The International Shakuhachi Society
- Kogo no Kyoku -
小督の曲
This is a Sokyoku piece in the Uta mono style from the Yamada Ryű school . This piece was composed for koto by Yamada Kengyo .
History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
One of the Kengyo's 'Four Greatest Works,' this piece, Kogo no kyoku ('The Song of Kogo') stands on its dignity and requires the highly controlled technique characteristic of the Yamada style. The text is based on the story 'Kogo' in Book Six of 'The Tale of the Heike' (Heike monogatari).
Kogo no Tsubone, a favorite mistress of Emperor Takakura, fled from the palace in fear of Taira no Kiyomori's plots against her, and hid herself in Saga, on the outskirts of the Kyoto plain.
The heart-broken Emperor, sent Minamoto no Nakakuni, a trusted warrior, to find her one moonlit night in Autumn. Nakakuni rode through the wild plain hoping to hear the sweet sound of her koto which would reveal her whereabouts.
Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
'A solitary stag cries
In this mountain village,'
Thus the ancients sang
On the Saga Fields.
In autumn,
Among the many wild flowers
In their varied hues,
The insects cry sadly,
The night grows dark,
The pine-cricket calls to the moon,
The tail-flower wags,
And on the bush-clover,
The jewel-bugs cling like dew!
On the quavering reeds
A noisy cricket chirps.
Accompanied by the insect voices
Nakakuni rides
Upon a royal steed
On night patrol,
His flowered cloak dimly visible.
In his mind the remembered form
Of the person he seeks...
There, in the thin mists
Stands the courtesan-flower!
Is it she, or is it not?
As in that futile search
Which took place (1)
On the phantasmal
Island of Yomogi
He pulls up his horse
In the shade of a bamboo grove...
And rests.
The pine winds
Come, and bring the sounds
Of plucked strings.
This is not like the deer who follows
The lovesick stag's cry,
And yet,
As once in the past,
He takes his bamboo flute...
By playing together
He is determined, without question
(It is she)
Using her voice as a guide
He comes upon a lonely hut
Hidden in the Saga Fields.
She plays
The song of Sofuren (2)
'In Heaven
Let us be twin birds
That share a wing,'
And then
In the Banshiki mode,
'On Earth let us be twin pines
With branches intertwined.'
The Lady Kogo
Hiding in seclusion -
Her dwelling tomorrow
The nunnery at Ohara.
For the last time
Before she takes the tonsure
She plays a melody
In a meek and gentle tone.
Her feelings spill unchecked
Over the rocky crags.
Her tears
Drench her sleeves.
Were one there to behold,
What might he think?
The music of her strings
Acts as a guide;
In the moonlight that streams
From distant skies,
The imperial messenger
Introduces himself.
This is an Imperial edict
From His Majesty.
Across the distant fields,
I have come through the wild brush,
To present this letter
Drenched in dew.
Let is once again tie the knot
Between the palace chambers
And my retreat.
Such is her answer,
And as a token, she gives him
A five-folded garment.
In the early dawn
Soon thereafter,
The Emperor sends forth
A royal palanquin.
Ah, no return
To the splendid days of old!
Ah, no return
To the splendid days of old!
A vow that will last forever,
Like the evergreen pine.
(1) The search by a sorcerer in the service of the T'ang Emperor Hsuan Tsung for the whereabouts of the departed soul of his dead mistress, Yan Kuei-fei.
(2) In Chinese pronunciation, Hsiang Fu Lien: i.e. 'Song of Love for one's Husband.'
Kogo no Kyoku appears on the following albums:
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