Monday, February 9, 2015

Ikuzo Yoshi -- Musume ni... （娘に…）


Although I never have and probably never will become a father, let alone a father of a daughter, I can slightly imagine what one must go through on the day that he has to say goodbye to "his little girl". Probably all sorts of emotions and memories go coursing through his brain like a rubber boat running the rapids...all the times he has had to encourage, admonish, fight, teach and love his children through the 20 or 30 years of their lives before that day comes to see them off through one of the most monumental moments for all of them...that wedding day. The daughter comes in running in the house crying that she just scraped her knee and then suddenly she's off to her own household with her own husband to truly being her own family life.

I think Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）must have had those sentiments (and most likely a whole lot more) when he came up with "Musume ni" (To My Daughter). Coming up with this ballad as his 25th single in October 1994, I wonder how many usually stoic and stern Showa-era papas began to blubber like babies whenever they heard this one. The ballad also had me marveling how Yoshi can create these truly throat-lumping tunes like this one and "Sake yo"（酒よ）, while also coming up with the wild-and-crazy fun that is in stuff such as "NDA!" and "Ora Tokyo sa Igu Da"（俺ら東京さ行ぐだ）. 

I've heard that Yoshi created this song when his own daughter got married and that he still gets somewhat misty-eyed whenever he sings this on stage or on TV. I'm pretty sure then that his fans as well as fathers probably do the same.

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3 comments:

  1. Noelle ThamFebruary 9, 2015 at 10:49 PM

    Hi J-Canuck,

    I remember seeing Yoshi sing this song on an episode of Kayo Concert last year... I vividly remember that one since the lineup was like hitting the Kayo-jackpot! There's Kenichi Mikawa, Aki Yashiro singing "Onna minato machi", Enka newcomer Yuki Tokunaga introducing me to Michiya Mihashi's hit "Hoshi kuzu no machi" and of course... Mae-Kiyo.

    Anyway, "Musume ni" is quite a heart-wrenching song and even on regular occasions, Yoshi would go all teary-eyed while singing it. His emotion must have increased by 10 fold during that Uta-Con episode as apparently, his own daughter was tying the knot on the next day (if I'm not wrong)!

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    1. J-CanuckFebruary 10, 2015 at 12:28 PM

      Hi, Noelle.

      I was also informed by Ranawaka that Yoshi did make the song for his daughter. I wouldn't be surprised by that at all since I've thought that despite his fame, he is still a down-home Dad with a flair for enka.

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  2. UnknownFebruary 12, 2015 at 4:26 PM

    Thanks J-C. I suggest another good song to you about mother. It is "Waremokou" sung by Sugimoto Masato. Even if we never become a father or mother, still we have a mother. This song is about a son who forgot to take care of his mom [probably living in a city]and how he suffer after she died. Hope you like it.

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