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The Asakura Kyogaku Project

— A culture burned to the ground, rising once more —

✦
A view of Ichijodani Asakura Mugen-tai performing

Some 450 years ago —
in the age of warring states, Ichijodani flourished as a castle town full of culture and life.

Then came 1573.
Under Oda Nobunaga’s assault the proud Asakura capital was burned away, and with it the culture and the bustle that Ichijodani had nurtured turned to ash.

But culture does not burn away.
Across the long reach of time, the old revelry and delight are returning — here, now.

The beauty and craft that bloomed amid ruin, the laughter of ordinary people, the leap of the spirit — brought back to life in contemporary form.
Let the sound of life ring out in this place once again.

Project Members

Cain Nishino

Music & lyrics
“Appare Itozakura,” “Yokai Ondo”
Vocals
“Appare Itozakura,” “Yokai Ondo”
Artist production
Cocona and Lina

An artist who weaves sound and words into stories through a world and sensibility entirely his own. His work is marked by a delicacy that shifts the air with every note, and by messages that land squarely in the chest. Sounding clearly in the space between modern chaos and stillness, his voice reaches into the listener’s deepest memories and feelings. At Creative ASUWA he also draws the yokai illustrations for the Yokai Castle Town Project.

Cain Nishino

Asakura Mugen-tai “Mugen.”

Dance
“Appare Itozakura,” “Yokai Ondo”

A performance troupe centred on yosakoi dance. True to their name — mugen, “dream and illusion” — their routines are at once dreamlike and forceful, fusing Sengoku history with contemporary heat into stages that are powerful and beautiful in equal measure.

Asakura Mugen-tai “Mugen.”

Cocona and Rina

Vocals
“Appare Itozakura,” “Yokai Ondo”

Young artists who have alighted on Ichijodani. Their voices breathe life back into the old castle town — a new wind, beginning now, that shakes Ichijodani awake through the power of music.

Cocona and Rina

Tracks

Yokai Ondo – artwork

Track 01

Yokai Ondo

Cain Nishino & Cocona

Night after night, cheerful yokai appear in Ichijodani, the phantom capital of the Sengoku era. Now there is a new song that lets you enjoy that Asakura yokai world to a bright, bouncing rhythm: the Asakura Yokai Ondo! Hanamaru, the mischief-maker who scatters cherry blossom; Hesokuri, who knows the secret of the Asakura's buried gold; Hotarubi, who colours the night sky so gently; Yukimaru, who turns the world white in an instant... Original yokai drawn from the history and landscape of Ichijodani gather in force to the cry of “rattata-no-ta”! Follow the merry singing that drifts from Kamido and Shimokido at the dead of night, and let's all dance the Yokai Ondo in front of the Karamon gate. With all your might - let's bring the town of Asakura to life alongside the yokai.

Music & lyrics
Cain Nishino
Artwork
Yoshikuni Aoyagi / Kotaro Seto (Creative ASUWA)
Released
9 June 2025
Download
View lyrics

Yokai Ondo

Asakura Yokai Ondo - lyrics Asakura Yokai Ondo! Scattering a storm of cherry blossom, driving the villagers to distraction here comes Hanamaru the yokai. Now then, the Yokai Ondo: rattata-no-ta! The fabled buried gold of the Asakura - he alone knows where it lies. Where is Hesokuri the yokai? Now then, the Yokai Ondo: rattata-no-ta! Kamido, Shimokido, at the dead of night - from somewhere, a merry song is drifting through. Ev-, ev-, everyone, let's dance! Let's dance in front of the Karamon gate! Let's dance the Yokai Ondo - look, here come the yokai! The Yokai Ondo: rattata-no-ta! That light colouring the night sky - fireflies dancing, wishing for peace. I found Hotarubi the yokai! Now then, the Yokai Ondo: rattata-no-ta! Snow falling here and everywhere, and in a moment the world turns white. Yukimaru the yokai whirls and dances. Now then, the Yokai Ondo - ee, rattata-no-ta! Ev-, ev-, everyone, let's dance! Let's dance in front of the Karamon gate! Let's dance the Yokai Ondo - look, here come the yokai! Kamido, Shimokido, at the dead of night - from somewhere, a merry song is drifting through. Ev-, ev-, everyone, let's dance! Let's dance in front of the Karamon gate! Let's dance the Yokai Ondo - look, here come the yokai! With all your might, let's dance! They have appeared from who knows where - let's dance with the yokai, here in this town of Asakura. With the yokai: rattata-no-ta! In Ichijodani: rattata-no-ta!
Appare Itozakura – artwork

Track 02

Appare Itozakura

Cain Nishino

Here in Ichijodani, in Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, there once spread one of the finest castle towns in all Japan. It was the age of warring states. That town, full of culture and life, lost everything when Oda Nobunaga put it to the torch. Nothing remains on the ground today, and yet the lives, the voices and the dreams of its people were undeniably here. We have put the memory of Ichijodani into a song...

Music & lyrics
Cain Nishino
Artwork
Yoshikuni Aoyagi / Kotaro Seto (Creative ASUWA) / Calligraphy: Kiyoshi Kishida (Creative ASUWA)
Released
10 October 2024
Download
The Tale of Aiomaru – artwork

Track 03

The Tale of Aiomaru

Cain Nishino

An epic of love and flight, playing the phantom of the Sengoku era. A song built around Aiomaru, the son of Asakura Yoshikage, who escaped to Echizenhama in what is now Niigata Prefecture. In an aching, beautiful melody it tells of a life carried out of the turmoil of war, and lived on in a new place with the glory of home held close. Taking as its motif the end of the Asakura clan, where historical fact and legend cross, it sings of love lost, the pain of parting, and hope reborn.

Music & lyrics
Cain Nishino
Artwork
Marie Sugishi / Kotaro Seto (Creative ASUWA)
Released
27 September 2025
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