Sayuri Ishikawa -- Chiisana Himitsu（ちいさな秘密）

 

I've mentioned this a few times before but although veteran singer Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）had been first known in her teens as an aidoru in the early 1970s, I frankly think that she pretty much began her career in enka mode just from listening to her debut single "Kakurenbo" (かくれんぼ) from 1973. Otherwise, she sang the most shibui of teenybopper kayo that I've ever heard.

Her 7th single, "Chiisana Himitsu" (A Little Secret) from March 1975 also has that familiar enka tang. Written by Osamu Yoshioka（吉岡治）and composed by Shosuke Ichikawa（市川昭介）, there is that certain arrangement that sparks of kayo of years back as Ishikawa, who was only 17 years of age when "Chiisana Himitsu" came out, sings plaintively of that special someone whose name she is resolute in never divulging.

The song has that melody of industriousness that I've heard before in the early enka as if while Ishikawa is singing this, there is that hustle and bustle all around her. Perhaps it is the reflection of what Japan was doing at the time to get back up in the world. In any case, the video below is rather precious in that it has the teenage Ishikawa performing in the modern threads of that time with a young Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）introducing her. It looks like even before she hit it really big with "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）a few years later, she had her faithful cadre of fans.