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Kogō no Kyoku

小督の曲

[Genre]Sokyoku
[Style]Uta mono
[School]Yamada Ryū - 山田
[Composed]Yamada Kengyō - Koto

History (Tsuge Gen'ichi):

One of the Kengyo's 'Four Greatest Works,' this piece, Kogo no kyoku ('The Song of Kogo') stands on its dignity and requires the highly controlled technique characteristic of the Yamada style. The text is based on the story 'Kogo' in Book Six of 'The Tale of the Heike' (Heike monogatari).

Kogo no Tsubone, a favorite mistress of Emperor Takakura, fled from the palace in fear of Taira no Kiyomori's plots against her, and hid herself in Saga, on the outskirts of the Kyoto plain.

The heart-broken Emperor, sent Minamoto no Nakakuni, a trusted warrior, to find her one moonlit night in Autumn. Nakakuni rode through the wild plain hoping to hear the sweet sound of her koto which would reveal her whereabouts.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)

'A solitary stag cries
In this mountain village,'
Thus the ancients sang
On the Saga Fields.
In autumn,
Among the many wild flowers
In their varied hues,
The insects cry sadly,
The night grows dark,
The pine-cricket calls to the moon,
The tail-flower wags,
And on the bush-clover,
The jewel-bugs cling like dew!
On the quavering reeds
A noisy cricket chirps.

Accompanied by the insect voices
Nakakuni rides
Upon a royal steed
On night patrol,
His flowered cloak dimly visible.
In his mind the remembered form
Of the person he seeks...
There, in the thin mists
Stands the courtesan-flower!
Is it she, or is it not?
As in that futile search
Which took place (1)
On the phantasmal
Island of Yomogi
He pulls up his horse
In the shade of a bamboo grove...

And rests.
The pine winds
Come, and bring the sounds
Of plucked strings.
This is not like the deer who follows
The lovesick stag's cry,
And yet,
As once in the past,
He takes his bamboo flute...
By playing together
He is determined, without question
(It is she)
Using her voice as a guide
He comes upon a lonely hut
Hidden in the Saga Fields.

She plays
The song of Sofuren (2)
'In Heaven
Let us be twin birds
That share a wing,'
And then
In the Banshiki mode,
'On Earth let us be twin pines
With branches intertwined.'

The Lady Kogo
Hiding in seclusion -
Her dwelling tomorrow
The nunnery at Ohara.
For the last time
Before she takes the tonsure
She plays a melody
In a meek and gentle tone.

Her feelings spill unchecked
Over the rocky crags.
Her tears
Drench her sleeves.
Were one there to behold,
What might he think?

The music of her strings
Acts as a guide;
In the moonlight that streams
From distant skies,
The imperial messenger
Introduces himself.
This is an Imperial edict
From His Majesty.
Across the distant fields,
I have come through the wild brush,
To present this letter
Drenched in dew.
Let is once again tie the knot
Between the palace chambers
And my retreat.
Such is her answer,
And as a token, she gives him
A five-folded garment.
In the early dawn
Soon thereafter,
The Emperor sends forth
A royal palanquin.

Ah, no return
To the splendid days of old!
Ah, no return
To the splendid days of old!
A vow that will last forever,
Like the evergreen pine.

(1) The search by a sorcerer in the service of the T'ang Emperor Hsuan Tsung for the whereabouts of the departed soul of his dead mistress, Yan Kuei-fei.
(2) In Chinese pronunciation, Hsiang Fu Lien: i.e. 'Song of Love for one's Husband.'
(maebiki)

"Ojika naku
kono yamazato" to
eiji ken
saga no atari no
aki no koro
chigusa no hana mo
samazama ni
muchi no urami mo
fukaki yo no
tsuki ni matsumushi
maneku wa obana
hagi ni wa tsuyu no
tamamushi ya
soyogu ogimushi
kutsuwamushi
(ai)
Naku ne ni tsurete
nakakuni ga
ryoo no on-uma
tamawarite
tonoi-sugata no
fuji-bakama
tazunuru hito no
omokage ni
tatsu usugiri
ominaeshi
soreka aramuka
maboroshi no
yomogigashima ni
tazunewabi
koma hikitomuru
sasa no kuma

(ainote)

Yasuroo kage no
matsukaze ni
kayoo
kayoo tsumaoto
tsumakoi no
ne ni yoru shika ni
aranedomo
mukashi oboyuru
fue-take ya
awasu shirabe no
magai naki
koe wo shirube ni
shitaiyoru
sagano no oku no
kata-orido

(gaku)

Soofuren no
shooga wa
hiyoku no
tsubasa no
kumoi wo koi
hanshiki-joo no
shirabe wa
matsu no renri no
eda ni kayoo

Kogoo no tsubone
yo wo shinobu
sumika mo asu wa
oohara ni
kaen sugata no
nagori tote
yowa ni tenarasu
tsuma-goto no

Iwa kosu omoi
sekikanete
namida ni sode wo
kashiwaba ya
hitome mo ikaga
ayame-gata

Ito no irone wo
shirube nite
sashiiru tsuki no
kumoi yori
on-tsukai ni
mairishi to
kashikoki kimi ga
mikotonori
nobe no tamazusa
sashiyosuru
tsumado no hashi no
en no tsuna
mata hikimusubu
on-kaerigoto
soete tamawaru
itsutsu-ginu
kinuginu okuru
hodo mo naku
makai no kuruma
tatematsuri
(ai)
Mukashi ni kaeru
momoshiki ya
mukashi ni kaeru
momoshiki ya
chiyo wo chigiri no
matsu no kotohoha

Kogō no Kyoku appears on the following albums

Album Artist

Sankyoku Gassō Dai Zenshū vol. 6 (三曲合奏大全集6) Koto : Inagaki Hiroho
Koto : Takano Kazuyuki
Shamisen : Higashi Hiroka
Shakuhachi : Yamaguchi Gorō
Voice : Nakada Hiroyuki
Voice : Kikuchi Hirone
Play ButtonShakuhachi no Shinzui-Sankyoku Gasso - 04 Shakuhachi : Yamaguchi Gorō

Sokyoku Jiuta Taikei 47 Voice : Uehara Masaki II
Koto : Uehara Masaki II
Shakuhachi : Yamaguchi Gorō
Play ButtonUehara Masaki - Number 2 Koto : Uehara Masaki II

Yamada Kengyo o Utao Disk 1 Voice : Fujii Chiyoga II
Koto : Fujii Chiyoga II
Voice : Takayanagi Chikaga
Voice : Kishibe Michiga II
Koto : Kishibe Michiga II
Voice : Takaba Yōga
Voice : Fujii Chiyoga III
Shamisen : Fujii Chiyoga III
Shakuhachi : Yamaguchi Gorō
Koto : Tomiyasu Mizuga
Koto : Suzuki Seiju

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