Danshi - Danshi

It is a type of Chinese folk music and art, also called Nanshi. Its predecessor is said to be the Song dynasty storytelling Taozhen or the Ming dynasty Shiwa, and by the middle of the Ming dynasty at the latest it had spread to cities in Jiangnan such as Hangzhou and taken on a form of performing art, and by the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing dynasty it came to be called Danshi. Currently, there are the Suzhou, Yangzhou, Changsha and Guilin Danshi, and the Shimei Nanshi, and they are performed by one to three or four people, mainly on shamisen, biwa or gekkin, and some are just songs without narration. Typically, they are long pieces of lyrics consisting of seven-syllable phrases, and they tell of the conflicts in love between men and women. They have been sung in the tunes and dialects of each region, with the lower classes and women as their main audience. Since the 1950s, more modern pieces have been created, and medium-length and short pieces have also been written.

[Akira Denda]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国の民間俗曲芸能の一類で、南詞(なんし)ともいう。その前身は宋(そう)代の語り物の陶真(とうしん)、あるいは明(みん)代の詞話(しわ)とされ、遅くとも明代中葉には杭州(こうしゅう)など江南の諸都市に広まって演芸としての形を整え、明末清(しん)初からは弾詞とよばれるようになった。現在、蘇州(そしゅう)、揚州(ようしゅう)、長沙(ちょうさ)、桂林(けいりん)の各弾詞、四明(しめい)南詞などがあり、1人から3、4人による三絃(さんげん)、琵琶(びわ)あるいは月琴を主とした弾き語りで、語りのない歌だけのものもある。通例は七字句を重ねる長編の歌詞で、男女の愛の葛藤(かっとう)などを語り、下層市民や婦女をおもな聴衆として、それぞれの地方の曲調と方言で歌われてきた。1950年代からは現代物の創作も進み、中編、短編もつくられている。

［傳田　章］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例