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- Ugo -

雨後

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This is a Sokyoku piece . This piece was composed for koto by Nakanoshima Kin'ichi .

History (from Tsuge Gen'ichi)
This lovely piece for voice and solo koto was composed in 1939. The song set to a paragraph from Makura no soshi ('Pillow Book') of Sei Shonagon, lady in waiting to Empress Sadako during the last decade of the tenth century, and one of the greatest writers of prose in her time. The title Ugo means 'After the Rain.'

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
All through the night
The autumn rains
Fell
At dawn they stopped,
Leaving the chrysanthemums
In the garden
Drenched
And overflowing with dew.

Across the fence
Of bamboo, above the hedge
Of high grasses,
Spider webs dangled
In tatters, stretched taut
By raindrops that clung
To their strands like
White beads of pearl.

As the sun rose
Higher and higher,
The dew upon the bushes
Of clover fell to earth,
And though not a person
Touched by them, the twigs
Began to move, and stir,
And suddenly sprang upwards...
Wow!


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