Tegotomono (a form of Japanese chamber music) (手事物)
Tegotomono is the style of composition which has instrumental parts (here, it is also called "tegotomono-form") or the kind of songs in sankyoku music which consists of jiuta, so (or koto) music and kokyu (Chinese fiddle) music.
Summary
Among the jiuta music which is played now, tegotomono is most often played. Also in so (or koto) music, most of them are tegotomono in the case of classic music. Normally in kokyu music, they are not called tegotomoto, but virtually all the original works are said to be tegotomono.
Music form structure
The basic music form structure has the three-step structure which consists of maeuta (the former song), tegoto (Japanese Koto) and atouta (the latter song), but in large scale songs, many have a structure which consists of maeuta, tegoto, nakauta (the middle song), tegoto and atouta. Moreover, uta (song) and tegoto are respectively once more added to some songs. And some have a prelude part.
Most maeuta are usually divided into the slow parts and the fast parts and a short intermezzo 'ai no te' is inserted between them at least once. This intermezzo is sometimes very long. Large-scale songs or songs which has a long maeuta have several intermezzos. In the first part of the maeuta or the last part of the slow part of a maeuta, some have a solo which consists of only a short song.
Many tegotos are divided into several 'dan,' and each dan has the same beat rate and some are like variations. These dans can be mutually played in an ensemble (danawase, type of ensemble method). Furthermore, mostly musical 'chirashi' (coda) is inserted in the end of tegoto. Chirashi' is said to have originated from the distraction from tegoto. Some songs have chirashi which are further divided into two or three parts (naka-chirashi (the middle coda), ato-chirashi (the latter coda), hon-chirashi (the main coda) and so on). Also in Kyoto-style tegotomono, many have a part of 'jo' or 'makura' (prelude) as an introduction of tegoto.
Mostly atouta is shorter than maeuta, the ai-no-te is fewer if any, and they are short and play a role of coda of the whole song or a "kyu" of "Jo-ha-kyu" (three segments of performance and speed of plays; slower and quieter performance during the jo (beginning), gradually gaining the tempo in the ha (middle portion), and becoming more energetic during the kyu (denouement)). After tegoto becomes gradually slower and finishes, atouta, taking over this, gradually begins but soon becomes faster and forms the last climax. Here many works use modulation to lift the feeling and some repeat modulation to lift the feeling more and more.
Many original kokyu music works structurally consist only of maeuta and tegoto.
The song and tegoto in one song have hiatuses as paragraphs, but unlike Jo-ha-kyu in gagaku (ancient Japanese court dance and music) or movements in Western music, sound does not stop completely and begins after a while, but the performance seamlessly continues. There is a large modulation between the song and tegoto and the tuning often changes.
History
Jiuta songs which have a cohesive instrumental part at the middle of the songs were seen in 'Rangoya' and 'Seiran' which were 'kumiuta' (koto suites of songs) that were the oldest kind of jiuta. Tegotomono itself is thought to have emerged around the Genroku era and "Sarashi" by kengyo FUKAKUSA, "Rokudan Renbo" by Jirosan KISHINO, "San Dan Jishi" (triple lion) by kengyo SAYAMA and so on are known as the works of the early period. However in those days, the genre 'tegotomono' was not yet established and included in 'choka' (long epic song). In fact, tegotomono is thought to be divided into two kinds: the one which originated from kumiuta or choka in jiuta (short intermezzo developed) and the one which added the song parts to the works that were originally pieces of instrumental music. The representative song of the latter includes "Yachiyojishi."
Jiuta during the middle of the Edo period was mainly choka or hauta (short song) and especially enormous numbers of hauta were composed by kengyo FUJINAGA, koto (the title of the official ranks within the Todo-za (the traditional guild for the blind)) TSURUYAMA, kengyo MASASHIMA and so on and hauta was at its zenith.
Tegotomono is said to have been firstly established as a classifying genre in 'Shin utabukuro' (the New Collection of Koto Music in History) published in 1789. Around that time the works of tegotomono increased, tegotomono was streamlined further by koyo MINEZAKI or koto MITSUHASHI and the works which emphasized tegoto rather than song increased. Famous works include "Azuma Jishi" (Lion of Azuma), "Echigojishi," "Zangetsu" (A Morning Moon) by MINEZAKI, "Shochikubai" (pine, bamboo and plum trees), "Nebiki no matsu" (Pine Seedlings) by MITSUHASHI and so on.
