jiuta | Justin DiCenzo

This is one of the last pieces I learned on the Koto.

千鳥の曲
chidori no kyoku by Yoshizawa Kengyou

The song of the plover. (little birds that run up and down the shoreline) These little birds cry “chi-yo chi-yo” which sounds like 「千代、千代」　meaning thousands of generations.

This song belongs to a series called KOKINGUMI, which is a collection of songs with lyrics pulled from ancient Heian poetry, called Kokin Wakashu. (click here for more details)The series of poetry includes the music I posted yesterday. Haru no kyoku.

Here is the poem:

At Shionoyama　　(beautiful mountain near mount Fuji)
Frequenting the sand spit
Plovers call out:
‘You, my lord,
May you live eight thousand years!’
‘You, my lord,
May you live eight thousand years!’

At Awaji Island (near Kobe in the Kansai region)
The call of the plovers,
Flying to and fro.
How often they have awakened
The guard at Suma Pass!
How often they have awakened
The guard at Suma Pass! (Suma refers to modern day KOBE)

There is a famous melody that starts right after she stops singing. This is to be played as if waves, big and small are moving through the performers hands. It even says in the text, 波の部 (wave section). The music moves forward through the wave section to the actual plover bird section (also written in the manuscript).

Most people in Japan these days, don’t know anything about this music. It just reminds them of new years, because all the shops play random koto music to celebrate the new year. Traditionally, this piece should close with a song, just like haru no kyoku, but I’m limited to what YouTube has available, so enjoy!

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Haru no kyoku (song for spring)

May 5, 2011 in 和 (wa) Wednesday

I found this piece rather moving in the cool crisp winds of spring while the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom. You could just barely catch a glimpse at the snow white top of mount Fuji in the mornings from my apartment. In the song he mentions “young shoots”, these are most likely the first vegetable that you can pick which look like a flower called FUKI NO TOU. Usually this vegetable is fried with tempura and is very bitter.

The bush warbler, cherry blossoms, said vegetable and wisteria are very important parts of the Japanese spring. I added photos to help you get a feel for what this music is about.

The song was written by Yoshizawa Kengyo (1808-1872)

Two koto are performing in this recording below. This is a short version. Usually the piece is played with the vocal section first, tegotomono (instrumental section) in the middle and a closing vocal variation of the same lyric.

Click play, then read below. The singing starts after 8 minutes or so.