Katsuko Teruya: Master of Okinawan Koto
Cultural News, September 2008
Okinawan koto master Madam Katsuko Teruya’s 40th anniversary of teaching the music will be celebrated on October 26 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center in Redondo Beach (Photo courtesy of Teruya Katsuko Sokyoku Kenkyukai)
Koto Rainbow Concert
Oct. 26 (Sun) at 1 PM
Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach, CA 90278, www.rbpac.com
This year, Okinawa-born koto music master Madame Katsuko Teruya is marking her 40th anniversary of teaching the Okinawan koto. To celebrate her life-long journey of Okinawan music, Teruya’s koto association will present the “Kutu Nuji” (Koto Rainbow) concert on Sunday, October 26, at 1:00 p.m. at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center in Redondo Beach.
“Rainbow symbolizes a bridge between Okinawa and America. I am suggesting that like this rainbow, koto music travels from Okinawa to Hawaii and California. The seven colors of the rainbow represent the diversity of my students in the U.S.,” Teruya explains about the theme of the concert.
Teruya was born in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, and raised on the island of Izena, at that time a distance of a two-hour boat trip from Naha (now only one hour). Her grandfather on her mother’s side was a Chinese merchant who came to Okinawa to work at the royal palace in Naha. Even on this remote island of Okinawa, Teruya’s grandfather brought the culture of the royal palace to her family. Okinawa is an island of music. People live with music. But in Teruya’s case, she grew up with the court music (aka Koten music) because of her grandfather.
It was a wartime when Teruya was a child. And it was Teruya’s mother who made Teruya start to learn the Okinawan koto when she got a job at a bank in Naha in 1957 after her high school graduation. Teruya studied the Okinawan koto under Master Nae Kochi, Senior Headmaster of the Koyokai, a major association of Okinawan koto players in Naha.
Teruya’s mother could not fillfull her dream of learning the koto because of the war. So she wished that Teruya could achieve her dream. Teruya has six siblings. During World War II, her father was sent to Manchuria as a soldier, Teruya saw her mother burdened with all the responsibility of raising seven children by herself. So to please her mother, Teruya worked hard to learn the Okinawan koto in Naha.
But soon Teruya had to leave Okinawa for Honolulu, Hawaii. In Naha, she had met a Hawaii-born Okinawan businessman who was an enthusiast of Okinawan music and they were married. Their new life began in Honolulu in 1961. Teruya continued her koto study in Hawaii, and in 1965, she earned her “Kyoshi Menjo” (teaching credential) and started teaching koto in Honolulu in 1968. Shortly thereafter, she earned the “Shihan Menjo,” the most prestigious award and highest rank in koto credentials, from the Koyokai in Naha.
With a growing number of students, Teruya established the Teruya Katsuko Ryukyu Sokyoku Kenkyukai Hawaii Branch (Teruya Katsuko Okinawan Koto Music School) in Honolulu in 1975. Teruya served as president of the Koyokai Hawaii Shibu (Branch) from 1980 to 1986.
In 1989, Teruya was accepted by and registered with the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., as a performance artist for the Okinawan koto music. In 1994 and 1997, she received the Folk Arts Apprenticeship Award for two students from the State Foundation on Culture and Arts in Hawaii.
Teruya raised two daughters in Honolulu. After her devoice, in 1998, Teruya moved to Los Angeles to live with her daughter.
She later met and married Hawaii-born Okinawan Hideo Arakawa, a retired food inspector of the U.S. Army.
Teruya settled down in Gardena and opened the Los Angeles Branch of the Teruya Katsuko Sokyoku Kenkyukai. Her students came not only from Southern California but also from San Francisco, New Mexico and Texas.
In 2001, the Getty Center presented “An Afternoon of Okinawan Music and Dance” with Teruya and other musicians and dancers of the Okinawan tradition. In 2006, Teruya received the Apprenticeship Award from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts in Fresno. She also received a grant from the Durfee Foundation for a public performance of her students to share with others.
She has been the president of the Ryukyu Sokyoku Koyokai Los Angeles since 2004. Teruya is also very active in the Okinawa Association of America (OAA), and currently the chairperson of the OAA Geinobu (Performing Arts Department) since 2007.
For over 40 years, several hundred students have studied the Okinawan koto under Teruya’s mentorship in Hawaii and California. The October concert will commemorate Master Katsuko Teruya’s commitment and dedicated efforts in preserving and cultivating the Okinawan koto in America.
Okinawan Koto came from Satsuma in 1702
The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument derived from the Chinese zither. It is about 180 centimetres (71 in) long and has 13 strings that are strung over 13 movable bridges along the length of the instrument. Players can adjust the string pitches by moving these bridges before playing and using three finger picks to pluck the strings.
The history of the koto in Japan dates back many centuries ago through the 16th century. At this time a Buddhist priest by the name of Kenjun (1547-1636), who lived in northern Kyushu, began to compose for the koto, calling the style “tsukushi goto.”
Perhaps the most important influence in the development of koto was a man named Yatsuhashi Kengyo (1614-1685). He was a gifted blind musician from Kyoto. Yatsuhashi changed the tsukushi goto tunings, which were based on gagaku ways of tuning; and with this change, a new style of koto was born. Yatsuhashi Kengyo is now known as the “Father of Modern Koto.”
In 1702, a man named Inamie Seijun went from Okinawa to Satsuma (currently Kagoshima) to study music. His returning to Okinawa with 10 pieces of koto music after mastering the Yatsuhashi style was the birth of the Okinawan-style koto.
Traditionally koto is not played as a solo instrument in Okinawa, but rather koto is played as the accompaniment for the Sanshin (Shamisen) and vocals. Koto players were restricted to men until the early 20th century. The Koyokai was organized with 20 women players in 1935.
In the “Koto Rainbow” concert on Oct. 26, 65 koto players from Hawaii, California, New Mexico and Texas, the largest assembly of Okinawan koto performers in the U.S., will open the program.
The concert also features National Living Treasure of Japan, Choichi Terukina, Ryukyu classical musician; Nozo Miyagi II, Grand Master of Miyagi Ryu Dance; Master Hiroko Akamie, President of Koyokai in Okinawa; Lynne Yoshiko Nakasone, Grand Master of Nakasone Dance Academy Hoogei Kai in Hawaii; Master Grant “Sandaa” Murata of Afuso Ryu Gensei Kai – Hawaii Branch; and Master Yoshie Nakasone, Jimpu Kai USA Dance in Hawaii.
In collaboration of local Los Angeles Okinawan dance troupes, the program will be full of both traditional (court-style) and folk dances and music of Okinawa.
The “Koto Rainbow” concert is presented by The Ryukyu Sokyoku Koyokai - Teruya Katsuko Sokyoku Kenkyukai and sponsored by Ryukyu Sokyoku Koyokai (Headquarters, Los Angeles Branch, and Washington State Branch) and the Okinawa Association of America. Tickets are $25. For tickets, contact Okinawa Association of America at (310) 532-1929, Mieko Shima at (714) 530-4306, Elaine Higa at (310) 370-7777, Katsuko Sakihama at (626) 289-3560 or Helene Shimane at (310) 323-7965.