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Akita Sugagaki (Kinko Ryu)

秋田菅垣

This is a piece of genre Koten from the Kinko Ryû - 琴古流 School.

History (John Singer):

Among the Shakuhachi Honkyoku pieces there are the "Sugagaki pieces" and this is one of the so called "Sugagaki Mono".

The term Sugagaki, when used in Shakuhachi music, simply means pieces which are unrelated to the Fuke legend. The term Sugagaki also refers to a technique used in solo Koto music without voice. Akita is the name of a prefecture in Japan.

Akita Sugagaki is thought to have been transmitted to Kinko Kurosawa by Biao in Akita Prefecture. However, it may have been a transmitted piece of Koku Zan Dai-Ji Temple.

Akita Sugagaki (Kinko Ryu) appears on the following albums

AlbumShakuhachiKotoShamisen
Aki no Yugure (Autumn Dusk) Kurahashi Yodo II

Autumn Field - Yearning for the Bell Volume 4 Riley Kelly Lee

    Autumn Field

    The title of this piece literally means "Sugagaki from Akita". Akita, which means 'autumn field', is a district in northern Honshu, the main island of Japan. The term, 'sugagaki' cannot be translated though the pronunciation of the Chinese characters are known, the meanings are no longer understood in the shakuhachi context. The word 'sugagaki' appears in the koto tradition, but there is no apparent connection between this context and the shakuhachi pieces with 'sugagaki' in their title. One Japanese scholar has suggested that it refers to the now largely obsolete method of stacking bunches of rice stalks on wooden racks in the autumn fields, to dry before threshing.

Complete Collection of Honkyoku from the Kinko School - Vol 1 - Disc 3 Aoki Reibo II

Emptiness of the Sky, The Andreas Fuyu Gutzwiller

    During his wanderings through Japan, Kurosawa Kinko learnt this piece from the monk Baio in the town of Akita in the extreme north of the country. There are obvious folk music influences in this piece, which may originate in the Akita area.

Feel It On Yamaguchi Goro


IN THE MOMENT


Japanese Bamboo Flute Richard Stagg

Kinko Ryu Shakuhachi Honkyoku Notomi Judo I

Kinko Ryu Shakuhachi Honkyoku Senshu - 1 Yamaguchi Goro

Shakuhachi - Classical Modern Best 30 - 01


Shakuhachi - Number 40 Yamaguchi Goro


Shakuhachi - The Japanese Flute Miyata Kohachiro

    Akita is a region near the northern end of the main island of Japan: in ancient times it was largely unsettled wilderness. Since there is no certainty that any of the melodic ideas come from this province, it seems likely that the location was used in the title simply to suggest the remote and the inaccessible. Sugagaki is a term that occurs
    in a number of titles of 17th-century Japanese and Okinawan koto pieces in variation form: unlike most solo shakuhachi works. Akita Sugagaki is a loosely constructed series of variations. It is played here on the standard-sized instrument.

Shakuhachi Meijin Sen Yamaguchi Goro


Shakuhachi Meijin Sen 39 Yamaguchi Goro

Shakuhachi no Shinzui-Shakuhachi Honkyoku - 01 Yamaguchi Goro

Sui Zen - Blowing Meditation on the Shakuhachi - 04 Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin

    Akita is the name of a district in the northern part of the Japanese main island, Honshu. Akita Sugagaki is similar to Sanya Sugagaki in its possession of a special distinct rhythmical sense, and its ability to be played as a duet. It, also, may be related to the ancient koto composition called Sugagaki.

    The piece probably was not actually from Akita, but, rather, its title is meant to convey the image of a cold, remote place.

Wind in the Reeds Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin

    This version of "Sugagaki" or, "The Wind in the Reeds." comes from Akita, a far northern province in Japan. Although it may also be played as a duet, it is performed here as a solo.

Zen Music - III Yamaguchi Goro

    Akita is the name of a district in the northern part of the Japanese main island and sugagaki denotes some instrumental pieces for strings. It seems that this piece originated in Akita district as an arrangement for a shakuhachi from a certain piece for a string-instrument and later spread to other districts. This is not a ritual music, either.

The International Shakuhachi Society - 2013