JAPANESE CULTURE, EXPLAINED
宮城道雄
Michio Miyagi (1894–1956) was a performer, composer and teacher. From an Ikuta-school koto background, he developed new works and instruments while reaching listeners through teaching, broadcasting and records. Haru no Umi is one entry into a wider musical practice.
Born in Kobe, Miyagi studied koto after losing his sight in childhood. He lived in Korea during his younger years and moved to Tokyo in 1917. Classical training and professional performance underpinned later experiments; innovation did not begin without a musical inheritance. His memorial institution records a 1919 presentation of his compositions and subsequent ensemble work.
The seventeen-string jūshichigen is a large koto developed for a bass role, rather than another name for the ordinary thirteen-string instrument. Miyagi also experimented with an eighty-string instrument, a short koto and a large kokyū. Different designs addressed different purposes; they did not simply replace every earlier koto.
Composed in 1929, the work originally pairs koto and shakuhachi. A 1930 record features Miyagi on koto and Yoshida Seifū on shakuhachi. The work relates to the 1930 imperial poetry theme; its 1929 composition and 1930 recording remain distinct events. Maritime imagery belongs to the composer’s expression, not evidence of sampled sea sounds. The NDL’s account describes a wave-like opening and a boat-song-like shakuhachi melody, relating them to the composer’s account of Inland Sea islands, rowing and birds. The contrasting instrumental colours give a concrete example of his musical imagery.
| Date / version | Distinct event |
|---|---|
| 1929 | Haru no Umi composed |
| 1930 | Recording: Miyagi on koto, Yoshida Seifū on shakuhachi |
| 1932 | Violin-version recording with Renée Chemet |
Two parts played together, not consecutive stages.
In 1932, Renée Chemet adapted the shakuhachi part for violin and performed and recorded with Miyagi. The NDL record for Victor 13220 distinguishes arranger and performers; its 2009 digitisation is a later preservation date. A shared title can therefore identify different instrumental and recording versions.
The shakuhachi part is adapted for violin; the photograph shows this pairing.
NDL’s biography identifies his Tokyo Music School appointments as lecturer in 1930 and professor in 1937. Broadcasting, classical performance and international exchange also formed part of his career, before his death in a train accident in 1956. Later institutions and new recordings continue the transmission through the work of other people.
No. It is a larger seventeen-string instrument developed for a bass role.
No. The original pairs koto and shakuhachi; Chemet’s violin arrangement belongs to 1932.
No. The catalogued original record was published in 1932.