The Kaga domain of the Tokugawa period (1603-1868) comprises what are today Toyama and Ishikawa Prefectures. In the past, many blind female performers known as
goze wandered throughout this area, singing songs and playing the
shamisen. Although the
goze of neighboring Niigata Prefecture have been the subject of much research and documentation, the
goze of the Kaga domain have as yet received almost no scholarly attention. This study seeks to fill this gap.
Records of
goze in the Kaga domain go back to 1619, when blind entertainers were sent to entertain the widow of the first head of the domain. Records of
goze living in rural villages around Kanazawa also exist from the early seventeenth century.
In the Toyama area,
goze are recorded as being affiliated with a temple in the city of Takaoka. Later, these
goze appear to have entertained visitors to the city's pleasure quarters. Both in Toyama and Ishikawa Prefectures,
goze seem not to have formed the types of guilds that one finds in Niigata Prefecture.
The last renowned
goze of the Toyama area was Matsukura Chiyo (1884-1946, also known as “Chiima”). Recordings of her performances are almost entirely lacking, but people of the area still remember her songs and her activities. The latter half of this study attempts to reconstruct Matsukura's life, tours, and repertory. Several musical examples of performances as remembered by natives of Toyama Prefecture are presented, as is a photograph of Matsukura and her daughter Hana.
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