The ‘Kasugano’-
biwa and its related documents have prompted this research. The ‘Kasugano’-
biwa is a biwa which has been handed down to the Chokoji temple, the old-Mosojiin, in Miyazaki-shi as one closely connected with Taira Kagekiyo.
This
biwa, which looks like a small-sized
Gaku-biwa, can be considered a
Moso-biwa because it has six frets. These frets are, however, not as tall or large as those of the presentday
Moso-biwa, but small like those of the
Gaku-biwa. The present-day
Moso-biwa has a long
shishikubi part and a small
haraita part so that all the frets can be attached to the
shishikubi part. The ‘Kasugano’-
biwa, on the other hand, like a
Gaku-biwa, has a small
shishikubi part where only four frets can be attached. The other two frets are attached to the
haraita part, which may suggest that they were added later.
It may also suggest that as the
Heike-biwa in the Edo period was formed by adding a fifth fret to the
Gaku-biwa, the ‘Kasugano’-
biwa must have been formed by adding a fifth and sixth fret to the
Gaku-biwa. This hypothesis can be proved true by its musical intervals. An experiment shows that the musical intervals from the first to the fourth frets are the same as those of the
Gaku-biwa, while they are different from those of the present-day
Moso-biwa. This means that the arrangement of musical intervals of this
biwa followed that of the
Gaku-biwa, but there was an addition of two musical intervals later.
While this
biwa shares many points with the
Gaku-biwa including a
bachi-gawa, the form of the
fukuju, the
tsugenkou of the
fukuju hemmed with
suiteki forms, the form of the
hangetsu, the engraved
enzan on the backside and others, it also has many points common to the present-day
Moso-biwa and
Satsuma-biwa, such as a
shichu behind the
fukuju, a
hangetsu hemmed with
zogan, the form of the
bachi, and the urushi paint covering the whole instrument.
Therefore, the ‘Kasugano’-
biwa was probably formed following the
Gaku-biwa tradition during the period of transition from the
Gaku-biwa to the other type of
biwa. This
biwa can also be considered in the middle of the transition from the
Gaku-biwa to the present-day
Moso-biwa (with six frets). The transition appears to have happened in the following way.At first, the
Gaku-biwa and then the small-sized
Gaku-biwa were used as the
Moso-biwa. After that, the form of the small-sized
Gaku-biwa was changed into the present form with six frets by adding two frets on the
haraita. Finally the
shishikubi parts were lengthened and the
haraita parts were made smaller.
A Naito-family (former Lord of the Nobeoka clan) document, which includes pictorial documents, suggests that the ‘Kasugano’-
biwa was produced before or during Edo period. No further information is available at this time about the year it was made because we have no other
Moso-biwa with the precise year of its production. In addition, as there is no historical evidence of the legend of Kagekiyo's visit to Hyuga, it is not certain that this
biwa was cherished by Kagekiyo. It is not possible to maintain that it was produced while he was alive, namely at the beginning of the Kamakura period.
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