# Kakegoe

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{{Short description|Shouts by the audience in Japanese performances}}
{{refimprove|date=May 2009}}
{{Italic title|reason=[:Category:Japanese words and phrases](/source/%3ACategory%3AJapanese_words_and_phrases)}}
'''''Kakegoe''''' ({{lang|ja|掛け声}}) usually refers to shouts and calls used in performances of traditional [Japanese music](/source/Japanese_music), [Kabuki](/source/Kabuki) theatre, and in martial arts such as [kendo](/source/kendo).

==Kabuki==
In the kabuki theatre, the term is used to refer to melodramatic calls from an audience, or as part of call-and-response singing in [Japan](/source/Japan)ese folk music. It is a custom for people in the audience to insert ''kakegoe'' every so often, in praise of the actors on stage. There are special climaxes in kabuki theatre called "[mie](/source/mie_(pose))", where the actor puts on an extravagant pose and someone in the audience shouts the actor's [stage name](/source/yag%C5%8D) or guild name at just the right moment.

Occasionally the shout is not a name, for example "Mattemashita!" ("This is what we've been waiting for!") as the curtain is drawn back.<ref>Rick Kennedy, ''Home Sweet Tokyo'', Kodansha, 1988 (p.151) {{ISBN|978-0-87011-908-8}}</ref>

There are three ''kakegoe'' guilds in Tokyo, totalling about 60 members. They receive free passes to the [Kabuki-za](/source/Kabuki-za). Almost all are mature male Japanese, but there have been examples of women and foreigners.

==Folk music==
In folk music some ''kakegoe'' are inserted in parts of song at will. Rather than names, ''kakegoe'' are usually words of encouragement for the musicians, singers, or dancers performing with the music. A commonly used word is "sore!", meaning "that", which conveys the sense "That's the way!", or "Just like that!" Another is "dontokoi!" meaning something like "Gimme your best shot!" or literally "Come quickly/don't hesitate!" "Sate!" means "So then!" Other words are "yoisho!", "yoi yoi yoi!", and "choi choi!" ''Kakegoe'' are also used in [Buyō](/source/Buy%C5%8D) dancing, when the stage name of the performer is shouted at key points in a dance.

A great deal of ''kakegoe'' are usually unvoiced parts of the repeating chorus of the song. In a famous folk song called "[Soran Bushi](/source/Soran_Bushi)" the shout "ah dokkoisho, dokkoisho!" is said at the end of each verse. The verses of the song "Mamurogawa Ondo" always end in "ah dontokoi, dontokoi!" Some shouts are area-specific. In the Hanagasa Odori (Flower Hat Dance) of [Yamagata](/source/Yamagata_Prefecture), for example, the shout at the end of each verse is "ha yassho makasho!" (See [Hanagasa Ondo](/source/Hanagasa_Ondo).) This is a ''kakegoe'' heard only in this particular song and no others. "Ha iya sasa!" and "A hiri hiri" are shouts specific to Okinawan folk music.

==Traditional music ensembles==
''Kakegoe'' are used in traditional music ensembles, such as Hayashi, [Nagauta](/source/Nagauta), [Taiko](/source/Taiko), and [Tsugaru-jamisen](/source/Tsugaru-jamisen). They are used to cue different parts of a musical piece. They can signal anywhere from the beginning or end of a particular rhythm, the beginning or end of an improvisation section for an instrument virtuoso, to cuing different instrument entrances. In Taiko, for example, there are certain rhythms that repeat until the leader shouts the go-ahead. In Tsugaru-Jamisen, a great deal of improvisation is used, and the player has to cue the drum when he is ready to end a session of improvisation. In larger music ensembles such as Hayashi and Nagauta, musicians need to tell each other where they are in a piece, so they use ''kakegoe'' to signal the ending/beginning of a section.

==Matsuri festivals==
{{lang|ja-Latn|Kakegoe}} can also be heard in different festivals or "{{lang|ja-Latn|[matsuri](/source/Japanese_festivals)}}". These also vary from region to region. In parts of Tokyo, {{lang|ja-Latn|[mikoshi](/source/mikoshi)}}, or float shrines are hoisted by people yelling "{{lang|ja-Latn|Yassho! Yassho!}}" The Hamamatsu Matsuri is famous for its enormous kites and large wooden carts called {{Langx|ja|屋台|translit=yatai|label=none}} that are taken throughout the city. Each kite and cart has their own represented guilds, and each group marches through the streets to the beats of snare drums and bugles chanting "{{lang|ja-Latn|Oisho! Oisho!}}" Another example is in [Mie prefecture](/source/Mie_prefecture), at Kuwana City's [Ishidori Matsuri](/source/Ishidori_Matsuri) where the chants of "{{lang|ja-Latn|Korasa}}" or "{{lang|ja-Latn|Hoisa}}" are used in the festival. This is shouted out by participants after a sequence of [taiko](/source/taiko) drumming and hammering of the [Kane](/source/Kane_(musical_instrument)) on the traditional cart. The city of [Kishiwada](/source/Kishiwada) in Osaka prefecture is also famous for its cart or {{lang|ja-Latn|danjiri}} festival. Participants pulling the rolling shrines all yell "{{lang|ja-Latn|Yoi, sa! Yoi, sa!}}" as they pull the [danjiri](/source/Matsuri_float). The list goes on and on, but these shouts generally mean something like the English "heave, ho! heave, ho!" The pitch and inflection changes from district to district based on timing and rhythm.

==See also==
*''{{lang|ja-Latn|[yagō](/source/yag%C5%8D)}}''—guild names or stage names of actors, which are shouted in {{lang|ja-Latn|kakegoe}}

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* https://park.org/Japan/Kabuki/sound.html examples of ''kakegoe'' used in Kabuki theatre

Category:Culture of Japan
Category:Music of Japan

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kakegoe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakegoe) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakegoe?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.