III and Kawase Junsuke I he helped revise Kinko-ryū notation, especially in regards to how rhythm is notated.
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