Transmission of Japanese Jiuta Sōkyoku for Shamisen and Koto: Negotiating Musical Identity (SOAS Studies in Music)

Transmission of Japanese Jiuta Sokyoku for Shamisen and Koto: Negotiating Musical Identity offers a rich and compelling exploration of Japan’s refined chamber music tradition for voice, shamisen (3-string lute), and koto (13-string zither).Tracing the genre's evolution from the seventeenth century to the present, the book reveals how jiuta soyoku has continually reinvented itself, moving from a tradition rooted in blind male performers to a vibrant field of contemporary artistic expression.At the heart of this study is the question of how musical identity is formed, maintained, and transformed.Through close examination of transmission practices such as teaching and learning processes, master-disciple relationships within the iemoto (house-head) system, and the dynamics of change, variation, tradition, and innovation, the author illuminates the complex negotiations that shape this living musical heritage.Grounded in in-depth ethnographic research, including firsthand learning experience