Aki no Kyoku
秋の曲
[Genre] | Sokyoku |
[Style] | Meiji Shinkyoku |
[School] | Ikuta Ryû - 生田 |
[Composed] | Yoshizawa Kengyō II - Koto |
History (Tsuge Gen'ichi):
Aki no kyoku ('Ode to Autumn') is one of a set of pieces for koto and a voice called Kokin no kumi. All six waka poems (1) in this piece are from Books Four and Five of Kokin waka shu, a tenth century anthology of court poetry compiled by imperial command. Tegoto, or the long instrumental interlude inserted between the fourth and fifth waka, was not originally composed by Yoshizawa, but added later by Matsuzaka Shun'ei (1854-1920) of Kyoto. (1) Court poetry of thirty-one syllables. |
Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
Only yesterday it seems We gathered rice seedlings; Now the fall winds blow Tossing the full grown plants To and fro. Have the boatman Of the milky way Hide the rudder When he brings you across So that you can't return. Sadness, when I see the moon; My heart a thousand fragments. Though this sadness of autumn Is not mine alone, Yet... Our mountain village Is so wretched Especially in the autumn We wake and wake again To the crying of the deer. Though not yet fallen The leaves Already foretell the end, So deep is their color That we see now before us. Is it the white of waves Breaking over the beach? Or the white of chrysanthemums Bending In the autumn wind? | (maebiki) Kinoo koso sanae torishika itsunoma ni inaba soyogite akikaze no fuku Hisakata no ama no kawara no watashimori kimi watarinaba kaji kakushiteyo Tsuki mireba chiji ni mono koso kanashikere waga mi hitotsu no aki ni wa aranedo Yamazato wa aki koso kotoni wabishikere shika no naku ne ni me wo samashitsutsu (tegoto) Chiranedomo kanetezo oshiki momijiba wa ima wa kagiri no iro to mitsureba Akikaze no fukiage ni tateru shiragiku wa hana ka aranuka nami no yosuruka |
Aki no Kyoku appears on the following albums
Album | Artist | |
Classic Ensemble Music Vol 2 |
Voice : Yazaki Akiko Koto : Gotō Sumiko Shakuhachi : Kitahara Kōzan II Koto : Kikuchi Teiko | |
The poem consists of six waka verses of autumn selected from Kokin-waka-shu, the oldest one of the anthologies of waka poems collected by Imperial command, compiled in early 10th century. The word aki in the title means autumn. The piece is made up of three sections: fore-song, long instrumental interlude and after-song. The fore-song contains four verses and the after-song two. The interlude is much longer than the song sections and is really the main body of this piece. The two koto play different parts except in the fore-song section and the introductory passage of the interlude. This piece was originally composed in the middle of the 19th century as a piece without instrumental interlude for voice and only one koto by Yoshizawa Kengyo, who tried to restore koto music independent from shamisen music, aiming at the simple taste of the very old koto pieces. This is the reason why the melodies of both song and instruments of this piece sound a little different from shamisen pieces such as Yaegoromo. Later toward the end of the 19th century, another koto master Matsusaka Shunei composed the interlude and arranged the present piece.
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Fascination of the Koto 3 |
Voice : Yonekawa Toshiko Koto : Yonekawa Toshiko Voice : Yonekawa Megumi Koto : Yonekawa Megumi | |
Composed by Yosizawa kengyo II (1801/08-1872). He composed numerous koto pieces using the tanka poems included in the Kokin waka syu. This particular piece represents the progression from early autumn to the end of autumn. The composer invented the tuning specific to these pieces by adding semi-tone pregressions to an anhemitonic (without half tone steps) tuning of the gagaku koto.
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Fujii Kunie Sokyoku Jiuta No Sekai 5 | ||
Fukami Satomi - Sokyoku Jiuta Shu - 2 |
Koto : Tomobuchi Norie Voice : Fukami Satomi Koto : Fukami Satomi | |
Haru no Umi - Koto Meikyoku Sen - 2 |
Koto : Sawai Tadao Shakuhachi : Yamamoto Hōzan | |
Hōgaku Taikei Vol. 4 - Sōkyoku - Shakuhachi 2 (LP 1) |
Koto : Mishina Masayasu Voice : Inogawa Koji | |
Kikuhara Hatsuko Zenshu vol. 19 |
Voice : Kikuhara Hatsuko Koto : Kikuyuki Chikako Koto : Kikuwa Chihoko | |
Kokin Kumi Kyoku (Kokin Suite) vol. 2 (古今組曲 第二集) |
Koto : Kitagawa Utano Shakuhachi : Araki Kodō V Koto : Tsuriya Utafusa Voice : Tamura Michiko | |
Kou |
Shakuhachi : Aoki Reibo II | |
Miyagi Michio - Best One | ||
Rakugaki |
Shakuhachi : Helen Dryz Koto : Kim Oswalt | |
Sankyoku Gassō Dai Zenshū (zoku) vol. 12 (続三曲合奏大全集12) |
Shakuhachi : Mori Kozan Voice : Imai Tsutomu Koto : Imai Tsutomu | |
Sankyoku Gassō Dai Zenshū vol. 5 (三曲合奏大全集5) |
Shakuhachi : Nomura Hōzan Koto : Nakashima Yasuko Koto : Miyamoto Masatoki Voice : Okuda Masako | |
So - Japanese Traditional Music |
Voice : Yonekawa Toshiko Koto : Yonekawa Toshiko Voice : Yonekawa Toshiko II Koto : Yonekawa Toshiko II Voice : Yonekawa Megumi Koto : Yonekawa Megumi | |
Sō no Shiori (Ikuta Ryū) vol 6 |
Voice : Fujii Kunie Koto : Fujii Kunie Koto : Satō Chikaki | |
Sōkyoku Jiuta Gassō-shū (disc 2) |
Shakuhachi : Araki Kodō V Voice : Fujii Taeko Koto : Fujii Taeko Voice : Mochitsuki Masako Koto : Mochitsuki Masako | |
Sokyoku Jiuta Taikei 39 |
Koto : Takano Kazuyuki Voice : Nakada Hiroyuki Koto : Nakada Hiroyuki |