Yamashika Yoshiyuki｜山鹿良之

Yamashika Yoshiyuki (1901-1996), a blind biwa musician and ritualist of Nankan-chô in central Kyushu's Kumamoto prefecture. He is considered by most ethnomusicologists to be the last of the biwa hōshi, preserved scores of songs that were almost lost forever. Yamashika, born in the late Meiji period, continued the biwa hōshi tradition until his death in 1996. Beginning in the late 1960s to the late 1980s, composers and historians from all over the world visited Yamashika and recorded many of his songs; before this time, the biwa hōshi tradition had been a completely oral tradition. When Yamashika died in 1996, the era of the biwa hōshi tutelage died with him, but the music and genius of that era continues thanks to his recordings. From the mid-1970s he became well known as 'the last biwa hoshi', and was the subject of several books, television programmes, and an award-winning documentary film.
Yamashika performance of the second dan of the tale "Shuntokumaru", recorded March 7th, 1989.
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Thank you so much for this 🙏 Treasure.

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The Last Biwa Singer