The Awa Dance Festival ( 阿波踊り , Awa Odori ) is held from 12 to 15 August as part of the Obon festival in Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku in Japan . Awa Odori is the largest dance festival in Japan, attracting over 1.3 million tourists every year.
118-425: Groups of choreographed dancers and musicians known as ren (連) dance through the streets, typically accompanied by the shamisen lute, taiko drums, shinobue flute and the kane bell. Performers wear traditional obon dance costumes, and chant and sing as they parade through the streets. Awa is the old feudal administration name for Tokushima Prefecture, and odori means "dance". The earliest origins of
236-564: A dō kake , and players often wear a little band of cloth on their left hand to facilitate sliding up and down the neck, known as a yubikake . The head of the instrument known as a tenjin may also be protected by a cover. The material of the strings will depend on the skill of the player. Traditionally, silk strings are used. However, silk breaks easily over a short time, so this is reserved for professional performances. Students often use nylon or 'tetron' strings, which last longer than silk, and are also less expensive. The construction of
354-403: A "centralized feudal " form of the shogunate. Instrumental in the rise of the new bakufu was Tokugawa Ieyasu , the main beneficiary of the achievements of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi . Already a powerful daimyo (feudal lord), Ieyasu profited by his transfer to the rich Kantō area. He maintained two million koku , or thirty-six hectares of land, a new headquarters at Edo ,
472-505: A Buddhist or Shinto temple. The Dutch and Chinese were restricted, respectively, to Dejima and to a special quarter in Nagasaki . Besides small trade of some outer daimyo with Korea and the Ryukyu Islands , to the southwest of Japan's main islands, by 1641, foreign contacts were limited by the policy of sakoku to Nagasaki. The last Jesuit was either killed or reconverted by 1644. By
590-406: A bridge, or koma ( 駒 ) , which rests directly on the taut skin. The lowest string is purposefully laid lower at the nut of the instrument in order to create a buzz, a characteristic timbre known as sawari (somewhat reminiscent of the "buzzing" of a sitar , which is called Jivari ). The upper side of the dō (when on the player's lap) is almost always protected by a cover known as
708-428: A combination of ivory and tortoise-shell for example, are sometimes made of acrylic material to give the shamisen a more modern, flashy look. Recently, avant-garde inventors have developed a tsugaru-jamisen with electric pickups to be used with amplifiers, like the electric guitar. The hosozao ( 細棹 , literally "thin neck") , as its Japanese name implies, is the smallest kind of shamisen . The body
826-399: A crisp kick behind, and the hand gestures are more restrained and graceful, reaching up towards the sky. Women usually dance in tight formation, poised on the ends of their geta sandals. Children and adolescents of both sexes usually dance the men's dance. In recent years, it has become more common to see adult women, especially those in their 20s, dancing the men's style of dance. Some of
944-561: A diffusion of trade and handicraft industries. The construction trades flourished, along with banking facilities and merchant associations. Increasingly, han authorities oversaw the rising agricultural production and the spread of rural handicrafts. By the mid-18th century, Edo had a population of more than one million, likely the biggest city in the world at the time. Osaka and Kyoto each had more than 400,000 inhabitants. Many other castle towns grew as well. Osaka and Kyoto became busy trading and handicraft production centers, while Edo
1062-482: A few select materials, such as yellow or black water buffalo horn ( suigyu ), which are the standard for jiuta . Blackwater buffalo horn does not have a significant sound difference when cut in the jiuta koma style, and is far less popular. Yellow suigyu is the most widely used for jiuta -style shamisen , both in practice and performance. Plastic is available because of the higher price tag of suigyu . Many people believe that for jiuta , there
1180-419: A performance. The bachi ( 撥 ) , the plectrum used to play the shamisen , also differ in size, shape, and material from genre to genre. The bachi used for nagauta shamisen can be made out of three possible materials: wood, plastic, or ivory. While many nagauta teachers generally do not approve of the use of plastic, if ivory is unattainable and wood is still out of price range, plastic
1298-507: A significant threat, and Ieyasu devoted the next decade to their eradication. In 1615, the Tokugawa army destroyed the Toyotomi stronghold at Osaka . The Tokugawa (or Edo) period brought 250 years of stability to Japan. The political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan , a combination of the terms bakufu and han (domains) to describe the government and society of the period. In
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#17328802933261416-588: A stationary dance — for example a street intersection or in front of the ticketed, amplified stands which are set up at points around the city. Not every group has a singer, but dancers and musicians will frequently break out into the Awa Yoshikono chant as they parade through the streets: The dancers also chant hayashi kotoba call and response patterns such as "Ayattosa, Ayattosa", "Hayaccha yaccha", "Erai yaccha, erai yaccha", and "Yoi, yoi, yoi, yoi". These calls have no semantic meaning but help to encourage
1534-511: A strategically situated castle town (the future Tokyo ), and also had an additional two million koku of land and thirty-eight vassals under his control. After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu moved quickly to seize control of the Toyotomi clan . Ieyasu's victory over the western daimyo at the Battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600, or in the old Japanese calendar , on the 15th day of the ninth month of
1652-461: A vital commercial sector to be in flourishing urban centers, a relatively well-educated elite, a sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, a closely unified nation with highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads. Economic development during the Tokugawa period included urbanization , increased shipping of commodities, a significant expansion of domestic and, initially, foreign commerce, and
1770-572: Is a 2007 Japanese movie starring Nana Eikura . The festival is also prominently featured in the 2007 movie Bizan starring Matsushima Nanako . The novel series and anime Golden Time prominently features lead cast members along with their friends in their college club, the Japanese Festival Culture Research Society, performing the Awa dance multiple times during the story. Posters representing popular anime characters practicing
