Spring nightingale song - Shunnouden

The name of a Gagaku piece. It is also called "Tencho Hojugaku" or "Wafu Chojugaku." It is a Gagaku piece from the Tang dynasty, and is highly valued as one of the "Four Great Pieces" along with "Ojo," "Manjuraku," and "Soko." It is a dance piece with four or six dancers, and is in the Ichikotsucho style. It is said to have been composed by Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty, or Emperor Gaozong, who was well versed in music. It is a large piece consisting of six chapters: Yusei, Jo, Satou, Juha, Tessho, and Kissho. Satou has a unique "Katasashite" dance, where the dancer places both hands on the shoulders, which is unique to this piece. The paired dance is "Taisotoku."

Enken Tokugyo, a monk at Kofuku-ji Temple in Nara, was a master of gagaku music. It is said that when he played this piece in his cell at Jomyo-in on a spring morning, a nightingale would come and sing the same tune as the flute, and it is also said that Owari no Hamanushi, a gagaku performer from the early Heian period, performed this piece beautifully at the advanced age of 113. The Pillow Book states, "The tunes are Fukocho, Oushiki, Sogo no Kyū, and Uguisu no Saezuri" (paragraph 201).

[Yoko Hashimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

雅楽の曲名。「天長宝寿楽」「和風(かふう)長寿楽」ともいう。雅楽の唐楽曲で、『皇麞(おうじょう)』『万秋楽(まんじゅうらく)』『蘇合香(そこう)』とともに「四箇大曲(しかのたいきょく)」として重んじられている。4人あるいは6人の舞を伴う舞楽で、壱越調(いちこつちょう)。唐の太宗、または音曲に通じた高宗の作という。遊声(ゆうせい)、序、颯踏(さっとう)、入破(じゅは)、鳥声(てっしょう)、急声(きっしょう)の6章からなる大曲で、颯踏にはこの曲にのみ固有の「肩指手(かたさして)」という、両手を肩につける舞手がある。番舞(つがいまい)は『退走禿(たいそうとく)』。

　奈良・興福寺の僧円憲得業は雅楽の名手であったが、春の朝、浄明院という僧房でこの曲を吹くと、ウグイスが寄ってきて笛と同じ音でさえずったといい、平安初期の雅楽家尾張浜主(おわりのはまぬし)が113歳の高齢で当曲を美しく舞ったとも伝える。『枕草子(まくらのそうし)』には「調べは風香調(ふうこうちょう)。黄鐘(おうしき)調。蘇合(そごう)の急。鶯(うぐいす)のさへづりという調べも」（201段）とある。

［橋本曜子］

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