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This is a Nagauta piece . Kokaji is also known as: The little swordsmith.

Kokaji appears on the following albums:

Album	Shakuhachi	Koto	Shamisen
Music of Japan, The - Vol II  (Listen)
Venerated Patterns  (Listen)
The Edo period saw the rise of another musical instrument and its respective repertoire-the Shamisen and Nagauta. Nagauta pieces generally alternate between vocal passages accompanied by the Shamisen (and sometimes flute and drums) and instrumental interludes. Two interludes from Kokaji (1821) are performed here. The first creates the eerie atmosphere of the master swordsmith's dwelling in the mountains remote from the rest of the world. The second is not unlike the Anvil Chorus in Verdi's II Trovatore (1853); the rhythm of the hammering of the hot metal which will be made into a sword by the master and his helper is incorporated into the Shamisen accompaniment. The Sham is en tuning for this piece is called honchoshi (the basic tuning from which two others are derived) and although there is no harmony in Japanese music, this interlude (as the majority of the other interludes in the repertoire) is arranged as a duet.