Chisato Moritaka -- Watarasebashi (渡良瀬橋)

I stumbled upon Kayo Kyoku Plus more than a year ago when I was searching for Akina Nakamori (中森明菜) and Midori Karashima (辛島美登里), to find out how various people write about her songs.  What a huge discovery!  Since then, I've been following this blog regularly and at times commented on some of the posts.  During a recent conversation with owner J-Canuck, he extended his warm invitation and asked me if I'm interested in contributing to this blog.  So, here I am writing my first blog post on Kyo Kyoku Plus.  Thank you so much, J-Canuck. It's been an honor.

Watarasebashi (渡良瀬橋), or The Bridge of Watarase, was Chisato Moritaka's (森高千里) 17th single, and it was also included in her 8th album "Lucky 7".  It was released in January 1993.  Hideo Saito (斉藤英夫) composed the song while Chisato wrote the lyrics herself.  According to Orion, the highest place it reached was 9th on its chart.

I didn't listen to Chisato's original version first.  Instead, it was Aya Matsuura's (松浦亜弥) cover version that I first listened to.  She covered it in 2004, 11 years after the original was released. According to J-Wiki, there've been 8 Japanese singers who have covered the song.

Watarasebashi was a sad song about 2 lovers.  The stage was set in a small town/village where the woman lived.  Her lover was living in the city and regularly came to see her.  Even though he loved the countryside, it's unreasonable for him to move to the village.  Unfortunately, the woman could not leave her hometown either.  At the end, they parted.  But she could not forget him though.  Every time she went to the shrine, she would pray for his wellness.  When she came across the public telephone booth outside the barber shop, she couldn't help but pick it up.  However, she didn't have the courage to call him.  From time to time, she would return to the bridge of Watarase in the evening, where they once watched the sunset together.

Personally, I like Aya's version more.  It has a slower tempo and the arrangement seems more appropriate for a sad love song.  It has this slow piano introduction that somehow puts me into the mood of the song.  To me, Chisato's introduction is a bit short and it feels a bit rush when it comes to the tempo.  I also like Aya's voice more.  Most Asian female singers, especially Japanese singers, have what we called in Cantonese "voice of a small chicken" - a high-pitched but soft and seeming fragile singing voice.  I think Aya was once criticized for that too but in my opinion, Chisato possesses a truly "small chicken voice".

What I found most fascinating is the story behind the song though.

The bridge, Watarasebashi, which is the title of the song, exists in real life.  It's in a small town called Ashikaga (足利) in the Tochigi Prefecture (栃木県).  It's north of Tokyo and around 1-2 hours by train.  Here's its google map location if you're interested:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/渡良瀬橋/@36.334096,139.444405,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x601f21885136e723:0xfc174907a73dd9e6

When Chisato began to write the lyrics, she set out to write about a bridge.  So she laid out a map on the table and searched for any bridge or river whose name resonates beautifully.  It was the name Watarasebashi that caught her attention.  In fact, back in 1989, Chisato had a live performance at Ashikaga Industrial University.  She remembered crossing some bridge that day.  "Was it really the bridge of Watarase?" She wondered.  With her mind set, she once again went to the town of Ashikaga to research on her lyrics.  It was Fall 1992.

Here's a documentary featuring Chisato herself, who returned to Ashikaga in May 2012, 20 years after the song was released.

Continuing with the story, soon after the song was released, Chisato's recording company got a call from the city hall of Ashikaga, asking if the title of the song was referring to the bridge in their city.  Chisato and her staff were scared.  "Did we anger them by not informing them beforehand?" "Are the residents going to blame us for inappropriately portraying the city of Ashikaga?"  "After all, what does someone from Kumamoto (Chisato's hometown) know about Ashikaga anyway?" Chisato wondered what the residents would say.  

It turned out, what Chisato and her staff learned from the city hall, that the Sunset from the Bridge of Watarase was chosen to be among Ashikaga's top 100 sightseeing spots.  The city of Ashikaga and its residents were extremely glad that Chisato wrote about that in her song!

There was a reference to a shrine called Yakumo Shrine (八雲神社) where the woman prayed for her lover.  Fans wrote her letters and asked her which Yakumo Shrine she was referring to.  In the documentary, Chisato said when she opened the map of Ashikaga, she immediately noticed the Yakumo Shrine.  "The name rhymes very well with the melody, and so I decided to use it," she said.  At that time, she knew there're 3 shrines named Yakumo within Ashikaga.  She was not referring to any particular one.  Later on, the city hall told her that they found 8 Yakumo shrines, and there might be more!

Also in the song, there's a reference to a telephone booth outside of a barber shop.  Similarly, the residents of Ashikaga flooded her with photos asking her if she was referring to the one in their photo.  Both the telephone booth and the barber shop exist as well!  According to Chisato in her documentary, she got the idea from Beatle's Penny Lane where barber shop and fire station appear in the song.  "I can use this," she thought as she noticed the telephone booth from her car during her research trip.  She was totally surprised that some residents actually found it. There's one final story about this telephone booth though.  As more and more people are carrying mobile phones, the need for public telephone diminishes.   Consequently, in 2008, NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) wanted to demolish this phone booth in Ashikaga.  The residents protested and eventually the telephone booth stayed.

In 2007, the city erected a monument around the Bridge of Watarase to commemorate the song.  During the day, the song is played continuously at the monument.

It's just a fascinating story that I could not help but share with all of you!  I hope you enjoy my first post on Kayo Kyoku Plus.