Akihiro Miwa -- Yoitomake no Uta（ヨイトマケの唄）

 

I've known about singer and outspoken commentator Akihiro Miwa（美輪明宏）for years due to his frequent appearances on television. He's been more than willing to give out advice and opinions, and at least once, he's given a huge on-air tongue-lashing to fellow celebrities if warranted. As for his singing, I believe chanson has been his domain since he began his career in the 1950s though his time as a commentator is by far how I know him best.

A few days ago, someone left a comment at the article for Ichiro Fujiyama's（藤山一郎）"Nagasaki no Kane"（長崎の鐘）inquiring about a song that Miwa had recorded in the 1960s. It's often the case that a commenter will state that a certain tune is fun and/or enjoyable, but for Miwa's tune, they stated that it was important. So, my curiosity was peaked, especially on learning that this particular kayo had been banned from radio for apparently a good length of time even after becoming a popular hit.

The song is "Yoitomake no Uta" (The Day-Labourer's Song) and though it was first released as a single in July 1965, it had been first sung by Miwa back in 1964. According to J-Wiki and Wikipedia, the circumstances behind its origins are two-fold. "Yoitomake no Uta", which was written and composed by the singer, is based on the mother of a childhood friend who died while working as a day-labourer known as a yoitomake（よいと巻け）in the construction industry. The character of the young boy in the song was bullied because of his mother's job but seeing her toil for her family galvanized him into eventually becoming a top-level engineer. 

The second circumstance was the trigger behind the creation of the song when by accident, one of Miwa's associates had booked him to perform in a small mining town in 1964. Although unhappy at first, Miwa went ahead with the show but noticed that the audience members were workers who had gathered together their meager wages to purchase tickets. Feeling ashamed for his initial attitude, the flamboyant and expensive clothing that he was wearing in front of them, and the fact that he didn't have any song directly meant for them, he created "Yoitomake no Uta". Whenever he performed the song in concert, Miwa shunned his usual fancy garb and hairdo for something far more plain. The lyrics' translation is available here.

My own observation of "Yoitomake no Uta" is that although it's undeniably Miwa singing, the song itself doesn't sound anything like a chanson at all. Instead, it's arranged as a simple and innocent and proud kayo kyoku, and Miwa sets the tone right from the beginning by declaring loudly that the work is being done on behalf of the mother's husband and children.

Although I was obviously not around in Japan in the immediate postwar years, I've read and imagined that the country, though on the road to recovery by the 1960s, still had many people working hard in the factories, the fields and the mines so it wasn't surprising that "Yoitomake no Uta" would hit hearts and become a popular kayo. When he performed it on a TV morning show in 1965, the favourable response was so immense that he was asked to do an encore which was very unusual at any time. As well, when that single was first released in the summer that year, it managed to sell 400,000 records.

But the surprising thing was that the organization currently known as The Japan Commercial Broadcasters Association banned the song from public broadcast due to what it felt was discriminatory wording within Miwa's lyrics including the words "yoitomake" and "dokata"（土方）. Not surprisingly, Miwa and fans of the song cried foul. I looked up those words on places like Jisho.org and found only "heave-ho" and "labourer" respectively. I don't know the deep cultural nuances of the Japanese language but even considering the time period, I haven't been able to glean what the problem was through using that vocabulary, and so I ask any Japanese readers of the blog along with any of those viewers who have a strong handle on the language to provide any insight.

I also don't know how long the ban lasted although it seems as if Miwa, his fans and other singers simply ignored it with that third group doing their own covers including Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）and Shinobu Otake（大竹しのぶ）.

Ultimately Miwa was even able to perform "Yoitomake no Uta" on the 2012 Kohaku Utagassen, something that could have happened half a century earlier when he had been invited to sing the song on an earlier Kohaku. However, because neither NHK nor Miwa would budge on their positions during negotiations for shortening the six-minute song to fit the special's schedule, the latter had to decline the offer.