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Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Imayo

Emperor Go-Shirakawa and His Career

Public opinion about Emperor Go-Shirakawa (Prince Masahito, 1127-92) was divided, and the views held by his contemporaries were often unflattering. Before his ascension to the throne, for instance, his own father, Emperor Toba (1103-56),^[1] was said to have belittled him, declaring that he was totally unfit for the emperorship owing to his indulgence in frivolous merrymaking.^[2] During his reign, even his trusted retainer, Shinzei (Fujiwara Michinori, 1106-59), and Kujo Kanezane (1149-1207), the minister of the right, disparaged him as a dull-witted man who was neither aware of the traitors around him nor heedful of truthful counsel—altogether a hopeless sovereign, without precedent in Japan or China.^[3]

Go-Shirakawa's political career, which spanned thirty-seven years as both reigning and retired emperor, was, indeed, rarely free of controversy or strife.^[4] From the outset, his brief formal reign (1155-58) was marred by a bloody power struggle within his own court, called the Hogen Disturbance (1156), plotted by the resentful ex-Emperor Sutoku (r. 1123-41), Go-Shirakawa's elder brother, who had been forced to abdicate by Toba.^[5] The insurrection was short-lived, and Go-Shirakawa quickly banished Sutoku to Sanuki, whence he never returned alive, and ordered the swift execution of other participants in the rebellion.^[6] Largely because of his harsh handling of the incident, Go-Shirakawa was perceived as a ruthless monarch who would tolerate no threats or challenges to his authority. The tragic family feud hastened the rise of the two rival military clans, the Taira and the Minamoro, whose meddling in court politics ushered in the "age of the warrior."^[7]

Soon after Go-Shirakawa's abdication came the Heiji Disturbance (1159),

in which he lost his chief advisor, Shinzei, and witnessed the passing of political hegemony to the Taira clan, headed by Kiyomori (1118-81). Thereafter, by pitting factions of the Taira and Minamoto against each other through his singular talent for maneuvering, and often by dint of sheer resilience and a good deal of luck, Go-Shirakawa presided over one of the most turbulent periods in Japanese history. It included the Taira despotism, during which Go-Shirakawa was even put under house arrest by Kiyomori in 1179; the carnage of the Genpei War (1180-85); the final destruction of the Taira clan; and the establishment, in 1185, of the Kamakura regime by Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-99); and it was a time, moreover, when many of the emperor's relatives and close associates perished.

Go-Shirakawa, subjected as he had been to ordeals and humiliation at the hands of many military leaders, retained one burning urge: to preserve his position as the patriarch of the imperial clan and the last, staunch defender of the Heian civil government. This determination was epitomized in his stubborn refusal to confer, despite constant pressure, the coveted tide of shogun on Yoritomo. The frustrated Yoritomo, in turn, denounced the emperor as "the biggest goblin in Japan."^[8] Only after Go-Shirakawa's death in 1192 was Yoritomo finally able to wrest the title from the incumbent emperor, Go-Toba, an event that marked the official beginning of the Kamakura government. Thus Go-Shirakawa, enthroned amid skepticism and discord, proved to be a resourceful and imaginative politician and a survivor.

When political responsibilities were not consuming his attention, Go-Shirakawa had personal interests that involved him in a variety of cultural and artistic activities, either as a sponsor or as an active participant. The best-known area of his artistic enterprise was the imayo genre: he was, in fact, its unsurpassed patron and practitioner. It has even been conjectured that one reason for Go-Shirakawa's abdication after only three years' reign was his desire to devote himself freely to imayo without the burden of emperorship.^[9] In addition, Go-Shirakawa invested an enormous amount of resources, human energy, and time in commissioning the waka anthology Senzai(waka)shu (Collection of a Thousand Years, ca. 1188) and numerous picture scrolls (emakimono ) and in undertaking religious pilgrimages. To be sure, many of these costly activities were possible only because of his imperial privileges; nonetheless, the intensity and grandiose scale with which he pursued his interests puts him in a class by himself.

The Imayo Genre

Go-Shirakawa's role in the cultivation and promotion of imayo began long before he entered the political arena. As we have seen, his father, Emperor

Toba, expressed serious doubts about Go-Shirakawa's qualifications to be emperor owing to the young man's reputed absorption in "merrymaking" (asobi ). Go-Shirakawa himself frankly admits in his memoir, Kudenshu , that he spent his youth in the carefree pursuit of pleasure: "Quartered at the Toba Palace, I passed as many as fifty nights singing. A group of my companions and I flocked to the Tosanjo Palace also and for some forty days enjoyed boating and making merry through the night until day-break."^[10]

It is understandable that Go-Shirakawa, with no immediate regal prospect in sight, exploited his princely prerogatives to the fullest. Yet his was not a passive appreciation of entertainment provided by others, for he, too, was an artist. From his teens, he had developed into an accomplished musician and singer in his own right. He was an expert flute player and excelled in such varied genres of vocal music as saibara, roei , shomyo , and imayo .^[11] His lifelong obsession, however, was with imayo , in which genre he was a superb performer.^[12] Thanks to Go-Shirakawa's consuming love for and patronage of imayo , that song form was elevated from the level of popular entertainment to a refined and sophisticated art.

