Shōdan in Okina
Dance-to-text
The arhythmic text, performed in sashinori and sung in tsuyogin style by Okina and the jiutai, is supported by three kotsuzumi parts in a strict rhythmic setting and a non-congruent nohkan part featuring two patterns: Sō no ryō and Sō no roku no ge.
Okina’s two Dance-to-text sections frame his Instrumental Dance. The choreography of the first Dance-to-text opens the stage space, preparing for the Instrumental Dance; the choreography of the second Dance-to-text functions as a cadence to the set of three dances, and is therefore mainly confined upstage to Square 8.
The texts introduced in the two Dance-to-text sections differ. In the first, Okina–acting as a narrator and referencing Okina and Sanbasō–poses the question, subsequently amplified by the jiutai: “Who are those two old men?” In the second Dance-to-text, Okina calls for a Ten Thousand Year blessing.
The first Dance-to-text is supported by the three kotsuzumi, who play both transforming and repetitive patterns. The transforming rhythmic patterns emphasize beats 2, 5, 6, and 7, in contrast to the repetitive pattern, which emphasizes beats 1, 3, 5, and 7. The following figure illustrates this pattern, initially introduced in Okina’s Song. Beats 1, 3, and 5 are consistently preceded by a kakegoe, and beat 7 by an anacrusis.
The cadential character of the second Dance-to-text is enhanced by the fact that the kotsuzumi players perform a single, repetitive pattern–a variation on the preceding in which the 'iya – ta' on the third beat is replaced with 'ho - po'.
The reduced instrumental density of the second Dance-to-text, featuring a tacet nohkan part, underlines its cadential function. In the first Dance-to-text, the nohkan performs the Sō no ryō pattern followed by an abbreviated version of the Sō no roku no ge pattern
The nohkan's Sō no ryō consists of four continuous phrases. Each phrase begins with a pattern in a different register, creating a progression from very low to middle, then back to very low. The first phrase's opening, 'Ho ro ru ra', is in lowest register; the second phrase's 'Fu hiya' is in the low register; the third phrase's 'Hya' is in the middle register; and the short fourth phrase 'Ho-hya' concludes the section in the very low register. The abbreviated version of the Sō no roku no ge pattern include a single phrase. Its opening motif ‘Hi-u’ is in the instrument’s low register.