The Five Pine Trees of Seki

A folk song from Mihonoseki Town, Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture. It has been sung as a parlor song in the entertainment district of the region, and its origins lie in the "Rikiya Bushi" (also known as "The Well at the Incense Burning Ground"), a song for building a reservoir, which sings of the well at the incense burning ground at the summit of Mt. Amagiri (360 meters) in Yamashina, Tadotsu Town, Nakatado District, Kagawa Prefecture. When this song spread to the Chugoku region together with the civil engineers who built the reservoir, it was also introduced to Shimane Prefecture, and later became a parlor song in the entertainment district of Mihonoseki, accompanied by shamisen. One hundred or so years ago, one of the five pine trees growing along the Matsue Highway leading from Mihonoseki to Matsue was cut down because it was obstructing traffic. A quick-witted person wrote the lyrics, "If you cut down one of the five pine trees of Seki, four more will remain, married couple pines that will not be cut down," and made it into a song about marital harmony, from which the title "The Five Pine Trees of Seki" was born.

[Tsutomu Takeuchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

島根県松江市美保関(みほのせき)町の民謡。同地方の花柳界でお座敷唄(うた)として歌われてきたもので、その源流は、香川県仲多度(なかたど)郡多度津(たどつ)町山階(やましな)にある雨霧(あまぎり)山（360メートル）山頂にある焼香場の井戸を詠んだ溜池(ためいけ)造りの地固め唄「リキヤ節」（別名「焼香場のお井戸」）である。それが溜池造りの土木技術者とともに中国地方に広められたおり、島根県下へも伝えられ、のちには美保関の花柳界で三味線の伴奏がつけられて、お座敷唄となった。そうしたなかで、いまから百数十年前、美保関から松江へ通じる松江街道沿いに生えていた五本松のうちの一本が、通行のじゃまから伐(き)られるという事件があり、機知のきく人が「関の五本松一本伐りゃ四本　あとは伐られぬ夫婦(めおと)松」の歌詞をつくり、夫婦和合の唄にしたことから、『関の五本松』の曲名が生まれた。

［竹内　勉］

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