IZAIHO ~Song of th NORO~ for Violin and Harp（2015）

Izaih? was a sacred ritual held on the island of Kudaka in Okinawa once every twelve years in the lunar Year of the Horse. Its purpose was to hand on to the next generation the matrilineal sacerdotal institution centring on priestesses (noro) established during the age of the kingdom of Ryukyu. The participants were the female population of the island aged between thirty and forty-one， known collectively as nanchu， who， having gone through the Izaih? initiation ceremony， joined the ranks of the island’s exclusively female sacerdotal hierarchy. The women would retreat for several days into a temporary shed-like structure erected in the wooded area behind the main site of the ceremony， after which they would be joined in the performance of sacred songs and dances by the older women of Kudaka who had passed through the ritual on a previous occasion.
The last Izaih? ceremony was held in 1978， when a thorough visual and documentary record was made of the whole event. The dances were far more varied than those performed at Shinto shrines in mainland Japan by female shrine attendants (miko)， comprising many types ranging from those set in a slow tempo to fast， rhythmical dances.
This work consists of three short movements inspired by the Izaih? ceremony and the sacred songs， known as tiruru， that mark the different stages in the ceremony’s development. It begins with a magical tiruru song played by the violin. The exaltation felt by the nanchu as their initiation into the ranks of the noro gets under way is conveyed through the sound effects played by the harp. The second movement expresses the tranquillity of the sea and forest， shrouded in darkness， on Kudaka Island. The third movement begins with quaver movement in the harp’s upper register， suggesting the tick-tock of a clock and representing the flow of time now come to a halt， as if lamenting the extinction of the Izaih? ceremony. I would like to see the piece played in a magical manner with the performers directing their thoughts to the noro priestesses as they take part in the ceremony.
The work was composed in 2015 in response to a commission from the harpist Ayako Shinozaki， who gave the first performance that year with the violinist Yasuko Otani. I partially revised the work for its subsequent performance in 2022 at the Takefu International Music Festival by the violin and harp duo X[iksa].