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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 Mitsuzaki Kengyo .

History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Nanakomachi ('Seven Tales about Komachi') was composed at the beginning of the nineteenth century by Mitsuzaki Kengyo as a jiuta, and arranged into an ensemble piece for the koto and shamisen by Yaezaki Kengyo (1766?-1848), Mitsuzaki's teacher. The text is based on seven legends concerning Ono no Komachi, the celebrated poetess of the ninth century known for her beauty, The seven legends are taken from the 'Nanakomachi' no plays which deal with anecdotes from Komachi's life (hence the title Nanakomachi): Namely, Soshiarai-komachi, Kayoi-komachi, Sekidera-komachi, Sotoba-komachi, Kiyomizu-komachi, Yamamoto-komachi (or Amagoi-komachi, not performed today), and Omu-komachi.

Nanakomachi is considered one of Mitsuzaki's masterpieces, and a very difficult piece to perform.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Whence the seed
Of these floating weeds
Grown thick
In ridges of waves?
What is their seed?

The story of Komachi in Soshiarai (1)
Has a special quality to it.
But closer to the heart of things
Is the story of Captain Fukakusa
And the one hundred nights
He waited in vain at her doorstep.
If the sun shines brightly
Because the name of our country
Is Hinomoto, the rising sun
Then what about Amegashita (2)?
Water flows quickly down
As does the heart

To a hermitage in Mount Osaka
At the Temple of Seki.
Whether Komachi in a cottage
Or out among the holy wooden tablets,
The girl of great beauty
Once had many suitors

Now shamed by age
In the field of Ichiwara
Komachi prays
To the Merciful Goddess
Kannon at the Kiyomizu Temple,
Whose divine grace shines purely.

The olden days
Have never changed
In my memory.
The bamboo screen
Inside the palace-
How I yearn for it,
How I yearn for it.

(1) A no play entitled Soshiarai-komachi which deals with an episode involving Ono no Komachi's waka poetry and Otomo no Kuronushi who tried to show that Komachi plagiarized her waka from the Man'yoshu, an ancient anthology of waka. She disproved this.
(2) Literally, 'Beneath the Heavens,' this is a term which is often used to refer to the islands of Japan. As a pun, however, it also means 'under the rain.'

Nanakomachi appears on the following albums:

Album	Shakuhachi	Koto	Shamisen
Abe Keiko - 02  (Listen)	Yamaguchi Goro	Fujii Kunie	Abe Keiko
Abe Keiko Record Set - 09  (Listen)	Yamaguchi Goro	Fujii Kunie	Abe Keiko
Araki Kodo III and Fukuda Eika - Collection of Famous Performances - 03  (Listen)	Araki Kodo III	Kawada Tou	Fukuda Eika
Fascination of the Shakuhachi - 2  (Listen)	Yamamoto Hozan	Kawahara Naoko	Yagi Keiji
A te-goto piece (a two-verse song with an interlude between the verses) composed by MITSUZAKI kengyo of Kyoto, the koto accompaniment being done by YAEZAKI kengyo. MITSUZAKI kengyo is the famed composer of GODAN-GINUTA, AKIKAZE NO KYOKU and other works. With these pieces, composed only with the koto in mind and excluding the sangen, he laid down the basis for the revival movement in the Bakumatsu Era. However, this piece, with lyrics by FUNAZAKA Mitsue, does include the sangen. The sangen is in hon-choshi tuning while the koto is in hankumoi. NAKA KOMACHI describes seven different stages in the life of ONONO Komachi, a famed poet whose work is found in the Kokin Waka Collection and who is regarded as one of the six greatest poets. Little regarding her life is known and later she was also known as TAMATSUKURI Komachi.
Kinko Ryu Shakuhachi Sankyoku Meikyoku Sen - Dai Ichi Shu - Vol 2  (Listen)	Yamaguchi Goro
Seiha Hogakkai Play Favorites 04 - Mitsuzaki Kengyo  (Listen)
Shakuhachi no Shinzui-Sankyoku Gasso - 03  (Listen)	Yamaguchi Goro
Sokyoku Jiuta  (Listen)
Sokyoku Jiuta Taikei 36  (Listen)	Yamaguchi Goro	Fujii Kunie	Abe Keiko