Short song (short song) - Kota

Japanese: 小歌(小唄) - こうた

A short Japanese folk song. It is also written as koga, but until the early Edo period it was called kouta, and in modern shamisen music it is usually called kouta.
[Medieval Short Song]
A popular song with relatively short free verses that was widely sung by all classes of people, including nobles, samurai, monks, and commoners, mainly from the mid-Muromachi period onwards, replacing the popular songs such as Saibaraku, Imayo, and Soga from the Heian and Kamakura periods. The name of the kouta is as old as the 981 (Tengen 4) copy of the Koto Utafu, which states that "the other kouta are the same as those in the November section," or in the Gokeshidai (Go-ke Shidai) (1111, Ten'ei 2), in the section on the Ox Day of November, on the Gosekushidai trial, "It is as usual for large and small songs to be uttered," and in the Unzusho (Underwriting), 1122 (Hoan 3), in the section on the Ox Day of the Gosekushidai, it states that "The next large song will be sung in the next verse." As it says, "They sing, sing and play flutes, and sing kouta in harmony," the word "kouta" that appears in records from the Heian period originally referred to the name of a kouta (female court attendant) who recites an idashi uta (outer song) to the accompaniment of a tauta (person) playing a flute during the Gosechi Dance, which is held on the middle day of the Ox in the 11th lunar month during the Niiname-sai or Daijo-sai festivals, especially during the trial performance of the curtain stand.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

日本の小編の歌謡。小哥などとも書かれるが，江戸初期までは〈小歌〉，現代の三味線音楽の種目名としては〈小唄〉が普通である。
［中世小歌］
　主として室町時代の中期以後に，平安時代や鎌倉時代の催馬楽，今様，宴曲(早歌（そうが）)などの歌謡に代わって，広く公家，武士，僧侶，庶民の各階層間に愛唱された自由律の比較的短小詩型の流行歌謡。小歌の名称は，古く981年(天元4)写の《琴歌譜》に，〈自余ノ小歌ハ十一月ノ節ニ同ジ〉とか，《江家次第（ごうけしだい）》1111年(天永2)11月中の丑日，五節帳台の試（こころみ）の条に，〈大哥小哥声ヲ発スルコト恒ノ如シ〉，《雲図抄･裏書》1122年(保安3)，五節次第･丑日の条に，〈次イデ大歌歌笛ヲ発シ，小歌相和ス〉とあるように，平安時代の記録に見える〈小歌〉は，本来，新嘗祭または大嘗祭の陰暦11月，中の丑日に行われる〈五節舞（ごせちのまい）〉のとくに帳台の試の際，大歌(人)が発する歌笛の伴奏に対して，出歌（いだしうた）を唱和するところの小歌(女官)という職掌名を指したものである。

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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