Rina Takahashi -- Juu-roku Sai no Gishiki（16歳の儀式）

 

One of the NHK variety shows that I've cottoned onto in the last number of months is "Naming Variety -- Nihonjin no O-namae!"（ネーミングバラエティー 日本人のおなまえっ!...Japanese Names） hosted by veteran host Ichiro Furutachi（古舘伊知郎）. As I mentioned in a recent article, I've had a passing interest in the origins and nature of Japanese names and this program has been focusing on names through a variety of themes including history, professions and even music. That last topic was the theme for the most recent episode a few nights ago but it didn't just go into the names but also into the choice of titles of songs. The video below is the one for that very episode and I would take a quick gander at it before it probably gets taken down.

Along with a focus on Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）"TOKIO" and Omega Tribe's "Kimi wa 1000%"（君は１０００％）, there was also a segment on Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）"Shojo A"（少女Ａ）including an interview with longtime lyricist Masao Urino（売野政男）. I finally got to see what the fellow looks like now. Back then, as one of the panelists on "Naming Variety" remarked, Urino looked like a subversive during the university protests but he seems to look like a kindly old professor at his current age of 69.

One of the things that I've noticed about Urino and his songs is that although he's just responsible for the words, it seems as if those songs' arrangements have often reflected the rock n' roll of motorcycle-riding rebels and malcontents. "Shojo A" comes across this way and a lot of those early Checkers（チェッカーズ）tunes by Urino are quite similar.

And such is the case for the debut single by aidoru Rina Takahashi（高橋利奈）, "Juu-roku Sai no Gishiki" (Ritual at 16). It's got that combination of wailing electric guitar, dramatic strings and propulsive beat that adorned "Shojo A", and unsurprisingly, the same duo behind that Nakamori classic was also responsible for "Juu-roku Sai no Gishiki", lyricist Urino and composer Hiroaki Serizawa（芹澤廣明）. The lyrics, by the way, involve a love in which at least one-half of the relationship feels has to sadly cool down to prevent any unwanted complications.

Takahashi's first single was released in September 1985 and unfortunately there's no mention of how it did on the charts, but it probably did well enough because she was able to continue releasing singles and albums all the way to 1996. According to her J-Wiki profile, she made her debut at the same time as Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）, Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）and Minako Honda（本田美奈子）. Interestingly enough, Takahashi and Checkers' member Masaharu Tsuruku（鶴久政治）became a professional duo in 1991 and 1992 with Masarina（マサリナ）; I'll have to explore their discography soon.