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Shin Musume Dōjōji

新娘道成寺

[Genre]Jiuta
[Style]Tegotomono
[School]Ikuta Ryû - 生田
[Also Known As]New Song of the Maiden of Dojoji - Kanegamisaki
[Composed]Ishikawa Kōtō - Koto
Kikuoka Kengyō - Shamisen

History (Tsuge Gen'ichi):

Kanegamisaki ('Cape of Temple Bell'), a popular jiuta piece, is also known by another name, Shin Musume-dojoji. It is generally thought that it was adapted from a nagauta piece called Kyonganoko Musume-dojoji which accompanies a well-known kabuki dance, because the song-text of the former is virtually identical with the first third of the latter.

The text is based on an old legend concerning the great temple bell of Dojoji a Buddhist temple in the province of Kishu (present Wakayama Prefecture) (1). The no play Dojoji is also based on the same story.

Every year the hermit Anchin of Shirakawa (in Fukushima Prefecture) traveled south to pay his respects at the Kumano Shrine of Kishu. On these trips he stayed with Masago no Shoji, whose daughter Kiyohime fell in love with the handsome priest. Balking at her unexpected infatuation, he fled to the Dojoji temple and hid himself under the great temple bell, whereupon, in a feline fury, the girl turned herself into a demon-snake and pursued Anchin, swimming across the Hidaka River. Finding him, she wrapped herself seven-fold around the great bell, dissolving it and the poor priest in her molten anger. Much later, when the priests of Dojoji recast the bell, a female street dancer (shirabyoshi) appeared at the ceremony of the first striking, asking to be allowed to dance at the belfry. During her dance she suddenly ran under the bell. The bell sounded a great peal and fell over her. When the priests lifted the bell, an enormous snake crawled out breathing fire. Ah, the tenacity of a woman's vindictiveness!

Though the song-text of Kanegamisaki does not actually include this story, the audience is assumed to be familiar with it. The text ends abruptly with an inserted ball-bouncing song which enumerates the names of the renowned pleasure quarters of the Edo period.

(1) The original story is found in the Konjaku monogatari ('Ages Ago,' and eleventh century collection of Indian, Chinese and Japanese stories), Vol. 14.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)

The great temple bell
Harbors myriad malices.
Struck at midnight,
The bell echoes
The evanescence
Of all things.

Struck at the ghost hour,
The bell echoes
The birth and death
Of all beings.

Struck at daybreak,
The bell echoes
Supreme enlightenment.
Struck at sunset,
The bell echoes
The gospel of Nirvana.

All who hear understand.
Clouds of the Five Womanly Obstacles
Have been cleared away,
And now I will enjoy
The moon of absolute truth.

I will not unbosom
Myself to you,
But my heart is disordered
Like my hair.
Heartless and cruel
Is the fickle man.
No matter what they say,
Men are no good-

'Cherry blossom' dandies
Vying for praise
But then it's true
That women in love
Perform their duties
Absentmindedly.
No matter what they say
Women are not food.
Women from the capital
Are shallow indeed,
Yes, indeed.

Count them-
The villages of love, where
A samurai visits without his sword,
Screening his face with a deep basket-hat
A town of pride and self-respect
Is Yoshiwara (2).

The capital of cherry blossoms
Softens with song;
That woman who works
In Shimabara (2) - who is she with?
The black robes of Sumizome (2)
In Fushimi recall that evil

Passions are cleared by the bell-hammer
Of Shumoku-machi (2), and on
To the Yosuji of Naniwa (2)
And Kitsuji (2) of Nara.
The little girl flowers early
At Muro (2) of Harima-
Truly this is
The world of love.
One, two, three, four

Through the dew night,
Snowy days and frost,
He came from beyond Shimonoseki.
We grew closer
At Maruyama (2) of Nagasaki.
I hoped it would last, and
I fell in love-
That was my fate.

