Sangai Rinten - 2 - The International Shakuhachi Society

Sangai Rinten - 2

Yokoyama Katsuya
Denon - OX-7194
1980

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Futatsu no Uta	二つの歌	15'32	Shakuhachi: Yokoyama Katsuya Koto: Sawai Tadao
	First composed in 1975, "Futatsu-no-uta" (two songs') was partially rewritten in 1978. The opening shomyo, (Buddhist chant) style singing uses the Iroha arrangement of the Japanese kana syllabary as its text. This is one uta with the second uta being the 'Kangen-no-uta' ("song for pipes and strings") featuring the shakuhachi Nolan and 17-string koto. Normally tuned in two octaves, the 17-string koto here is tuned over four octaves. The end of the piece again returns to the shomyo singing style, this time with the use of a typical yoke, a chant for "teaching" of the Shinbone Sect of Buddhism entitled "Rumor no Yoke" ('the teaching of a dragon girl'). This is a 12th century text telling how Manjusri Bodhisatva taught an eight-year old dragon girl the path of Buddha using the Lotus Sutra.
2	Ririura	理里有楽	08'12	Shakuhachi: Yokoyama Katsuya Shakuhachi: Iwamoto Yoshikazu
	Composed in 1978, ririura is another name for soga, a singing style of the Middle Ages in Japan. Although very little is known about this type of song, it is thought to have used the shakuhachi as an accompanying instrument. Here it is used mainly for the echo of the word and what it conjures up in terms of the echo of the shakuhachi. Although the piece displays a shakuhachi honkyoku feeling, it uses several pitches which are not normally used in honkyoku. The piece features the very low tones of the 2 shaku 7 sun instrument in duet with the regular shakuhachi.
3	Onku	音句	16'16	Shakuhachi: Yokoyama Katsuya Shakuhachi: Iwamoto Yoshikazu
	Literally meaning "sound poem", this piece was composed in 1964 for performance by the Shakuhachi Sanbon Kai. It is meant to give the feeling of a "haiku in sound".
4	Makiri	魔切（または魔斬）	05'36	Shakuhachi: Yokoyama Katsuya Shakuhachi: Tajima Tadashi
	Composed in 1975, the characters in the title of the piece mean "the devil" and "to sever" or "cut."