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Tsugaru-jamisen
or refers to both the Japanese genre of music originating from Tsugaru Peninsula in present-day Aomori Prefecture and the instrument it is performed with. It is performed throughout Japan, though associations with the Tsugaru remain strong. is considered the most recognized genre of music, and has enjoyed multiple periods of popularity in Japan. History While it is clear that the originated from China through Okinawa in the 16th century CE, the specific developers of are not known with certainty, largely because written records of its development were not kept nor was it ever formally recognized by the Japanese government. What is known is that originated from a small peninsula due west of present-day Aomori Prefecture called Tsugaru. In addition, some researchers have conjectured on the style's origins based on available evidence. There is some consensus that the style was developed by homeless and blind individuals called . One scholar, Daijō Kazuo, proposed that t ...
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Tsugaru-jamisen Kaisenkaku Asamushi Onsen Aomori Japan06s5
or refers to both the Japanese genre of music originating from Tsugaru Peninsula in present-day Aomori Prefecture and the instrument it is performed with. It is performed throughout Japan, though associations with the Tsugaru remain strong. is considered the most recognized genre of music, and has enjoyed multiple periods of popularity in Japan. History While it is clear that the originated from China through Okinawa in the 16th century CE, the specific developers of are not known with certainty, largely because written records of its development were not kept nor was it ever formally recognized by the Japanese government. What is known is that originated from a small peninsula due west of present-day Aomori Prefecture called Tsugaru. In addition, some researchers have conjectured on the style's origins based on available evidence. There is some consensus that the style was developed by homeless and blind individuals called . One scholar, Daijō Kazuo, proposed that t ...
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Yoshida Brothers
The are Japanese shamisenist musicians who have released several albums on the Domo Records label. The two brothers are performers of the traditional Japanese music style of Tsugaru-jamisen which originated in northern Japan. They debuted in 1999 in Japan as a duo playing the shamisen. Their first album sold over 100,000 copies and made them minor celebrities in Japan, a fact that surprised the Yoshida Brothers themselves. They have since attracted an international audience. Their music has been a fusion of the rapid and percussive Tsugaru-jamisen style along with Western and other regional musical influences. In addition to performing songs that are only on the shamisen, they also use instruments such as drums and synthesizers. The commercials for Nintendo's Wii video game console that began airing in North America in November 2006 featured the Yoshida Brothers song "Kodo (Inside the Sun Remix)". Members and were born in Noboribetsu in Hokkaido, Japan. The two brothe ...
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Min'yō
, ''Nihon min'yō'', Japanese ''min'yō'' or Japanese folk music is a genre of traditional Japanese music. Characteristics Styles Many ''min'yō'' are connected to forms of work or to specific trades and were originally sung between work or for specific jobs. Other ''min'yō'' function simply as entertainment, as dance accompaniment, or as a components of religious rituals. ''Min'yō'' are also distinct depending on the area of Japan, with each area boasting its own favorite songs and styles. The songs found in the far northern island of Hokkaidō and sung by the Ainu people are usually excluded from the category of min'yō. In the far south, (especially Okinawa) distinct genres of min'yō, differing in scale structure, language and textual forms, have developed as well. Instruments Most Japanese folk songs related to work were originally sung unaccompanied, either solo, or by groups (heterophonically). Some songs exhibit the same sort of "call and response" chant often ...
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Takahashi Chikuzan
(; 1910–1998) was a renowned Japanese Tsugaru-jamisen performer and composer. He was born in Nakahiranai, a village that is now part of the Hiranai township in Aomori Prefecture. He lost his sight at around age two from measles before becoming a live-in apprentice of a Tsugaru-jamisen performer called Toda Jūjirō near his home town. Before World War II he spent many years touring Tohoku and Hokkaido, playing before doorsteps and making money any way he could. After the war he became more widely known, first as an accompanist for the famous Tsugaru folk song singer Narita Unchiku (who named him "Chikuzan"), and subsequently as a solo performer of the Tsugaru-jamisen repertory. His performances, for many years taking place regularly at a small venue called Shibuya Jean-Jean in Shibuya Ward of Tokyo, often featured long solo improvisations, which he entitled "Iwaki" after the tallest mountain in Tsugaru. His most famous disciple, a woman who has assumed the name Takah ...
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Shamisen
The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usually but sometimes when used as a suffix, according to regular sound change (e.g. ). In Western Japanese dialects and several Edo period sources, it is both written and pronounced as . The construction of the varies in shape, depending on the genre in which it is used. The instrument used to accompany kabuki has a thin neck, facilitating the agile and virtuosic requirements of that genre. The one used to accompany puppet plays and folk songs has a longer and thicker neck instead, to match the more robust music of those genres. Construction The is a plucked stringed instrument. Its construction follows a model similar to that of a guitar or a banjo, with a neck and strings stretched across a resonating body. The neck of the is fret ...
