Isao Hayashi -- Konpira Swing (金毘羅スイング)

So, I recently joined the fan club of an early Showa singer-songwriter from King Records who was known for jazz and created works for Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎). 

Yes, that's right, I joined the Hayashi Isao Shinobu Kai (林伊佐緒偲ぶ会).

Wait, what?

No, I did not glitch out. I really did join Isao Hayashi's (林伊佐緒) club, making it the third posthumous fan club I've joined in the span of four months. This is in addition to Hachi's and Bin Uehara's (上原敏)... Y'know, I feel like it wasn't too long ago when I was lamenting about how hard it was to find and join these shinobu kai (posthumous fan clubs). I certainly did not expect a membership speedrun.

To give a bit of context, I'd been offered the opportunity to enter the club from its chairman, Toru Yamane (山根徹), with whom I'd been interacting with from time to time on social media through a shared interest in Akira Matsudaira (松平晃). Thinking that it'd be a good experience, I quickly agreed to it. This would give me the chance to learn more about the long-lived artist and his illustrious career, and perhaps even see what Hachi was like through the perspective of the Hayashi fan club. Plus, it would give me the excuse to finally visit Yamaguchi prefecture for those Hayashi exhibitions.

Anyways, I wouldn't say I know next to nothing about Hayashi, considering his huge presence (both metaphorically and physically) in the kayo world, but I currently only know the following basics about Hayashi besides the fact that he was a composer behind Hachi's hits:

1. He is dubbed Japan's first singer-songwriter.

2. He was the Japan Singer Association's 4th chairman.

3. He dabbled in jazz-minyo.

With regards to 3, that was exactly how I got to know of him ages ago. I somehow came across his funky "Mamurogawa Boogie" (真室川ブギ) and marveled at the wild mixture of the cosmopolitan Western jazz and countryside Japanese minyo. The latter was never easy for me to stomach (even now), so Hayashi essentially added the sugar to make it go down. He was my first introduction to this combination way, way, way before I even registered the existence of Tadaharu Nakano (中野忠晴) and Ryoichi Hattori (服部良一). Joining the club gave me the impetus to re-open Hayashi's treasure trove of jazz-minyo that I'd unwittingly forgotten in favour of Mr. Nakano.

Hayashi had been mixing up the two genres since the prewar era, but only became more recognised for it in the postwar era, the aforementioned "Mamurogawa Boogie" being the primary example. Another one of this postwar creations I just dug up and took a keen liking too was "Konpira Swing."

"Konpira Swing" was released in January 1954. I think this was around when the postwar jazz and Kasagi Shizuko (笠置シヅ子) Boogie-Woogie craze was cooling off, but it didn't stop Hayashi from making this snazzy, dance-worthy number. 

"Konpira Swing" was based on "Konpira Fune-fune," (金毘羅船々) a minyo native to Kagawa prefecture on the island of Shikoku. This folk song originally centered around the town of Kotohira, known for the Konpira Daigongen (金毘羅大権現) deity. Besides the J-Wiki, I was reading up on the tune via this old Shikoku Shimbun project detailing 110 cultural "objects" of Kagawa. You can look it up here.

From my understanding, the Konpira Daigongen, which resides in the Kotohiragu temple on Mt. Zouzu, was quite the popular religious pilgrimage spot, and there were ferries that brought you to Kagawa from Osaka. The minyo was based on this ferry route, the boats literally called the Konpira Fune (Konpira Boat), which began service in 1744. The recognisable "shura-shu-shu-shu" bit is supposed to be onomatopoeia for the tail wind catching the boat sails and sending you straight to Kotohira. The Naka no Gori region mentioned in the lyric seems to point to the modern-day Kagawa Nakatado-gun district where temple is. On top of this, "Konpira Fune-fune" used in zashiki asobi, or private geisha entertainment, back in the Edo and Meiji periods and sung while playing little party games. It's still used today at the likes of festivals and cultural exchanges.

Re-working the lyrics to fit Hayashi's raucous arrangement was Yano Ryo (矢野亮). Yano kept to the source material in the first stanza, but immediately took a sharp left into humourous territory. This has Hayashi taking us on a whirlwind ride of randomness in his carefree, breezy style, from frying a variety of tempura to strolling the streets of modern 1950s Tokyo. Interestingly, I think the original folk song's signature "shura-shu-shu-shu" found application in the Yano's seemingly bizarre mix of situations. The tempura bubbling in the hot oil, the kite (bird of prey) swooping around eyeing the young tofu seller's aburaage, slurping up sake and whiskey on a magically empty wallet. These sound like they'd go "shura-shu-shu-shu" too, don't they? 

One of the reasons why I like the fusion jazz kayo/minyo/zokuyo from the 1930s to the 1950s is the element of humour - the singers themselves sounding like they were having fun recording it too. "Konpira Swing," as I had just described, is a great example of that, I think. 

(　ﾟдﾟ) 

Admittedly, even I didn’t expect to join Hayashi’s fan club because I didn’t consider myself a big enough fan of the musician. Those around me expressed surprise too because I rarely, if ever, bring him up in my kayo rambles. But, I think this will be a good experience and I look forward to getting to know Hayashi better.

Right, then. Time to dig around for some Hachi-Hayashi compositions.