The Night the Sun Came Back | Japanese Koto in the Takachiho Gorge for Deep Sleep | World Music

Night in the Takachiho Gorge, in the mountains of Miyazaki, on the southern island of Kyushu. A narrow ravine where both walls are made of tall stone columns packed side by side, dropping straight into still green water. A thin waterfall comes down one wall. A stone path runs along the rim with small lanterns set at intervals, and far below, a wooden rowboat is tied up for the night. Did you know? This is where the sun went away. The old story says the sun goddess quarrelled with her brother, went into a cave here and closed the door behind her, and the world went dark — crops failed, and bad things began to happen. Eight hundred gods gathered in a cave on the river bank to work out what to do. What they settled on was not force. One of them turned over a wooden tub, climbed on it and danced, and all the gods laughed — and the laughing was so loud and so strange that the sun opened the door a crack to see what she was missing. That was enough. She was drawn out, and the light came back. The thing that fixed the world was everybody laughing. The gorge itself is cooled fire. A volcano north of here sent pyroclastic flows down this valley, and as the rock cooled it cracked into hexagonal columns — which is why both walls look like bundles of pillars rather than ordinary cliffs. The river then cut down through the middle of it. In the daytime you can hire a rowboat at the bottom and take it right up under the waterfall. And through the winter, the villages here still dance all night. The kagura has thirty-three pieces, performed one after another in the main room of a farmhouse, beginning in the evening and finishing the next morning. People watch, eat, talk, and fall asleep in the corner, and nobody minds. It is a rite you are allowed to sleep through. The koto has a movable bridge under every string. To change key you do not retune it — you get up and move the bridges. The instrument is rebuilt for each piece. Best for: Sleep & deep rest Winding down at the end of the day Quiet reading Long nights 0:00 I. The Sun Goes Into the Rock 5:56 II. The World Without Her 11:47 III. Eight Hundred Gods on the River Bank 17:50 IV. Stones Stacked by Strangers 23:21 V. A Dance on an Upturned Tub 29:19 VI. The Laughter That Reached Inside 37:16 VII. A Hand at the Edge of the Door 43:04 VIII. Light on the Water Again 49:12 IX. Columns of Cooled Fire 54:39 X. Thirty-Three Dances Until Morning --- About this channel: Wander & Wonder Music travels the world through music. Each video is a stop on a journey — a real, beautiful place on Earth, painted in warm cinematic art and scored with original music played on the instruments of that land. All music and artwork are original creations, made with the help of AI and crafted with care in Japan. #takachiho #miyazaki #kyushu #japan #koto #shakuhachi #japanesemusic #gorge #amaterasu #sleepmusic #relaxingmusic #worldmusic