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- Ogi no Kyoku -

扇の曲

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This is a Sokyoku piece in the Kumiuta style from the Ikuta Ryű school . This piece was composed for koto by Yatsuhashi Kengyo .

History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
This song cycle is one of the 'Three Oku ('deep interior') Kumiuta by Yatsuhashi.' The title literally means 'Song of a Fan,' and is derived from the text of the first song, which is based on an incident in 'The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms' (Hana no en) from 'The Tale of Genji, in which Genji receives a fan from Oborozukiyo ('the Lady of the Misty Spring Moon').

While the second song refers to 'The Tale of Genji' ('Evening Faces' (Yugao)), the following four songs are not directly related to 'The Genji.'

Between the fourth and fifth songs, an instrumental interlude of 64 hyoshi ('beats'), that is, the exact same length as each of the songs, is sometimes inserted. This interlude, called Igaku, however, is not Yatsuhashi's composition.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
The fan received
Is three-ply
And the color of cherry blossoms.
A misty moon
Reflected on water-
What doe it mean?
Yet this picture
Stirs my longing.

In the dimness
Of the twilight,
That flower blooming,
So faint,
What is it?
Evening faces
At a humble house,
Grown over the sagging eaves.

Musashino (1), Sarashina (2),
Suma and Akashi (3).
The moons of all
Those famous places
Are collected here-
That sight of the moon
Reflected on Hirosawa Pond (4)
Is always grand!

Only in my dreams
Do I see him
Every night.
Who has placed
The Nakoso Barrier (5) between us?
Why could I not
Speak to him
In reality?

I am longing
And longing
For the one I love.
And I pine
At Mt. Matsuchi (6).
I will go and see,
And meet the lover
Who is waiting for me.

So hard to pass
This frosty night
In my lonely bed!
The sounds of a night storm:
Rattling and rustling
Is the hail
On the leaves
Of a jade-bamboo.

(1) Ancient wilderness are of present day Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture.
(2) Mountainous district, south of Nagano City.
(3) Both Suma and Akashi are on the seacoast of the present Hyogo Prefecture
(4) Hirosawa Pond is in Saga, outside of Kyoto.
(5) Ancient northern pass in the southeast district of the present Fukushima Prefecture, near the borderline of Ibaraki Prefecture.
(6) A mountain in Wakayama Prefecture near the borderline of Nara Prefecture.

Ogi no Kyoku appears on the following albums:



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