1888-427: Is a plucked stringed instrument. Its construction follows a model similar to that of a guitar or a banjo, with a neck and strings stretched across a resonating body. The neck of the shamisen is fretless and slimmer than that of a guitar or banjo. The body, called the dō ( 胴 ) , resembles a drum, having a hollow body that is covered front and back with skin, in the manner of a banjo. The skin used depends on
2006-453: Is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument sanxian . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi . The Japanese pronunciation is usually shamisen but sometimes jamisen when used as a suffix, according to regular sound change (e.g. tsugaru-jamisen ). In Western Japanese dialects and several Edo period sources, it
2124-407: Is also an "all-round" instrument that can be used across many genres. The futozao ( 太棹 , literally "fat neck") shamisen is used in the robust music of gidayubushi (the music of bunraku ), jōruri min'yo , and tsugaru-jamisen . In these genres, a thicker neck facilitates the greater force used in playing the music of these styles. The futozao of tsugaru-jamisen
2242-416: Is also often used in kouta , where it is plucked with the fingernails. The chuzao ( 中棹 , literally "middle neck") is a size up from the hosozao . As its name implies, the neck is slightly thicker. As the neck approaches the body of the instrument, the distance between the strings and the fingerboard is maintained, unlike the hosozao , where it tapers off. The fingerboard ends abruptly, and
2360-460: Is believed that the ancestor of the shamisen was introduced in the 16th century through the port city of Sakai , near Osaka . The shamisen can be played solo or with other shamisen , in ensembles with other Japanese instruments, with singing such as nagauta , or as an accompaniment to drama, notably kabuki and bunraku . Both men and women traditionally played the shamisen . The most famous and perhaps most demanding of
2478-435: Is both written and pronounced as samisen . The construction of the shamisen varies in shape, depending on the genre in which it is used. The instrument used to accompany kabuki has a thin neck, facilitating the agile and virtuosic requirements of that genre. The one used to accompany puppet plays and folk songs has a longer and thicker neck instead, to match the more robust music of those genres. The shamisen
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#17328802933262596-450: Is considered acceptable for use. Jiuta bachi are made entirely out of plastic or ivory, plastic and tortoiseshell ( bekko ), or ivory and tortoiseshell. Jiuta bachi are the easiest to identify as they are the longest, the widest, and also have a deep indentation where the tortoiseshell meets the handle. There are sometimes also jiuta bachi that are made with a buffalo horn handle. The material, however, makes no difference in
2714-565: Is not a great sound difference between the two, but there is a high change in vibration. Plastic makes a deader sound, which is not the most favorable for jiuta . Shari is used from time to time in practice, but never for jiuta performances. Koma used for both tsugaru and min'yo shamisen are typically 2.6 in height, though sometimes 2.7 or 2.8. Tsugaru koma are very easily identifiable due to their unique structure and use of two different materials. Tsugaru koma are very thin in width, and are not very high. The base
2832-427: Is quite a recent innovation, and is purposefully constructed in a much larger size than traditional style shamisen , and its neck is much longer and thicker than the traditional nagauta or jiuta shamisen . The heike shamisen ( 平家 ) is a shamisen particularly fashioned for the performance of the song Heike Ondo , a folk tune originating from Shimonoseki , Yamaguchi Prefecture . The neck of
2950-413: Is small and particularly square-shaped, with a particularly thin neck, which tapers away from the strings just as it approaches the body. Generally, the hosozao is used in nagauta , the shorter and thinner neck facilitating the agile and virtuosic requirements of kabuki . Hosozao shamisen built especially for nagauta ensembles are often simply known as nagauta shamisen . The hosozao
3068-425: Is supported by the lyrics of the first verse of "Awa Yoshikono Bushi", a local version of a popular folk song which praises Hachisuka Iemasa for giving the people Awa Odori and is quoted in the majority of tourist brochures and websites. However, according to local historian Miyoshi Shoichiro, this story first appeared in a Mainichi Shimbun newspaper article in 1908 and is unsupported by any concrete evidence. It
3186-482: Is the most expensive and produces the most desirable sound and amplification, but due to its high price tag is normally only used in performances. Ox-bone or shari is the most popular koma material for practice and with students who are performing. Because of ivory's volume and vibration, it is normally used by a teacher or tate-jamisen (lead shamisen ), so that the other players can follow their tone and signals. Plastic koma are increasingly harder in
3304-701: Is the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan , when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional daimyo . Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period , the Edo period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, overall peace, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture , colloquially referred to as Ōedo ( 大江戸 , Oo-Edo , "Great Edo") . The period derives its name from Edo (now Tokyo ), where on March 24, 1603,
3422-406: Is then repeated with the left leg and arm. Whilst doing this, the hands draw triangles in the air with a flick of the wrists, starting at different points. Men dance in a low crouch with knees pointing outwards and arms held above the shoulders. The women's dance uses the same basic steps, although the posture is quite different. The restrictive kimono allows only the smallest of steps forward but
3540-461: Is unclear whether the song lyrics were written before or after this article appeared. Some evidence of the festival's history comes from edicts issued by the Tokushima-han feudal administration, such as this one dating from 1671: 1. The bon-odori may be danced for only three days. 2. Samurai are forbidden to attend the public celebration. They may dance on their own premises but must keep
