Japanese Music of the Edo Period

2022年08月26日

今日は一緒に日本の伝統音楽を楽しんでみましょう。私たちはお正月のお休みによくこういった音楽を聴く機会があります。(English) Let's enjoy traditional Japanese music together today. We often have the opportunity to listen to this kind of music during the New Year holidays.

Japanese Music of the Edo Period

Artist : Ensemble Hijiri-Kaï

Teruhisa Fukuda (shakuhachi), Shihô Kineya (Shamisen, vocals), Aiko Noda (koto), Junko Harada (koto)

Album : Urban Music of the Edo Period (1603-1868)

00:00 Godanno-Shirabe

07:13 Rembo-nagashi

15:11 Echigo-jishi

31:11 Midare

40:00 Yuki

52:03 Yûgure

1:06:46 Koto sangen nijûsôkyoku

The Edo Period must be one of the most brilliant eras of Human history.

It was culturally incredible, at least with all the sorts of Drama, thought, and painting that flourished around that time.

If you are a wealthy merchant or lord and have money to spend in your spare time, you will be happy to live in those times.

For Samurai, the Edo wasn't so great, and most of them lived either from reminiscences of a past of glories long gone or in material misery.

Because the Samurai were noble cast merchants, work was deemed unfit for them, and a certain number of them found success as writers. As a result, the Edo Period saw a wide spread of literacy and popular and sophisticated forms of literature.

For peasants, as in other places, this period was full of hardships but less dangerous and unstable than at different times.

Because of the harsh policies imposed by the Shogunate, traveling throughout Japan wasn't so easy, so most people just were confined to their villages, and local patterns of culture also developed.

Even so, there were several writers and rich culture of travel literature.

The painting also matures in this era along with several forms of Japanese traditional arts with the Iemoto system, from tea ceremonies to the four distinct and unique "Games of Go."

Although the Japanese look at Asuka and Heian Era as their classical age, for most of us foreigners, the Edo period and its complex society look remarkable.

From its birth to its dramatic ending, it looks like a "golden age."

It must be because many anime and manga take place during this time.