A STREET SINGER
A woman carrying a samisen, and accompanied by a little boy seven
or eight years old, came to my house to sing. She wore the dress
of a peasant, and a blue towel tied round her head. She was ugly;
and her natural ugliness had been increased by a cruel attack of
smallpox. The child carried a bundle of printed ballads.
or eight years old, came to my house to sing. She wore the dress
of a peasant, and a blue towel tied round her head. She was ugly;
and her natural ugliness had been increased by a cruel attack of
smallpox. The child carried a bundle of printed ballads.
Neighbors then began to crowd into my front yard,--mostly young
mothers and nurse girls with babies on their backs, but old women
and men likewise--the inkyo of the vicinity. Also the
jinrikisha-men came from their stand at the next street-corner;
and presently there was no more room within the gate.
mothers and nurse girls with babies on their backs, but old women
and men likewise--the inkyo of the vicinity. Also the
jinrikisha-men came from their stand at the next street-corner;
and presently there was no more room within the gate.
The woman sat down on my doorstep, tuned her samisen, played a
bar of accompaniment,--and a spell descended upon the people; and
they stared at each other in smiling amazement.
bar of accompaniment,--and a spell descended upon the people; and
they stared at each other in smiling amazement.
For out of those ugly disfigured lips there gushed and rippled a
miracle of a voice--young, deep, unutterably touching in its
penetrating sweetness. "Woman or wood-fairy?" queried a
bystander. Woman only,--but a very, very great artist. The way
she handled her instrument might have astounded the most skillful
geisha; but no such voice had ever been heard from any geisha,
and no such song. She sang as only a peasant can sing,--with
vocal rhythms learned, perhaps, from the cicada and the wild
nightingales,--and with fractions and semi-fractions and
demi-semi-fractions of tones never written down in the musical
language of the West.
miracle of a voice--young, deep, unutterably touching in its
penetrating sweetness. "Woman or wood-fairy?" queried a
bystander. Woman only,--but a very, very great artist. The way
she handled her instrument might have astounded the most skillful
geisha; but no such voice had ever been heard from any geisha,
and no such song. She sang as only a peasant can sing,--with
vocal rhythms learned, perhaps, from the cicada and the wild
nightingales,--and with fractions and semi-fractions and
demi-semi-fractions of tones never written down in the musical
language of the West.
And as she sang, those who listened began to weep silently. I did
not distinguish the words; but I felt the sorrow and the
sweetness and the patience of the life of Japan pass with her
voice into my heart,--plaintively seeking for something never
there. A tenderness invisible seemed to gather and quiver about
us; and sensations of places and of times forgotten came softly
back, mingled with feelings ghostlier,--feelings not of any place
or time in living memory.
not distinguish the words; but I felt the sorrow and the
sweetness and the patience of the life of Japan pass with her
voice into my heart,--plaintively seeking for something never
there. A tenderness invisible seemed to gather and quiver about
us; and sensations of places and of times forgotten came softly
back, mingled with feelings ghostlier,--feelings not of any place
or time in living memory.
Then I saw that the singer was blind.
When the song was finished, we coaxed the woman into the house,
and questioned her. Once she had been fairly well to do, and had
learned the samisen when a girl. The little boy was her son. Her
husband was paralyzed. Her eyes had been destroyed by smallpox.
But she was strong, and able to walk great distances. When the
child became tired, she would carry him on her back. She could
support the little one, as well as the bed-ridden husband,
because whenever she sang the people cried, and gave her coppers
and food.... Such was her story. We gave her some money and a
meal; and she went away, guided by her boy.
and questioned her. Once she had been fairly well to do, and had
learned the samisen when a girl. The little boy was her son. Her
husband was paralyzed. Her eyes had been destroyed by smallpox.
But she was strong, and able to walk great distances. When the
child became tired, she would carry him on her back. She could
support the little one, as well as the bed-ridden husband,
because whenever she sang the people cried, and gave her coppers
and food.... Such was her story. We gave her some money and a
meal; and she went away, guided by her boy.