The compound term imayo was originally generic and only later came to be used to designate a specific popular song genre. Yo signifies style or mode, while ima is presumed to derive from the adjective ima mekashi , with meanings that range from contemporary, modern, popular, novel, fresh, and lively to frivolous, vulgar, and lewd.^[13]Imayo , therefore, came to denote songs in modish style, with vivacious and buoyant melodies—in a sense, the pop music of the Heian age. Most likely, the term imayo was adopted to set these newly popularized songs apart from older song forms such as saibara, fuzoku , and roei , which long had been the staples of the nobles' music repertoire.^[14]

Kudenshu lists at least twenty different categories within imayo .^[15] Although it is impossible to determine just what musical characteristics distinguished these types from one another, the large number of these subgroups suggests that imayo must have reached a high degree of so-phistication by the mid to late twelfth century to warrant such minute classifications.

We do not know when or how the imayo genre came into being. The earliest known literary mention of the word imayo occurs in Murasaki Shikibu nikki (Diary of Murasaki Shikibu [ca. 978-ca. 1016], ca. 1010), and further reference is made in Makura no soshi (The Pillow Book, 11th cent.) by Sei Shonagon (ca. 965-ca. 1024), a contemporary of Murasaki's.^[16] During the time of Emperor Ichijo (r. 986-1011), then, imayo were apparently already in existence and had begun to enter court circles.

Some source materials suggest that imayo were of plebeian origin, sung

among common people before they reached the aristocracy. Kojidan (Stories About Ancient Matters), a Kamakura-period collection of tales, for example, relates that the abbot Genshin (942-1017), while walking on Mount Kinbu, met a female shaman who entertained him by singing imayo .^[17] And a passage in Sagoromo monogatari (The Tale of Sagoromo, 1069-72) describes a cart puller singing imayo .^[18] Even the Kudenshu substantiates the notion that imayo were the legacy of common people, since the majority of Go-Shirakawa's early imayo teachers were them-selves rural women of the lower classes.^[19]

By the time of Emperor Go-Suzaku (r. 1036-45) imayo had gained considerable popularity and were often performed at court banquets. Even so, the song form did not receive the approval of all members of the court, many of whom still found the music unfamiliar and odd-sounding. About thirty years later, however, during the reign of Emperor Shirakawa (r. 1072-86), the records of imayo performances at court and among the courtiers increased measurably, signifying the flourishing of the genre, as documented in courtiers' diaries such as Chuyuki (Record of the Middle-Right) by Fujiwara Munetada (1062-1141) and Taiki (Record on a Desk, 1136-55) by Fujiwara Yorinaga (1120-56).^[20]

It was the reign of Go-Shirakawa some eighty years later, though, that marked the peak of imayo popularity. This state of affairs is humorously described in Bunkidan (Literary Table Talk, 1278-88): "In those days, all classes of people, regardless of their status, hummed some tune or other, swinging their heads to and fro [to the beat of the rhythm]."^[21] The compiler of the collection also stresses that the people simply followed what their superiors were doing, which suggests that Emperor Go-Shirakawa was their ultimate model.

When imayo were performed at court, it was usually on congratulatory occasions or at banquets such as those following the New Year's Day ceremony, the daijosai (enthronement ceremony), the shinjosai (or niiname matsuri , a ceremony of the eleventh month in which the year's new grains are dedicated to Shinto gods), and certain Buddhist rites; accordingly, the imayo selected consisted principally of celebratory themes, not those related to the darker side of the commoner's life.^[22] Such imayo were performed as solos or duets, occasionally in conjunction with kagura or saibara but more usually with roei , a more up-to-date song form. Accompaniment was generally no more than the simple rhythm of a fan or drum, though sometimes an orchestral accompaniment of reed pipes (sho ) flutes, and flageolet (hichiriki ), or of koto, biwa , flutes, and other wind instruments, was featured. The festivities often lasted all through

the night until dawn, perhaps ending with a climactic dance performance (ranbu ), in which courtiers participated.^[23]

Thus seen, the flourishing of imayo coincided with the insei period, when retired emperors exercised political control from behind the scenes. The imperial patronage of imayo also meant that the emperors actively contributed to the evolution of the new cultural form, serving as its critical arbiters. In this sense, the insei period marked a turning point in Japanese history, and not simply for political reasons: it was also a watershed in the development of new aesthetic tastes and cultural preferences and choices. And imayo patronage by Go-Shirakawa was a telling indication that a new era was in the making.^[24]

Imayo Singers

Women played a decisive role in promoting and performing imayo , particularly such women of lower-class origin as miko (shrine-maidens or shamans), asobi(me ) (courtesans), and kugutsu(me) (female puppeteers). These groups are thought to have developed over time from a single caste of shamanic females (miko ).^[25] At one time early in Japanese history these women were at the center of the religious life of both the court and the ordinary folk, performing shamanic functions and ritual services.^[26] Over the centuries, however, their roles and status were degraded and desacralized. By the time these women appeared as singers of imayo in the Heian period, most of their original religious functions had been severely attenuated.^[27] While the miko group was still tied to its original shamanic profession, the asobi and kugutsu had moved into the secular realm of entertainment.

