Mutamagawa
六玉川
| [Genre] | Sokyoku |
| [Style] | Kumiuta |
| [School] | Ikuta Ryû - 生田 |
| [Also Known As] | Tamagawa |
| [Composed] | Mitsuhashi Kengyō - Koto |
History (Tsuge Gen'ichi):
| This piece was originally composed in the style of tomimoto-bushi, one of the vocal genres of Edo-joruri. It is said that it was first arranged as a Yamada School sokyoku piece by Yamaki Senga (1846-1921) around 1870. The title means 'The Six Jade Rivers.' The song text, written in the traditional style of the poetic journey, praises the six well-known rivers with the name Tamagawa ('Jade River'). They are located in Ide (Kyoto), Takano (Wakayama Prefecture), Noji (Shiga Prefecture), Tsunokuni (Osaka), Tatsukuri (Chofu, Tokyo) and Noda (Miyagi Prefecture). |
Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)
| The early birds sing As I set off to the east. Days on the road, Nights in the field: A leisurely journey Along the road of poetry. A leisurely journey Along the road of poetry. The scenes of those Six Jade Rivers, Captured in verse Will serve well The muse of song. Through mountain thickets I tramp, Till I come to a place Where I can see Mist trailing across An ever-splendid vista Of blossoming cherry trees, Their trunks like stakes Of a weir In the Jade River of Ide. The yellow flowers of the yamabuki bush And even the chattering of frogs Will flourish in my poems. Another place of renown Is Takano, deep in the mountains Of Kii Province. Certainly travelers in ancient times Made this journey just to drink From the Jade River of Takano Oblivious of the difficulties. A lavender brocade covers The hills and fields of Noji. On the lower leaves Of the bush clover White dewdrops form, And take in for the night The light of the moon Filtered through the upper branches. A bell cricket laments, Shaken off, like me, By his lover. And I, Alone in my room, Ward off the cold By working At my loom. For whom do you pine, Oh cricket of the evergreen Crying into the night? I too struggle with my emotions And find myself hopeless To resist the forces of jealousy On the banks of the Jade River Of Tsunokuni. Our hearts were melted into one, Our spirits a call and an echo, But no longer can this be. The sleeves of my nightgown Are damp with tears, The dew of a lovelost morn. Longing and alone I pound the fulling block (1) In hopes that he will come to me, But he hears it not. His visits have stopped, And only the wind Comes through the pines. That sad sound reminds me of Those nights of tender koto music We shared in sweet abandon. Oh, the gossip We must have caused! Upon the gentle waves Of the Jade River at Tatsukuri The moon floats peacefully. And drying on the banks, Strips of bleached white linen. The rolling waves (2), The rolling waves, Tame them With wicker weirs And stop The water's flow, And stop The water's flow. Their day's work over The hardy village women, Their day's work over The hardy village women Gather up the cloth And return to their humble homes. How fine it is to be here Under this thatched northern roof, Lulled to sleep By the quiet flow Of the Jade River of Noda: The plover sings my song. With these scribblings As a souvenir I set off for home. One day they will become Texts for tomimoto melodies Which will be loved And remembered by all: Felicitous verse for song (3). (1) The fulling block (kimuta) is an apparatus for softening and bringing out the gloss of newly woven silk. Traditionally, women pounded silk on top of it with wooden mallets. The sound evoked the mood of long, solitary autumn nights and was often used as an image of loneliness and longing in classical Japanese poetry. (2) The following eight lines are quoted from the jiuta piece Sarashi. (3)The final five lines are a more or less conventional concluding pattern which sing the praises of the Tomimoto style of joruri. |
Mutamagawa appears on the following albums
| Album | Artist | |
| Kikuhara Hatsuko Zenshu vol. 6 |
Voice : Kikuhara Hatsuko Koto : Kikuhara Hatsuko | |
| Sankyoku Gassō Dai Zenshū vol. 19 (三曲合奏大全集１９) |
Koto : Takano Kazuyuki Shamisen : Uehara Keiko Voice : Umezu Hirofuki Shakuhachi : Yokota Reiryū Voice : Nakada Hiroyuki |