Takashi Hosokawa -- Kita Dake (北岳)

Following up from his powerful and menacing "Enka Bune" (艶歌船) is the equally manly "Kita Dake". Takashi Hosokawa (細川たかし) sure has a knack for singing songs like these that combines enka and rock, and exude machismo, and that's what I like about this singer with a voice as loud as a bull horn.

So far, I have seen Hosokawa belt out "Kita Dake" three times on "Kayo Concert", and every time he's decked out in a jet black kimono decorated with ferocious-looking motifs - an enormous gold dragon coiled across the width of his chest as seen in the excerpt of the MV above, and in the most recent episode, a large snarling tiger. I don't know about you, but I thought that's insanely cool when combined with that seasoned, confident expression on his tanned face.

"Kita Dake", like "Enka Bune", has a dramatic and intimidating score with the electric guitar wailing away, brought to you by singer and composer Goro Mochizuki (望月吾郎). But I find that "Kita Dake" is more melodious than its predecessor and has a certain airiness to it that makes you feel like you're looking up at the towering snow-capped mountains rather than at the dark, choppy sea. Daisuke Shiga's (志賀大介) lyrics seem to highlight the grandeur and mystique of the northern alps, and Hosokawa is able to convey that with ease by switching his shrill vocal delivery from gentle and modulated to an intense growl at different parts of the song.

Hosokawa's 74th single was released on 19th August 2015 and it did well on the Oricon charts - peaked at 30th place on the regular charts and 1st on the enka-yo charts during the week it came out (it's still floating around in the enka charts). I like this song and half of me is really tempted to get this online on my next round of shopping at CD Japan, but the other half is adamant on doing so only during the next trip to Japan... I intend to get the poster too, if available...

amazon.co.jp

By the way, contrary to what I had initially thought, "Kita Dake" centers around Mount Kita, a mountain in the Yamanashi prefecture, and isn't referring to some northern mountain range. Mount Kita is also the 2nd tallest mountain in Japan, right after Mount Fuji. (Noelle from 20/12/15)