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Sekiheki no Fu

赤壁の賦

[Genre]Sokyoku
[School]Yamada Ryū - 山田
[Composed]Nakanoshima Kin'ichi - Shakuhachi - 1934
Nakanoshima Kin'ichi - Koto

History (Tsuge Gen'ichi):

Nakanoshima, a contemporary virtuoso of the koto and shamisen and a talented composer of traditional Japanese music, made this work at the request of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) in 1934. The text is a free translation into Japanese of an ode by Su Tung-p'o, a Chinese poet of the Sung dynasty (tenth century). The ode expresses the poet's deep emotions on visiting the ancient battlefield of Ch'ih-pi or Sekiheki ('Red Cliff') on the Yangtze River in Hupei province.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)

Under the full moon
Only a handful of stars.
Laying aside their arms.
Warriors
Might have once sung
With the magpies flying south.

Warriors,
Triumphant in victory -
How changed the times!
Where are they now?

Far from the fleeting world,
Light in spirit
On a leaf-like craft.
Let us toast
The moonlit night.
How wonderful!

This ephemeral life
(If extinguished,
A dream,
A gossamer shimmer?)
Put into such a world -
How short, how short!

On the Great Wide River
Flowing to eternity
We drink to the moon
The whole night through -
Goblets
And goblets,
Back and forth.
The new moon waxes,
If the clouds clear
(They laugh, then cry)
The full face
Of the moon.
Ah, the flowing river
Day and night it courses
Though one thousand autumns,
Ten thousand ages.
Why falter
Over small illusions?

That full moon
Over the mountain pass!
The reflected image
On the river surface!
However long one watches,
There is no tiring.
However much one takes in,
There is no end.

Glowing and shining,
One thousand miles
The moon floats
Into ten thousand homes.

How elegant!
How elegant!
Well,
Let us have another!
Let the current
Take us,
Let the current
Take us.
(josoo --an introduction)

Tsuki akiraka ni
hoshi mare ni
minami ni tobuya
kasasagi to
hoko wo yokotae
utaiken

(ainote)

Kachi hokoritaru
tsuwamono mo
toki wa utsurite
ima izuko

Ukiyo ni tooku
mi no karoku
hitoha no fune ni
tsuki no yo wo
sake kumikawasu
omoshiroya

(koto solo)

Kiyureba yume ka
itoyuu no
hakanaki mi wo ba
ametsuchi ni
irete mijikaki
inochi kana

Nagare mo tsukinu
chookoo no
tsuki wo sakana ni
yomosugara
kumu sakazuki no
kazukazu ya
kaketewa michitsu
michitewa kakuru
waraitsu nakitsu
murakumo no
harureba maruki
tsuki no kao
aa yuku mizu wa
nichiya wo sutezu
senshuu banko
nagare wa tsukizu
oroka no mayoi
nani wo ka yodoman

Kano sankan no
meigetsu to
kano koojoo no
sefuu wa
miredo mo
akazu
toredo mo
tsukizu

(shakuhachi solo)

Kookoo to shite
senri wo terashi
hyoohyoo to shite
banko ni iru

(ainote)

Ara omoshiro no
fuzei kana
iza sakazuki wo
kumikawashi
nagaruru mizu ni
fune wo makasen
nagaruru mizu ni
fune wo makasen

Sekiheki no Fu appears on the following albums

Album Artist

Hozumi Tsurezure Volume 3 Koto : Yamaguchi Hozumi
Koto : Ōtani Tosumi
Shakuhachi : Matsumura Hōmei

Japanese Masterpieces for the Shakuhachi Shakuhachi : Yes Yes
The name of a Chinese poem (The Feeling of The Red Wall) which is sung at the beginning of music. Composed by Seizan Shibata for 3 sizes of shakuhachi, - the longest being 2 ft. 4 in., the bell is played by the same performer with a 3-hole shakuhachi.
Play ButtonJapanese Masterpieces for the Shakuhachi (LP)
The name of a Chinese poem (The Feeling of The Red Wall) which is sung at the beginning of music. Composed by Seizan Shibata for 3 sizes of shakuhachi, - the longest being 2 ft. 4 in., the bell is played by the same performer with a 3-hole shakuhachi.
Play ButtonMusique Traditionnelle du Japon Shakuhachi : Kikusui Kofū
SEKIHEKI NO FU est une prière bouddhique que Kofu Kikusui a composée d'après une pièce ancienne de style traditionnel d'origine chinoise.

Le musicien utilise ici deux shakuhachis de longueurs différentes. Le second instrument est tenu par la main gauche tandis que la droite agite une petite cloche bouddhique.

Sankyoku Gassō Dai Zenshū (zoku) vol. 25 (続三曲合奏大全集25) Koto : Kameyama Kanō
Voice : Nakanoshima Hiroko
Koto : Nakanoshima Hiroko
Voice : Okamoto Megumi
Koto : Okamoto Megumi
Voice : Iguchi Tayonō
Koto : Iguchi Tayonō
Shakuhachi : Fujii Jido