3658-422: Is usually made of either bamboo, smoked bamboo, or a wood of some kind, while the top half in which the strings pass through can be made of ivory, bone, or tortoiseshell. Because of the thickness of both the strings and neck of the futozao shamisen , the tsugaru bridge in general tends to be longer than the others. Both the gidayu koma (the highest koma made, fashioned out of black buffalo horn) and
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3776-412: Is written differently. For example, in the min'yo shamisen style, nodes on the shamisen are labeled from 0, the open string called "0". However, in the jiuta shamisen style, nodes are subdivided and named by octave, with "1" being the open string and first note in an octave, starting over at the next octave. The nodes are also labeled differently for tsugaru -style shamisen . To add to
3894-430: The bachi is often used to strike both string and skin, creating a highly percussive sound. When playing kouta ( 小唄 , literally "little song") on the shamisen , and occasionally in other genres, the shamisen is plucked with the fingers. Sometimes, the shamisen is bowed with a violin bow, similar to the kokyū , a similar instrument. The shamisen is played and tuned according to genre, with
4012-428: The heike shamisen is about half the length of most shamisen , giving the instrument the high range needed to play Heike Ondo . The use of more typical shamisen is possible, but they must be properly adjusted with a capo device to raise their pitch to make them suitable for use. Today the strings are made out of steel to make a better sound and the drum heads are made out of plastic to avoid breakage in
4130-480: The kiyomoto koma (which resembles the nagauta koma exactly, save for its width) are sometimes confused with the tsugaru koma . In most genres, the shamisen strings are plucked with a bachi . The sound of a shamisen is similar in some respects to that of the American banjo , in that the drum-like dō , amplifies the sound of the strings. As in the clawhammer style of American banjo playing,
4248-429: The shamisen be made of the correct wood, the correct skin, and are played with the correct bachi , with little room for variation. The tsugaru-jamisen , on the other hand, has lent itself to modern use, and is used in modern genres such as jazz and rock. As a more open instrument, variations of it exist for show. The tuning pegs, which are usually fashioned out of ivory , and bachi which are fashioned from
4366-522: The shamisen to whatever register desired, so long as the above conventions are followed. Music for the shamisen can be written in Western music notation, but is more often written in tablature notation. While tunings might be similar across genres, the way in which the nodes on the neck of the instrument (called tsubo ( 壷 ) in Japanese) are named is not. As a consequence, tablature for each genre
4484-665: The shamisen varies in shape and size, depending on the genre in which it is used. The bachi used will also be different according to genre, if it is used at all. Shamisen are classified according to size and genre. There are three basic sizes: hosozao , chuzao and futozao . Examples of shamisen genres include nagauta , jiuta , min'yo , kouta , hauta , shinnai , tokiwazu , kiyomoto , gidayu and tsugaru . Shamisen used for traditional genres of Japanese music, such as jiuta , kouta , and nagauta , adhere to very strict standards. Purists of these genres demand that
4602-442: The shamisen will also learn naguata and will occasionally perform nagauta at banquets, the vast majority of musical performances seen at the parties and events they attend are kouta . Jiuta ( 地唄 , literally "regional song") is a more classical style of shamisen music. Edo period The Edo period ( 江戸時代 , Edo jidai ) , also known as the Tokugawa period ( 徳川時代 , Tokugawa jidai ) ,
4720-533: The shamisen , is usually divided into three or four pieces that fit and lock together, with most shamisen made to be easily disassembled. The neck of the shamisen is a singular rod that crosses the drum-like body of the instrument, partially protruding at the other side of the body and acting as an anchor for the strings. The pegs used to wind the strings are long, thin and hexagonal in shape; though they were traditionally fashioned out of ivory, due to scarcity and trading regulations regarding and constricting
4838-1062: The chōnin (craftsmen and merchants) class and nōmin (peasants) class were literate. Some historians partially credited Japan's relatively high literacy rates for its fast development after the Meiji Restoration. As the literacy rate was so high that many ordinary people could read books, books in various genres such as cooking, gardening, travel guides, art books, scripts of bunraku (puppet theatre), kibyōshi (satirical novels), sharebon (books on urban culture), kokkeibon (comical books), ninjōbon (romance novel), yomihon and kusazōshi were published. There were 600 to 800 rental bookstores in Edo, and people borrowed or bought these woodblock print books. The best-selling books in this period were Kōshoku Ichidai Otoko ( Life of an Amorous Man ) by Ihara Saikaku , Nansō Satomi Hakkenden by Takizawa Bakin and Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige by Jippensha Ikku and these books were reprinted many times. The flourishing of Neo-Confucianism
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4956-433: The daimyō of Awa Province hosted a drunken celebration of the opening of Tokushima Castle . The locals, having consumed a great amount of sake , began to drunkenly weave and stumble back and forth. Others picked up commonly available musical instruments and began to play a simple, rhythmic song, to which the revelers invented lyrics . The lyrics are given in the 'Song' section of this article. This version of events
5074-658: The bakufu and daimyos often encouraged commercial crops and artifacts within their domains, from textiles to tea. The concentration of wealth also led to the development of financial markets. As the shogunate only allowed daimyos to sell surplus rice in Edo and Osaka, large-scale rice markets developed there. Each daimyo also had a capital city, located near the one castle they were allowed to maintain. Daimyos would have agents in various commercial centers, selling rice and cash crops, often exchanged for paper credit to be redeemed elsewhere. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, and currency came into common use. In
5192-411: The bakuhan , the shōgun had national authority, and the daimyo had regional authority. This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The Tokugawa became more powerful during their first century of rule: land redistribution gave them nearly seven million koku , control of
