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Okinawan Music
is the music associated with the Okinawa Islands of southwestern Japan. In modern Japan, it may also refer to the musical traditions of Okinawa Prefecture, which covers the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands in addition to the Okinawa Islands. It has its roots in the larger musical traditions of the Southern Islands. Genres A dichotomy widely accepted by Okinawan people is the separation of musical traditions into ''koten'' (classical) and ''min'yō'' (folk). Okinawa was once ruled by the highly centralized kingdom of Ryūkyū. The samurai class in the capital of Shuri developed its high culture while they frequently suppressed folk culture in rural areas. Musicologist Susumu Kumada added another category, "popular music", to describe songs that emerged after the kingdom was abolished in 1879. Classical music was the court music of Ryūkyū. was the traditional chamber music of the royal palace at Shuri Castle. It was performed by the bureaucrats as official duties. The texture is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okinawa Islands
The Okinawa Islands ( or ) are an island group in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and are the principal island group of the prefecture. The Okinawa Islands are part of the larger Ryukyu Islands group and are located between the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture to the northeast and the Sakishima Islands of Okinawa Prefecture to the southwest. The Okinawa Islands, apart from the main island, contain three smaller island groups: the Kerama, Yokatsu and Iheya-Izena island groups. The Okinawa Islands are the political, cultural and population center of Okinawa Prefecture. The prefectural capital of Naha is within the island group. 90% of the population of the prefecture reside within the Okinawa Islands, primarily on the largest island of the group, Okinawa Island. Access to the various Okinawa Islands is primarily via small airports which connect to Naha Airport. Additionally, the islands are connected via ferry service to the Port of Naha in the prefectural capital. The Okinawa I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yanagita Kunio
Kunio Yanagita (柳田 國男, Yanagita Kunio, July 31, 1875 – August 8, 1962) was a Japanese author, scholar, and folklorist. He began his career as a bureaucrat, but developed an interest in rural Japan and its folk traditions. This led to a change in his career. His pursuit of this led to his eventual establishment of Japanese native folkloristics, or ''minzokugaku'', as an academic field in Japan. As a result, he is often considered to be the father of modern Japanese folklore studies. Early life Yanagita was born as the fifth child of the Matsuoka family in the town of Fukusaki, located in Hyōgo Prefecture. He was born with the name Kunio Matsuoka (or Matsuoka Kunio in the Japanese manner of naming), but was adopted into the family of a court justice named Naohei Yanagita. At the time, it was fairly common practice for families without a son to adopt a young boy or man into the family to inherit the family’s property. This would often occur through marriage, with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amami Islands
The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is an archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is southwest of Kyushu. Administratively, the group belongs to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan and the Japan Coast Guard agreed on February 15, 2010, to use the name of for the Amami Islands. Prior to that, was also used. The name of Amami is probably cognate with , the goddess of creation in the Ryukyuan creation myth. Geography The Amami Islands are limestone islands of coralline origin and have a total area of approximately , of which constitute the city (''-shi'') of Amami, and constitute the district (''-gun'') of Oshima. The highest elevation is ''Yuwandake'' with a height of on Amami Ōshima. The climate is a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfa'') with very warm summer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shima-uta
is a genre of songs originating from the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture of southwestern Japan. It became known nationwide in the 2000s with the success of young pop singers from Amami Ōshima such as Hajime Chitose and Atari Kōsuke. Names and concepts Although shima-uta is often considered to represent Amami's musical tradition, it is just one of various music genres. Amami's traditional songs can be classified into three categories: # ''kami-uta'' (religious songs sung by priestesses) including ''omori'', ''tahabë'' and ''kuchi'', # '' warabe-uta'' (children's songs), and # '' min'yo'' (folk songs). Amami's ''min'yo'' is further divided into three genres: # ''gyōji-uta'' (songs for annual events) including songs for '' hachigatsu-odori'', # ''shigoto-uta'' (work songs), associated with rice planting, sailing, etc., and # ''asobi-uta'', which are sung at recreational gatherings. In a narrower sense, shima-uta refers to ''asobi-uta'' and is also known as ''sanshin-uta'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsuneo Fukuhara
Tsuneo Fukuhara (; 14 November 1932 – 1 November 2022) was a Japanese composer and record producer. Life and career Born in Osaka, Fukuhara was the adoptive son of composer and record producer . He spent his early life in Okinawa, and studied classical music at the Osaka College of Music. He is considered a pioneer in fusing traditional Okinawan style with elements from other popular genres such as classical music, rhythm & blues and bossa nova, and his peculiar compositions are known as "Fukuhara Melodies" ("普久原メロディー"). Fukuhara made his professional debut in 1961, and during his career composed over 500 songs. Among his best known compositions is the song "Bashofu" (1965), which was recorded by popular artists such as Rimi Natsukawa and Tokiko Kato. During his career he received various awards and honors, including in 2014 a lifetime JASRAC Music Culture Award. Fukuhara died of aortic stenosis Aortic stenosis (AS or AoS) is the narrowing of the exit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seijin Noborikawa
