Azuma Koto Song - Azuma Koto Song

...Along with the "Nosaimono" pieces, which are koto musical adaptations of the popular song "Rosai-bushi," all of these are treated as "attachments" to kumiuta. Around the Kansei era (1789-1801), Yamada Kengyo of Edo created a new song that could be said to be a koto musical adaptation of the shamisen music of Kato-bushi and Itchu-bushi, which were popular in Edo at the time. He called it "Azuma Koto Uta," but later it came to be called "Yamada-ryu Koto Music." Since only the Mitsuhashi-based Ikuta-ryu was being transmitted in Edo, it may seem as if he had started a new school in opposition to the Ikuta-ryu, but the Yamada-ryu is completely different from the previous school divisions, which were mainly based on the differences in the transmission organization of kumiuta, and can be said to be a new genre. ...

*Some of the terminology used in reference to "Azuma Koto Song" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…流行歌謡の〈弄斎（ろうさい）節〉を箏曲化した〈弄斎物〉の楽曲とともに，すべて組歌の〈付物（つけもの）〉として扱われる。　寛政(1789‐1801)ころに，江戸の山田検校は，当時の江戸で盛行していた三味線音楽の河東節や一中節などの歌浄瑠璃に対して，これを箏曲化したといえる新歌曲を創始，〈吾妻箏歌（あづまことうた）〉と称したが，後世〈山田流箏曲〉と称するようになった。江戸では，三橋系の生田流の伝承のみ行われていたので，あたかも生田流に対立する新流を起こしたかの感があるが，山田流は，それまでの主として組歌の伝承組織上の相違に基づく流儀別とはまったく異質で，むしろ新種目といえるものである。…

※「吾妻箏歌」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報