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Aki no Nanakusa

秋の七草

[Genre]Sokyoku
[School]Yamada Ryū - 山田
[Composed]Yamato Shōrei III - Koto

History (Tsuge Gen'ichi):

This lovely piece, Aki no nanakusa ('The Seven Flowers of Autumn'), is one of the compositions selected as teaching material by Ongaku Torishirabe-gakari (the Music Study Committee), and published under the title Sokyoku shu ('Collection of Japanese Koto Music' Vol. 1) in 1888. It is reported that this piece was actually composed by Yamato Shorei (1844-89) in 1884 and revised by Yamase Shoin (1845-1908), both members of the committee. In the course of the interlude (ainote), the first section of Rokudan is heard as the counterpart.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)

What are the flowers
That bloom
In autumn fields?
Count on your fingers
And see!
Wearing brocade,
Is the bush clover (1).
Then plume grass (2)
Arrowroot (3) and ominaeshi (4).
Agueweed (5) - who hung up
His hakama?
The wild pink (6) - like children
Indulged by parents.
The morning-glory (7) - brought to life
By the dew.

It was these seven
Flowers of autumn (8)
That the ancients
First loved.
The beauty of these seven
Of the autumn fields -
Their names now
Are famed.
The seven flowers of autumn
Bring fragrance to the fields.

(1) Hagi or lespedeza.
(2) Obana or miscanthus sinensis.
(3) Kuzubana or kudzu vine.
(4) Patrinia scabiosaefolia.
(5) Fujibakama.
(6) Nadeshiko or dianthus superbus.
(7) Asagao.
(8) These 'Seven Autumn Flowers' were praised by Yamanoe no Okura (660?-733?), a Man'yo poet
(maebiki)

Aki no no ni
sakitaru hana wa
naninani zo
ono ga yubi ori
kazoe miyo
nishiki wo yosooo
hagi ga hana
obana kuzubana
ominaeshi
taga nugikakeshi
fujibakama
oya no nasake no
nadeshiko ni
tsuyu wo inochi no
asagao no hana

(ainote)

Kono nanakusa no
hana wa shimo
mukashi no hito no
medesomete
akino no hana no
uruwashiki
sono na wa ima ni
takamado ya
nobe ni nioeru
aki no nanakusa

Aki no Nanakusa appears on the following albums

Album Artist

Sankyoku Gassō Dai Zenshū (zoku) vol. 19(続三曲合奏大全集19) Shamisen : Nishigata Mikei
Voice : Nishigata Akiko
Koto : Nishigata Akiko
Shakuhachi : Fujii Jido
Voice : Kawamura Kyōko
Koto : Kawamura Kyōko

Sokyoku Jiuta Taikei 55 Koto : Nakanoshima Kin'ichi
Voice : Nakanoshima Keiko

Yamada-Ryū Koto no Kagami Shamisen : Ogasawara Hagiwa
Voice : Hagioka Shōin IV
Koto : Hagioka Shōin III