All of these female entertainers cultivated imayo as their primary medium of entertainment, but many also practiced prostitution. Female imayo singers were in fact marginal figures in the highly stratified Heian society, and were often forced to wander from place to place. Yet their musical talents and accomplishments in imayo brought them into close contact with aristocrats and even into the very heart of the aesthetic life of elite society. Had this paradoxical relationship not existed, nothing of the literary content and entertainment value of imayo would have been noticed or preserved.

Miko

Some twenty songs about miko are found in Ryojin hisho .^[28] Many of them describe miko performing shamanic rituals, while others deal with aspects of personal conduct and moments in the women's emotional lives.

Some songs are rendered with a light touch; others, such as the following, convey a mixed sense of fascination and surprise:

This description of a miko in shamanic ecstasy is reminiscent of the mythic portrayal of Ameno uzume no Mikoto, the archetypal shamaness whose similarly disheveled appearance, sexually suggestive dance, and song lured Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, out of the Heavenly Rock-Grotto.^[29]

The involvement of miko in imayo performance and other popular entertainment is no accident. In fact, the miko's professional performances, with their characteristic trancelike dance and utterances, always accom-panied by bells and drums, could easily be perceived as erotic; it was a short step from there to secular entertainment. This liminal nature of miko's ritual performance, located on the threshold between the sacred and profane, even made it easier for miko to fluctuate between their sacerdotal functions and their performative roles as entertainers—an intriguing and paradoxical blend indeed. The following song captures the entertainment value of miko :

The encounter between the priest Genshin and a miko on Mount Kinbu cited previously illustrates the miko's use of imayo for seductive entertainment. With the craze for pilgrimage ever accelerating, the vicinity of shrines where pilgrims and worshipers converged away from home was fertile ground for miko to carry on prostitution; in this, the use of popular

imayo was a good part of their allure. It is quite possible that these miko authored some of the imayo songs in Ryojin hisho , including the Shinto-Buddhist syncretic songs or miko songs in the shiku no kamiuta (four-line god songs) section of Ryojin hisho .

In the late Heian period a new type of miko , called arukimiko (walking miko ) appeared. Unlike regular miko , who kept a fixed abode and were associated with specific local shrines, arukimiko wandered around the country combining their religious function with prostitution and entertainment.^[30] Their uprooted and precarious livelihood is depicted in the song of an anxious mother whose daughter is an arukimiko :

Much of the regional description found in Ryojin hisho owes its color and piquancy to this on-the-move group of female shaman/entertainers. They, along with kugutsu , another imayo singer group who took a similar itinerant life-style, are also credited with the propagation and cross-fertilization of the imayo repertoire, made possible by their wandering from one region to another.

Asobi

Asobi were among the first female performing artists to be given a formal group designation. They were also the earliest-known female group specializing in a single artistic genre. Their origin is traced to the ancient professional lineage of asobi-be , the court morticians.^[32] Females formed the backbone of this group, with assistance coming from male members; the women performed the most crucial rites of the funeral, including dances, songs, and incantations, and their professional, ritual skills were secretly transmitted within the group.^[33] Owing to the gravity of their function in the critical rites of death at court, and probably also to their ritual pollution deriving from contact with the dead, asobi-be were ex-

empted from conscript labor and taxes. Thus they possessed a certain social distinction and accompanying privileges in early Japanese society.^[34]

With the Taiho Reform of 701, however, asobi-be lost much of their social status; and within fifty years, the group's ritual functions at court had ceased to exist.^[35] As a result, many of the female asobi , having neither land nor other skills to maintain a livelihood, became socially uprooted and adopted an itinerant mode of life. Increasingly, for sustenance, they turned to performing arts and to prostitution.

Sometime during the Heian period, asobi began to abandon their migratory lives in favor of permanent settlements, chiefly at strategic transportation loci along rivers and at inland seaports, where travelers, merchants, and cargo boat crews sought lodging. Asobi's popularity grew in direct proportion to the prosperity of the ports, which saw the amassing of luxury goods from various parts of the country to supply the demanding tastes of aristocrats in the capital. The most fabled asobi colonies were in Eguchi, on the Yodo River, and in Kanzaki and Kanishima, on the Kanzaki River, those two rivers being the main passageways to the Heian capital from the Inland Sea. As "Yujoki" (Record on Courtesans, ca. 1087), a short tract on asobi by Oe no Masafusa (1041-1111), put it, "Kanzaki and Kanishima of Settsu Province are lined with the asobi quarters one door after another."^[36]

Asobi conducted their business in a distinctive manner, enticing potential customers by singing from their boats and then, once their patrons were on board, entertaining the men by singing imayo and bestowing sexual favors while floating on the water. An average asobi boat carried three members: a principal asobi , who entertained the customers by singing to the beat of her small drum; an apprentice asobi , who sheltered her mistress with a large parasol and looked to her needs; and an elderly asobi , who was in charge of rowing the boat.^[37] "Yujoki" further describes this exotic trade as follows:

