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Musical Atlas - Japan

Musical Atlas - Japan

Nōtomi Judō I
EMI - 3 C 064-17967
1974

Pista Título Kanji Longitud Artista
1  Play Button Kanjincho 勧進帳 06'56
The Kabuki is one of the three major genres of theatrical art in Japan. The word literally means song-dance-theatre, and the Kabuki is a spectacular synthesis of theatre, music, and dance. There is a vast repertoire of Kabuki plays allowing for a great variety of dance dramas. Each one-day performance consists of one or two dramas based on stories which usually have no connection with one another.

Nagauta Shamisen music is used as the accompaniment of the dance drama, and also as background music for dramas of other types. The Shamisen is a lute with a small square wooden body covered with cat skin or dog skin an both sides and fixed to a thin, long (88 cm.) wooden stick, at the end of which a peg-box is attached. The three silk strings of different thicknesses are usually tuned either to do-fa-do, do-sol-do or do-fa-si flat. They are plucked with a large ivory or wooden plectrum shaped like the leaf of the Ginko tree. Although the size of the instrument is always practically the same, delicate differences of timbre are obtained by using strings and skins of different thicknesses and plectra of various sizes, by fitting bridges of various weights, etc. There are several schools of Shamisen music and also different styles suited to various occasions such as, for instance, theatre music and domestic music. Each school also has its own subtleties of timbre and its own playing technique. The music presented here is the final scene of a typical dance drama called Kanjincho. This historical drama tells the story of a young hero, Minamoto Yoshitsune, who had to escape from the capital Kyoto to the northern country because of a struggle with his brother Minamoto Yoritomo. The hero and his attendants, disguised as a humble guide and itinerant priests, try to pass through a police control at Ataka. The chief officer of the barrier recognizes that they are the team of Yoshitsune, but, moved by the tragic misfortune of the hero, he allows them to go. through. At the end of the drama a brave attendant named Benkei dances, drunk with the wine the officer has offered them, while the team pass through the barrier. The music here recorded depicts this last climax, which is accompanied with a piece of Nagauta Shamisen music. The fairly long instrumental interludes between the songs are performed on the Shamisen, flute and drums, and bring out the musical climax of this long drama.
2  Play Button Godan Ginuta 五段砧 05'54 Koto: Ueno Kazuko
Koto: Matsuo Keiko
The Koto is a long zither made of paulonia wood. The back of the upper board is hallowed out to provide a thin and long soundboard. Thirteen silk strings are strung between the two ends of the body. Each string passes over a movable ivory bridge which determines the length of the sounding part. The player plucks the strings with three ivory picks attached by leather bands to the thumb, the index and middle finger of the right hand. The instrument was introduced from China in the 8th century and used in the orchestra of the ancient court music, the Gagaku. In the 17th century a blind musician, Yatsuhashi, created a new genre of music using the Koto as a solo instrument and for the accompaniment of songs.

This type of music was developed by his successors, mainly blind professional musicians. It became fashionable among the common people, especially among women. Koto music was combined with a genre of Shamisen song called Jiuta, also created by blind musicians, giving birth to the Koto and Shamisen ensemble. This kind of ensemble allowed the development of increasingly sophisticated styles of polyphony, and so did the Koto ensembles.

The piece chosen here, a Koto duet, is a representative masterpiece of the polyphonic Koto ensemble. It was composed by Mitsuzaki, a musician who died in 1853. Two kotos are tuned at different pitches; the main Koto (an the left) is tuned a fifth lower than the second one (on the right). The title of this piece comes from the form of the composition, which is in five sections (go-dan). The term Kinuta means a fulling block, since the piece reminds one of the sound of someone making felt. The third, fourth and fifth sections of the piece are recorded here.
3  Play Button Shika no Tōne (Kinko Ryū) 鹿の遠音 10'20 Shakuhachi: Nōtomi Judō II
Shakuhachi: Nōtomi Judō I
The Shakuhachi is a bamboo end-blown flute. It was first used in China during the T'ang dynasty (8th century) and it was brought to Japan among the instruments of the orchestra. Three Shakuhachis of the period, each with six finger-holes, have been preserved in the Imperial Treasury of Sho-so-in at Nara City, together with other musical instruments including fragments of an ancient Koto. After the disappearance of the ancient Shakuhachi, a new type of Shakuhachi with five finger-holes, four in front and one an the back, began to be played by Buddhist itinerant priests of the Fuke sect, a sect of Zen Buddhism. In the 18th century the instrument became very popular and was added to the Koto-Shamisen ensemble. The particular repertoire of the Fuke Shakuhachi was however preserved and developed into a refined genre of art music. This style is known as the Kinko School.

