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This is a Sokyoku piece in the Kumiuta style from the Ikuta Ryû school . This piece was composed for koto by Kitajima Kengyo .

History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
The title is derived from the "Akashi" chapter of The Tale of Genji. All the songs but the fourth are based on the episode concerning the lay from the seaside village of Akashi, whom Prince Genji courts during his exile to the nearby Suma, west of present Kobe.
This kumiuta (song cycle) is composed in hira-joshi after the model of YATSUHASHI, KITAJIMA’s teacher; however it abounds with tasteful melodies and is the most favored among KITAJIMA’s works. This song cycle is traditionally classified into the naka category. (1)


(1) Kumiuta are traditionally classified into four categories according to the degree of profundity and stylistic proficiency required and sometimes the technical difficulties involved. These are emote (lit. "outside"), ura (lit. "inside"), naka (lit. "interior"), oku (lit, "deep interior"). By way of illustration, it may be helpful to imagine these categories as representing the structure of the imperial palace or a Shinto shrine with outer and inner walls, and further inside, the outer and inner sanctuaries. It should also be mentioned that these categories represent stages of a student’s progress in the learning of the koto repertoire, and are regulated by the issuing of diplomas along the way.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
It has long been famous
The fall
At the Bay of Akashi.
How wondrous
The moonlight, cold
And brightly reflected
Over the waves that
Wash upon the beach.

Though my longing
For the capital
Has grown stronger
With every passing day,
In this far-off place
Human kindness
Diverts my wretched heart
Tonight!

Unaware of the passing time
We have talked through
The long autumn night,
No distance between us.
Our unspoken pledge of love,
Like the steadfast pines
On the rocky beach of Akashi
Shall ever remain unchanged.

How many nights
Have I passed at Akashi
Listening to the waves as they
Rise and fall on the beach?
The cries of the plovers
Add to my sorrow
As I think of the tides
Of life.

Is it the sound
Of fallen leaves in the garden?
A passing shower?
Or the distant notes of a koto?
No one will know
Of the tears
That flood my sleeve
As I listen.

The dark clouds of doubt
In which I wandered
Have cleared,
And the sky is bright at Akashi.
Overjoyed I am to be returning
To the spring blossoms
Of the capital.

Akashi appears on the following albums:

Album	Shakuhachi	Koto	Shamisen
Challenging Eternity Disk 04  (Listen)