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Ryūka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Concepts and classification#

The word ryūka ( ru:ka in archaic pronunciation ) was first attested in the Kon-kōken-shū (1711). The name came into use when Ryūkyū’s samurai class in Shuri and Naha embraced Japanese high culture including waka. It is analogous with Japanese custom of contrasting Japanese poetry (waka or yamato-uta) with Chinese poetry (kara-uta). There is abundant evidence that ryūka was simply referred to as uta (songs and/or poems) in colloquial use. In its original form, ryūka was songs to be sung with sanshin (shamisen), rather than poems to be read aloud. Thus it is more comparable with Japanese imayō, kinsei kouta and dodoitsu than with waka. The composers of ryūka were not only those in the upper class, but also included a girl who was sold to the red-light district called Yoshiya Chiru and a woman farmer of passion called Onna Nabe. However, the male members of the samurai class in Shuri and Naha started to read ryūka just like waka. They hold utakai, or a gathering for reading a collection of poems on a common theme, for both ryūka and waka. It is no wonder that famous ryūka poets like Heshikiya Chōbin and Motobu Chōkyū were also waka poets. Researchers disagree on the scope of ryūka. In the narrowest definition, it only refers to songs and poems with the 8-8-8-6 syllable structure. This standard form is specifically called . In a slightly broader definition, ryūka also covers , which typically has the 7-5-8-6 or 5-5-8-6 syllable patterns. It is a hybrid of waka (first two units) and ryūka (second two units). The invention of nakafū was traditionally attributed to the 18th century poet Heshikiya Chōbin, and it was mainly composed by the male members of the samurai class. Another form called is characterized by a series of 8-8 syllable patterns with a 6-syllable unit at the end. There are some 20 chōka in the records.

Ryūkōka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1914–1927: Origin#

In 1914, Sumako Matsui’s song “Katyusha’s song”, composed by Shinpei Nakayama, was used as a theme of the rendition Resurrection in Japan. The record of the song sold 20,000 copies. One theory holds that this was the first ryūkōka song, which was made by Hogetsu Shimamura’s order: “the tune between Japanese popular folk music and Western music”. However, street performers called had been popular until record labels such as the Victor Company of Japan began to produce songs in the early Shōwa period. Although Matsui committed suicide after Shimamura’s death, Nakayama continued to develop his music. During his career, he composed about 3,000 songs such as the 1921 song “Teru teru bozu”. Nakayama transferred Japanese traditional music to staff-style by main force. His 1921 song was later covered by various singers, but was at first best known for being covered by violin enka-shi featuring Orchestra. The pentatonic scale used in this song was “Minor scale without forth and seventh degree”. However, the music based on the scale had difficult in presenting chord and harmony because traditional Japanese music didn’t adopt equal temperament. Nakayama’s songs were based on Japanese folk music called min’yō, but also adopted Western musical style. Therefore, his music was called .

Ryukyuan music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Research history#

Comprehensive studies on diverse musical traditions of the Southern Islands was done by Hokama Shuzen and his colleagues. Prior to that, the scopes of research were limited to each island group (Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, or Yaeyama), or even narrower areas. These studies were done under the heavy influence of folklorists Yanagita Kunio and Orikuchi Shinobu, who searched for the origin of Japanese culture in the Southern Islands. The research on Okinawa’s musical traditions was started by Tajima Risaburō at the end of the 19th century. He was followed by Katō Sango and Majikina Ankō among others. Under Tajima’s influence, Iha Fuyū, who is known as the father of Okinawaology, conducted extensive research on a wide range of music genres of Okinawa, primarily by analyzing texts. Although he paid attention to Miyako and Yaeyama, his studies on these subfields remained in a preliminary stage, partly due to the limited availability of documented sources. In Miyako and Yaeyana, pioneering work in collecting and documenting folk songs was done by Inamura Kenpu and Kishaba Eijun, respectively. Hokama Shuzen, a successor to Iha Fuyū, worked on integrating separate subjects by comparative methods while he himself conducted field studies that covered the whole island chain. He stressed the importance of Amami, which was usually ignored or marginalized in Okinawan narratives. His lifelong research resulted in the Nantō koyō (1971), the Nantō kayō taisei (1978–80) and the Nantō bungaku-ron (1995).