Naga Uta
Ready to Fly
Mountain
top vision
carried by eagle-like wings.
Hope for tomorrow,
forging ahead…gentle breeze.
With faith and purpose,
I seek a path to my dreams.
Rich promise…God at the seams.
First published at Poetry Soup in 2008
Naga Uta
Nagauta (長唄?),
literally "long song", is a kind of traditional Japanese
music which accompanies the kabuki theater. They were
developed around 1740. Influences included the vocal yōkyoku
style used in noh theater, and instruments including the
shamisen and various kinds of drums.
The shamisen, a plucked lute with three strings, is a very
popular instrument in nagauta. Nagauta performers generally
play the shamisen and sing simultaneously.
Nagauta is the basis of the Nagauta Symphony, a symphony in
one movement composed in 1934 by composer Kosaku Yamada (Wikipedia).
Naga Uta is a syllabicly counted form; the first line
contains five syllables and the second line containes seven
syllables. This pattern of alternation continues throughout
the length of the poem. Both of the final two lines
contain seven syllables (Naga
Uta).
