This detailed essay, co-authored with Gunnar Jinmei Linder, traces the rise and development of jiuta sōkyoku, a genre of songs set to shamisen and koto, traditionally performed by blind musicians. Other instruments utilized in this genre, like the shakuhachi or the kokyū, are also explained.

The origins of jiuta song lie in the extensive biwa repertory of the Middle Ages, dominated by a guild of blind musicians who created a powerful guild to transmit (and monopolize) the music. However, the arrival of the shamisen in Osaka during the later half of the sixteenth century allowed the music to greatly expand its appeal and popularity, and shamisen music quickly spread throughout the urban areas around Osaka, Kyoto and Edo. Meanwhile the koto, originally an instrument utilized exclusively by imperial household musicians or priests, also gained popularity amongst the commoners due to the efforts of the priest Kenjun and later, Yatsuhashi Kengyō. The rise of an urban, monied middle class helped to fuel the extensive popularity of jiuta sōkyoku, and supported a class of composers who wrote masterpieces for the genre, still performed today.

Lastly, this essay stresses the deep connections of the jiuta sōkyoku songs to the world of entertainment—the so-called “floating world” of transient pleasures (usually involving but not limited to geishas, courtesans and prostitutes) that was a ubiquitous part of urban life in the Edo period.