Introduction

Satsuma biwa is a style of katarimono accompanied by a four-stringed plucked lute, the biwa, that is, it is narrative in which the biwa plays melodic interludes and brief phrases to punctuate verses of sung text. Satsuma biwa is thus similar to heikyoku, the recitation of the Heike monogatari (Tale of the Heike) with biwa accompaniment which has been practised since the 13th century. According to the commonly accepted account of their origins, however, both the instrument (shown in figure 1) and the narrative style now termed Satsuma biwa originated in the Sengoku era (1482–1558) in the feudal domain of Satsuma in southern Kyūshū. Shimazu Tadayoshi (1492–1568), a member of the Shimazu family which ruled Satsuma from the 12th to the 19th century, felt that in view of the chaotic social and spiritual conditions of his times, a strict code of ethics and behaviour was needed to guard against the spiritual deterioration of the samurai (warrior) class in Satsuma.