In 1922, Hakushū Kitahara and Kōsaku Yamada launched the magazine Poetry and Music to unite poetry and music, establishing a modern song style that made use of Japanese pitch accent and the innate Japanese sense of rhythm12.
“Kono Michi” (1927) emerged from this effort and is “a masterpiece that directly transforms the accents of the words into melody while also reflecting fresh, vivid emotion”3. It first appeared in Volume 3 of Dōyō Hyakkyokushū. Although called a children’s song, it demands a high level of expressive ability from the singer and should perhaps be regarded as a fully fledged art song.
2 years before this song was composed, in Taishō 14 (1925), on March 8, the Peace Preservation Law was enacted4. On the night the amended Act on Punishment of Organized Crimes was enacted—a law compared to the Peace Preservation Law and feared as enabling arbitrary investigations by those in power and violating freedom of thought5—I offer this song.
Please listen closely to the performance by mezzo-soprano Akiko Ogawa.
- Akihiko Mabuchi, “Furusato / Kono Michi,” NHK High School Course, Music I <http://www.nhk.or.jp/kokokoza/radio/r2_music/archive/3584_834.pdf>(2017-06-15取得)
- A list of other potentially useful references is available here. It is also helpful as an example of how to use a library’s reference service.
- Kōsaku Yamada Works, “Rokki / Kono Michi / Awate Dokoya,” Craftone Edition <http://www.craftone.co.jp/yamada_k/KYS_011.html > (accessed 2017-06-15)
Part of the prelude’s harmony was later changed, but the version before the revision had already become widely disseminated. - On that occasion too, it appears that questioning was forcibly terminated so deliberations could proceed. https://twitter.com/KO_SLANG/status/874922332346880000
- A law that revised the constituent requirements of the “conspiracy offense,” which punishes crimes at the planning stage, and created a new “preparatory acts for terrorism” offense. On June 15, 2017 at around 7:45, it passed and was enacted at a plenary session of the House of Councillors by a majority including the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, and Nippon Ishin no Kai. It was forced through with the extraordinary maneuver of skipping the committee vote. 【Reference】Nippon TV 24Why the “Conspiracy Offense” Was Forced Through with an “Extraordinary Maneuver” <http://www.news24.jp/articles/2017/06/15/04364353.html> (accessed 2017-06-15)
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