Changes

*''Died: [[1371]]''

*''Died: [[1371]]''

Kakuichi was a ''[[biwa hoshi|biwa hôshi]]'', a blind, itinerant, [[biwa]]-playing storyteller, credited with creating what came to be the standard version of the ''[[Tale of the Heike]]''.

Kakuichi, also known as Akashi no Kakuichi,<ref>Conrad Schirokauer, David Lurie, and Suzanne Gay, ''A Brief History of Japanese Civilization'', Wadsworth Cengage (2013), 90.</ref> was a ''[[biwa hoshi|biwa hôshi]]'', a blind, itinerant, [[biwa]]-playing storyteller, credited with creating what came to be the standard version of the ''[[Tale of the Heike]]''.

Little is known about his early life, but he may have originally been a monk of [[Enkyo-ji|Enkyô-ji]] (in [[Himeji]]). After losing his sight in his 30s, he is said to have come to [[Kyoto]] and joined the Tôdôza, the ''biwa hôshi'' guild; he is known to have been active in the guild by [[1340]], and is believed to have been around 40 years of age at that time. ''Saikai yotekishû'', a diary by a member of the court aristocracy, relates that by that time, he was already known for performing a different sort of Heike song, which would then come to be adopted by many others, and to become the standard mode of performing the ''Tale of the Heike''. Enkyô-ji, also known as Shoshazan, is known to have been a prominent center of Buddhist music in the 15th century, and some have suggested that Kakuichi may have drawn upon the music or chanting of Shosazan in forming his unique style, but, it's not known whether Kakuichi indeed had any relation to the temple, or if the temple's musical prominence extends back into the 14th century.

Little is known about his early life, but he may have originally been a monk of [[Enkyo-ji|Enkyô-ji]] (in [[Himeji]]). After losing his sight in his 30s, he is said to have come to [[Kyoto]] and joined the Tôdôza, the ''biwa hôshi'' guild; he is known to have been active in the guild by [[1340]], and is believed to have been around 40 years of age at that time. ''Saikai yotekishû'', a diary by a member of the court aristocracy, relates that by that time, he was already known for performing a different sort of Heike song, which would then come to be adopted by many others, and to become the standard mode of performing the ''Tale of the Heike''. Enkyô-ji, also known as Shoshazan, is known to have been a prominent center of Buddhist music in the 15th century, and some have suggested that Kakuichi may have drawn upon the music or chanting of Shosazan in forming his unique style, but, it's not known whether Kakuichi indeed had any relation to the temple, or if the temple's musical prominence extends back into the 14th century.

==References==

==References==

*Helen McCullough trans., ''The Tale of the Heike'', Stanford University Press (1990), 6-8.

*Helen McCullough trans., ''The Tale of the Heike'', Stanford University Press (1990), 6-8.

[[Category:Muromachi Period]]

[[Category:Muromachi Period]]

[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]

[[Category:Artists and Artisans]]