Hisao Ito -- Iyomante no Yoru（イヨマンテの夜）

 

In recent years, I've been made aware of this particular kayo titled "Iyomante no Yoru" (The Night of the Sendoff Ceremony) sung by enka veteran Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）. But this isn't an enka song. When I first heard Hosokawa perform it a few years ago, he didn't particularly sing it; it was actually more of a bellowing of what sounded like an incantation for something to happen at that ceremony of the title. It was raw, operatic and the rhythm felt like part of a soundtrack from an old 1940s adventure in Africa. What the heck was "Iyomante no Yoru"?

Well, we have to go all the way back to an old NHK radio drama called "Kane no Naru Oka"（鐘の鳴る丘...The Hill on Which the Bell Tolls） which had been broadcast between the summer of 1947 to the end of 1950. A story by playwright and lyricist Kazuo Kikuta（菊田一夫）, the plot featured a demobilized soldier who ends up living in a communal facility in a mountain village on a hill and becomes well acquainted with some war orphans.

Famed composer Yuuji Koseki（古関裕而）, who had worked with Kikuta before to create "Francesca no Kane"（フランチェスカの鐘）in 1948, came up with "Iyomante no Yoru" as the theme representing the woodsmen in the drama as he improvised something while performing on a Hammond organ. It was originally meant to be performed with just the "Ahhhhh..." bellowing, but singer Hisao Ito（伊藤久男）, who had recorded Koseki's iconic "Eikan wa Kimi ni Kagayaku"（栄冠は君に輝く ）, occasionally listened to "Kane no Naru Oka" and fell in love with "Iyomante no Yoru".

Both Kikuta and Koseki eventually got together with Ito and came up with the revised "Iyomante no Yoru". The lyricist had some experience with Ainu songs so he adapted some of the language of this East Asian ethnic group native to Hokkaido and added it to the lyrics for the song. In fact, the word iyomante is Ainu for a sendoff ceremony. A 45" single was sold in stores as of January 1950.

However, according to the J-Wiki article on "Iyomante no Yoru", despite the Ainu influence in the language, it was found that with the arrangements which included an African tom-tom drum and the fact that in spite of the title hinting at a night ceremony, any actual sendoff ceremonies in Ainu culture were almost always performed in the daytime, there were opinions raised that the song really didn't musically reflect the Ainu.

Another interesting point of trivia found in the J-Wiki article is that the NHK singing program "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）during the period of 1950-1952 found almost all of the male contestants asking to sing "Iyomante no Yoru" which put the judges in a bit of a tizzy. During the show in modern times, I've occasionally seen a few guys come up to perform the song, even high school boys.

But it hasn't been just the amateurs tackling the song. A number of singers have covered it, too, including tenor Masafumi Akikawa（秋川雅史）who gained national fame for his rendition of "Sen no Kaze ni Natte"（千の風になって）in 2006, as well as enka singer Aya Shimazu（島津亜矢）. I think with "Iyomante no Yoru", there is probably that "muscularity" in there that has attracted the kayo singers like a workout machine attracting the gym athletes.