The International Shakuhachi Society
- Aki Kaze no Kyoku -
秋風の曲
This is a Sokyoku piece in the Kumiuta style from the Ikuta Ryű school . This piece was composed for shakuhachi by Mitsuzaki Kengyo . This piece was composed for koto by Mitsuzaki Kengyo .
History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Originally a solo koto piece, consisting of an instrumental prelude (jo) of six sections (dan) followed by six songs in the kumiuta form; this piece is a combination of dan-mono and kumiuta.
The text is a free translation of a Ch'ang he ko ('The Song of Everlasting Sorrow') by Po Chu-I (772-846), a Chinese poet, which deals with the tragedy of the Emperor Hsuan Tsung and Yang Kuei-fei, his favorite beauty during the T'ang dynasty of China (8th century). The title means 'Autumn Wind' which blows in the town of Ma-wei, where the heroine was killed.
Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Great beauty
Is elusive,
However much
You seek it.
And the daughter
Of Yang
Is beautiful
Beyond compare.
Hair silken as the clouds
Face as fair
As the restful aronia.
The Emperor
Never once left her presence
And spent his days
In contemplation of her.
But today
Her green flowery palanquin
Flees in haste
From the nine-fold inner room.
Under an uncertain sky
Chased
By the fall winds.
The heavenly strains
Of court music...
How sad now,
This night of Ma-wei,
Where only the pounding of hoofs,
Only the sound of the wind,
Remain.
In the West Palace
And South Garden
Autumn grasses
Are covered with dew.
On the palace stairs,
Dead leaves
Pile up -
Who will sweep them away?
Frost-flowers bloom
On the tiles of the roof
That once sheltered
The Emperor's life-love.
Alone
In robes of jade,
How could he sleep here
In peace?
Aki Kaze no Kyoku appears on the following albums:
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