About Koto・ Shamisen・Miyagi
Musical instrument
History of the Koto
Shamisen
Construction
History and genres
Koto-musical instrument
The Koto (箏 or 琴) is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument derived from Chinese Gugins. Koto are about 180 cm long and have 13 strings that are strung over 13 movable bridges along the length of the instrument. Players can adjust the string pitches by moving these bridges before playing, and use three finger picks (on thumb, forefinger, and middle finger) to pluck the strings.
The character for Koto is also read as sō in certain contexts. Though often called by a number of other names, these terms almost always refer to similar, but different instruments, such as the Chinese guzheng (箏) or gin (琴, called kin in Japanese).
History of the Koto
The Koto was introduced to Japan in the 7th to 8th century from China, and largely derived from the Chinese hi. It was initially played only in the royal court, but this situation changed in the 17th century -- primarily because of the influence of Yatsuhashi Kengyo (1614-1684). Though the Koto, like many Japanese instruments derived from Chinese ones, has likely not changed much over the centuries, the guzheng has, and thus it is no longer valid to call them the same instrument.
Yatsuhashi Kengyo was a blind shamisen player who learned Koto from an "official" court player named Hosui, in defiance of the rules which then stated that Koto could not be taught to blind people (or women, incidentally). Possibly because of his personal experience with these restrictions, Yatsuhashi spent the rest of his life making the Koto more accessible.
He invented a new "plain tuning" ([平調子hira choushi) to play the common peoples' songs more naturally. He composed (or is credited with composing) songs that are still irreplaceable staples of the Koto repertoire today, including Rokudan and Midare. (These compositions were partly responsible for the Koto becoming respected as a solo instrument in its own right.) Perhaps most importantly, his example led other non-elite, including women, to learn the Koto too.
Shamisen-Construction
The shamisen is similar in length to a guitar, but its neck is much slimmer and without frets. Its drum-like rounded rectangular body, known as the dō, is covered front and back with skin in the manner of a banjo, and amplifies the sound of the strings. The skin is usually from a dog or cat, but in the past a special type of paper was used and recently various types of plastics are being tried. On the skin of some of the best shamisen, the position of the cat's nipples can still be seen. [1]
The three strings are traditionally made of silk, or, more recently, nylon. The lowest passes over a small hump at the "nut" end so that it buzzes, creating a characteristic sound known as sawari (somewhat reminiscent of the "buzzing" of a sitar, which is called jawari). The upper part of the dō is almost always protected by a cover known as a dō kake, and players often wear a little band of cloth on their left hand to facilitate sliding up and down the neck. This band is known as a yubikake. There may also be a cover on the head of the instrument, known as a tenjin
History and genres
The shamisen derives from the sanshin (三線, a close ancestor from the southernmost Japanese prefecture of Okinawa in the 16th century and one of the primary instruments used in that area), which in turn evolved from the Chinese sanxian, itself deriving ultimately from Central Asian instruments.
The shamisen can be played solo or with other shamisen, in ensembles with other Japanese instruments, with singing such as nagauta (長唄), or as an accompaniment to drama, notably kabuki (歌舞伎) and bunraku (文楽). Both men and women traditionally played the shamisen.
The most famous and perhaps most demanding of the narrative styles is gidayū, named after Takemoto Gidayū (1651-1714), who was heavily involved in the bunraku puppet-theater tradition in Osaka. The gidayū shamisen and its plectrum are the largest of the shamisen family, and the singer-narrator is required to speak the roles of the play, as well as to sing all the commentaries on the action. The singer-narrator role is often so vocally taxing that the performers are changed halfway through a scene. There is little notated in the books (maruhon) of the tradition except the words and the names of certain appropriate generic shamisen responses. The shamisen player must know the entire work perfectly in order to respond effectively to the interpretations of the text by the singer-narrator. From the 19th century female performers known as onna-jōruri or onna gidayū also carried on this concert tradition.
In the early part of the 20th century, blind musicians, including Shirakawa Gunpachirō (1909-1962), Takahashi Chikuzan (1910-1998), and sighted ones such as Kida Rinshōei (1911-1979), evolved a new style of playing, based on traditional folk songs ("min'yō") but involving much improvisation and flashy fingerwork. This style - now known as Tsugaru-jamisen, after the home region of this style in the north of Honshū - continues to be relatively popular in Japan. The virtuosic Tsugaru-jamisen style is sometimes compared to bluegrass banjo.
Kouta (小唄) is the style of song learned by geisha and maiko. Its name literally means "small" or "short song," which contrasts with the music genre found in bunraku and kabuki, otherwise known as nagauta (長唄) (long song).
Jiuta (地唄), or literally "earthen music" is a more classical style of shamisen music.
Michio Miyagi
(宮城道雄, April 7, 1894 - June 25, 1956) was a Japanese musician, famous for his Koto playing.
He was born in Kobe. He lost his sight in 1902, when he was 8 years old, and started his study in Koto under the guidance of Nakajima Kengyo II, dedicating the rest of his life to the instrument. In 1907 he moved with his family to Incheon, in southern Korea. When he was 14 years old, in 1909 he finished his first composition, Mizu no Hentai. At 18 he reached the rank of kengyo, the highest rank for a Koto performer.
Miyagi moved to Tokyo in 1917, and in 1919 he did his first recital of his own compositions. In 1920, he took part in the Great Recital of the New Japanese Music with Seifu Yoshida and Nagayo Motoori. He was reckoned as an authority in the new Japanese music, achieving notability in the early Shōwa period. In 1925 he participated in one of the first radio presentations in Japan, and in 1929 he signed an exclusive contract with Victor Record Company, now known as JVC. He composed his most famous piece, Haru no Umi (The Sea in Spring), in 1929.
In 1930 he became a lecturer at the Tokyo College of Music (current Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music), until he was appointed professor in 1937. In 1932 French violinist Renee Chemet visited Japan on a concert tour. After hearing Miyagi perform Haru no Umi Chemet arranged the shakuhachi part for violin, which she and Miyagi then recorded for distribution in Japan and Europe. He gained worldwide notability after the issuing of his albums in Japan, USA and UK.
After the Second World War, in 1948, he was appointed to the Academy of Arts of Japan. On 25 June 1956 he died after falling from a train in Kariya, Aichi during one of his tours. He wrote more than 500 pieces, improved Japanese string instruments, and invented new Kotos with 17 strings (bass Koto) and 80 strings. He was also an essayist, and published more than ten books including Ame no Nenbutsu.
References.
Koto
Koto
Shamisen
Shamisen
Michio Miyagi