(2) Names of famous pleasure quarters in the Edo period.
Kane ni urami wa
kazukazu gozaru
shoya no kane wo
tsuku toki wa
shogyoo-mujoo to
hibikunari

Goya no kane wo
tsuku toki wa
zeshoo-meppoo to
hibikunari

Jinjoo no hibiki wa
shoometsu-metsui
iriai wa
jakumetsu-iraku to
hibikedo mo
kiite odoroku
hito mo nashi
ware mo goshoo no
kumo harete
shinnyo no tsuki wo
nagame akasan
(ai)
Iwazu kataranu
waga kokoro
midareshi kami no
midaruru mo
tsurenai wa
tada utsurigi na
doodemo otoko wa
akushoomono
(ai)
Sakura sakura to
utawarete
iute tamoto no
wake futatsu
tsutome sae
tada ukauka to
doodemo onago wa
akushoomono
miyako-sodachi wa
hasuha no
monojae

(tegoto)

Koi no wake-zato
kazoe kazoerya
bushi mo doogu wo
fuseamigasa de
hari to ikiji no
yoshiwara
(ai)
Hana no miyako wa
uta de yawaragu
shikishimabara ni
tsutome suru mi wa
tare to fushimi no
sumizome
(ai)
Bonnoo bodai no
shumokumachi yori
naniwa-yosuji ni
kayoi kitsuji
kamuro-dachi kara
muro no hayazaki
sore ga honni
iro ja
hii fuu mii yoo

Yotsuyu yuki no hi
shimonoseki-ji mo
tomo ni kono mi wo
najimi kasanete
naka wa maruyama
tada marukare to
omoisometaga
en jae

Shin Musume Dōjōji appears on the following albums

Album Artist

Abe Keiko Record Set - 08 Voice : Abe Keiko
Shamisen : Abe Keiko
Voice : Fujii Kunie
Shamisen : Fujii Kunie
Shakuhachi : Torii Komudō
Play ButtonAraki Kodo III and Fukuda Eika - Collection of Famous Performances - 01 Shakuhachi : Araki Kodō IV
Shakuhachi : Araki Kodō III
Play ButtonFascination of the Koto 3 Voice : Yonekawa Toshiko
Shamisen : Yonekawa Toshiko
Shakuhachi : Yamaguchi Gorō
Voice : Satō Chikaki
Koto : Satō Chikaki
New musume Dozyozi. Dozyozi, an old temple in Wakayama prefecutre, has a legend. A girl living near this temple falls in love with a young monk. He escapes from this girl and conceals himself inside the big temple bell. The girl's love and anger transforms her into a big snake and it burns out the bell. This legend was adopted by no theatre, kabuki, bunraku and many syamisen and koto genres, and this piece is one of the better examples. The qualification musume literally refers to a girl and designates a category of Dozyozi pieces. As this piece contains an instrumental interlude unlike the old version of Musume Dozyozi, it is called Sin musume Dozyozi. The composer is not known.

Sankyoku Gassō Dai Zenshū vol. 17 (三曲合奏大全集17) Voice : Iwata Jūka
Koto : Iwata Jūka
Voice : Inoue Michiko
Shamisen : Inoue Michiko
Shakuhachi : Yamato Hōmei

Sankyoku Home Practice - Chuden 2 Shakuhachi : Aoki Reibo II

Seiha Hōgaku-kai Sōkyoku Meisaku-shū #1 - Ishikawa Kōto Koto : Nakashima Yasuko
Shamisen : Yuize Shin'ichi
Voice : Yamagishi Masanobu

Sō no Shiori (Ikuta Ryū) vol 6 Voice : Yonekawa Toshiko
Shamisen : Yonekawa Toshiko
Voice : Tomizaki Fumiyo
Koto : Tomizaki Fumiyo

Sokyoku Jiuta Taikei 31 Voice : Abe Keiko
Shamisen : Abe Keiko
Voice : Fujii Kunie
Shamisen : Fujii Kunie
Shakuhachi : Torii Komudō

Yamaguchi Goro - Performance study 1 Shamisen : Yonekawa Toshiko
Koto : Yonekawa Toshiko II
Shakuhachi : Yamaguchi Gorō

Zoku Sō-Sangen-Shakuhachi ni yoru Mei Senshū - volume 4 Shakuhachi : Aoki Reibo II
Voice : Matsuo Keiko
Shamisen : Matsuo Keiko
Koto : Mori Yūji