Okesa Festival - Okesa Festival

One of the Japanese folk songs. It has lyrics such as "When I saw Okesa, my eyes fell on the reeds" and "If Okesa is honest," and "Okesa" is the name of a barmaid who served sailors in Izumozaki, Niigata Prefecture, during the late Edo period. The Echigo "Okesa Bushi," which has lyrics about this woman, is sung to the tune of a local jinku tune. However, in the late Edo period, sailors took the drinking song "Haiya Bushi," which originated in Ushibuka, Kumamoto Prefecture (Amakusa City), to ports all over the country, and in Echigo it was introduced to the ports of Niigata and Izumozaki. The people of Echigo kept the lyrics of the original "Okesa Bushi" as they were, but replaced the tune with the popular "Haiya Bushi." In other words, because there were not enough lyrics for "Haiya-bushi," they used the lyrics of the existing "Okesa-bushi." It was nurtured in the entertainment world of Echigo and developed into a wide variety of "Okesa-bushi," such as "Niigata Okesa," "Teradomari Okesa," "Izumozaki Okesa," "Sanjo Okesa," and "Kashiwazaki Okesa." When people hear "Okesa," they immediately think of "Sado Okesa" on Sado Island, but this was renamed around 1906 (Meiji 39) to take advantage of the popularity of "Okesa" on the Echigo side, and the original home of "Okesa" is on the Echigo side.

[Tsutomu Takeuchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本民謡の一つ。「おけさ見るとて葦(よし)で眼(め)をついた」とか「おけさ正直なら」といった歌詞があり、「おけさ」とは、江戸時代後期に新潟県出雲崎(いずもざき)町あたりにいた船乗り相手の酌婦の名前である。その「おけさ」なる女性を詠んだ歌詞で歌う越後(えちご)の『おけさ節』は、地元の甚句(じんく)の節にのせて歌うものであった。ところが江戸後期、九州・天草の熊本県牛深(うしぶか)（天草市）生まれの酒盛り唄『ハイヤ節』が船乗りたちによって諸国の港へ持ち回られ、越後では新潟や出雲崎の港へ伝えられた。すると越後の人たちは、在来の『おけさ節』の歌詞はそのまま生かし、節のほうを流行の『ハイヤ節』に取り替えてしまった。言い換えれば、『ハイヤ節』の歌詞が不足しているので、在来の『おけさ節』の歌詞を利用したのである。それが越後の花柳界で育てられ、『新潟おけさ』『寺泊(てらどまり)おけさ』『出雲崎おけさ』『三条おけさ』『柏崎(かしわざき)おけさ』など多種多様の「おけさ節」に発展していった。なお「おけさ」というとすぐ佐渡(さど)島の『佐渡おけさ』を思い浮かべることが多いが、これは1906年（明治39）ごろ越後側の「おけさ」の人気にあやかって改名したもので、「おけさ」の本場は越後側である。

［竹内　勉］

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