, born in Uruma, Okinawa, was a master Okinawan musician and ''min'yō'' folk singer, and a headliner of the Utanohi music festival. Biography Noborikawa was born to a farming family in Misato Village (now Uruma) in the Nakagami District, Okinawa. From the age of 7, he became familiar with homemade sanshin, watching Mouashibi and learning folk songs. He was able to dance the Kachāshī by 11. He hardly attended school and started smoking at 8 and drinking at 9. After the war ended, he worked at the US military base. At the age of sixteen, Noborikawa joined the Shibai Matsu Theater of Okinawa and sang folk songs. He thoroughly learned sanshin from Itarashiki Asaken and won the "Amateur Singing Competition" of Ryukyuhoso radio together with Rinshō Kadekaru. From 1955, he became a folk singer who performs solo. He also gained popularity in a trio with Yoshinaga Masayasu and Tsunami Tsunenaga. In 1957, Shuei Kohama, Kina, and others established the Ryukyu Folk Songs Ass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoukichi Kina
, is a Japanese rock musician and politician. He, along with his band Champloose, played a large role in the Okinawan home-grown "folk rock" scene in the 1970s and 1980s. His first big hit was " Haisai Ojisan" ("Hey, old man") in 1972, which he wrote when he was in high school. Songs from the 1980 album Blood Lines, like "Hana" and " Subete no Hito no Kokoro ni Hana o", are frequently heard in international markets. He was elected a member of the House of Councillors in July 2004. In 2010 he ran for a second term but lost. Music career with Champloose is a Japanese band from Okinawa blending traditional Okinawan music with a strong Western rock influence. Their name is apparently derived from the word for a traditional Okinawan stir-fry, chanpuru. Singer and lead songwriter Shoukichi Kina's electric sanshin was a particularly distinctive part of their sound. First major single was the classic "Haisai Ojisan" (Hey, old man), written while Kina was still in high school but not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sadao China
(1945–) is a Japanese musician active in the Okinawan music and shima-uta scene, as a performer on the sanshin, min'yō folk singer, song-writer, and producer, having been responsible in 1990 for the formation of the Nēnēs. Biography China Sadao was born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1945, the family moving to Amagasaki in Hyōgo Prefecture in 1951. His father, , a musician from Okinawa Prefecture, had moved from Okinawa in search of work, making a living in a spinning mill and by gathering scrap metal from drainage ditches. As a young child, Sadao disliked the nostalgic shima-uta performed by his father and tried to suppress his uchināguchi dialect; he would later recall his embarrassment when his father appeared at an athletics meet with a sanshin and taiko. Nevertheless, he performed in folk songs and dances together with his parents, and in 1951 made his first recording, of the song , on the . In 1957, father and son returned to Okinawa, where Sadao began his studies, at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rinshō Kadekaru
was a Japanese-Okinawan singer who was known as a representative Okinawan folk, shimauta, singer of the post-war era. Early life Kadekaru was born in Goeku Village, Okinawa PrefectureGoeku was later renamed Koza city and is now called Okinawa City. The neighborhood where Kadekaru grew up is now part of the Kadena Air Force Base. to Rintarō and Ushi Kadekaru. He was the eldest of three siblings, with two younger sisters. He began playing around with ''sanshin'' from the age of seven, and was strongly influenced by his mother, who was also a singer. At age eight, he collaborated with his mother to compose the song .''Kadekaru Rinshō nenpu'' (嘉手苅林昌 年譜, "Kadekaru Rinshō chronology"). Spiritual Nature Islandhttp://www.okinawa-tamashii.net/ Accessed 7 January 2009. Growing up, Kadekaru quit school at times in order to help his family with the farming; he held a number of part-time jobs, and performed, singing and playing ''sanshin'' alongside classmates and others ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warabe Uta
are traditional Japanese songs, similar to nursery rhymes. They are often sung as part of traditional children's games. They are described as a form of min'yo: traditional Japanese songs, usually sung without accompanying instruments. The centuries-old lyrics are often incomprehensible to modern Japanese (especially to children who are singing it), and others can be quite sinister on close analysis. Like many children's songs around the world, because people are used to them from an early age, they are often oblivious to the real meanings. Examples Tōryanse "Tōryanse" is often played as an electronic tune at pedestrian crossings in Japan to signal when it is safe to cross. Japanese: 通りゃんせ 通りゃんせ ここはどこの 細通じゃ :天神さまの 細道じゃ ちっと通して 下しゃんせ :御用のないもの 通しゃせぬ この子の七つの お祝いに お札を納めに まいります :行きはよいよい 帰りはこわ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kachāshī
, sometimes romanized as katcharsee, is a form of festive Okinawan folk dance. In Okinawa, it is often a feature of celebrations such as weddings and victory festivities after tegumi wrestling matches and public elections. It is traditionally accompanied by the sanshin and drum, and often punctuated with finger whistling A wolf whistle is a distinctive two-note glissando whistled sound made to show high interest in or approval of something or someone, especially at someone viewed as physically or sexually attractive. Today, a wolf whistle directed at a person i ... called . The dance is executed with the hands in the air, palms flat for women and curled (or in fists) for men. The hands alternate pulling and pushing in an up and down elliptical motion, one hand facing outward and up, the other inward and down. The hand movements are difficult to execute without training. The steps are mostly improvised, generally made in a slight bow-legged stance, alternately lifting and lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eisa (dance)
( ryu, エイサー, ) is a form of folk dance originating from the Okinawa Islands, Japan. In origin, it is a Bon dance that is performed by young people of each community during the Bon festival to honor the spirits of their ancestors. It underwent drastic changes in the 20th century and is today seen as a vital part of Okinawan culture. Popular style Modern is danced by 20 to 30 young men and women, mainly in doubled lines or circles to the accompaniment of singing, chanting, and drumming by the dancers as well as by folk songs played on the . Three types of drums are used in various combinations, depending upon regional style: the , a large barrel drum; the , a medium-sized drum similar to ones used in Noh theatre; and the ( ryu, パーランクー), a small hand drum similar to ones used in Buddhist ceremony. The dancers also sometimes play small hand gongs and castanets. dancers wear various costumes, usually according to local tradition and gender of the dancer; mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
