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- Mama no Kawa -

儘の川

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This is a Jiuta piece in the Tegotomono style from the Ikuta Ryű school . This piece was composed for koto by Yaezaki Kengyo . This piece was composed for shamisen by Kikuoka Kengyo .

History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Although the title literally means 'The River of Let It Be,' such a river does not exist. As do the other river is name in the song, it puns on the stage of a love affair. The text refers to the despair of a courtesan who, having given up her struggle with faithless love, views her life in the floating world with sad resignation. The song is composed in the typical tegoto-mono form.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Is a dream a floating world,
Or a floating world a dream?

Living in a quarter
Called 'Dream Village,'

Yet pining for a man from the
River of Memory.

Seduced by his honey-tongued
Sincerity one night,

I drifted with him
Along the River of Wedlock.

But his heart was
Cool as water,
And he visits me
With the fragrance
Of others
On his collar and sleeves.
Of all the nerve!
Awakened by the 'Kawai, kawai'
Of the morning crow,
Tears of vexation flow
Into the River of Let it Be.

Mama no Kawa appears on the following albums:



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