Kaze/Kaguyahime -- Ni-juu-ni Sai no Wakare （22才の別れ）

About a couple of weeks ago, commenter Ranawaka Aruna mentioned about an old folk song by the title of "Ni-juu-ni Sai no Wakare" (Parting at 22). As is often the case with me, that title didn't ring any bells but the melody certainly did. I've heard it at different times and possibly it was even featured on "Sounds of Japan".

Singer-songwriter Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）had originally pulled double duty with the music and lyrics for "Ni-juu-ni Sai no Wakare" and the even more famous "Nagori Yuki"（なごり雪）while he was with the folk group Kaguyahime（かぐや姫）. The two songs were placed into the band's 4th album, "Sankai Date no Uta"（三階建の詩...A Three-Storey Poem）which came out in March 1974 and hit the top spot on Oricon. It would not only become the 5th-ranked album for the year but would also be the 27th-ranked album of 1975. But despite the song's eventual status as one of the more well-remembered J-Folk entries, it was never released as its own single during Kaguyahime's first run between 1970 and 1975.

However, it was released for the first time as a single when Ise formed the duo Kaze（風）in 1975. In fact, "Ni-juu-ni Sai no Wakare" was the debut single for Ise and Kazuhisa Okubo（大久保一久）, released in February 1975. It became the duo's biggest hit as it hit No. 1 and became the year's 7th-ranked song. According to an article by music critic Issei Tomisawa for the book "An Encyclopedia of 300 Famous Folk Songs" (title translated from the original Japanese), the ballad sold a shade over 700,000 records. 

Almost a decade later, the original Kaguyahime recording of "Ni-juu-ni Sai no Wakare" was used as the ending theme for an NTV drama and released as its own single. After listening to both versions, I didn't particularly hear any major differences between the Kaguyahime and Kaze takes; both of them have that appealing guitar melody as Ise sings about that venerable trope of parting being such sweet sorrow. It's the type of song that would have any generation getting a bit contemplative about life.

I did come across some interesting information at the bottom of the J-Wiki article for "Ni-juu-ni Sai no Wakare" in which Ise gave an interview for the journal "Sotetsu Kawarahan"（相鉄瓦版）Issue 126  several years back. In it, he mentioned about the circumstances behind the creation of those two songs for the album "Sankai Date no Uta". He had first written and composed "Nagori Yuki" as a creation that he personally liked, but for some reason, he became discouraged with it thinking that it would never become a hit. He then decided to burn the midnight oil one night to make "Ni-juu-ni Sai no Wakare" for the purposes of making a hit that would sell the vinyl. 

But this begets the question: Why was the latter never released as a single after all while the former was? Well, at least the long-range answer had a happier result. Both are now considered classics of the genre, although "Nagori Yuki" got its boost thanks to Iruka's（イルカ）cover. Of course, "Ni-juu-ni Sai no Wakare" has been covered by a number of artists ranging from the late Kozo Murashita（村下孝蔵）to Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）.