5310-419: The emperor , the court, all daimyo, and the religious orders. The emperor was held up as the ultimate source of political sanction for the shōgun , who ostensibly was the vassal of the imperial family. The Tokugawa helped the imperial family recapture its old glory by rebuilding its palaces and granting it new lands. To ensure a close tie between the imperial clan and the Tokugawa family, Ieyasu's granddaughter
5428-522: The fermata have been imported. What tuning a work calls for is usually indicated on the tablature. The Japanese shamisen originated from the Chinese sanxian ( Chinese : 三弦 ). The sanxian was introduced through the Ryūkyū Kingdom ( Okinawa ) in the 16th century, where it developed into the Okinawan sanshin ( 三線 ) , from which the shamisen ultimately derives. It
5546-634: The shōgun ' s retainers and residents of Tokugawa lands had been ordered to forswear Christianity. More restrictions came in 1616 (the restriction of foreign trade to Nagasaki and Hirado, an island northwest of Kyūshū), 1622 (the execution of 120 missionaries and converts), 1624 (the expulsion of the Spanish), and 1629 (the execution of thousands of Christians). Finally, the Closed Country Edict of 1635 prohibited any Japanese from travelling outside Japan or, if someone left, from ever returning. In 1636,
5664-699: The shōgun and daimyo could authorize the use of wood. By the 18th century, Japan had developed detailed scientific knowledge about silviculture and plantation forestry . The first shogun Ieyasu set up Confucian academies in his shinpan domains and other daimyos followed suit in their own domains, establishing what's known as han schools (藩校, hankō ). Within a generation, almost all samurai were literate, as their careers often required knowledge of literary arts. These academies were staffed mostly with other samurai, along with some buddhist and shinto clergymen who were also learned in Neo-Confucianism and
5782-482: The terakoya curriculum consisted of basic literacy and arithmetic, instead of literary arts or philosophy. High rates of urban literacy in Edo contributed to the prevalence of novels and other literary forms. In urban areas, children were often taught by masterless samurai, while in rural areas priests from Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines often did the teaching. Unlike in the cities, in rural Japan, only children of prominent farmers would receive education. In Edo,
5900-700: The 1660s, Christianity was almost completely eradicated. Its external political, economic, and religious influence on Japan became quite limited. Only China, the Dutch East India Company , and for a short period, the Portuguese, Spanish and English, enjoyed the right to visit Japan during this period, for commercial purposes only, and they were restricted to the Dejima port in Nagasaki. Other Europeans who landed on Japanese shores were put to death without trial. During
6018-412: The 1720s and 1820s, Japan had almost zero population growth , often attributed to lower birth rates in response to widespread famine ( Great Tenmei famine 1782–1788), but some historians have presented different theories, such as a high rate of infanticide artificially controlling population. At around 1721, the population of Japan was close to 30 million and the figure was only around 32 million around
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#17328802933266136-399: The 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants. However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai are equal, and the old hierarchy chart has been removed from Japanese history textbooks. In other words, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants are not a social pecking order, but a social classification. Only
6254-610: The Americas and then to Europe. Also during that period, the bakufu commissioned around 720 Red Seal Ships , three-masted and armed trade ships, for intra-Asian commerce. Japanese adventurers, such as Yamada Nagamasa , used those ships throughout Asia. The "Christian problem" was, in effect, a problem of controlling both the Christian daimyo in Kyūshū and their trade with the Europeans . By 1612,
6372-616: The Awa dance are also printed every year for the festival. They featured "Fate/stay night", for example, in 2014. In the 1994 Studio Ghibli film Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko (released as Pom Poko in English-speaking countries), during the scene where the film's tanuki use their transformation magic to put on a parade of yokai , part of their display includes a procession of tiny Awa dancers. Shamisen The shamisen ( 三味線 ) , also known as sangen ( 三絃 ) or samisen (all meaning "three strings"),
6490-467: The Dutch were restricted to Dejima , a small artificial island —and thus, not true Japanese soil—in Nagasaki's harbor. The shogunate perceived Christianity to be an extremely destabilizing factor, and so decided to target it. The Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–1638, in which discontented Catholic samurai and peasants rebelled against the bakufu—and Edo called in Dutch ships to bombard the rebel stronghold—marked
6608-514: The Edo period coincides with the last decades of the Nanban trade period during which intense interaction with European powers, on the economic and religious plane, took place. It is at the beginning of the Edo period that Japan built its first ocean-going warships , such as the San Juan Bautista , a 500- ton galleon -type ship that transported a Japanese embassy headed by Hasekura Tsunenaga to
6726-660: The Meiji Restoration around 150 years later. From 1721, there were regular national surveys of the population until the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In addition, regional surveys, as well as religious records initially compiled to eradicate Christianity, also provide valuable demographic data. The Tokugawa era brought peace, and that brought prosperity to a nation of 31 million, 80% of them rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control
6844-432: The Tokugawa period, the social order, based on inherited position rather than personal merits, was rigid and highly formalized. At the top were the emperor and court nobles ( kuge ), together with the shōgun and daimyo . Older scholars believed that there were Shi-nō-kō-shō ( 士農工商 , four classes ) of "samurai, peasants ( hyakushō ), craftsmen, and merchants ( chōnin )" under the daimyo, with 80% of peasants under
6962-418: The above, or plastic for the student level. Koma come in many heights. The higher the koma , the louder the sound will be, and the harder it is to control a rapid sukui . Higher koma are not considered suitable for beginners. The koma used for nagauta use a height between 3.2 and 3.6. Koma for nagauta are fashioned out of only three materials: ivory, bone, and plastic. Ivory