Furthermore, these came down to musicians in Kyoto, refined by them and 'Kyoto-style tegotomono' (a form of Japanese chamber music) was spawned and the following numerous famous works were composed: "Uji meguri" (uji tour), "Shiki no Nagame" (Viewing the Four Seasons), "Sue-no-chigiri" and so on by kengyo MATSUURA and "Yaegoromo" (An Eight-Fold Garment), "Shin Aoyagi" (new green willow) and so on by koto ISHIKAWA and "Nagara-no-haru," "Iso Chidori" (beach plover), "Yugao" (Evening Face), "Cha ondo" (Tea Song) and so on by kengyo KIKUOKA and "Sakuragawa" (Sakura river), "Nanakomachi" (Seven Komachi) and so on by kengyo MITSUZAKI.
And kengyo YAEZAKI put the so (or koto) parts to these works or made kaede (accompanying melody) for shamisen and they were played in various ensembles such as danawase (type of ensemble method), jiawase (type of ensemble method), instrumental trio (shamisen (three-stringed Japanese guitar), so (thirteen-stringed Japanese zither), and shakuhachi (bamboo flute)) ensemble and so on and dramatically developed as ensemble music. However at that time, "Samushiro" by koto ARIHARA, "Haru no akebono" by kengyo KIKUYAMA and so on were also composed in Osaka.
From the end of the Edo period to Meiji period, jiuta by tegotomono such as "Hagi no tsuyu" (Dew on the Bush Clover) by kengyo IKUYAMA or "Harugasane" by Ryusai FURUKAWA and so on were continuously composed in Kyoto. On the other hand, across Japan in the end of Edo period, the works which applied the form of Kyoto-style tegotomono were composed, such as "Hana no enishi," "Natsugoromo" and so on by kengyo YOSHIZAWA in Nagoya, "Onoe no Matsu" (Pine Tree On Mountain) and "Ama obune" in Kyushu and "Hanagatami" in Hiroshima and so on. Furthermore after the end of the Edo period, when so (or koto) songs became independent from jiuta again, this form of so (or koto) works was actively composed, such as "Chidori no kyoku" (a song for plover), "Tokoyo no kyoku" (a song for eternity), "Shin Takasago song" (literally, "new version of "Takasago"), "Kaede no hana" (a maple flower), "Mikuni no homare" (the glory of the country), "Meiji shochikubai," "Hototogisu no kyoku" (a song for a little cuckoo), "Aki no koto no ha" (Words for autumn) and so on.
After that, the works "Haru no yoru" (a spring night), "Hira," "Mushi no Musashino" (Insects in Musashino) and so on by Michio MIYAGI were used in new Japanese music and often used also by modern composers. On the other hand, YAMADA-style so (or koto) songs which were song-oriented have a few tegotomono works such as "Miyako no haru" (The spring in the city) or "The Eight Views of Omi" and so on.
Influenced by jiuta, some chokas, which had almost the same structure as the tegoto of jiuta in terms of musical structure and had long 'aikata' (partner) songs, were composed in the end of the Edo period. They include, for example, "Echigojishi," "The Eight Views of Azuma" and "Aki no irokusa" (the flowers of autumn). "Echigojishi" incorporated jiuta such as "Echigojishi" or "Sarashi" (bleached cloth) and "Aki no irokusa" also incorporated jiuta such as "Mushi no ne" (sound of insect) or so (or koto) song called "Midare" (disorder) to enhance the instrument parts. Or, like 'oimawashi no aikata' (partner as an odd-job man) in "Kyo Kanokomusume Dojoji" (The maiden at Dojo Temple), the existing works were revised and improved to have the aikata's parts later. Aikatas are almost the same as tegoto in jiuta and the unique aikata such as 'Tsukuda' or 'Taki nagashi' (Falling down a waterfall) is one enchantment of choka, but they are rather devoted to description and in some points they characteristically differ from the tegoto of jiuta which musically developed far more variously as most of them are for theater music. Also, choka have no classification for the genre of song, equivalent to tegotomoto of jiuta.
As seen here, tegotomono is a very popular style of composition. This is because audiences could enjoy both vocal parts and instrumental parts in one work and the works could be easily changed.