Oiwakebushi

This song is a central part of popular Japanese folk songs. It originated from the "Magouta" (horseman's song) of the horsemen of the former Nanbu domain, mainly in Iwate Prefecture, which spread throughout the Tohoku region and later became the "Magouta" (horseman's song) of the horsemen who paid the fare along the main roads of the Kanto and Chubu regions. This "Magouta" was also sung on the Nakasendo. The women who served food at the post town of Oiwake, Karuizawa-cho, Nagano Prefecture, where the Nakasendo and Hokkoku Kaido split, would sing this "Magouta" to travelers at drinking parties, making the sound of their hooves in their choshi hakama. Eventually, shamisen was added, and since the tuning was san-dakari, it came to be called "Bakata San-dakari." These include the "Nanbu Bakata Sankudari," "Tsugaru Sankudari," and "Esashi Sankudari," which remain in Aomori Prefecture and Hokkaido today. Later, the lyrics "The nasty Oiwake, it makes my hair stand on end, not just my hair, stand on end," were created in Oiwake-juku and became popular, and the song came to be called "Oiwake-bushi," after the opening line. This is thought to have happened around the Tenmei era (1781-89).

This "Shinano Oiwake" began to spread when women who served food changed stools, were passed around by blind female musicians and zatō, and were brought back as souvenirs by travelers, and came to be sung as a popular song in various regions. Examples include "Honjo Oiwake" (Akita Prefecture), excluding "Hokkaido Oiwake." One of these songs entered the entertainment districts of Furumachi, Nishibori, and Higashibori in Niigata City, and while it was sung as a parlor song, it began to be used as a "nagebushi" (a tune sung by people visiting the entertainment district on their way there), and the melody gradually became longer. When it was once again introduced to the entertainment districts and accompanied by shamisen, the name of the song changed to "Matsumae Bushi." This is a part of the farewell song of a sailor of a thousand koku ship and a prostitute, "I wish the rain would fall for seven days and seven nights in Ezo and Matsumae." This "Matsumae-bushi" is today's "Echigo Oiwake." When the blind female musicians started singing "Matsumae-bushi," they decided to make it longer, as they were the only entertainers who were good at long-form love songs. They added "Enyaraya," a rowing song from Hirado City, Nagasaki Prefecture, to the end under the name of "Ainote." And the "Umako-uta" part that had been there until then came to be called "Hon-uta." The suite "Matsumae-bushi" consisting of the "honuta" and "ai-no-te" was also brought to the entertainment district of Esashi-cho, Hokkaido, where the lyrics of the farewell between the "young man" and the woman, "I can't go to Oshoro Takashima, but at least I'll make it to Utasu Tsuisoya" were born. Around the end of the Meiji period, someone outside Esashi came up with the idea of ​​adding "ai-no-te" before the "honuta", and at the beginning of the Taisho period, Miura Tameshiro completed a three-piece suite consisting of "mae-uta" - "honuta" - "ai-no-te-arame-ato-uta", and the "Esashi Oiwake" of today was compiled with the accompaniment of the shamisen, which was a substitute for the shamisen that was no longer able to play the "oiwake-bushi". In Esashi, the sad and earnestly sung parts became enlarged as songs of farewell and as evidence of the former prosperity of the port.

[Tsutomu Takeuchi]

"Oiwakebushi" by Tsutomu Takeuchi (1980, Sanseido)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本民謡の人気曲で中心的存在の唄(うた)。源流は、岩手県を中心とする旧南部領の博労(ばくろう)の「馬子唄(まごうた)」で、それが東北地方一円に広まり、のち関東、中部地方の主要街道の駄賃付け馬子の「馬子唄」になった。その「馬子唄」が中山道(なかせんどう)でも歌われていた。中山道と北国(ほっこく)街道が分かれる長野県軽井沢町追分の宿場にいた飯盛り女たちは、この「馬子唄」に銚子(ちょうし)の袴(はかま)でひづめの音を出しながら、旅人相手の酒席の唄にした。そのうちに三味線の手もつけられ、調弦が三下りだったことから「馬方三下り」とよばれた。今日青森県や北海道に残る『南部馬方三下り』『津軽三下り』『江差(えさし)三下り』などがそれである。その後、追分宿で「嫌な追分身の毛もよだつ　身の毛どころか髪の毛も」という歌詞が生まれて人気を集めると、歌い出しの文句をとって「追分節」とよばれるようになった。それは天明(てんめい)年間（1781～89）ごろと思われる。

　この『信濃(しなの)追分』が、飯盛り女の鞍替(くらが)え、瞽女(ごぜ)や座頭(ざとう)による持ち回り、旅人の国土産(くにみやげ)で広まり始め、各地で流行唄(はやりうた)として歌われるようになった。『北海道追分』を除く『本荘(ほんじょう)追分』（秋田県）などがそれである。そのなかの一つが新潟市の古町(ふるまち)、西堀、東堀の花柳界に入り、お座敷唄として歌われているうち、花柳界通いの人たちによってその道中に歌う「投節(なげぶし)」的に使われ始め、しだいに節が伸びていった。それがふたたび花柳界のお座敷にあがって三味線の伴奏がつけられたとき、曲名は『松前節』に変わった。これは千石船の船乗りと遊女の別れの唄「蝦夷(えぞ)や松前やらずの雨が　七日七夜も降ればよい」の文句の一部をとったのである。この『松前節』が今日の『越後(えちご)追分』である。『松前節』を瞽女が歌いはやらせると、長編の口説節(くどきぶし)を得意とする遊芸人だけに長編化を考え、長崎県平戸市の櫓漕(ろこ)ぎ唄『エンヤラヤ』を「合の手(あいのて)」の名のもとに後ろへ加えた。そして、それまでの「馬子唄」部分を「本唄」とよぶようにした。その「本唄―合の手」からなる組曲『松前節』が北海道江差町の花柳界へも持ち込まれ、ここで「忍路(おしょろ)高島及びもないが　せめて歌棄磯谷(うたすついそや)まで」という、「ヤン衆」と女の別れの歌詞が生まれた。明治末ごろになると、江差以外の所で「合の手」を「本唄」の前に加えることを考え出した人が現れ、大正初め三浦為七郎によって「前唄」―「本唄」―「合の手改め後唄」からなる3曲からの組唄が完成され、芸者が「追分節」の三味線を弾けなくなったことから生じた代用品の尺八による伴奏で、今日の『江差追分』がまとめあげられていった。そして江差では、別れの唄として、またかつての港の繁栄の証(あかし)として、哀調せつせつと歌う部分が肥大していったのである。

［竹内　勉］

『竹内勉著『追分節』（1980・三省堂）』

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