Fascination of the Shakuhachi - 4

Yamamoto Hōzan
King Records - KICH 2064
2000

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Wakana	若菜	20'50	Shakuhachi: Yamamoto Hōzan Koto: Yonekawa Toshiko Shamisen: Satō Chikaki Voice: Satō Chikaki
	Composed by MATSUURA kengyo in ni-agari tuning. This piece would normally sound like ha-uta (a short song accompanied by shamisen) but here it is given a gorgeous te-goto (a two-verse song with an interlude between the verses) for koto. This te-goto for koto was made by YAEZAKI kengyo and the lyrics are said to be written by a cerrain MAEDA of Osaka. There was an old custom that on the year's first Day of the Rat, people went out to surrounding fields and brought back plants found there. The plants were regarded as a symbol of the power of nature, and the people hoped to teceive some of this power through it. Young pine tree and young edible grass (wakana) are typical examples of the kinds of things they were after. The main song is supposed to be sung by young maidens picking up wakana, and in this carefree atmosphere that is peculiar to MATSUURA kengyo, spring breezes, the voices of a Japanese nightingale and other birds perched on a plum branch are all described.
2	Uji Meguri	宇治巡り	22'27	Shakuhachi: Yamamoto Hōzan Koto: Yonekawa Toshiko Shamisen: Yonekawa Fumiko II Voice: Yonekawa Toshiko Voice: Yonekawa Fumiko II
	This te-goto piece composed by MATSUURA kengyo in hon-chosi tuning, while the te-goto for koto is in the katakumoi tuning and was made by YAEZAKI kengyo. The lyrics were written by TANAKA Kouji of Kyoto. MATSUURA kengyo was a great sangen player in Kyoto in the Bunka-Bunsei eras. YAEZAKI kengyo was a great koto player also from Kyoto who composed many accompaniments to the repertoire of ji-uta. (popular songs accompanied by shamisen that originated in the western part of Japan.) In UJI MEGURI, scenes from Uji (in southeast of Kyoto and famed for its tea) are described. However, the writer's aim was to weave the brand names of good tea into the lyrics rather than telling a consistent story.
3	Midare Rinzetsu	乱輪舌	09'04	Shakuhachi: Yamamoto Hōzan Koto: Yamamoto Hiroyo Koto: Yamamoto Shūya
	Also called MIDARE RINZETSU, JUDAN NO SHIRABE and JUNIDAN SUGAGAKI. This is a kind of instrumental tune called dan-mono (type) or shirabe-mono. Along with ROKUDAN NO SHIRABE, this is the most well-known of its type. Among the dan-mono tunes, only this piece does not have a standardized number of notes in every dan (part), and therefore it is called MIDARE (in disorder). It is counted as having ju-dan (ten parts) in the Ikuta school and juni-dan (twelve parts) in the Yamada school. This piece was already famous in the early Edo Era, as one of the instrumental pieces for sankyoku gassoh (an ensemble consisting of three instruments, koto, shamisen and shakuhachi), Nowadays, YATSUHASHI kengyo is credited as the composer, but it is hard to believe that the original MIDARE had a ten-or twelve-part construction. Unlike ROKUDAN, this dynamic tune was originally for solo koto, the other parts being added later.