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Sayama Sugagaki

佐山菅垣

[Genre]Honkyoku
[School]Kinko Ryû - 琴古流

History (John Singer):

"Sayama Sugagaki" is sometimes called "Sanya Sugagaki" creating complications. Of course, these two pieces are completely different.

There is also a Koto piece called "Sanya Sugagaki" in the Ryuku Islands of Southern Japan. The relationship, if any, between this and "Sayama Sugagaki" becomes quite plausible since the Ryuku "Sanya" is also called "Godan Sugagaki" and "Sayama Sugagaki" has some characteristics of a "Danmono" (Dan composition) piece. Secondly, the names "Sanya" and "Sayama" are similar; both having Chinese characters in common. Also, "Sayama" is said to be the oldest Sugagaki piece and was transmitted along with "Sanya Sugagaki", "the Traditional Three" (Bekkaku), "Namima Reibo", and "Shika No Toneh" by Ikkei-Shi of Chofuku Zan Kuzai-Ji Temple in Nagasaki to Kinko Kurosawa I. So, the geographical proximity of Nagasaki to the Ryuku Islands can also suggest the further plausibility of the Ryuku "Sanya" and "Sayama" being related.

It is also said that "Sayama Sugagaki" was originally called "Shakuhachi Sugagaki" and that this piece, along with the six others mentioned above, was transmitted to Kinko in the year 1728

Sayama Sugagaki appears on the following albums

Album Artist
Play ButtonComplete Collection of Honkyoku from the Kinko School - Vol 2 - Disc 2 Shakuhachi : Aoki Reibo II

Flute of the Misty Sea, The Shakuhachi : Andreas Fuyu Gutzwiller
Sugagaki is an old designation of a piece of music. It seems that these pieces originated in an secular tradition of shakuhachi playing. They are played a bit faster than pieces from the Buddhist tradition. Like some other pieces the title refers to the name of a place: Sayama, a name of a unknown village. Kurosawa Kinko had learned it from the priest Ikkei in Nagasaki.
Play ButtonKinko Ryu Honkyoku - 6 Shakuhachi : Aoki Reibo II
Play ButtonShakuhachi no Shinzui-Shakuhachi Honkyoku - 10 Shakuhachi : Yamaguchi Gorō

Yamaguchi Gorō - Kinko-ryū Shakuhachi Honkyoku Zenshū 8 Shakuhachi : Yamaguchi Gorō