Jiuta Sokyoku Lyrics and Explanations: Songs of the Floating World

by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel

Overview

Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations is a compendium of seventy-three representative songs from the well-known genre of traditional Japanese Edo-period sankyoku ensemble music.

Including extensive annotations along with commentaries and notes on their musical and performative aspects, the collection begins with an overview which traces the history of the jiuta sōkyoku genre and the various socio-political influences at work in its formation. The translations and analyses are followed by a substantive glossary and bibliography, allowing for a deeper understanding of both the literary and musical aspects of jiuta sōkyoku compositions.

Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations is a comprehensive anthology that will be of great interest to researchers, including ethnomusicologists, Japanese studies scholars and poetry lovers who are fascinated with the literary and musical impact of the Edo period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781040023068
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/09/2024
Series:	SOAS Studies in Music
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	362
File size:	17 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Christopher Yohmei Blasdel began the shakuhachi in 1972 under legendary shakuhachi master Yamaguchi Goro, completed his MA in ethnomusicology from Tokyo University of Arts in 1982 and received his shihan license from Yamaguchi in 1984. As a scholar and performer, Blasdel focuses both on traditional and contemporary music. He has released several CDs, shakuhachi reference books and has composed music for NHK documentaries and various films. He co-organized the Boulder World Shakuhachi Festival (1998), the Sydney World Shakuhachi Festival (2008) and was co-founder of the Prague Shakuhachi Festival. He presently lectures at University of Hawai’i and holds a fifth-degree black belt in Aikido.

Gunnar Jinmei Linder came to Japan in 1985, with a BA in philosophy and Japanology, and began studies of shakuhachi with Yamaguchi Goro. He received an MA in shakuhachi from the Traditional Music Conservatoire at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1997, and the traditional license shihan in 1998. After many years in Japan as stage and recording artist, as well as teacher of shakuhachi, he returned to his native Sweden and received a PhD in Japanology at Stockholm University in 2012 (Deconstructing Tradition in Japanese Music). In 2016 he received a diploma from the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs for his artistic and academic activities.

Table of Contents

Lists of Figures

Glossary

1. Introduction

2. Introduction to the Art of Jiuta Sōkyoku

3. Aki no Koto no Ha秋の言の葉

4. Aki no Kyoku 秋の曲

5. Akikaze no Kyoku 秋風の曲

6. Azuma-jishi 吾妻獅子

7. Chaondo 茶音頭

8. Chidori no Kyoku 千鳥の曲

9. Chikubushima 竹生島

10. Chiyo no Uguisu 千代の鶯

11. Chōgonka no Kyoku 長恨歌の曲

12. Echigo-jishi 越後獅子

13. Enoshima no Kyoku 江ノ島の曲

14. Fune no Yume 舟の夢

15. Fuyu no Kyoku 冬の曲

16. Godan-ginuta 五段砧

17. Hagi no Tsuyu 萩の露

18. Haru no Kyoku 春の曲

19. Hototogisu ほととぎす

20. Imakomachi 今小町

21 Iso Chidori 磯千鳥

22 Kaede no Hana楓の花

23 Kaji Makura楫枕

24 Katsura O 桂男

25 Keshi no Hana けしの花

26 Kogō no Kyoku 小督の曲

27 Konkai こんかい（狐今、吼噦）

28 Kotobuki Kurabe 寿くらべ

29 Kurokami 黒髪

30 Kyoku Nezumi 曲鼠

31 Mama no Kawa ままの川

32 Matsukaze 松風

33 Meiji Shōchikubai 明治松竹梅

34 Mitsu no Keshiki 三つの景色

35 Mitsuyama三津山

36 Miyako no Haru 都の春

37 Miyama-jishi 御山獅子

38 Nanakomachi 七小町

39 Nasuno 那須野

40 Natsu no Kyoku 夏の曲

41 Nebiki no Matsu 根曳の松

42 Onoe no Matsu 尾上の松

43 Ōmi Hakkei 近江八景

44 Ōuchiyama 大内山

45 Saga no Aki 嵯峨の秋

46 Saigyō-zakura 西行桜

47 Sakura-gari 桜狩

48 Sakura-gawa 桜川

49 Sasa no Tsuyu 笹の露

50 Shiki no Nagame 四季の眺

51 Shin Aoyagi 新青柳

52 Shin Musume Dōjōji 新娘道成寺

53 Shin Takasago 新高砂

54 Shōchikubai 松竹梅

55 Sono no Aki 園の秋

56 Sue no Chigiri 末の契

57 Suma no Arashi 須磨の嵐

58 Sumiyoshi 住吉

59 Tama no Utena 玉の台

60 Tama-gawa 玉川

61 Tōru融

62 Tsuru no Koe 鶴の声

63 Uji Meguri 宇治巡り

64 Ukifune 浮舟

65 Usu no Koe 臼の声

66 Wakana 若菜

67 Yachiyo-jishi 八千代獅子

68 Yaegoromo 八重衣

69 Yotsu no Tami 四つの民

70 Yoyo no Hoshi 夜々の星

71 Yūbe no Kumo 夕辺の雲

72 Yūgao夕顔

73 Yuki ゆき

74 Yuya 熊野

75 Zangetsu 残月

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

Christopher Yohmei Blasdel gives us a handsome publication that is more than just a translation of shamisen and koto songs (jiuta sōkyoku) from 17th to 19th century Japan. For the English reader, this title adds a visual and literary appreciation to the sonic beauty of these songs. A combination of sensitive English imagery and insightful cultural commentary, its content is illustrated by a stunning series of woodblock prints related to the songs. In performance, the addition of shakuhachi (bamboo flute) enhances the aesthetic of the shamisen and koto performance. It seems therefore fitting that the author, an internationally known shakuhachi artist, enhances our understanding of these songs through this celebration of his lifelong engagement with them.”
Ricardo D. Trimillos, Ph.D., Editor of Asian Music journal, Professor Emeritus in Asian Studies and Ethnomusicology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa

“Christopher Yohmei Blasdel deserves enormous credit for his prolonged dedicated research along with deep cultural exploration and for the clarity of presentation of such a copious amount of detailed explication of this important repertoire that has received so little attention from scholars of Japanese literature and culture. His knowledge and experience of jiuta sokyoku stems from study of and performance on shakuhachi in Japan for over fifty years. Contextualization of the genre permeates the book: in a guiding overview in Chapter 1; in a beautifully written, succinct tracing of its history and its artistic expressivity through time in Chapter 2 by Blasdel and his colleague in the shakuhachi world, Gunnar Jinmei Linder. Of fresh significance here is the rare attention given to expression of sympathy in the texts for the indentured women entertainers in the pleasure districts of Edo Japan, one of the contexts where these songs would have been heard.”
Bonnie Wade, Professor Emerita (Ethnomusicology), University of California, Berkeley and specialist in Asian musics

From the Publisher