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Ōgi no Kyoku

扇の曲

[Genre]Sokyoku
[Style]Kumiuta
[School]Ikuta Ryû - 生田
[Composed]Yatsuhashi Kengyō - Koto

History (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.
Oogi wa sakura no
miegasane
kasumeru tsuki wo
e ni kakite
mizu ni utsuroo
kokorobae
yue natsukashiki
arisama

Tosogare-doki no
magire ni
hononon miete
sakeru wa
koiegachi naru
noki no tsuma ni
amarite kakaru
yuugao

Mushashino mo
sarashina mo
suma ya akashi no
omokage wo
utsushite koko ni
miru tsuki no
nagame wa itsumo
hirosawa

Yume ni bakari
yonayona
omoo hito wo
michinoku no
nakoso no seki wo
tare ka suete
utsutsu ni koto mo
kayowazu

Koi koite
Koi koite
koishiki hito wo
matsuchiyama
matsuran mono wo
yukite min
yukite izaya
aimin

Akashi kanetaru
shimoyo no
toko mo sabishiki
arashi no
oto wa soyosoyo
sarasara to
furu wa arare no
tamazasa

Ōgi no Kyoku appears on the following albums

Album Artist

Kikuhara Hatsuko Zenshu vol. 7 Voice : Kikuhara Hatsuko
Koto : Kikuhara Hatsuko

Sokyoku Jiuta Taikei 04 Voice : Takahashi Eisei II
Koto : Takahashi Eisei II

Yamada Ryū Sōkyoku Tokusen 4 - Kogō no Kyoku (山田流箏曲特選 四ー小督曲) Voice : Fujii Chiyoga II
Koto : Fujii Chiyoga II
Voice : Kishibe Michiga II
Koto : Kishibe Michiga II