We have chosen here one of the most famous pieces of the Kinko Shakuhachi music. The title means "The Distant Call
of the Deers". The music is an evocation of two deer answering each other across a valley. The specific blowing technique gives a characteristic sound delicately colored with various effects. The free rhythm, artistically controlled, represents the beauty of nature, an element always present in the poetic concepts of the alder Japanese. The performers in this recording are a father and his son, both known as outstanding Kinko Shakuhachi players.
4  Play Button Tsugaru Yamauta 津軽山唄 02'45
In the mountaineer’s song (Yamauta) from Tsugaru District in Aomori Prefecture, the text says: "a boy goes to the mountain to work when he reaches the age of fifteen: he climbs the mountain and plays an the flute a melody which blends with the sound of the wind blowing through the pine trees". This song used to be sung by mountaineers walking in the mountains, and it brought them comfort when they spent long days alone an the mountain far their work. Later it came to be sung in Sake (wine) parties at home, and as a result, the style of the song and the singing technique became gradually mare sophisticated as is shown by the example given an this record. A Shakuhachi accompaniment has been added to the song.

The main characteristics of this song lie in its distinctive rhythm, a free rhythm which is found in the music of other parts of Asia, for instance, in the folk songs of Mongolia.
5  Play Button Awa Odori 阿波踊り 03'21
The Bon dances, which are found in all parts of Japan, are also called Urabon. These terms seem to be derived from Sanskrit terms used in ancient India, Ullambana and Avalambana, which refer to a kind of religious festival to welcome the spirits of the dead. In Japan this type of festival is held as a rule around the 15th of June according to the lunar calendar. The style of the festival varies greatly, but it usually provides an occasion for group dances called Bon-odori, i.e. Bon dance. Bon-odori has become gradually enriched with elements of entertainment. The present record shows a typical example of a Bon dance meant for entertainment on a large scale. In Tokushima City on Shikoku Island, an important Bon dance festival takes place for a few days every summer. Groups of dancers from various sectors of the city go through the main streets dancing Awa-odori, accompanied by a Hayashi and singing. The text of the songs always refers to the lord of the country, formerly named Awa, who was the founder of the dance festival. In 1585, when the castle of the lord was completed, the workers danced in joy in his honor. Today this festival has become quite famous and hundreds of thousands of people from other parts of Japan visit the city to see it.
6  Play Button Tairyo Utaikomi 大漁唄い込み 04'49
In Miyagi Prefecture, the fishermen sing a particular type of rhythmical song while sculling their boats and fishing.
These songs are called songs for a good haul. The melody given here consists of two songs, Saitara-bushi and Toshima-Jinku, The former was originally sung by a mine worker named Saitaro who changed it into a boat song when he became a fisherman. The latter was a song for a Sake party. The text describes the sceneries of the seashore, the islands of the district, and the life and customs of the local people. The song begins with a prayer to the gods asking for their protection on sea and land.
7  Play Button Hatoma-bushi 02'22
The Okinawa islands are situated in the south-western sea of Japan, and the Yaeyama Islands belong to the southern part of the Okinawa group, close to Taiwan. This is an area very rich in folk songs. The songs recorded here are typical of Okinawa and quite different from those of Japan itself, although the culture is basically the same.

The scale rather resembles that of South-East Asia, and the use of the Jabisen, a three-stringed lute with a long stick and a small body covered with snake skin, shows the influence of Chinese music. Hatoma-bushi, originally a song from a small island called Hatoma, is one of the most famous songs of Okinawa. The song used to be sung when the people of the island joyfully watched the boats carrying the rice and millet they paid as tax.
8  Play Button Edo Matsuri Bayashi 09'53
The Japanese throughout the country greatly appreciate the Matsuri festival. Every city, town and village has its own festival. These are of various types, some having a religious or ritual character and some being mainly conceived as entertainment. The festivals vary according to circumstance and place. They may be held in the rice fields, on the seashore, in the mountains, in the smaller or bigger towns, etc., and they take different forms in northern, eastern, western and southern Japan. There is a great contrast between the festival at Edo (the present capital, Tokyo) in the East and the one at Kyoto (the former capital), the former being more brilliant and gay and the latter more sober and dignified.

Hayashi or Bayashi is a term used to describe an instrumental ensemble consisting of a flute, a drum, and various percussion instruments such as a gong, a scraper and a clapper. An ensemble composed of a flute, a small hour-glass drum, a larger hour-glass drum and a flat drum, such as is used in the Noh play, is a typical Hayashi. In folk music, however, we find Hayashi ensembles comprising different instruments, for instance, a transverse flute, two flat drums, a big barrel drum and a gong such as the one used in the Edo Matsuri Bayashi recorded here. The repertoire of the Edo Matsuri Bayashi consists of four main pieces, Yatai, Shoden, Kamakura and Shichome, which are used in every performance, and several additional pieces, one or two of which are inserted between these four pieces. A standard performance should present five movements: Yatai (slow), Shoden (faster), Kamakura (slower), Shichome (fastest), and Yatay (slow). In this recording, Yatai, Shoden and Shichome form the most brilliant parts of the performance. The Edo Matsuri Bayashi is played by ordinary people during the summer or the autumn on the stage found in shrines or on temporary stages erected at street corners where people gather. This music brings a deep feeling of nostalgia to the mind of the writer of this commentary, who was born in downtown Tokyo.