ユニット・ハープ・琵琶
Tour of Japan October / November 2025
Triona Marshall
&
Thomas Ranjo
Irish Harp & Satsumabiwa
About the Tour
This unique cross-cultural performance unites two traditional instruments—the Irish harp and the Japanese satsumabiwa—in a musical retelling of Lafcadio Hearn’s most renowned ghost story, Miminashi Hoichi. Performed by acclaimed Irish musicians Tríona Marshall (harp) and Thomas Ranjo – Thomas Charles Marshall (satsumabiwa), the programme was commissioned by Professor Nathan Hill and Dr Lijing Peng of the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies, Trinity College Dublin. It was created for the event Lafcadio Hearn’s Japan: From Enchantment to Intercultural Understanding, which coincided with the opening of the travelling exhibition Kwaidan – Encounters with Lafcadio Hearn at Farmleigh House, Dublin, curated by Kieran Owens. The debut performance took place on 7 March 2025 at St Ann’s Church, Dublin. A recording is available on YouTube.
The project’s timing aligns with the 2025 broadcast of NHK’s new drama series Bakebake, based on the life of Hearn’s wife, Setsu. With renewed interest in Hearn’s legacy expected, this performance tour offers a timely opportunity to explore his intercultural significance through music, storytelling, and international collaboration.
LLC Earth Voice Project, a Kamakura-based production company, will produce the Japanese tour, with performances in venues in Kagoshima, Kyoto, Chiba and Tokyo. Each venue has been selected for its atmosphere to evoke the spirit of Hearn’s world and engage local communities through accessible public performances. Earth Voice Project will also stream one of the performances online.
This project is under consideration for funding by Culture Ireland.
Harp & Biwa
I am always fascinated by the Japanese concept of ma—the space between things.
It goes without saying that Ireland and Japan lie on opposite edges of the world, and yet there is something in the space between them: a deep and surprising resonance, felt most clearly through the language of spirit, music, and storytelling.
Both cultures hold long traditions of music not merely as entertainment, but as a way of expressing what cannot be spoken—a language for memory, lament, joy, and reaching out to the divine.
Historically, the Irish harp and the Satsuma biwa have served as instruments of remembrance, healing, courage, and even resistance in the face of injustice.
Common to both is the idea that the instrument itself has a voice—the voice of the biwa, the harp that sings.
These voices do not simply sound—they remember.
There is also a shared reverence for the otherworldly; a sense that although all is ephemeral—the fleeting blossom, the passing song—our history, our ancestors still live around us, unseen.
This appreciation of impermanence, of presence without possession, binds both cultures at a spiritual level.
In October and November 2025, Triona Marshall and I will make a tour of Japan.
In these concerts, we do not attempt to fuse these traditions, nor to smooth over their differences.
Instead, we offer them as they are—distinct and sincere—and allow them to meet each other honestly.
Where they resonate, we rejoice. Where they differ, we listen.
Music is how we begin to speak across the silence between us—
the silence that shapes us, and gives us each our unique worth.
And in that silence, we sometimes find the deepest things of all.