Asobi row their small boats toward the passenger boats and invite the travelers to their beds. Their singing stops the clouds over the valleys and their rhymes are on the wings over the river. All the passengers cannot help but forget their homes while floating along the isles with rushes and breakers. Hordes of fishermen's and merchants' boats throng stern to stern toward asobi boats, with almost no empty space left on the water. This must simply be the best pleasure world under heaven.... From aristocrats down to commoners, none hesitates to sleep with these women and to lavish their love on them. Some of the [asobi ] get married to these men and some become concubines to be

cherished until their death. Even men of wisdom and men of character cannot avoid such deeds.^[38]

It must be stressed here that the primary distinction of asobi from other women who sold their favor was their superb skill in singing imayo . Lacking this musical competency, other courtesans at Eguchi or Kanzaki were simply called yahochi , meaning mere prostitutes, not asobi .^[39]

As a group, asobi seem to have maintained a loose internal structure headed by a female leader. These headmistresses are believed to have reached their position of authority by virtue of superior skill in singing imayo , personal charm as courtesans, and, undoubtedly, excellent business and managerial skills. Presumably, too, they protected group members from undue exploitation by customers, maintained a certain order within the group, and sometimes supervised the distribution of goods.^[40]

In addition, asobi sought a further safeguard for their business prosperity in the worship of a deity named Hyakudayu. Hyakudayu worship was apparently a phallic cult, its object of veneration being representations of the male sexual organ made of wood, paper, or stone.^[41] The cultic practice stems from the fetishistic belief that by praying to and honoring Hyakudayu, the courtesans could ensure continued success in attracting male customers. The powerful appeal of the Hyakudayu worship to asobi is evidenced in "Yujoki," which notes that asobi kept hundreds and even thousands of these objects.^[42]

Hyakudayu worship was not, however, confined to private observances by asobi . Besides keeping a large stock of phallic-shaped objects for their personal devotion, asobi made it a point to go on pilgrimages to shrines famous for their Hyakudayu practice, most notably the Hirota and Sumiyoshi shrines.^[43] Coincidentally, the Sumiyoshi Shrine was also a favorite pilgrimage destination for aristocrats from the capital. Thus, sacred sites such as these became mingling grounds for asobi and aristocrats, each group following separate paths and harboring different sets of aspirations. Here a series of interactions was played out, resulting in an utterly secular form of carnal and material satisfaction. The benefits of visiting these shrines reinforced and successfully promoted the Hyakudayu cult among asobi , and the shrines also benefited, since more visits by the affluent aristocrats drawn by asobi meant increased income in the form of offerings. This triangular symbiotic relationship among asobi , the shrines, and the aristocrats undergirded the Hyakudayu worship practiced at the shrines, producing a singular coalescence of diverse interests in a most unlikely setting.

Songs in Ryojin hisho reveal the importance of the Hyakudayu cult among asobi :

Some Heian nobles such as (Oe no Koretoki (or Yukitoki, 955-1010) wrote poems on the topic of asobi , declaring that the pleasure derived from a tryst with asobi cruising along the river was as exciting as their wedding-night experience:

Even the female author of Sarashina nikki (Sarashina Diary, mid-11th cent.) was not immune from their charms; she had this to say about an asobi she encountered one night on the water:

In the Autumn I had occasion to go down to Izumi. After Yodo the country became more beautiful and impressive than I can say. We spent the night on our boat in Takahama. Late at night, when it was

extremely dark, I detected the sound of oars. Someone asked who was there and I was told that it was a woman singer [asobi ]. My people became very interested and called for her boat to be rowed alongside ours. By the distant light of the flares I could see the woman standing there in an unlined dress with long sleeves, hiding her face with a fan as she sang for us. It was a very moving sight.^[45]

In fact, it has been observed that high court nobles and even imperial family members, after completing pilgrimages to shrines and temples, frequently made excursions to asobi quarters in Eguchi and Kanzaki in pursuit of pleasure. The list of these highborn visitors contains such illustrious figures as Emperors Ichijo and Go-Sanjo (r. 1068-72), Fujiwara Michinaga (966-1027), the most powerful regent in Japanese history, and his son, Yorimichi (992-1074). In the year 1000, on his return from a pilgrimage to the Sumiyoshi Shrine, Michinaga, in the company of the Empress Dowager Tosanjo-in (962-1001), his sister and the mother of Emperor Ichijo, dropped by Eguchi, where he is reported to have shown favor to an asobi named Kokannon. Although the relationship was a brief, one-time affair, Kokannon presented herself to Michinaga again when he later revisited Eguchi as a lay priest, embarrassing him to no small measure. In the year 1031, Yorimichi followed his father's suit, falling in love with an asobi named Nakanogimi in Eguchi.^[46]

Diaries and letters of Heian court nobles often contain references to asobi , further suggesting the attraction these women exerted. Particularly informative are Kaya no in suikaku utaawase (Poetry Match Held at a Pond Pavilion in Kaya no In), a record of the waka competition held at Kaya no In, Fujiwara Yorimichi's residence, on the sixteenth day of the fifth month of 1035, which contains a description of the winning party's pleasure trip to the Yodo River with asobi; Choshuki (Record of Long Autumn), a diary by Minamoto Morotoki (1077-1136), especially the entry for the third day of the ninth month of 1119, which provides detailed information on the relationship between nobles and asobi ; and Fujiwara Yorinaga's Taiki , which mentions his tryst with an asobi in the entry for the twenty-first day of the third month of 1148.^[47] The asobi coveted these visits because they were often accompanied by lavish material donations, at times up to hundreds of bushels of rice and hundreds of skeins of silk. Such gifts far surpassed the fees paid by ordinary customers. In some cases at least, material donations of this sort were given because the nobles took pity on the women.^[48]

