Biwa player, Kyushu
Japan
Traditional players of the biwa instrument strumed along while they recited ancient ballads. This biwa player, like many, is blind. He is reciting the tale of Genji, an elaborate saga of clan of people who battled the Heike clan. But unlike most sagas told, this is a story told of losers, of a clan that is vanquished.
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Alexander writes:
The Tale of Genji, writen by Murasaki Sikibu in the 11'th century AD, has long been part of Japanese art and literature. It's scenes have been illustrated and appear on woodblock prints and on scrolls. It's texts have been written and rewritten many times. It is an ancient tale that fails to die.
Zani writes:
This is Yamashika Yoshiyuki (1901-1995). I have sat many times in the room where he plays biwa in your photo - though in the early 1990s, perhaps twenty years after you went there. Yamashika-san was still well enough to play the instrument and recite tales until 1992, when he even gave a performance at a small theatre in Tokyo. (I am writing a life-history of this extraordinary man, so I am very interested to know the circumstances of your visit to his house in Nankan-cho.)