7080-496: The all-important flow of irrigation to their paddies. The daimyo operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade. Large-scale rice markets developed, centered on Edo and Ōsaka. In the cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants, while low in status, prospered, especially those with official patronage. Merchants invented credit instruments to transfer money, currency came into common use, and
7198-480: The all-important flow of water to their paddies. The daimyos operated several hundred castle towns, which became loci of domestic trade. The system of sankin kōtai meant that daimyos and their families often resided in Edo or travelled back to their domains, giving demand to an enormous consumer market in Edo and trade throughout the country. Samurai and daimyos, after prolonged peace, were accustomed to more elaborate lifestyles. To keep up with growing expenditures,
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#17328802933267316-400: The beggars, entertainers, and prostitutes. The word eta literally translates to "filthy" and hinin to "non-humans", a thorough reflection of the attitude held by other classes that the eta and hinin were not even people. Hinin were only allowed inside a special quarter of the city. Other persecution of the hinin included disallowing them from wearing robes longer than knee-length and
7434-515: The chief counselor Mizuno Tadakuni. He raised taxes, denounced luxuries and tried to impede the growth of business; he failed and it appeared to many that the continued existence of the entire Tokugawa system was in jeopardy. Rice was the base of the economy. About 80% of the people were rice farmers. Rice production increased steadily, but population remained stable, so prosperity increased. Rice paddies grew from 1.6 million chō in 1600 to 3 million by 1720. Improved technology helped farmers control
7552-923: The cities and towns, guilds of merchants and artisans met the growing demand for goods and services. The merchants benefited enormously, especially those with official patronage. However, the Neo-Confucian ideology of the shogunate focused the virtues of frugality and hard work; it had a rigid class system, which emphasized agriculture and despised commerce and merchants. A century after the Shogunate's establishment, problems began to emerge. The samurai, forbidden to engage in farming or business but allowed to borrow money, borrowed too much, some taking up side jobs as bodyguards for merchants, debt collectors, or artisans. The bakufu and daimyos raised taxes on farmers, but did not tax business, so they too fell into debt, with some merchants specializing in loaning to daimyos. Yet it
7670-414: The city of their feudal lord and become a paid retainer. Only a few land samurai remained in the border provinces of the north, or as direct vassals of the shōgun , the 5,000 so-called hatamoto . The daimyo were put under tight control of the shogunate. Their families had to reside in Edo; the daimyo themselves had to reside in Edo for one year and in their province ( han ) for the next. This system
7788-475: The commercialization of the economy grew rapidly, bringing more and more remote villages into the national economy. Rich farmers appeared who switched from rice to high-profit commercial crops and engaged in local money-lending, trade, and small-scale manufacturing. Wealthy merchants were often forced to "lend" money to the shogunate or daimyos (often never returned). They often had to hide their wealth, and some sought higher social status by using money to marry into
7906-751: The confusion, sometimes nodes can be "sharped", and since the names of nodes and their positions are different for each genre, these will also vary. Consequently, students of one genre of shamisen will find it difficult to read tablature from other genres of shamisen , unless they are specially trained to read these kinds of tablatures. Tablature can be written in traditional Japanese vertical right-to-left notation, or it can be written in Western style horizontal left-to-right notation, which resembles modern guitar tablature. In traditional vertical notation, Chinese characters and older symbols for dynamics are used, however notation from Western style music notation, such as Italian names for dynamics, time signature and
8024-656: The dance style are found in the Japanese Buddhist priestly dances of Nembutsu -odori and hiji-odori of the Kamakura period (1185–1333), and also in kumi-odori , a lively harvest dance that was known to last for several days. The Awa Odori festival grew out of the tradition of the Bon Odori which is danced as part of the Bon "Festival of the Dead", a Japanese Buddhist celebration where
8142-425: The dancers. During the daytime a restrained dance called Nagashi is performed, but at night the dancers switch to a frenzied dance called Zomeki . As suggested by the lyrics of the chant, spectators are often encouraged to join the dance. Men and women dance in different styles. For the men’s dance: right foot and right arm forward, touch the ground with toes, then step with right foot crossing over left leg. This
8260-412: The early part of the 20th century, blind musicians, including Shirakawa Gunpachirō (1909–1962), Takahashi Chikuzan (1910–1998), and sighted players such as Kida Rinshōei (1911–1979), evolved a new style of playing, based on traditional folk songs ( min'yō ) but involving much improvisation and flashy fingerwork. This style – now known as tsugaru-jamisen , after the home region of this style in
8378-638: The end of the Christian movement. During the Shimabara Rebellion an estimated 37,000 people (mostly Christians) were massacred. In 50 years, the Tokugawa shoguns reduced the amount of Christians to near zero in Japan. Some Christians survived by going underground, the so-called Kakure Kirishitan . Soon thereafter, the Portuguese were permanently expelled. Members of the Portuguese diplomatic mission were executed. All Japanese subjects were ordered to register at
8496-565: The festival, collapsed due to imports of cheaper chemical dyes. The festival was revitalised at the start of the Shōwa period (1926) when Tokushima Prefectural authorities first coined the name "Awa Odori" and promoted it as the region's leading tourist attraction. The song associated with Awa Odori is called Awa Yoshikono and is a localised version of the Edo period popular song Yoshikono Bushi . Parts of it are sung, and others are chanted. The origins of
8614-602: The fifth year of the Keichō era) gave him control of all Japan. He rapidly abolished numerous enemy daimyo houses, reduced others, such as that of the Toyotomi, and redistributed the spoils of war to his family and allies. Ieyasu still failed to achieve complete control of the western daimyo , but his assumption of the title of shōgun helped consolidate the alliance system. After further strengthening his power base, Ieyasu installed his son Hidetada (1579–1632) as shōgun and himself as retired shōgun in 1605. The Toyotomi were still
