Short Gobbledygook Songs

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Dōgu-zukushi Sucharakapokupoku Yoshikonobushi ["Various Tools, Gobbledygook Yoshikono Ballads"]

[Author/s unidentified].

Hacchōbori, [Tōkyō]: [Rōben?], [ca. late Edo period (1830-50s)?].

A short collection of humorous songs on themes including alcohol, counting money, oiran, and the Yoshiwara pleasure district. Susan Miyo Asai notes in Nōmai Dance Drama: A Surviving Spirit of Medieval Japan (p. 53) that "there are rhythms [in taiko drumming] which incorporate sharp-sounding strokes on the rim of the drum, described by the words sucharaka and chakachaka". It seems that the word sucharaka, present in the title of this work, also came to mean "nonsense"; Joseph L. Anderson notes in Enter a Samurai (p. 276), for example, that Kawakami Otojirō ordered Japanese actors preparing for a performance of The Merchant of Venice in Boston in 1900 to "keep the play moving by repeating nonsense syllables such as 'sucharaka boko' or the familiar prayer, 'Namu Amida Butsu'" if they failed to come up with adequate dialogue on the spot. Due to a lack of records, it is unclear whether this booklet is complete. In any case, the emphasis on counting and mathematics is an unusual and intriguing theme for the yoshikono-bushi genre.

One volume, possibly complete, on double-leaves, fukurotoji style. Original wrappers, lightly soiled. Light stain to lower opening corner of all leaves. Leaves backed with washi paper. [3] leaves, including wrappers. 16.7 x 11.9 cm.

Short Gobbledygook Songs
Price: $125.00 (USD)