In rare cases, a relationship between a nobleman and an asobi went beyond temporary infatuation and developed into a lasting commitment. One asobi by the name of Tanba no Tsubone captured the attention of

Emperor Go-Shirakawa, went on to become one of his consorts, and bore him a prince. This honor was made possible in part by her talents as a imayo singer. She is even mentioned in Kudenshu , the emperor's person memoir, unlike his numerous other consorts from noble families.^[49]

According to tradition, even religious figures were fascinated by asobi Perhaps the most famous case involves the legendary encounter, which supposedly took place in 1178, between the priest Saigyo (1118-90) and an asobi at Eguchi. Their meeting is included in Shinkokinshu (New Collection of Ancient and Modern Times, 1206), where it is rendered as poetic dialogue between Saigyo and an asobi named Tae:

At least two poems by asobi are included in the imperial anthologies:

The rise of asobi and their acceptance into the court circle testify that there existed a positive artistic dialogue between the high and low cultures in Heian society, largely through the powerful medium of imayo .

Kugutsu

Of the major female imayo performance groups, the kugutsu were most seriously involved in cultivating imayo as an art form. Unlike both the miko and asobi , they had a long-established tradition of oral transmission of imayo .^[53] The Kudenshu reports that they took pride in this tradition and guarded it jealously.^[54] The fact that Emperor Go-Shirakawa, after a long association with other groups of imayo singers, chose as his teacher Otomae (1086?-1169), a performer of kugutsu background, strongly suggests these women's artistic accomplishments.

Oe no Masafusa, in his essay "Kairaishiki" (Record on Puppeteers, ca. 1087), an excellent source of information on kugutsu and a companion tract to "Yujoki," sees kugutsu primarily as artists of foreign ethnic origin. This is seen in his description of the group's exotic mode of life:

Kugutsu have neither fixed abodes nor houses to live in. They put up woolen tents and lead a nomadic life, a custom similar to that of the northern barbarians. The males make use of bows and horses when hunting. They juggle a pair of swords or daggers and balls; they manipulate wooden dolls in such a way as to make them look alive or make them fight each other. Their performances are similar to magic shows. They also change sand and pebbles into gold coins and transform trees into birds and beasts. They can dazzle people's eyes.

As for the females of the group, they let out coquettish cries and swagger around swinging their hips and smiling bewitchingly. They make up their faces with rouge and white powder. These women lure people with their lewd songs and music. Neither their parents nor husbands nor sons-in-law reprove them. Without hesitation, the women entice wayfarers and travelers for a night's tryst. For such services, they are paid well. These women own clothes embroidered with golden threads, brocade robes, golden hair ornaments, and beautiful cosmetic boxes with mother-of-pearl inlay.

Kugutsu neither till a single furrow of rice paddy nor gather the leaves from a single branch of mulberry. Since they are under no official provincial control, none of them are settled peasants, but instead they are transients. They do not know who the sovereign is or who the nobles are, and they do not fear the local magistrates.

Since they are exempt from taxes and conscript labor, they spend their lives in pleasure. At night, they worship Hyakudayu and pray for good fortune by making a racket with their dances and drum.^[55]

It is evident from this depiction that, like asobi, kugutsu females cultivated the Hyakudayu cult and engaged in prostitution; and also like asobi, kugutsu followed a migratory life-style. In this same tract, however, Masafusa underscores the fact that a number of kugutsu(me ) were well known for their superb skill in singing imayo ; indeed, in his view they equal the famed Chinese female singer Han Ê^[56]

Even in their migratory life, the kugutsu apparently kept their musical skills refined, as reported in the lengthy and vivid account by the author of Sarashina nikki on her meeting with a group of female singers in the wilds of Mount Ashigara in Sagami Province:

From somewhere in the dark three women singers [asobi mitari ] emerged, the eldest being about fifty, the others about twenty and fourteen. . . . The oldest woman told us that she was the granddaughter of the famous singer, Kohata. Their hair, which was extremely long, hung beautifully over their foreheads; they all had fair complexions and looked attractive enough to serve as waiting-women.

Our party was charmed by their appearance and even more impressed when they started singing, for they had fine, clear voices that rose to the heavens. The women were invited to join us. One member of our group remarked that the singers in the western provinces were no match for these performers, whereupon they burst out into the splendid song, "Should you compare us with those of Naniwa . . ." Yes, they were really pretty to look at, and their beautiful singing ended far too soon. We were all so sad to see them disappear into those fearful mountains that we wept as they walked away.^[57]

Because of their vagrant mode of life, similar to that of arukimiko, kugutsu are considered to have also been effective agents in the transmission and circulation of imayo .^[58]

