"Beautiful Nature" - Utsukushiki Tennen

Japanese: 《美しき天然》 - うつくしきてんねん

... After that, "theme songs for movies" that combined records and movies were made one after another, and one of them, "Sendo Kouta" (1921) (lyrics by Noguchi Ujo, music by Nakayama Shinpei) was a big hit and is still sung today. The prototype of this song is "Utsukushiki Tennen" (lyrics by Takeshima Hagoromo, music by Tanaka Hozumi, 1900) used in circus jinta, and this Japanese melody was adapted to the form of a Western song. It uses the "yona-nuki minor scale" and has a sound structure similar to a folk song, but the rhythm is more like a song. ...

From 【Waltz】

...The rapid acceptance of the waltz in Japan, which is said to have little tradition of 3-beat rhythm, is shown by the fact that popular songs with waltz rhythms were born as early as the 1900s. These include "Beautiful Natural" (composed by Tanaka Hozumi (1855-1905) and lyrics by Takeshima Hagoromo, around 1900), "Silver Waves" (a foreign song?, around 1900), and "Ripples of the Danube" (a song by I. Ivanovich with lyrics by Tamura Teiichi, released in 1902). All of these are sentimental, slow-tempo waltzes. In particular, "Beautiful Natural," composed by Tanaka, who was the head of the naval band in Sasebo, combines a traditional melody structure with a Western singing style, and is used in circuses and other venues, making it the original image of the Japanese waltz. ...

*Some of the terminology that refers to "Beautiful Nature" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…　その後レコードと映画がタイアップした〈主題歌映画〉が，次々と作られ，なかでも1921年の《船頭小唄》(野口雨情作詞，中山晋平作曲)は，大ヒットし，今もなお歌い継がれている。この曲の原型は，サーカスのジンタに使われる《美しき天然》(武島羽衣作詞，田中穂積作曲，1900)にあり，この日本的旋律を，西洋の唱歌の形式にあてはめた形で作られている。〈ヨナ抜き短音階〉が用いられ，俗謡に近い音の構成がされているが，リズムは唱歌的なものである。…

【ワルツ】より

…3拍子系のリズムの伝統が乏しいとされる日本でワルツが急速に受け入れられたことは，1900年代に早くもワルツのリズムによる流行歌が生まれたことに示される。《美しき天然》(田中穂積(1855‐1905)作曲･武島羽衣作詞，1900年ころ)，《銀波》(外国曲？，1900年ころ)，《ダニューブ河の（さざなみ）》(I.イワノビチの曲に田村貞一が作詞，1902年発表)らがそれで，いずれも感傷的な遅いテンポのワルツである。とりわけ佐世保の海軍軍楽隊長であった田中が作曲した《美しき天然》は，伝統的な旋律構成と西洋的な唱歌形式を合わせたもので，サーカスなどでも使われて日本のワルツの原像をなすものといえるだろう。…

※「《美しき天然》」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

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