Biwa Performance

Monday was a national holiday in Japan, so I had the day off work. I met two friends in Fuji City for lunch and to attend a Biwa Performance.  This was my first experience to see and hear the biwa, a Japanese musical instrument made of the wood from the tsuge tree. 

My friend met with the biwa sensei (teacher), Mrs. Nakamura, who performed on Monday about a week before the performance.  My friend took these photos and sent me this information. The performance is singing a historical story while playing the biwa. The songs and instrument have a very sad sound, as the stories are rather sad, even though I couldn't understand the words.  

the Biwa instrument

the piece used to strike or strum the strings

the biwa tuner

Mrs. Nakamura

Mrs. Nakamura played the Koto (another Japanese instrument) when she was younger, but found it too large to carry as she got older, so she began playing the Biwa. When she was younger, she had family responsibilities, living with her husband's parents and raising her children, so she did not have much free time. She said that she now feels a lot of confidence in herself when she is playing. 

Her performance on Monday was  湖水乗切、Kosui Nori Kiri, which means Crossing the Lake. Here is the explanation of the performance provided by Mrs. Nakamura to my friend: It is the story of Mitsutoshi, a cousin of Mitsuhide. Mitsuhide was serving Oda Nobunaga, but he killed Nobunaga in Honnoji.  When Mitsuhide killed Nobunaga, Mitsutoshi was in Azuchi Castle.  Mitsutoshi was the cousin, but also a follower of Mitsuhide. Mitsutoshi thought it was a bad idea to kill Nobunaga, but he could not stop Mitsuhide. When Mitsutoshi heard that Mitsuhide did kill Nobunaga and Hideyoshi was quickly returning from the west to fight against Mitsuhide, he thought of the wife and children of Mitsuhide who were in Sakamoto Castle and wanted to save them.  He got on his beloved horse to go there, but the enemies were chasing them. To avoid the enemies, Mitsutoshi decided to cross the lake.  He started to swim while holding the kura of his horse while the horse was swimming with four legs.  The enemies stopped chasing them when they went into the water.  They swam about two kilometers across the lake.  When Mitsutoshi and the horse reached the other side of the lake, he tied the horse to a tree so it would not get involved in the fight with the enemy.  He left the horse on the side of the lake and went to the castle by himself.  Later the horse became the horse of Hideyoshi. 

I think we saw about eight performers. The performers wore traditional kimonos and sat in seiza on the floor while singing and playing. I did not take any photos during the performance because I did not know if it was allowed, although I did hear some camera noises. It was a wonderfully interesting Japanese cultural performance.  I'm glad my friend invited to me attend.