Higurashi -- Inishie （い・に・し・え）

I mentioned in my first profile on this relatively short-lived 70s band, Higurashi（日暮し）, that their song, "Aki no Tobira"（秋の扉） was a tune that I'd been searching for literally decades until the combination of hearing Japanese daily for years and a pretty darn good tape recorder that could cut through the static finally unveiled the name of this group fronted by vocalist Naomi Sakakibara（榊原尚美） and Seiichi (?) Takeda（武田清一）.

"Aki no Tobira" was Higurashi's 2nd last single released in the Fall of 1978, but "Inishie"(Antiquity) was their 6th of 9 singles, written and composed by Takeda and released during their career in December 1977. Compared to the sunnier and breezier "Aki", "Inishie"was a more melancholy ballad about still thinking about that past lover who will never come back, only having memories and a letter to remember him/her by. The first YouTube video (which has since disappeared) I saw of the song was one of a car trudging through the snow on a dark night, with the uploader mentioning that he would always consider "Inishie"as a wintry song. And indeed, listening to it should be accompanied by a fireplace, an armchair and a cup of steaming coffee along with that mood of contemplation.

This turned out to be Higurashi's biggest hit with the song peaking at No. 14 on the Oricon weeklies and becoming the 62nd-ranked song of 1978, selling about 210,000 copies.

(cover version)