Home People Pieces Recordings Bibliography Schools Glossary Sites & Events Teachers Join the ISS Log In

Kajimakura

楫枕

[Genre]Jiuta
[Style]Tegotomono
[School]Ikuta Ryû - 生田
[Composed]Yaezaki Kengyō - Koto
Kikuoka Kengyō - Shamisen

History (Tsuge Gen'ichi):

This piece was originally composed by Kikuoka Kengyo of Kyoto in the jiuta style, that is, as a song accompanied by a shamisen with an extensive interlude called tegoto. Later it was arranged into an ensemble piece for koto and shamisen by Yaezaki Kengyo (1766?-1848), the famous koto virtuoso of Kyoto.

Kajimakura literally means 'rudder-pillow,' which actually implies 'asleep on a boat trip,' and the song expresses the yearning of a riverboat courtesan for a young man who might disregard her background and see the innocence and purity of her heart.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)

The dipping oars
Raise clouds of spray
Across the waters.
Firm in their stand,
The bamboo reeds
Make me sad
Through the sleepless nights
On this river boat.

Night after night
My thoughts torment me.
Is it the waves,
My tears,
Or the dew dripping
Through the grass roof,
That soaks my sleeves
Bound up in sorrow?
I drift here and there
To drown my sadness,
With a rudder
As my pillow.

However far
My travel takes me,
Let the final destination
Be the foot of a pine tree
Along the shore.
A firm pledge of love
Is all I ask,
All I ask of you.

I place my heart
In your hands.

Hold it there
Forever and ever.
Kararo osu
mizu no kemuri no
hitokata ni
nabiki mo yaranu
kawatake no
ukifushi shigeki
shigeki ukine no
tomari-bune
(ai)
Yoru yoru mi nizo
omoishiru
nami ka namida ka
toma moru tsuya ka
nurenizo nureshi
waga sode no
shioru omoi wo
oshitsutsumi
nagare watari ni
ukarete kurasu
kokoro-zukushi no
kajimakura

(tegoto)

Sashite yukue no
tooku tomo
tsui ni yorube wa
kishi no ue no
matsu no ne
kataki chigiri wo ba
semete tanoman
tanomu wa kimi ni
(ai)
kokoro yureshite
kimi ga te ni
(ai)
musubi tomete yo
chiyo yorozuyo mo

Kajimakura appears on the following albums

Album Artist
Play ButtonAraki Kodo III and Fukuda Eika - Collection of Famous Performances - 01 Shakuhachi : Araki Kodō IV
Shakuhachi : Araki Kodō III
Play ButtonFujii Kunie Sokyoku Jiuta No Sekai 3

Fujii Kunie, The World of Shamisen and Jiuta Singing 5 Shakuhachi : Kawase Junsuke III
Koto : Kobayashi Tamae
Voice : Fujii Kunie
Shamisen : Fujii Kunie

Ikuta Ryu Sokyoku Senshu Volume 04 (上) Koto : Miyagi Kiyoko
Shamisen : Yazaki Akiko
Voice : Miyagi Kazue

Ikuta-Ryū Sōkyoku Senshū - volume 7 Voice : Matsuo Keiko
Shamisen : Matsuo Keiko
Koto : Matsuo Kazuko

Jiuta no Sekai - 5 Koto : Nakanoshima Keiko
Voice : Tomiyama Seikin I
Shamisen : Tomiyama Seikin I

Sankyoku Gassō Dai Zenshū vol. 10 (三曲合奏大全集10) Koto : Nakashima Yasuko
Voice : Yuize Shin'ichi
Shamisen : Yuize Shin'ichi
Shakuhachi : Nanba Chikuzan

Sankyoku Home Practice - Chuden 1 Shakuhachi : Aoki Reibo II
Shamisen : Ōta Satoko
Koto : Satō Chikaki

Sasagawa Shizue no Shigei Vol. 5 Shamisen : Sasagawa Shizue
Koto : Suzuki Kazuko

Sō no Shiori (Ikuta Ryū) vol 1 Voice : Inoue Michiko
Shamisen : Inoue Michiko
Koto : Nakashima Yasuko

Sō to Sangen no Shirabe - Sōkyoku to Jiuta Voice : Matsuo Keiko
Koto : Matsuo Keiko
Shamisen : Mori Yūji

Sōkyoku - Shin Aoyagi / Kajimakura Voice : Matsuo Keiko
Shamisen : Matsuo Keiko
Koto : Mori Yūji

Sokyoku Jiuta Taikei 33 Voice : Miyagi Kiyoko
Koto : Miyagi Kiyoko
Voice : Yonekawa Toshiko
Shamisen : Yonekawa Toshiko
Shakuhachi : Shimabara Hanzan
Play ButtonSong of Daybreak Shakuhachi : Bruce Huebner
Kaji Makura "A Rudder for My Pillow" is one of the finest examples of the kyofu tegoto mono, a sub-genre of sankyoku that reached its peak of development under Kengyo Kikuoka (1792-1847). The form is typical of tegoto mono: two vocal sections, called the mae uta and ato uta, are separated by an instrumental interlude called the tegoto. These song sections are further broken by short interludes called ai no te. Also typical is the addition by another composer, Kengyo Yaezaki (1776-1848) in this case, of a koto tetsuke much in the same manner as the shakuhachi kaede above. The middle tegoto instrumental section of "A Rudder for My Pillow" is atypically divided further into two dan or "steps," a form borrowed from an older koto genre called dan mono. These dan have an equal number of beats and can be played simultaneously to create another layer of polyphony. The melismatic singing style and text content is typical of the tegoto mono and jiuta in general. In Kaji Makura, a courtesan, her life drifting like the boat upon which she works, longs for a man who will forget her unseemly past and love her for her pure heart.
Play ButtonTogashi Noriko - 02 Shamisen : Togashi Noriko

Zoku Sō-Sangen-Shakuhachi ni yoru Mei Senshū - volume 8 Voice : Matsuo Keiko
Shamisen : Matsuo Keiko
Koto : Matsuo Kazuko