Thanks for the extra information, Kyoko. It all happened so long ago, so I can see why your mother’s memories must be vague, but it’s interesting to hear about the goze from the point of view of a child in a village they visited. From what I’ve read, they were Buddhist, but also saw Benten, the goddess of arts, as a kind of patron saint. There are also a lot of folk beliefs about the goze. For example, in silk producing areas they sang to the silkworms for good luck, and left their broken strings to be put in the rafters with the worms to magically help them produce more silk. Also, like nuns, they had to remain virgins (or were expelled, like the title character in the movie Hanare Goze Orin). I wasn’t sure how much all of this was a part of their public identity, but if your mother specifically remembers these religious associations, it must have been important.
Lorraine, to get back to your question about recordings, there are still some available for sale, but only through Amazon Japan, as far as I can tell. Send me a message, and we can see about how to get some songs to you.
Sayuri: Yes, her life was really hard, in ways that it’s hard to even think about, which makes the respect she finally got in her old age so much sweeter.