Hiroshi Miyama -- Bokyo Sanga（望郷山河）

Not sure how many of you were able to watch the live broadcast of the 70th Kohaku Utagassen today, but as usual, when I woke up in the Eastern Standard Time zone, NHK was already two-thirds into the special. However, I've been able to record it through PVR, so I figure that the whole family can catch it tomorrow night (or to be more accurate, fast-forward to the parts we like) following osechi.

One of the segments in the live broadcast that I did miss due to sleep was enka singer Hiroshi Miyama's（三山ひろし）usually zesty performance. The thing here, though, is that he and several dozen other folks were trying to see if they could top their official Guinness world record performance from last year's Kohaku in kendama catching. I won't give any spoilers here...you can just watch the show for yourself, but as you can see in the above video, the Force truly is with Miyama.

The song that he performed on the Kohaku earlier today was his March 2019 single "Bokyo Sanga" (The Mountains and Rivers of Nostalgia). Whenever I think of New Year's Eve and the New Year's holidays in general in Japan, enka does come into the mind because of its traditional nature. Of course, folks there will head for their hometowns everywhere in the country during this time so Miyama singing this proud ode to the old surroundings was appropriate, I think.

With lyrics by Makoto Kitajo（喜多條忠）, Miyama may be relating about the purifying power of the homeland and family, and that all of the problems one might have don't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to what the natural surroundings have gone through over millions of years. Plus, family is also there to help you get over what's troubling you. It's kinda like the enka version of a breath of needed fresh air. Tensho Nakamura（中村典正）composed "Bokyo Sanga"; it was most likely one of his last creations before his passing later in August this year at the age of 83.