Kōjō no Tsuki
Kōjō no Tsuki ( Japanese 荒城 の 月 , literally: "The moon over the castle ruins"; also poetically: "Ruin in the moonlight") is a poem by the poet Doi Bansui . It was set to music by Rentarō Taki and is widely known as a folk song in Japan.
poem
Doi Bansui (1871–1952) was an English student. He was born in Sendai . He studied at the Imperial University of Tokyo . From 1901 to 1904 he studied in London, Paris and Leipzig. Upon his return, Bansui taught at Tohoku Imperial University . He died in Sendai.
The poem Bansuis was created as part of a commission from the Tokyo Conservatory (today: Tōkyō Geijutsu Daigaku ) as a text for a song for middle school. The poem or the lyrics of Bansuis initially had the title Kōjō Tsuki ( 荒城 月 ). The original text, which has a four-part structure (also Kishōtenketsu ), reads:
春高楼の花の宴
巡る盃影さして
千代の松が枝分け出
でし昔の光今いづこ
秋陣営の霜の色
鳴きゆく雁の数見せて
植うる剣に照り沿ひし
昔の光今いづこ
今荒城の夜半の月
変わらぬ光誰がためぞ
垣に残るはただ葛
松に歌ふはただ嵐
天上影は変はらねど
栄枯は移る世の姿
映さんとてか今も尚
ああ荒城の夜半の月
The term Chiyo ( 千代 , line 3) usually means “a thousand years” or a long time, but is also the nickname of the pine tree in the term Chiyoki ( 千代 木 ). The Kunyomi reading of the characters 千代 is Chiyo , but if you use the Onyomi reading instead, the result is the reading Sendai for 千代 . Already Date Masamune has for Sendai Kanji 仙台 ( Kyūjitai : 仙臺 ) used. Date Masamune ruled the Tōhoku region as a daimyo with the Date Klan , the largest city of which is Sendai. He also built Sendai Castle , which is also called Aoba Castle . Since Doi Bansui came from Sendai, this is a play on words ( Kakekotoba ) in which the word Chiyo alludes to the city of Sendai. In addition, the image of the pine that outlasts the ages ( 千代 の 松 ) is linked to the image of a pine (at the castle) from Sendai ( 仙台 （城） の 松 ) by substituting the reading of Chiyo with Sendai . The meaning of the characters for Sendai (city) can also be expanded figuratively to ( 仙人 の 住 む 高 台 , Sennin no sumu takadai - hill where the Sennin live ). Sendai Castle, which Data Masamune built and in which he resided, is a hilltop castle (Japanese 山城 , sanjō, yamajirō) that stands on a hill, at the foot of which Sendai developed as a castle town ( Jōkamachi ).
song
When Doi Bansui studied in London, he met Rentarō Taki, who also composed the melody on behalf of the Tokyo Conservatory. The original melody, which was first published in 1901 with the text Bansuis, was originally conceived as a vocal work ("Mubanso") without musical accompaniment in B minor . In 1917 Yamada Kōsaku also created an instrumental version for piano under the title Hana no en ( 花 の 宴 ). He changed the tone of the key while maintaining the musical scale by the piece about a third up and thus from B minor to D minor transposed. He also changed the tempo and rhythm of the song from 8 to 16 bars.
In 1918 the song was published by the music publisher Sonoo as a solo vocal piece under the title Kōjō no Tsuki . The composer Mori Kazuya (1915–1998) reports on a lecture given in 1927 by the assistant professor Kunihiko Hashimoto at the Tokyo Conservatory. According to Hashimoto's remarks, the D minor version of Kosaku should be made available to Europeans. In Rentarō's original version, the E in hana no En (line 1) coincides with a note raised by a cross (#). This characteristic, known as the Gypsy minor, of raising the fourth note of the harmonic minor scale, is characteristic of Gypsy songs and leads Europeans to associate the melody with Hungarian folk songs and not consider it a Japanese melody. In order to avoid this effect, Tamaki Miura , the first Japanese opera singer of world fame, asked Yamada to remove the cross in his arrangement, since she sang Kōjō no Tsuki on many occasions in Europe. A recording with Yamada's piano accompaniment, but the original melody (i.e. 8 bars) is available with the counter tenor Yoshikazu Mera .
song lyrics
| Japanese | transcription | Partial translation |
|---|---|---|
|
「荒城の月」 |
『Kōjō no Tsuki』 |
『荒城 の 月』 |
There used to be loudspeakers on the building of the Sakurano Department Store at Sendai Central Station from which the melody of Kōjō no Tsuki could be heard daily at 10:00, 12:00, 15:00 and 17:00.
reception
Further settings are:
- In the Belgian Abbey of Chevetogne , Kōjō no Tsuki is sung as a church hymn (hymn of the cherubim) in the arrangement of Yamada Kosuke. This version was picked up in 2004 by the French black metal band Deathspell Omega and integrated into the song Carnal Malefactor .
- A jazz arrangement by Thelonious Monk is titled "Japanese Folk Song" on his 1967 album Straight No Chaser .
- One of the best-known versions comes from the German heavy metal band Scorpions , played as a ballad during a concert in Nakano Sun Plaza , Tokyo, in the late 1970s and later released on the live album Tokyo Tapes .
- In addition, Kōjō no Tsuki was played by Yngwie Malmsteen in 1984 during the Alcatrazz Japan Tour.
- In 1992 a recording was made with the Swiss tenor Ernst Haefliger in German (out of print).
- In 2003, baritone Tōru Tanabe and pianist Matthias Gräff-Schestag recorded a new recording in German under the title “Ruins in the Moonlight” in “Old and New Songs from Japan: 31 Japanese songs with piano accompaniment; in German translation, ed. by Toru Tanabe and Matthias Gräff-Schestag ”, (ISMN M-50087-920-6).
Remarks
- ↑ Sennin are Taoist saints as well as hermits and magicians.
- ↑ Here already with the title Kōjō no Tsuki, which is still common today .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b 歌 語 と 独 語 と 『荒城 の 月』 の 詩 的 色 ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Kago to dokugo Kōjō no Tsuki no jiteki iro; PDF; 893 kB)
- ↑ Morgawse Arth: DEATHSPELL OMEGA - Carnal Malefactor . September 24, 2010.
- ↑ 荒城 の 月 の す べ て . (No longer available online.) Kotenha.com, archived from the original on October 5, 2011 ; Retrieved March 16, 2012 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tokyo Gakugei University OPAC - Ernst Haefliger sings Japanese songs
- ^ Press coverage on the website of the baritone Toru Tanabe
Web links
- Text and sheet music of the original by Rentarō in B minor (PDF; 122 kB) - Japanese with Latin inscription
- Discography of Haefliger - Haefliger sings Japanese songs by German Vol. 1-3
- In memory of Rentarō Taki (German)
- Audio sample and Japanese text