Venues
Kagoshima 18th October Chiran Peace Museum
Kagoshima 19th October Reimeikan - Kagoshima History Museum and Fine Arts Center
Osaka 25th October Minase Shrine
Kyoto 26th October Myorenji Temple
Chiba 2nd November Ryusenji Temple Ohara Town, Isumi City
Tokyo 3rd November Haruchika Noguchi Memorial Music Hall, Komae City
The Artists
Triona Marshall
Tríona Marshall, a native of Portlaoise, Ireland, grew up in a musical family of five. She began playing the Irish harp at age seven, and by eleven had progressed to the concert harp. Her professional journey took a significant turn in 2003 when she was invited to perform as guest harpist with The Chieftains, beginning a long and celebrated collaboration that led her to stages across the world. Tríona has since performed internationally with The Chieftains and as a solo artist, with notable appearances including the 9th World Harp Congress, the Special Olympics Opening Ceremony in Dublin’s Croke Park, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. During her time with The Chieftains, she collaborated with renowned artists such as Ricky Skaggs, Béla Fleck, Tim O’Brien, Jerry Douglas, Jeff White, and Carlos Núñez. She featured on four of the group’s albums, including San Patricio (2010), produced by Paddy Moloney and Ry Cooder, and Voices of Ages (2012), produced by Paddy Moloney and T Bone Burnett. Before joining The Chieftains, Tríona was principal harpist with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, following her studies at the Royal College of Music in London and the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague. In 2013, Tríona and her Chieftains bandmates were awarded an honorary doctorate from the Dublin Institute of Technology (now TUD) for their contributions to Irish music. More recently, she performed alongside members of The Chieftains to mark President Joe Biden’s visit to Ballina, Co. Mayo. Alongside her solo career, Tríona continues to explore collaborative projects, including duos with singer Alyth McCormack and accordionist/composer Martin Tourish. “Spontaneous... full of rhythmical vitality... impeccable” – The Irish Times “…rejuvenated by minutely nuanced phrasing, supple yet exact articulation … boldly hued, artfully syncopated…” – The Scotsman
Thomas Ranjo
Born in Ireland, Thomas Ranjo received his early musical training in piano, flute, and organ at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and St Finian's College, Mullingar. In 1990, he was appointed Organ Scholar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he continued his organ studies under the renowned Peter Hurford. In 1994, Ranjo moved to Japan, where he began his journey into traditional Japanese music. After meeting Yoshinori Fumon in December that year, he formally began studies in satsumabiwa in 1995, receiving the biwa name Ranjo 蘭杖 in 1999. Ranjo accompanied Yoshinori Fumon on international lecture and concert tours to the UK and Ireland (1997), and the United States (2000), with presentations at institutions including SOAS, Cambridge University, University College Dublin, Columbia University, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In July 2001, he performed Toru Takemitsu’s Eclipse with Uesugi Kodo at the festival Messiaen et le Japon in La Grave, Haute-Alpes. He was selected in 2005 to perform in The Melody of Japan, a showcase of Japanese and international musicians sponsored by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. Further notable appearances include performances with Professor Haruko Komoda at Columbia University and the University of Southern California (2004), and a presentation at the 29th Conference of the Musicological Society of Australia (2006). Returning to Ireland in 2008 due to a family illness, Ranjo continued his engagement with satsumabiwa while resuming his work in organ performance and study. Since then, he has presented and performed at Columbia University (New York), Durham University (UK), and events across Denmark, Italy, Portugal (Animus Conference), and Japan. In 2024, he was invited to collaborate with the English National Opera on a recording of a new work. Thomas Ranjo currently serves as Director of Music at St Ann's Church, Dublin, and St Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare.
The programme
Port na bPúcaí
Traditional Irish Air Performed by Tríona Marshall (Irish harp) “The Tune of the Ghosts” — Port na bPúcaí is a slow air steeped in mystery and folklore. Originating from the Blasket Islands off the west coast of Ireland, the melody is said to echo the cries of the púcaí — spirits or fairies who dwell between this world and the next. Though no lyrics are sung in this performance, the air has been associated with verses describing a woman from the otherworld, taken across the sea by fairy magic, now lost and longing to return. The music evokes isolation, enchantment, and the sense of being under a spell — themes echoed in traditional Japanese tales as well. Played on the Irish harp, the piece becomes a meditation on presence and absence, on the invisible threads between worlds
Kadobiwa 門琵琶
Traditional Satsuma Biwa Piece Biwa: Thomas Charles Marshall Harp Accompaniment: Tríona Marshall (Newly composed) This piece comes from the Mōsōbiwa tradition of southern Kyushu, particularly the area now encompassing Kagoshima Prefecture, and is believed to be one of the oldest surviving forms of biwa music. It was historically performed near the gates of daimyo residences and temples in Kagoshima Prefecture. In this arrangement, the Satsuma biwa is accompanied for the first time by a newly composed Irish harp part, drawing subtle harmonies and textures around the biwa’s timbre while leaving its sharp contours untouched. The meeting of these two instruments—each deeply tied to oral storytelling—offers a rare sonic encounter between two distant but spiritually resonant traditions.
