The International Shakuhachi Society

Home

Schools

Discography

Lineage Charts

Pieces

People

Glossary

Other Sites

Teachers

Governors

For Sale

Member's Area

This is a Sokyoku piece from the Yamada Ryű school . This piece was composed for koto by Nakanoshima Kengyo .

History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
This piece, written in the joruri (narrative) style, is unique to the Yamada style sokyoku. Tomimoto-bushi (1) was introduced into the present piece by Nakanoshima Kengyo, an accomplished musician in this style, as well as in sokyoku. The text deals with the 1868 Battle of Toba-Fushimi just before the completion of the Meiji Restoration. This battle was fought at Fushimi, a suburb of Kyoto, between the samurai supporters of the new imperial rule and the forces of the Tokugawa regime.

(1) One of the vocal genres of Edo-joruri shamisen accompaniment.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Let us recall
Those days of old,
The Restoration
Of Imperial Rule:
It was winter
The Twelfth Month
Of the third year of Keio;
On the ninth day,
In the skies
Over the capital,
The spring sun
Shone darkly -
The country seethed
With anarchy
Vague shapes
On their pitch-black saddles
Shouted battle cries -
Their armored sleeves
Shining
Like the stars.

The stars,
Whose light faded away
With the glory
Of the Tokugawa
In the early dawn.
At Toba Fushimi
In the mountain winds
Of Ouchiyama
The brocade banners
Fluttered.

The commander
Stepped forth
And warriors
Took new courage -
Their cries resounding
Like thunder
Across
The battlefield.
The wounded cried out
In agony;
Smeared with blood
They fell,
Their corpses piled
Like scarlet leaves,

Enemy
And friend
Indistinguishable
In the early dawn
Upon the trampled
Battlefield.
His life as fragile
As the dew,
The warrior,
Sword in hand,
Never forgets
His sovereign -
How pitiful
Is his fate!

In the battle's fury
That made all Heaven and Earth
Tremble,
Flames raged though Yodo Castle.

The clouds above
Suddenly vanished,
Trailing away
Into thin wisps of smoke.
Now,
In the peaceful springtime
Of Imperial Rule,
While telling
This tale
Of times
Gone by,
Many men of old
Fill their sake cups
And enjoy
The festivities
Fully.

Fushimi appears on the following albums:

Album	Shakuhachi	Koto	Shamisen
Sokyoku Jiuta Taikei 54  (Listen)		Suzuki Seiju	Nakanoshima Kin'ichi