8732-425: The first and third strings are tuned an octave apart, while the middle string is tuned to the equivalent of a fourth, in Western terms, from the 1st string. The most commonly used tuning is C-F-C. An example of a song that uses this tuning is Akita Nikata Bushi . Niagari means "raised two" or "raised second", referring to the fact that the pitch of the second string is raised (from honchoushi ), increasing
8850-494: The gates shut. No quarrels, arguments or other misbehaviour are allowed. 3. The dancing of bon-odori is prohibited in all temple grounds. This suggests that by the 17th century, Awa's bon-odori was well established as a major event, lasting over three days—long enough to be a major disruption to the normal functioning of the city. It implies that samurai joined the festival alongside peasants and merchants, disgracing themselves with brawling and unseemly behaviour. In 1674, it
8968-519: The genre of music and the skill of the player. Traditionally, skins were made using dog or cat skin, with cat skin favored for finer instruments; though use of animal skins was common throughout the 20th century, use of these skins gradually fell out of favor, starting around the mid 2000s, due to social stigma and the decline of workers skilled in preparing these particular skins. Contemporary shamisen skins are often prepared with synthetic materials, such as plastic. The sao ( 棹 ) , or neck of
9086-455: The hierarchy was the fudai , or "house daimyo ", rewarded with lands close to the Tokugawa holdings for their faithful service. By the 18th century, 145 fudai controlled much smaller han , the greatest assessed at 250,000 koku . Members of the fudai class staffed most of the major bakufu offices. Ninety-seven han formed the third group, the tozama (outside vassals), former opponents or new allies. The tozama were located mostly on
9204-407: The highest pitch) down a whole step, so that the instrument is tuned in fourths, e.g. C-F-B♭. An example of a song in this tuning is Tsugaru Sansagari . Instead of having a set tuning, such as on a guitar (i.e. E, A, D, G, B, E) or a violin (i.e. G, D, A, E), the shamisen is tuned according to the register of the singer, or simply to the liking of the player. The shamisen player can tune
9322-417: The interval of the first and second strings to a fifth (conversely decreasing the interval between the second and third strings to a fourth). The most commonly used tuning is C-G-C. An example of a song that uses this tuning is Tsugaru Jongara Bushi . Sansagari means "lowered three" or "lowered third", referring to tuning the shamisen to honchoushi and lowering the 3rd string (the string with
9440-488: The larger ren (dance groups) also have a yakko odori , or kite dance. This usually involves one brightly dressed, acrobatic dancer, darting backwards and forwards, turning cartwheels and somersaults, with freestyle choreography . In some versions, other male dancers crouch down forming a sinuous line representing the string, and a man at the other end mimes controlling the kite. Kōenji , an area of Tokyo , also has an Awa Dance Festival , modeled on Tokushima's, which
9558-429: The melodic part have been traced to Kumamoto , Kyūshū , but the Awa version came from Ibaraki Prefecture , from where it spread back down to Nagoya and Kansai . The lyrics of the first verse are: Awa no tono sama Hachisuka-sama ga ima ni nokoseshi Awa Odori What Awa's Lord Hachisuka left us to the present day is Awa Odori The song is usually sung at a point in the parade where the dancers can stop and perform
9676-411: The modern day, as the material is considered to produce an undesirable sound when compared to shari koma . Shari is not much more expensive than plastic, and most teachers openly express their displeasure with plastic koma and require shari . The koma used for jiuta vary between 2.6 and 2.8, though other heights can be specially ordered. Koma for jiuta are made out of
9794-421: The most important cities, and a land assessment system reaping great revenues. The feudal hierarchy was completed by the various classes of daimyo . Closest to the Tokugawa house were the shinpan , or "related houses". There were twenty-three daimyo on the borders of Tokugawa lands, all directly related to Ieyasu. The shinpan held mostly honorary titles and advisory posts in the bakufu. The second class of
9912-475: The narrative styles is gidayū , named after Takemoto Gidayū (1651–1714), who was heavily involved in the bunraku puppet-theater tradition in Osaka . The gidayū shamisen and its plectrum are the largest of the shamisen family, and the singer-narrator is required to speak the roles of the play, as well as to sing all the commentaries on the action. The singer-narrator role is often so vocally taxing that
10030-629: The national law. Although the daimyo were not taxed per se, they were regularly levied for contributions to military and logistical support and for public works such as projects as castles, roads, bridges, and palaces. The various regulations and levies not only strengthened the Tokugawa but also depleted the wealth of the daimyo , thus weakening their threat to the central administration. The han , once military-centered domains, became mere local administrative units. The daimyo had full administrative control over their territory and their complex systems of retainers, bureaucrats , and commoners. Loyalty
10148-487: The nomenclature of the nodes in an octave also varying according to genre. A number of shamisen styles exist across Japan, and tunings, tonality and notation vary to some degree. Three of the most commonly recognized tunings across all genres are honchoushi ( 本調子 ) , niagari ( 二上がり ) , and sansagari ( 三下がり ) . Honchoushi means "home tuning" or "base tuning", and is called so because other tunings are considered to derive from it. For honchoushi ,
10266-464: The north of Honshū – continues to be relatively popular in Japan. The virtuosic tsugaru-jamisen style is sometimes compared to bluegrass banjo . kouta ( 小唄 ) is a style of shamisen historically developed by and mostly performed by geisha and maiko . Its name literally means "little song", which contrasts with the musical genre of nagauta found in bunraku and kabuki; though both maiko and geisha training to play
10384-409: The official class. By the mid-17th century, neo-Confucianism was Japan's dominant legal philosophy and contributed directly to the development of the kokugaku (national learning) school of thought. Advanced studies and growing applications of neo-Confucianism contributed to the transition of the social and political order from feudal norms to class- and large-group-oriented practices. The rule of