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Hirosaki, Aomori
is a city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. On 1 April 2020, the city had an estimated population of 168,739 in 71,716 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Hirosaki developed as a castle town for the 100,000 ''koku'' Hirosaki Domain ruled by the Tsugaru clan. The city is currently a regional commercial center, and the largest producer of apples in Japan. The city government has been promoting the slogans "Apple Colored Town Hirosaki" and "Castle and Cherry Blossom and Apple Town" to promote the city image. The town is also noted for many western-style buildings dating from the Meiji period. Geography Hirosaki is located in western Aomori Prefecture, at the southern end of the Tsugaru plains of the Tsugaru Peninsula, southeast of Mount Iwaki and bordering on Akita Prefecture. The eastern and southern flanks of Mount Iwaki and its peak are within the city's borders. The Iwaki River flows from the west to the northeast through the ...
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Shamisen
The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usually but sometimes when used as a suffix, according to regular sound change (e.g. ). In Western Japanese dialects and several Edo period sources, it is both written and pronounced as . The construction of the varies in shape, depending on the genre in which it is used. The instrument used to accompany kabuki has a thin neck, facilitating the agile and virtuosic requirements of that genre. The one used to accompany puppet plays and folk songs has a longer and thicker neck instead, to match the more robust music of those genres. Construction The is a plucked stringed instrument. Its construction follows a model similar to that of a guitar or a banjo, with a neck and strings stretched across a resonating body. The neck of the is fret ...
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Tsugaru Peninsula
The is a peninsula in Aomori Prefecture, at the northern end of Honshū island, Japan. The peninsula projects north into the Tsugaru Strait separating Honshū from Hokkaidō. The western coast is on the Sea of Japan, while on its eastern coast are Aomori Bay and Mutsu Bay. The peninsula is bisected from Cape Tappi at its northern end to the Hakkōda Mountains on its southern end by the Tsugaru Mountains. Across the Tsugaru strait to the north is Hokkaidō's Matsumae Peninsula, to which it is linked by the Seikan Tunnel. History In the Edo period, the peninsula was part of the Hirosaki Domain and was ruled by the Tsugaru clan. Traditionally one of the poorest and remotest areas of Japan, Tsugaru is best known as the birthplace of writer Osamu Dazai, who wrote the mordant travelogue ''Tsugaru'' about his travels around the peninsula, and for the ''Tsugaru-jamisen'', a distinctive local version of the Japanese string instrument shamisen. After the defeat of Aizu during the Bos ...
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Aomori Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, Iwate Prefecture to the southeast, Akita Prefecture to the southwest, the Sea of Japan to the west, and Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait to the north. Aomori Prefecture is the 8th-largest prefecture, with an area of , and the 31st-most populous prefecture, with more than 1.2 million people. Approximately 45 percent of Aomori Prefecture's residents live in its two core cities, Aomori and Hachinohe, which lie on coastal plains. The majority of the prefecture is covered in forested mountain ranges, with population centers occupying valleys and plains. Aomori is the third-most populous prefecture in the Tōhoku region, after Miyagi Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture. Mount Iwaki, an active stratovolcano, is the prefecture's highest p ...
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Bachi
''Bachi'' (, ; also ''batchi'') are straight, wooden sticks used on Japanese taiko drums, and also the plectrum (written ) for stringed instruments of Japanese origin such as the shamisen and ''biwa''. For percussion Drum bachi (, ) are made in a wide variety of sizes and materials, as appropriate to the drum it will be used to play. A typical bachi is about 22 mm (7/8 inches) in diameter, 400 mm (16 inches) long and made out of a hardwood such as oak. These would be suitable for a wide variety of playing styles. A bachi for playing a larger drum like the O-daiko would be bigger both in circumference and length. Similarly, smaller bachi are used for smaller drums. Distinctions between the characters and are not always made in technical terms, but can also literally refer to the white oak tree, or Quercus. Some other woods commonly used to make bachi are (Japanese names in parentheses): , , , , and . Magnolia is one of the lightest and softest woods, ...
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Shirakawa Gunpachirō
may refer to: People * Shirakawa (surname) * Emperor Shirakawa, an eleventh-century emperor of Japan Places * Shirakawa, Fukushima, a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ** Shirakawa Domain, a feudal domain of Edo-period Japan * Shirakawa, Gifu (town), a town in Gifu Prefecture, Japan * Shirakawa, Gifu (village), a World Heritage site in Gifu Prefecture, Japan * Shirakawa, a neighborhood of Koto, Tokyo * Shirakawa, Miyagi, a town in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan * Shirakawa, Saitama, a town in Saitama Prefecture, Japan * Shirakawa River The is a river in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The river originates in the foothills of Mount Hiei on the outskirts of Kyoto, through the Geisha district of Gion and eventually ends up in the Kamo River. Its name, which means "white river" in Japa ..., a river in Kyoto * Shirakawa River (Kumamoto), a river in Kumamoto {{disambiguation, geo ...
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