Yamada Kengyo

Japanese: 山田検校 - やまだけんぎょう

Year of death: April 10, 1817 (May 25, 1817)
Year of birth: 7th April 28th, 1757 (14th June 1757)
A koto performer of the mid-to-late Edo period, and the founder of the Yamada school of koto music. His given name was Toyoichi. He was the son of Mita Ryonin, a Noh performer of the Hosho school in the Owari domain (Aichi Prefecture), and Yamada was his mother's surname. He studied under the doctor and koto player Yamada Matsukoku, and established the field of storytelling koto music by introducing narrative elements of Joruri, such as Kato-bushi and Itchu-bushi, which were popular at the time. In 1797 (Kansei 9), he became a kengyo under Terakamura Wakiichi. In the year of his death, he was promoted to Soroku-kengyo, the highest rank in the school. He is said to have composed "Enoshima no kyoku" at the age of 21, and his style matured from the late 18th century to the early 19th century, and it is believed that his works, which were in tune with the times, spread in the blink of an eye. His scores and lyrics are collected in the collections "Yamada no Honami" (1800) and "Azuma Kotofu" (1809). Many of his lyrics are based on Noh plays, Kabuki plays, and the Tale of the Heike, or depict landscapes. His representative works include the four pieces known as "Kogo no Kyoku," "Kumano," "Chohenga no Kyoku," and "Lady Aoi," as well as "Kinomichi no Oku Shiki no Dan," "Sumiyoshi," "Yaegaki," "Nasuno," "Senri no Ume no Kyoku," "Sakuragari," and the only koto group song in the Yamada school of koto music, "Hatsune no Kyoku." There are anecdotes about him in Santokyozan's "Spider's Thread Roll" and Matsuura Seizan's "Koshi Yawa," and he also appears under the name Yamaza in Shikitei Sanma's "Ukiyoburo." His disciples include the first Yamato Kengyo, Kimura Kengyo (later the first Yamaki), Yamase Kengyo, and even people from the world of joruri, such as Yamahiko Shinjiro III (the first Sugano Joyu). He also had extensive ties with writers such as Kato Chikage, Murata Shunkai, Yokota Fukuro-o, and Ota Kinjo, and there is a wooden statue of Yamada and a gravestone with Kinjo's calligraphy at Gensho-ji Temple in Asakusa Yamaya (now relocated to Takasago-cho, Katsushika Ward). <References> Kishibe Shigeo et al. "The Life and Achievements of Yamada Kengyo" ("Eastern Music Research" Issues 26 and 27), Kubota Toshiko "The World of Japanese Music in Pointillism"

(Toshiko Kubota)

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

Japanese:

没年：文化14.4.10(1817.5.25)
生年：宝暦7.4.28(1757.6.14)
江戸中・後期の箏曲家,山田流箏曲の流祖。名は斗養一。尾張藩(愛知県)宝生流能楽師の三田了任の子で,山田は母方の姓。医師で箏奏者の山田松黒に師事し,当時流行の河東節,一中節などの浄瑠璃の叙事的な要素を導入して,語り物的な箏曲の分野を確立。寛政9(1797)年寺家村脇一を師として検校になる。没年には当道最高位の惣録検校に昇進した。21歳で「江の島の曲」を作曲したと伝えられ,18世紀末から19世紀初頭にかけてその作風が円熟し,時流に乗った作品は瞬く間に広がっていったと考えられる。楽譜や歌詞が寄せ本『山田の穂並』(1800)や『吾嬬箏譜』(1809)に収められている。歌詞は謡曲,歌舞伎,『平家物語』に題材を得たものや叙景物が多い。代表作品は四曲とよばれる「小督の曲」「熊野」「長恨歌の曲」「葵上」はじめ,「紀の路の奥四季の段」「住吉」「八重垣」「那須野」「千里の梅の曲」「桜狩」,山田流箏曲のなかの唯一の箏組歌「初音の曲」などがある。山東京山『蜘蛛の糸巻』や松浦静山『甲子夜話』などに逸話があるほか,式亭三馬『浮世風呂』にも山坐の名前で登場。門下には初代山登検校,木村検校(のち初代山木),山勢検校などのほか,3代目山彦新次郎(初代菅野序遊)など浄瑠璃界の者までいる。加藤千蔭,村田春海,横田袋翁,太田錦城など文人との交流も広く,浅草山谷の源照寺(現在は葛飾区高砂町に転出)には山田の木像と錦城筆の墓碑がある。<参考文献>岸辺成雄他「山田検校の生涯と事跡」(『東洋音楽研究』26・27号),久保田敏子『点描日本音楽の世界』

(久保田敏子)

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