Hongan-ji Branch in the Shin sect borrowed Syomo of Tendai sect positively since the middle of the Edo period, and now uses above seventy strains of Syomyo of Tendai sect, and so Syomyo of Tendai occupies almost all of the memorial service in Hongan-ji Branch.
The Jodo sect, the Nichiren sect, the Bukko-ji Branch in the Shin sect, and so on attempt to make their memorial services solemn attaching them before or after the unique order of their 'Regular chanting of sutras, .
In comparison with this, Hongan-ji Branch is more closely connected with Tendai.
Since Meiji 16 (1883) Hongan-ji Branch has ceased a connection with Tendai sect, and Syomyo of Tendai sect and the one of Hongan-ji Branch have originally developed for this one hundred years. Therefore, now there have been great differences between their musical atmosphere.
This MS. is the comparative study of a melodious point in Syomyo of Tendai sect and the one of Hongan-ji Branch at the present time, so I intend to express the differerence between them in comparing their style of melody, considering the fact that syomyo of Tendai sect consists of the combination of melodic style.
(1) The type in the same singing. These are the same singing in both of them.
(2) The type in the same singing but the different title.
(3) The type in the different singing. Both singings are much alike, but there are a little diffrent singings.
(4) The type which have a difference of ornaments. Though both styles of melody in itself are the same, their musical atmosphere are different on account of the existence of ornaments.
(5) The type which both styles of melody in itself are different. Originally, I suppose, they are the same singing, but now they both changed and differed either of Tendai and Hongan-ji.
(6) The type which are the same title but the different singings.
(7) The type not used in the Hongan-ji Branch
As above I classified, and what brings the difference between Syomyo of Tendai sect and the one of Hongan-ji Branch is the difference of ornaments.
Comparing the two, a lot of old singings remained in the Hongan-ji Branch.

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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.

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Da-hua-gu is a distinctive dance which has been preserved by the people of Iju, Nakagusuku village of Okinawa Island, Japan. It is distinctive of its evident Chinese influence in Okinawa Islands. Eleven men in Chinese dress appear on to the stage in a line and march slowly around the stage, as the introduction of Da-hua-ku song is played. In the middle of the song three dancers playing a drum, cymbal and clapper leave out the line, and dace comically while playing each instrument. The rest of the dancers continue their march. When the song comes near to the end, the procession begins to exit. The last line of the song is repeated many times and the tempo gradually accelerates. The three dancers roll up their climax by jumping or stooping or passing each other busily. At the end, each dancer plays his instrument alternately at intervals, and gradually exits facing backward.
Da-hua-gu of Iju is merely a dance tradition. However, its origin seems to be traced as a dance drama. Da-hua-gu used to be performed by the people of Kuninda village who emigrated from Min-nan area of Fukien, China. Since the abolition of Ryukyu Kingdom in 1879, the people of Kuninda village stopped their performance of Da-hua-gu. We do not know in what root it was transmitted to Iju.
Historical documents also inform us that Da-hua-gu was preformed by the royal artists of Ryukyu Kingdom in Edo (present Tokyo) when kings customarily visited Edo to greet Tokugawa Shoguns in the occasion of succession of their Shogunate as well as in the occasion of succession of Ryukyu kingship.
When we compare the documents of Okinawa Da-hua-gu to those of the original play of Chinese Da-hua-gu performed in Ch'ing dyansty (17-20th centuries), some similarities in number and type of characters and in the content of the play are found. The story of the dancing drama in China is as follows. A noble man goes to the town to kill his time and meets a couple who are entertaining with “hua-gu” drum. He is attracted by the beautiful young wife of the hua-gu player and acts disgrace to her. The characters of this play are four including the couple. This Chinese dancing drama quite differs from Okinawa Da-hua-gu dance of Iju, which presents a mere dancing proccession.
The present paper also introduces the song text of Iju Da-hua-gu, that has been orally transmitted. The people of Iju does not understand the meaning of the text. The original poem of the “hua-gu” song sung in the Chinese play of Da-hua-gu is shown for the interpretation of the text of the Okinawa Da-hua-gu.

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It has been well-known that the wonderful triadic chorus is found in all the traditional songstyles in the Bunun tribe living in the central part of the Taiwanese mountains. This paper tries to explain the origin of the triadic chorus in nonliterate societies by examining their musical situations from various aspects.
In 1952, T. Kurosawa presented his theory in this connection, in which he insisted that the Bunun's songstyles are derived from the harmonics of their musical bow and that the natural overtones made by this instrument lead up to the birth of the pentatonic scale. I have found, however, that this theory contains some problems, judging from the results of my analyses of their songstyles and my acoustic analyses of their musical bow performances.
On the other hand, the jaw's harp, which they often enjoyed playing in the past, turns out to have a much closer connection with their songstyles, for example:
1) The tone system of the Bunun tribe almost corresponds to a series of natural overtones which are used in their performances on the jaw's harp. (the 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12th overtones)
2) The melodic style sung by their chorus i s much the same as the melodic style o f the music played on the jaw's harp.
3) It is conceivable that the vocalizations, which are characteristic of their songstyles, resulted from the playing of the jaw's harp.
4) There exists a special song which enables us to presume that their melodies were transferred from the music of the jaw's harp into their songstyles.
These facts lead to the conclusion that the songstyles of the Bunun tribe were greatly influenced by and derived from their harmonic performances on the jaw's harp.

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