By the late Heian period some kugutsu had given up their wandering existence and had begun to settle in fixed locations, having gained renown for their accomplishments in the genre of imayo . In contrast to asobi , who sought their livelihood along the waterways, kugutsu settled near inland way stations, most prominently around Aohaka (Otomae's birth-place), Sunomata, Nogami, and Akasaka in Mino Province, all of which were frequented by travelers making their way along the Tosando Highway.^[59] The aforementioned author of Sarashina nikki and her retinue were obviously entertained by female singers of this region, as she records in her diary: "At the border of Mino province we took the ferry at Sunomata

and reached a place called Nogami. Here again we were joined by a band of entertainers [asobi domo ], who sang for us all night long, bringing back fond memories of Mount Ashigara."^[60]

Female imayo singers of kugutsu background underwent strenuous musical training. Kudenshu reports an account Go-Shirakawa's teacher, Otomae, told him of the great self-discipline and concentration required of imayo aspirants: "Kiyotsune gave intensive, rigorous musical training to Tori and Hatsukoe. To ward off sleep at night, Tori would rush outside and splash her eyes with water and even pluck her eyelashes to wake herself up. Still she would feel sleepy. She stayed up every night, and even when the dawn came she would keep on singing without opening the shutters."^[61] A similar seriousness is reflected in Otomae's insistence that she would not waste her efforts on a student who lacked determination or an earnest desire to learn imayo , even if her pupil were already under the patronage of influential court nobles:

The Middle Councillor Ienari sent Sasanami to my house with the request that I instruct her; and so I taught her ashigara, kurotoriko, ichiko, furukawa, furukoyanagi, tauta , and other songs. She made a great to-do of having her palanquin wait for her in front of my house while she studied a number of different kinds of songs. This may well have led to some errors in her singing. As I did not intend to force my teaching upon her, I did not make any special effort to correct her, either. Since I did not really teach her anything, I do not consider her to have received a complete transmission from me.^[62]

Even Go-Shirakawa had to discard his previous imayo training once he came under Otomae's guidance, for she required him to relearn the entire repertoire according to her style. Through strict adherence to these principles of music training, then, singers of the Mino imayo tradition succeeded in establishing themselves as an uncontested artistic lineage; for generations the transmission of imayo through female lines continued unchanged, until during Go-Shirakawa's time when male aristocrats were finally admitted as members of the lineage.

Like some poetically talented asobi , a few kugutsu left waka poems. At least three are included in two separate imperial anthologies, all occasioned by partings that took place in Mino or Owari Province:

The inclusion of these poems in the imperial anthologies may be considered a recognition of the literary achievements of the kugutsu as a whole. This also supports the opinion that kugutsu , together with asobi , had a large share in composing imayo lyrics.

Decline of Imayo Performers

We do not know why the asobi and kugutsu imayo singers vanished so completely. Perhaps all we can say at this point is that when the govern-mental seat was transferred to Kamakura in 1186, a concomitant shift of emphasis in national life occurred. The warrior class, consciously seeking to distance itself from many of the ways of court, offered a set of values that differed sharply from those of Heian courtiers. The courtiers who had once been the lavish patrons of imayo now found themselves stripped of political and economic power and the prerogatives to sustain their aesthetic pursuits. With the relocation of the capital, the pulse of the nation shifted geographically as well, to the east. Major routes now led to Kamakura along the Tokaido Highway. The prosperity of Eguchi and Kanzaki declined and the busy crossroads connecting Aohaka and Sunomata with the Tosando Highway were deserted. Those asobi and kugutsu whose livelihood depended on the travelers on these thoroughfares faded away.

Another factor may be found in the appearance of a newly rising group

of female entertainers, known as shirabyoshi (women performers in white costume), toward the end of the Heian period.^[64] The shirabyoshi , with their combination of song and dance, added momentum to the decline of the more one-dimensional vocal entertainment of imayo singers, vying with them for aristocratic patronage. Two celebrated cases of late Heian nobles' patronage of shirabyoshi are Taira Kiyomori's bestowal of favor on Gio and Hotoke, and Minamoto Yoshitsune's (1159-89) romantic involvement with Shizuka.^[65] Finally, it is said that Emperor Go-Toba's infatuation with Kamegiku, another woman of shirabyoshi background, was partial cause for the Jokyu Revolt in 1221.^[66] Other types of entertainers, as diverse as jushi (acrobatic performers) and sarugaku ("monkey music") musicians and dancers, likely posed serious competition as well. The in-creasing popularity of these newer forms of performing arts may also have contributed to the disappearance of imayo singers and their art.^[67]

Thus the vicissitudes of imayo and its transmitters seem to be closely related to social and political developments during the latter part of the Heian period. Ironically, the very success of imayo singers was what spelled their downfall, for if the singers "succeeded" in attracting noble and even imperial patronage, they thereby rendered themselves highly vulnerable to shifts in political fortune.

Go-Shirakawa and Imayo

Emperor Go-Shirakawa played a crucial mediatory role in the history of imayo . Under his aegis, a number of imayo concerts in which asobi or kugutsu participated were held in his palace. In addition to performing, these singers actively participated in informal critical discussions on imayo as an art form, demonstrating their mastery and esoteric knowledge of the medium.^[68] What emerges from these occasions is a picture of an unusual artistic moment, in which upper and lower classes interacted in a special and creative milieu.