I bought a copy of the ballad, which was about a recent double
suicide: "_The sorrowful ditty of Tamayone and Takejiro,--
composed by Tabenaka Yone of Number Fourteen of the Fourth Ward
of Nippon-bashi in the South District of the City of Osaka_." It
had evidently been printed from a wooden block; and there were two little pictures. One showed a girl and boy sorrowing together. The other--a sort of tail-piece--represented a writing-stand, a dying lamp, an open letter, incense burning in a cup, and a vase containing shikimi,--that sacred plant used in the Buddhist ceremony of making offerings to the dead. The queer cursive text, looking like shorthand written perpendicularly, yielded to translation only lines like these:--
suicide: "_The sorrowful ditty of Tamayone and Takejiro,--
composed by Tabenaka Yone of Number Fourteen of the Fourth Ward
of Nippon-bashi in the South District of the City of Osaka_." It
had evidently been printed from a wooden block; and there were two little pictures. One showed a girl and boy sorrowing together. The other--a sort of tail-piece--represented a writing-stand, a dying lamp, an open letter, incense burning in a cup, and a vase containing shikimi,--that sacred plant used in the Buddhist ceremony of making offerings to the dead. The queer cursive text, looking like shorthand written perpendicularly, yielded to translation only lines like these:--
"In the First Ward of Nichi-Hommachi, in far-famed Osaka--
_O the sorrow of this tale of shinju!_
_O the sorrow of this tale of shinju!_
"Tamayone, aged nineteen,--to see her was to love her, for
Takejiro, the young workman.
Takejiro, the young workman.
"For the time of two lives they exchange mutual vows--
_O the sorrow of loving a courtesan!_
_O the sorrow of loving a courtesan!_
"On their arms they tattoo a Raindragon, and the character 'Bamboo'--thinking never of the troubles of life....
"But he cannot pay the fifty-five yen for her freedom--
_O the anguish of Takejiro's heart!_
_O the anguish of Takejiro's heart!_
"Both then vow to pass away together, since never in this world
can they become husband and wife....
can they become husband and wife....
"Trusting to her comrades for incense and for flowers--
_O the pity of their passing like the dew!_
_O the pity of their passing like the dew!_
"Tamayone takes the wine-cup filled with water only, in which those about to die pledge each other....
"_O the tumult of the lovers' suicide!--O the pity of their lives thrown away!_"
In short, there was nothing very unusual in the story, and
nothing at all remarkable in the verse. All the wonder of the
performance had been in the voice of the woman. But long after
the singer had gone that voice seemed still to stay,--making
within me a sense of sweetness and of sadness so strange that I
could not but try to explain to myself the secret of those magical tones.
nothing at all remarkable in the verse. All the wonder of the
performance had been in the voice of the woman. But long after
the singer had gone that voice seemed still to stay,--making
within me a sense of sweetness and of sadness so strange that I
could not but try to explain to myself the secret of those magical tones.
And I thought that which is hereafter set down:--
All song, all melody, all music, means only some evolution of the
primitive natural utterance of feeling,--of that untaught speech of sorrow, joy, or passion, whose words are tones. Even as other tongues vary, so varies this language of tone combinations. Wherefore melodies which move us deeply have no significance to Japanese ears; and melodies that touch us not at all make powerful appeal to the emotion of a race whose soul-life differs from our own as blue differs from yellow....Still, what is the reason of the deeper feelings evoked in me--an alien--by this Oriental chant that I could never even learn,--by this common song of a blind woman of the people? Surely that in the voice of the singer there were qualities able to make appeal to something larger than the sum of the experience of one race,--to something wide as human life, and ancient as the knowledge of good and evil.
primitive natural utterance of feeling,--of that untaught speech of sorrow, joy, or passion, whose words are tones. Even as other tongues vary, so varies this language of tone combinations. Wherefore melodies which move us deeply have no significance to Japanese ears; and melodies that touch us not at all make powerful appeal to the emotion of a race whose soul-life differs from our own as blue differs from yellow....Still, what is the reason of the deeper feelings evoked in me--an alien--by this Oriental chant that I could never even learn,--by this common song of a blind woman of the people? Surely that in the voice of the singer there were qualities able to make appeal to something larger than the sum of the experience of one race,--to something wide as human life, and ancient as the knowledge of good and evil.
One summer evening, twenty-five years ago, in a London park, I heard a girl say "Good-night" to somebody passing by. Nothing but those two little words,--"Good-night." Who she was I do not know: I never even saw her face; and I never heard that voice again. But still, after the passing of one hundred seasons, the memory of her "Good-night" brings a double thrill incomprehensible of pleasure and pain,--pain and pleasure, doubtless, not of me, not of my own existence, but of pre-existences and dead suns.
For that which makes the charm of a voice thus heard but once cannot be of this life. It is of lives innumerable and forgotten. Certainly there never have been two voices having precisely the same quality. But in the utterance of affection there is a tenderness of timbre common to the myriad million voices of all humanity. Inherited memory makes familiar to even the newly-born the meaning of the tone of caress. Inherited, no doubt, likewise, our knowledge of the tones of sympathy, of grief, of pity. And so the chant of a blind woman in this city of the Far East may revive in even a Western mind emotion deeper than individual being,--vague dumb pathos of forgotten sorrows,--dim loving impulses of generations unremembered. The dead die never utterly. They sleep in the darkest cells of tired hearts and busy brains,--to be startled at rarest moments only by the echo of some voice that recalls their past.