10502-493: The peasants lived in rural areas. Samurai, craftsmen and merchants lived in the cities that were built around daimyo castles , each restricted to their own quarter. Edo society had an elaborate social structure, in which every family knew its place and level of prestige. At the top were the Emperor and the court nobility, invincible in prestige but weak in power. Next came the shōgun, daimyo and layers of feudal lords whose rank
10620-491: The performers are changed halfway through a scene. There is little notated in the books ( maruhon ) of the tradition except the words and the names of certain appropriate generic shamisen responses. The shamisen player must know the entire work perfectly in order to respond effectively to the interpretations of the text by the singer-narrator. From the 19th century, female performers known as onna-jōruri or onna gidayū also carried on this concert tradition. In
10738-420: The peripheries of the archipelago and collectively controlled nearly ten million koku of productive land. Because the tozama were the least trusted of the daimyo , they were the most cautiously managed and generously treated, although they were excluded from central government positions. The Tokugawa shogunate not only consolidated their control over a reunified Japan, but also had unprecedented power over
10856-404: The rest of the neck curves sharply into the body of the instrument. The pronounced curve that occurs just before the neck meets the body is called hatomune ( 鳩胸 , literally "pigeon's breast") . The result is an extended fingerboard that gives the chuzao a higher register than the hosozao . The chuzao is favored for jiuta -style playing, with a broader, more mellow timbre. It
10974-480: The rise of kokugaku , and the Igakukan ( 医学間 , "Institute of medicine") , focusing on Chinese medicine. One estimate of literacy in Edo suggest that up to a fifth of males could read, along with a sixth of women. Another estimate states that 40% of men and 10% of women by the end of the Edo period were literate. According to another estimate, around 1800, almost 100% of the samurai class and about 50% to 60% of
11092-418: The sale of ivory, many are now constructed from other materials, such as wood and plastic. The three strings of the shamisen are made of either silk (traditionally) or nylon . They are stretched between the pegs at the head of the instrument, and a cloth tailpiece anchored at the end of the rod which protrudes on the other side of the body. The strings are stretched across the body, raised from it by means of
11210-439: The samurai class. There is some evidence that as merchants gained greater political influence in the late Edo period, the rigid class division between samurai and merchants began to break down. A few domains, notably Chōshū and Satsuma, used innovative methods to restore their finances, but most sunk further into debt. The financial crisis provoked a reactionary solution near the end of the "Tempo era" (1830–1843) promulgated by
11328-459: The samurai undermined their loyalties to the system, and the empty treasury threatened the whole system of government. One solution was reactionary—cutting samurai salaries and prohibiting spending for luxuries. Other solutions were modernizing, with the goal of increasing agrarian productivity. The eighth Tokugawa shogun, Yoshimune (in office 1716–1745) had considerable success, though much of his work had to be done again between 1787 and 1793 by
11446-447: The shogun's chief councilor Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759–1829). Other shoguns debased the coinage to pay debts, which caused inflation. Overall, while commerce (domestic and international) was vibrant and sophisticated financial services had developed in the Edo period, the shogunate remained ideologically focused on honest agricultural work as the basis of society and never sought to develop a mercantile or capitalistic country. By 1800,
11564-595: The shogunate set up several schools under its direct patronage, the most important being the neo-Confucian Shōheikō ( 昌平黌 ) acting as a de facto elite school for its bureaucracy but also creating a network of alumni from the whole country. Besides Shoheikō, other important directly run schools at the end of the shogunate included the Wagakukōdansho ( 和学講談所 , "Institute of Lectures of Japanese classics") , specialized in Japanese domestic history and literature, influencing
11682-566: The shogunate was officially established by Tokugawa Ieyasu . The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration and the Boshin War , which restored imperial rule to Japan . A revolution took place from the time of the Kamakura shogunate , which existed with the Tennō 's court, to the Tokugawa , when the samurai became the unchallenged rulers in what historian Edwin O. Reischauer called
11800-403: The sound. The gidayu shamisen style uses the heaviest and thickest bachi , though the nagauta bachi is wider. The bachi used for tsugaru-jamisen is the smallest, and is almost always tipped with tortoiseshell. The koma ( 駒 ) , or bridge, can be fashioned out of aged bamboo, ivory, ox-bone ( shari ), rosewood, buffalo horn, kōki wood , any combination of
11918-471: The spirits of deceased ancestors are said to visit their living relatives for a few days of the year. The term "Awa Odori" was not used until the 20th century, but Bon festivities in Tokushima have been famous for their size, exuberance and anarchy since the 16th century. Awa Odori's independent existence as a huge, citywide dance party is popularly believed to have begun in 1586 when Lord Hachisuka Iemasa ,
12036-408: The strengthening credit market encouraged entrepreneurship. The daimyo collected the taxes from the peasants in the form of rice. Taxes were high, often at around 40%-50% of the harvest. The rice was sold at the fudasashi market in Edo. To raise money, the daimyo used forward contracts to sell rice that was not even harvested yet. These contracts were similar to modern futures trading . It
12154-575: The title of Danzaemon ( ja:弾左衛門 ) and had the authority to issue orders to eta and hinin throughout the country, as well as jurisdiction within the eta and hinin . In the 19th century the umbrella term burakumin was coined to name the eta and hinin because both classes were forced to live in separate village neighborhoods. The eta , hinin and burakumin classes were officially abolished in 1871. However, their cultural and societal impact, including some forms of discrimination, continues into modern times. The Edo period passed on
