Goze
Goze ( Japanese 瞽 女 , "blind woman (s)") were blind Japanese women who made their living as traveling musicians by playing the long-necked lute shamisen and singing traditional Japanese songs. They usually hired themselves out at folk festivals ( matsuri ) in rural areas.
The Goze profession appeared in the Japanese Middle Ages, but only became more important as a profession for blind women in the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to professions such as masseuse or shaman ( Itako ), he was usually the only way for blind women to earn their own living in Japanese society and not be a burden on their families.
They often organized themselves into groups of a few blind women (and sometimes sighted female guides) who supported one another and whose leader acted as a guide. Large groups were located in Echigo ( Niigata Prefecture ), Kai ( Yamanashi Prefecture ), Shinano ( Nagano Prefecture ), Shizuoka Prefecture, and Gifu Prefecture . Many smaller groups from Kyūshū to the Kantō area were active until the prewar period.
Usually an old goze sang and accompanied herself on the three-stringed shamisen , which was also a popular instrument of the geishas . Two young pretty Goze danced and beat the hand drum tsuzumi . On their wandering in the winter months, the Goze came to live with the villagers in an outbuilding ( hanare ). Since the Goze were believed to have magical abilities, no family could afford to deny the visitors accommodation and food if they wanted to avoid their house being cursed.
The culture handed down by the Goze was not paid much attention to by research until after the Second World War. Due to the changed social conditions in modern Japan, in particular the state equality and support for the disabled, there are currently no more active Goze. The last goze master, Kobayashi Haru ( 小林 ハ ル ), died on April 25, 2005 at the age of 105.
The most important source for ancient Chinese poetry and music from the 11th to 7th centuries BC. Chr. Is the book of songs . It emerges from the poems that music and dance had an essential social function. Two poems (No. 242 and No. 280) indicate that there was probably a special group of blind musicians who are referred to simply as "the blind men". Beginning of the 1st millennium BC Chr. Subjected in the Greek Mediterranean, the Aöden about as blind wandering minstrels. A special tradition of blind singers is a common phenomenon that still occurs today in some cultures, such as the Aşık in Turkey and the Ukrainian singers who accompany each other with the kobsa lute .
bibliography
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