As his memoir indicates, when it came to imayo Go-Shirakawa did not hesitate to associate with members of the lower classes; in fact, he sought them out as his musical instructors and companions: "I associated not only with courtiers of all ranks, but also with commoners of the capital, including women servants of various places, menial workers, the asobi from Eguchi and Kanzaki, and the kugutsu from different provinces. Nor was this company limited to those who were skillful. Whenever I heard of any imayo singers I would have them sing together, and the number of these people grew quite large."^[69]

In the Kudenshu , Go-Shirakawa records the different phases of his involvement with imayo and reiterates its central position in his artistic

life. The memoir chronicles his growth as a practitioner, patron, connoisseur, and authority as the head of his own school of imayo singing. He opens the memoir by detailing his long and arduous training. It was not unusual for him to forgo sleep for days or to endure physical discomfort in his efforts to master the art. His interest was not transitory, as some around him may have assumed. It seems clear that the aesthetic satisfaction he derived from imayo was in no way inferior to that which other courtiers found in waka . He wrote:

I have been fond of imayo ever since my youth and have never neglected it. On balmy spring days when cherry blossoms open on the branches and then fall to the ground, and in the cries of the bush warbler and the song of the cuckoo, I have perceived the spirit of imayo . On lonely autumn nights as I gazed at the moon, imayo added poignancy to the cries of the insects. Ignoring both summer's heat and winter's cold, and favoring no season over another, I spent my waking hours in singing; no day dawned without my having spent the whole night singing. Even at dawn, with the shutters still closed, I continued singing, oblivious to both sunrise and noon. Rarely distinguishing day from night, I spent my days and months in this manner.^[70]

He was clearly not pushed to study imayo , but rather found it to be the most congenial medium of self-expression. In writing about the art form, Go-Shirakawa employs the same poetic idiom and images usually associated with waka aesthetics: the spring and cherry blossoms, bush warblers and cuckoos, and the autumnal moon and the cries of insects. For him, waka's refined sentiment of aware could be evoked equally well by imayo ; if waka helped to heighten one's aesthetic sensibility, so did imayo . Indeed, in power, utility, and effect imayo is just as potent as waka , if not superior.

Go-Shirakawa devoted himself to imayo with a fervor verging on fanaticism. In its intensity, this severe self-discipline suggests that for the emperor imayo was a religio-aesthetic way (michi ), not inferior to other forms of religious discipline:

On occasion I gathered together some people to dance and enjoy the singing. At times we gathered in groups of four or five, or seven or eight, simply to sing imayo . Sometimes I set up a schedule for my close retainers to take turns as my singing partners as I practiced imayo day and night. On other occasions, when I was by myself, I opened Zogeishu and, beginning with the imayo on the four seasons, homon , and hayauta , I exhausted the repertoire. Three times I lost

my voice. Twice I sang to the point where, even as I tried to follow the set rules as closely as possible, I could no longer produce a sound. Straining my voice in this way gave me a sore throat and made it painful even to swallow water. In spite of this affliction, I still managed to keep on singing.

Sometimes, after first practicing for seven, eight, fifty, or one hundred days, I continued singing for even a thousand days on end. Although there were times when I did not sing during the day, no dawn broke without my singing.^[71]

The lengths to which Go-Shirakawa went to train himself in the art of imayo recall the ascetic's grueling regimen pursued in hopes of attaining ever higher levels of religious consciousness. In this sense, the emperor's self-discipline reflected a cultural trend of his time. A similar attitude is observable in certain of his contemporaries, such as in Fujiwara Shunzei (1114-1204) and his son, Teika (1162-1241), who increasingly combined aesthetic and meditative practice.^[72] Yet imayo , a popular rather than courtly form, seemed an inappropriate focus of devotion to many and elicited some censorious remarks, notably from Go-Shirakawa's own father, Emperor Toba.

Undeterred by such criticism, Go-Shirakawa pursued his desire to perfect his skills in imayo . To gain expertise in singing he sought out tutors, who invariably came from the lower classes. Among those summoned to Go-Shirakawa's imperial residence to instruct him were female asobi , including a woman from the Kanzaki area named Kane who was employed as a servant to his mother.^[73] His free association with commoners sharply contrasts with the attitude of some court attendants of earlier periods, such as Sei Shonagon, who found even the snow on the houses of common people disagreeable.^[74]

Go-Shirakawa's training in imayo prior to his accession to the throne was uneven and lacking clear direction. He continued in this manner for some fifteen years, becoming in time a rather accomplished imayo singer. He even boasts in the Kudenshu : "I could not find anyone who far surpassed me in knowledge of imayo ."^[75] The Hogen Disturbance in 1156 brought his imayo practice to a sudden halt, though only temporarily; for as soon as order was restored, Go-Shirakawa resumed his training. Now, however, he began systematic professional training, inviting the undisputed authority in imayo , Otomae, a woman in her mid-seventies, to court.^[76]

Otomae radically transformed Go-Shirakawa's involvement in imayo . She had him relearn his entire repertoire in her singing style, the only one she considered authentic. The training continued for almost ten years,

from 1159 until Otomae's death in 1169. By then, Go-Shirakawa had become the uncontested successor to her school of imayo . Their relation-ship was indeed an extraordinary one. Otomae, apparently seeing in Go-Shirakawa a worthy disciple, spared no effort to make him a virtuoso in the art. The deep mutual esteem and affection that developed between them is evident in his moving description of his visit to her sickbed near the end of her life:

Otomae fell ill in the spring of her eighty-fourth year [1169]. Since she had been in good health and did not appear to be suffering from any specific illness, it did not seem likely that her health would take a serious turn. But shortly afterward the news reached me that her condition was critical. As I had her living close by in a house built for her, I hurriedly slipped out of my residence to visit her. She was sitting up, leaning against her daughter and facing me. As she looked feeble, I recited a chapter from the Lotus Sutra for the sake of her well-being in this as well as the next life. I then asked her, "Would you like to hear a song?" She was extremely pleased and nodded her head.

