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Chōgonka

長恨歌

[Genre]Sokyoku
[Style]Uta mono
[School]Yamada Ryū - 山田
[Also Known As]Song of Everlasting Sorrow
[Composed]Yamada Kengyō - Koto

History (Tsuge Gen'ichi):

'Chokonka no kyoku' (or Chogonka) is one of Yamada Kengyo's 'Four Greatest Works.' The song-text is a free translation of Ch'ang hen ko ('The Song of Everlasting Sorrow') by Po Chu-I (772-846), a Chinese poet, which deals with the tragedy of the Emperor Hsuan Tsung and Yang Kuei-fei, his favorite court lady during the T'ang dynasty of China. In his grief over the death of Yang Kuei-fei, who was murdered during An Lu-shan's uprising, the emperor sends a sorcerer in search of the whereabouts of the departed soul of his mistress. The sorcerer finally meets her soul on the island of eternity. She tells the long story of her regret and everlasting love for the emperor.

Poem (translated by Tsuge Gen'ichi)

Long ago,
In T'ang China,
There lived an emperor
Who treasured
Beautiful women.
The daughter of the Yang family
Had the honor to be summoned
By his majesty.
And to become the object
Of his deepest affections.
Day and night-
She attended him,
Always
At his side.

In the palace
Were three thousand
Graceful maidens,
But the imperial favor
Was concentrated
On one flower of spring.

Soon the blossom faded-
A sorcerer was sent
By the emperor
To search for her departed soul.
Poling a boat
Sleeping each night
He journeyed to
A far-off island,
In the land of eternity
The sorcerer found
A soaring palace
Glittering
In five-hued clouds.
Inside, alluring
Fairy-maidens dwell.
Most beautiful of all
Is Yang Kuei-fei -
Her snowy skin
And flower-face
Like a branch of pear blossoms
Drenched with spring rain.
When she saw the sorcerer
Her words and tears
Overflowed
With sweet memories
Of the past,
And washed the balustrades.

'I recall
The past in Li Shan.

Ah, how happy I am -
Someone from the capital!
Though embarrassed,
I recall lovers' talk
Of a bygone night.
I want to lament
For our vows of love -
Vanished like the dew.
If I may regret -
How blindly
You love me,
Like a deep inlet.
But I resent the little time we had
Like the thin ice of spring.
At night, when
We long for each other,
Cherish the heart of she
That trusts you,
Who, waking from sleep
Does not smooth over
Her disheveled hair.
My feelings are
As deep-dyed
As the crow's wings.
Fate unraveled
The deep-dyed threads
Of our lover's vow -
In vain
I returned
To this Island of Immortality.
I grow melancholy
When I recall the past,
Still longed-for,
Recall dancing to
Rainbow Skirt and
Feather Jacket.

'Unique! Turning her sleeves,
The dancing-girl!
Unique! Turning her sleeves,
The dancing-girl!'

Did he know the heart
Of the one who turned
Her sleeves? Anyway,
I cannot see the emperor
In the mortal world -
I am a bird
On the Island of Eternity.
Bitter world though it was,
How I long for the past!
This is the story
Of the past I long for!'
In telling the old story,
Months and days pass by.
At last she entrusts
Her ornamental hairpin
To the sorcerer
As a token of everlasting love
For the emperor.
A better keepsake
Than a letter.
The sorcerer returns
To the capital
At midnight of the
Seventh Day of the Seventh Month,
The vow to share a wing in the sky
And a branch on earth, has
Now become an empty dream.

Though the heavens
Be eternal,
Though the earth
Grows old,
Will it ever end -
This never ending grief?
Ceaselessly,
Endlessly,
The story of her lament
Remains to this day.
(maebiki)

Ima wa mukashi
morokoshi ni
iro wo omonji
tamaikeru
mikado owashi
mashishi toki
wooka no musume
kashikokumo
kimi ni mesarete
akekure no
on-itsukushimi
asakarazu
tsune ni katawara ni
hanberinu

Miya no uchi no
taoyame
sanzen no
chooai mo
waga mi hitotsu no
haru no hana
(ai)
chirite iroka mo
naki tama no
arika wo tazune
minare-zao
sashite harubaru
yuku fune ni
hooshi wa nami no
ukine suru

Tokoyo no kuni ni
kite mireba
rookaku
reiroo to shite
foun okoreri
uchi ni namameku
me no warawa
koto ni sugurete
gyokuchin no
sugata wa izure
rika isshi
ame wo obitaru
sono kehai
miruyori sore to
kotonoha mo
namida koborete
rankan wo
hitasumo ikani
naresomeshi
(ai)
risan no mukashi
omoiyaru

Ara natsukashi no
miyako-bito
hazukashi nagara
arishi yo no
sono mutsugoto mo
kiehatsuru
tsuyu no chigiri no
usa harashi
iutemiyo nara
hitokata ni
oboshimesuka ya
fukaki e ni
haru no koori no
usuki wa iya yo
omoi oo yo wa
uchitokete
nemidare-gami wo
sonomama ni
toritsukurowanu
onago-gi wo
kawayaugaranse
karasu-ba no
iro ni kono mi wo
some-ito no
musubime kataki
katarai mo
en tsukinureba
itazura ni
mata kono shima ni
kaerikite
nao natsukashiki
inishie wo
omoi izureba
aware naru
soyo ya geishoo
ui no kyoku

(gaku)

Mareni zo kaesu
otomego ga
mareni zo kaesu
otomego ga

Sode uchifurishi
kokoro shirikiya
saru nite mo
kimi ni wa konoyo
aimin koto mo
yomogiga
shimatsu-dori
ukiyo naredomo
koishiya mukashi
koishiya mukashi no
monogatari
tsukusaba
tsukihi mo
utsurimai no
shirushi no
kanzashi
tamawarite
miyako ni kaeru
iezuto wa
fumi nimo masaru
fumizuki no
nanuka no yowa no
sasamegoto
hiyoku-renri mo
ima wa haya
karegare narishi
uki chigiri

Ama no
tokoshinaenaru mo
tsuchi no hisashiku
furinurumo
tsukuru toki ari
kono urami
menmen rooroo to shite
taema naku
ima ni nokoseshi
fude no ato

Chōgonka appears on the following albums

Album Artist

Sankyoku Ensembles For The Shakuhachi Of The Kinko-School Vol II Shakuhachi : Yamaguchi Gorō

Sankyoku Gassō Dai Zenshū (zoku) vol. 24 (続三曲合奏大全集24) Koto : Takano Kazuyuki
Shakuhachi : Yamaguchi Gorō
Voice : Nakada Hiroyuki
Koto : Nakada Hiroyuki
Voice : Murooka Shōkō
Shamisen : Murooka Shōkō

Sokyoku Jiuta Taikei 47 Voice : Nakanoshima Kin'ichi
Voice : Nakanoshima Keiko
Koto : Suzuki Seiju

Yamada Kengyo o Utao Disk 2 Koto : Fujii Chiyoga II

Yamada-Ryū Sōkyoku Tokusen Voice : Nakanoshima Keiko
Koto : Nakanoshima Keiko
Voice : Fujii Chiyoga II
Koto : Fujii Chiyoga II
Voice : Yamase Shōin II
Shamisen : Yamase Shōin II