12272-457: The total population. After a long period of inner conflict, the first goal of the newly established Tokugawa government was to pacify the country. It created a balance of power that remained (fairly) stable for the next 250 years, influenced by Confucian principles of social order . Most samurai lost their direct possession of the land: the daimyo took over their land. The samurai had a choice: give up their sword and become peasants, or move to
12390-491: The wearing of hats. Sometimes eta villages were not even printed on official maps. A sub-class of hinin who were born into their social class had no option of mobility to a different social class whereas the other class of hinin who had lost their previous class status could be reinstated in Japanese society. On the other hand, in practice, both eta and hinin were recognized as owners of fields, some with very large incomes ( koku ) and some economic power. Their chief held
12508-511: The works of Zhu Xi .When the clergy of Shinto religion were alive, samurai, Buddhist monks were also there. Beyond kanji (Chinese characters), the Confucian classics, calligraphy, basic arithmetics, and etiquette, the samurai also learned various martial arts and military skills in schools. The chōnin (urban merchants and artisans) patronized neighborhood schools called terakoya (寺子屋, "temple schools"). Despite being located in temples,
12626-453: Was "forbidden for dancers or spectators to carry swords (wooden or otherwise), daggers or poles ". In 1685 revelers were prohibited from dancing after midnight and dancers were not allowed to wear any head or face coverings, suggesting that there were some serious public order concerns. In the Meiji period (1868–1912) the festival died down as the Tokushima's indigo trade, which had financed
12744-413: Was called sankin-kōtai . Lower orders divided into two main segments—the peasants—80% of the population—whose high prestige as producers was undercut by their burden as the chief source of taxes. They were illiterate and lived in villages controlled by appointed officials who kept the peace and collected taxes. The family was the smallest legal entity, and the maintenance of family status and privileges
12862-411: Was during the Edo period that Japan developed an advanced forest management policy. Increased demand for timber resources for construction, shipbuilding and fuel had led to widespread deforestation, which resulted in forest fires, floods and soil erosion. In response the shōgun , beginning around 1666, instituted a policy to reduce logging and increase the planting of trees. The policy mandated that only
12980-607: Was exacted from religious foundations, already greatly weakened by Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, through a variety of control mechanisms. Like Hideyoshi, Ieyasu encouraged foreign trade but also was suspicious of outsiders. He wanted to make Edo a major port, but once he learned that the Europeans favoured ports in Kyūshū and that China had rejected his plans for official trade, he moved to control existing trade and allowed only certain ports to handle specific kinds of commodities. The beginning of
13098-571: Was inconceivable to systematically tax commerce, as it would make money off "parasitic" activities, raise the prestige of merchants, and lower the status of government. As they paid no regular taxes, the forced financial contributions to the daimyos were seen by some merchants as a cost of doing business. The wealth of merchants gave them a degree of prestige and even power over the daimyos. By 1750, rising taxes incited peasant unrest and even revolt. The nation had to deal somehow with samurai impoverishment and treasury deficits. The financial troubles of
13216-529: Was indicated by their closeness to the Tokugawa. They had power. The daimyo comprised about 250 local lords of local "han" with annual outputs of 50,000 or more bushels of rice. The upper strata was much given to elaborate and expensive rituals, including elegant architecture, landscaped gardens, Noh drama, patronage of the arts, and the tea ceremony. Then came the 400,000 warriors, called "samurai", in numerous grades and degrees. A few upper samurai were eligible for high office; most were foot soldiers. Since there
13334-434: Was made an imperial consort in 1619. A code of laws was established to regulate the daimyo houses. The code encompassed private conduct, marriage, dress, types of weapons, and numbers of troops allowed; required feudal lords to reside in Edo every other year (the sankin-kōtai system); prohibited the construction of ocean-going ships; restricted castles to one per domain ( han ) and stipulated that bakufu regulations were
13452-452: Was of great importance at all levels of society. The individual had no separate legal rights. The 1711 Gotōke reijō was compiled from over 600 statutes promulgated between 1597 and 1696. Outside the four classes were the so-called eta and hinin , those whose professions broke the taboos of Buddhism . Eta were butchers, tanners and undertakers. Hinin served as town guards, street cleaners, and executioners. Other outsiders included
13570-471: Was started in 1956 by urban migrants from Tokushima Prefecture . It is the second largest Awa Dance Festival in Japan, with an average of 188 groups composed of 12,000 dancers, attracting 1.2 million visitors. The Japanese production company Tokyo Story produced a version of Awa Odori in 2015 in Paris by bringing dancers from Japan in order to promote Awa Odori and the Japanese "matsuri" culture abroad. Awa dance
13688-444: Was the center for the supply of food and essential urban consumer goods. Around the year 1700, Japan was perhaps the most urbanized country in the world, at a rate of around 10–12%. Half of that figure would be samurai, while the other half, consisting of merchants and artisans, would be known as chōnin . In the first part of the Edo period, Japan experienced rapid demographic growth, before leveling off at around 30 million. Between
13806-410: Was the major intellectual development of the Tokugawa period. Confucian studies had long been kept active in Japan by Buddhist clerics, but during the Tokugawa period, Confucianism emerged from Buddhist religious control. This system of thought increased attention to a secular view of man and society. The ethical humanism , rationalism , and historical perspective of neo-Confucian doctrine appealed to
13924-443: Was very little fighting, they became civil servants paid by the daimyo, with minor duties. The samurai were affiliated with senior lords in a well-established chain of command. The shogun had 17,000 samurai retainers; the daimyo each had hundreds. Most lived in modest homes near their lord's headquarters, and lived off of hereditary rights and stipends. Together these high status groups comprised Japan's ruling class making up about 6% of
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