Musical Priest
Traditional Irish Reel Harp: Tríona Marshall Biwa Accompaniment: Thomas Charles Marshall (Newly arranged) This vibrant reel is a favourite in Irish traditional music sessions. Its title, The Musical Priest, playfully evokes the image of a clergyman who is perhaps more devoted to music than sermon—stepping lightly across the floor with unexpected joy. Though the tune is not associated with a fixed narrative, in this performance it is reimagined through a Japanese lens. The energy and brightness of the Irish harp is met by the percussive voice of the Satsuma biwa, evoking the atmosphere of a court musician called to perform for someone of high status—perhaps even someone from the other world. The idea was inspired by Miminashi Hoichi, Lafcadio Hearn’s retelling of a biwa player summoned to perform for an unseen audience at a grand daimyo’s residence. The joy and anticipation—tinged with mystery—that Hoichi feels before the performance is echoed here, transformed into rhythm and sound.
Yashima no Homare
Satsuma Biwa solo performance Text adapted by Yoshimizu Tsunekazu (Satsuma Biwa master, born in Kagoshima) This dramatic piece is drawn from the Heike Monogatari, a 13th-century epic chronicling the rise and fall of the Taira (Heike) clan. It recounts one of the most famous scenes in Japanese warrior literature: the heroic feat of the young archer Nasu no Yoichi during the Battle of Yashima in 1185. As the Genji forces prepare for battle against the Heike navy, a Heike noblewoman appears offshore in a small boat, raising a war fan as a challenge. Seventeen-year-old Yoichi, with calm resolve and deep prayer, rides his horse into the sea and shoots the fan cleanly from a great distance with a single arrow. This performance follows the version transmitted by Yoshimizu Tsunekazu, a master of the Satsuma Biwa tradition, native to Kagoshima. The text is recited and accompanied by dynamic biwa techniques, conveying both the martial tension and spiritual intensity of the moment.
Sakura, Sakura
Traditional Japanese Melody – Arranged by Tríona Marshall Solo performance on Irish harp One of Japan’s most iconic melodies, Sakura, Sakura evokes the image of cherry blossoms in spring—symbols of fleeting beauty, renewal, and the impermanence of life. Though often associated with peaceful contemplation, the falling blossoms have also long been linked to the fate of warriors, whose lives, like petals, are scattered by the wind. In this arrangement, Tríona Marshall begins with a slow, meditative version of the air, then gradually transforms the music into a quiet march. Inspired by the image of cherry blossoms as fallen warriors, the piece moves from stillness to purpose, carrying with it the spirit of both mourning and quiet courage. Played on the Irish harp, Sakura, Sakura becomes not only a cultural homage, but also a conversation between traditions—Japanese melody, Irish expression, and a shared meditation on life and death.
Kuzure 崩れ
Traditional Satsuma Biwa Instrumental Biwa: Thomas Charles Marshall Harp: Tríona Marshall (co-arranged) In the Satsuma Biwa tradition, kuzure refers to a fast, rhythmically explosive musical section. It is used to depict scenes of intense action—battles, storms, or fierce moments of performance—through sharp, percussive strumming and sudden shifts in energy. In some pieces, the biwa seems almost to shout, to gallop, or to crack like thunder. This performance draws on a tradition passed down by Thomas Charles Marshall’s teacher, Fumon Yoshinori, who developed kuzure into extended solo pieces showcasing the expressive power and virtuosity of the biwa. In this new arrangement, harp and biwa join together in dialogue. They weave a shared voice that brings together the percussive and the lyrical. What begins as conflict becomes communication—collapse becomes creation.