Kuzuhara Koto

Japanese: 葛原勾当 - くずはらこうとう

Year of death: September 8, 1882 (Meiji 15)
Year of birth: Bunka 9.3.15 (1812.4.26)
A jiuta and sokyoku performer from the late Edo and Meiji periods. His real surname was Yata, his childhood name was Ryuzo, and his given name was Shigemi. He became blind at the age of three. His given name was Koto no Ichi, later Mino no Ichi. His pen name was Issen, and his haiku name was Nizuki. At the age of eleven, he went from his birthplace of Yahiromura in Bingo Province (Kannabe Town, Hiroshima Prefecture) to Kyoto to study under Matsuno Kengyo (then Koto). At the age of twenty, he took the surname Kuzuhara, and at the age of twenty-two, he became Koto. He was directly taught "Akikaze no Kyoku" (Autumn Wind Song) by Mitsuzaki Kengyo. He invented the two-stringed koto "Takekin". He later combined this with the two-stringed koto invented by Nakayama Kotoshu, and is said to have named it "Yakumokin". He returned to his hometown at the age of fifteen, and since then he has been teaching in the Sanbi region (Hiroshima and Okayama Prefectures) and started writing diaries for others, but he invented hiragana wooden type and began recording his own handwriting from 1837 (Tempo 8). He composed songs such as "The Fox's Wedding" and "Hazy Moon". Shigeru Kuzuhara, a children's song writer, is his grandson. <Works> "Kuzuhara Koto Diary" (New Reprint, 1980)

(Noriko Onuki)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：明治15.9.8(1882)
生年：文化9.3.15(1812.4.26)
江戸後期・明治期の地歌箏曲家。本姓矢田,幼名柳三,諱は重美。3歳のとき失明。名は琴の一,のちに美濃一。雅号一泉,俳号似月。11歳のとき,生地備後国八尋村(広島県神辺町)から京都に上り松野検校(当時勾当)に師事。20歳で葛原姓を名乗り,22歳で勾当になる。光崎検校から「秋風の曲」を直伝。二弦琴「竹琴」を創案した。のちにこれと中山琴主考案の二弦琴とを折衷し,「八雲琴」と名付けたとされる。15歳で帰郷,以来三備(広島・岡山県)地方で教授活動し,代筆日記を開始するが,平仮名木活字を考案して天保8(1837)年より自らの捺字で記録。「狐の嫁入」「おぼろ月」などを作曲した。童謡作家葛原しげるは孫。<著作>『葛原勾当日記』(新翻刻,1980)

(大貫紀子)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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