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Gosechi no Mai

五節の舞

[Genre]Modern
[School]Sawai
[Composed]Sawai Tadao - Koto

Gosechi no Mai appears on the following albums

Album Artist
Play ButtonIris of Time Koto : Sawai Tadao
Koto : Sawai Kazue
It is said that the Gosechi no Mai, a type of dance performed at the Toyoakari-no-sechie Festival, began with the dance of heavenly maidens who waved their sleeves five times. They were brought down to each by the sound of the kin (Chinese zither) of the Emperor Temmu (reigned 673-686), as he played it at his detached palice in Yoshino. I was fascineted by this fantastic scene, 2nd borrowed the name of the dance for the title of this oomposition. The content of this piece is not, however, a simple description of the legendary event, but rather my own mental image of the phantasmagorial part of the myth itself. The piece begins with an explosion of energy on the two jushichigen (17-string koto), from which the classically-phrased koto part is born quietly. The sound of this koto part entices those of the two jushichigen (17-string koto), developing gradually into an ardent dance. (commissioned by Ritsuko Koda)