In the time of Imitation Dharma,
the vows of Yakushi are trustworthy!
Hear his sacred name once only,
they say, and escape even a million ills.^[77]

I repeated the song two or three times over for her, and she enjoyed it even more than my sutra chanting. Rubbing her hands and weeping with happiness, she exclaimed, "Now that I have heard the song, my strength seems to have returned." A deep emotion filled my heart and I returned home.^[78]

This poignant rendering of the last meeting of master and disciple is followed by Go-Shirakawa's account of Otomae's death and his reverent words of homage:

Later, when I was performing the ascetic ritual of reciting the Rishu Sutra at Ninnaji, a report reached me saying that Otomae had passed away early on the nineteenth day of the second month [in 1169]. Although death at her age was not something to be mourned, my grief was boundless because I had known her for so many years. It was not the first time that I grieved for those who had gone ahead of me, but my memories of her kept surging up. She was my teacher from whom I had learned so much, and so at the news of her death I started reading the sutra in the mornings to purify the six roots of evil, and in the evenings for fifty days I read the Amida Sutra continuously to pray for her rebirth in the Western Pure Land.^[79]

On the first anniversary of Otomae's death, Go-Shirakawa sponsored a special memorial service in which he sang imayo he had learned from her and dedicated an eloquent memorial prayer in tribute to her. There-after, he offered annual memorial services on her behalf. Close to one-third of the Kudenshu is devoted to describing people associated with Otomae and anecdotes concerning her, revealing the special place she had in his life. Moreover, Go-Shirakawa affirms in Kudenshu his status as an authentic transmitter of Otomae's imayo tradition, by relating a dream by his secondary consort Tanba no Tsubone in which Otomae appeared and joyfully communicated her approval of and pride in Go-Shirakawa's imayo singing.^[80] It is generally believed that Ryojin hisho , which presumably was undertaken soon after Go-Shirakawa initiated his lessons with Otomae, was inspired by his teacher as an effort to commit to writing the oral instruction he received.

Summing up his master-disciple relationship with Otomae, Go-Shirakawa states in the Kudenshu : "For ten years I had received training from Otomae. In order to give unity to my songs in accordance with her style, I even corrected and relearned all the songs that I had sung and collected by listening to different people in the past. I received a complete transmission from Otomae, with absolutely no omission."^[81] Later, after searching in vain for a disciple to whom he could transmit all he had learned from Otomae, Go-Shirakawa laments:

I have been contemplating transmitting to someone this tradition to which I have dedicated myself for years, so that it may continue in the future. Although I have a number of people who practice singing with me, it is to be regretted that I have no disciple who can succeed me in this endeavor. Even though a number of people ranging from courtiers to commoners gather for the purpose of singing, not one of them sings with my zeal.^[82]

Finally, however, around 1179 Go-Shirakawa settled on two disciples, Minamoto Suketoki (b. 1159) and Fujiwara Moronaga (1137-92): "These two are my disciples who have received an authentic transmission of melodies and style from me. Anyone who sings in the same way as these two men can be said to have correctly received the training, but any method of singing that deviates from that of Suketoki or Moronaga should be considered unauthentic."^[83] Go-Shirakawa's act of faithfully transmitting the imayo tradition to worthy disciples was both an ultimate tribute to his own master, Otomae, and insurance for the survival of the vocal imayo art.

As a patron of imayo , Go-Shirakawa held a number of informal imayo

gatherings to which he invited his retainers as well as singers of the asobi and kugutsu backgrounds. But one formal imayo awase (imayo competition) held under his sponsorship from the first to the fifteenth day of the ninth month of 1174 at his Hojuji Palace caught the attention of various historical and musical commentators for its rare magnitude and splendor, as recorded, for instance, in Kikki (Felicitous Record), a diary by Fujiwara Tsunefusa (b. 1143).^[84] Presumably modeled after the utaawase (waka competition) popular among the aristocrats, this awase featured two teams and fifteen rounds of competition. The participants were courtiers, with Fujiwara Moronaga and Minamoto Sukekata serving as judges. Unfortunately, no details survive indicating what kinds of imayo were chosen and sung for the occasion. But Kikki makes a special note that on the thirteenth day, after the competition when the participants held a musical recital accompanied by string and wind instruments, Emperor Go-Shirakawa joined in the singing of imayo himself and that his performance was absolutely sublime.^[85]

As a practitioner of imayo , Go-Shirakawa helped to create a new cultural milieu in which commoners and aristocrats could enjoy and learn from each other's artistry. His patronage added an aura of prestige to the popular song genre, transforming it to a higher form of entertainment to be cultivated by all.