Genealogy of blind musicians in the Edo Period

Abstract

In the field of Japanese music there have so far been only few biographical studies. This is especially true as regards the blind Jiuta-shamisen and koto musicians of the Edo period, where the enormous difficulties involved in biographical research have meant that, except in the case of a few blind masters like Yatsuhashi Kengyo, this area of study has been all but neglected.
There have been numerous problems involved in the handling of relevant material. For one thing, documents showing the way the music was transmitted from one master to another are mainly based on instruction-certificates, which need to be subjected to careful criticism. In order to obtain exact transmission-charts, too, all documents concerning the blind people demand critical examination. Among these documents, special mention must be made of the following:
-Sandai-no-seki,
-Omote-bikae,
-Za-kudari-bikae,
all preserved in the National Diet Library (a differing version of the ‘Sandai-no-seki’ is kept in the Ka-no-bunko, Tohoku University).
These three documents give the names of masters elevated to the rank of kengyo, together with the exact date, the school to which they belonged, as well as the names of their masters and masters' master (the ‘Sandai-no-seki’ for the period 1603, 10th month to 1777, 2nd month, the ‘Omote-bikae’ for the period 1700, 1st month to 1805, 3rd month, and the ‘Za-kudari-bikae’ for the period 1805, 11th month to 1867, 9th month). However, the entries into these records were not in all respects systematic and there are omissions and inconsequences, which make careful sourcecriticism all the more essential. Inspite of all deficiencies, these three documents are of great importance, as their information on masters of kengyo-rank covers all areas of Japan, and gives -if all three documents are taken together-a relatively clear picture of the positions and lineages of blind professionals.
As Mrs. KUBOTA Satoko has already composed a research paper on the ‘Sandai-no-seki’, we have here limited ourselves to the remaining two documents and have traced information especially concerning Yamada-ryu musicians; we have, however, also followed up lineages of Kyoto/Osaka-, Nagoya- and Kyushu-area musicians, examining the transmission of music as well as teacher-student relationships within the todo, the organization of professional blind people.
Our efforts have been rewarded by being able to confirm details of name and date of obtaining the rank of kengyo in the case of Yamada Kengyo and other Yamada-ryu koto-musicians, as well as of such famous masters as Mitsuzaki, Yoshizawa, Ichiura, Kikuoka, Urasaki, Yaezaki and Matsuura Kengyo. Also, we have been able to obtain clear evidence on the period of activity, and of the rank held within the todo, in the case of Udesaki Kengyo (whose very existence had been in doubt) and the Ikuta-ryu koto-masters in Edo.