Kiyoshi Hikawa -- Gunjou no Ito（群青の弦）

 

I've brought back a clip of Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）performing Hibari Misora's（美空ひばり）"Uta wa Waga Inochi"（歌は我が命）last week, which he had also sung at the Kohaku Utagassen last month. It didn't strike me as being too strange at the time, but I'm not sure whether Hikawa showed up for any of the interview segments and I don't think that he performed any other songs that night. Perhaps my memory was addled but, in any event, he kept a very low profile on Tuesday, and now that I've seen the last few seconds where his final words sounded very much like a goodbye, maybe I did miss something significant.

Well, I didn't since the message was thrown at us loud and clear a couple of days ago. I watched NHK News which announced that Hikawa, the Prince of Enka who's appeared on the Kohaku for 22 straight years since his first appearance on the annual special and has been singing and performing non-stop, was taking an extended break as of New Year's Eve last year. So I gather that his "Uta Con" appearance was indeed the swan song for now.

(shortened version)

However, Hikawa has recorded one more single which will be released on February 1st this year, "Gunjou no Ito" (Ultramarine Strings). Written by Fumihiko Hara（原文彦）and composed by Chiaki Oka（岡千秋）, Hikawa's final single for at least a while was arranged by Masahito Maruyama（丸山雅仁）and it was apparently simmering on the back burner for a few years. But with the arranger's death in June 2020, the go-ahead was given to release this as a single in tribute.

Hikawa has gone into the pop and rock genres and has even provided an anison or two, so to hear him go back into the genre that he started his career with, enka, was nice, especially now that we won't be seeing him for an extended time. And wow, "Gunjou no Ito" is quite the atmospheric enka which seems to grandly gather together all of the elements of nature ranging from the seasons to the sound of fog (!) for mutual appreciation. Everyone involved even brings in those enka tropes of a loving mother and tears, and perhaps all bound together with the titular strings. Admittedly though, I don't have a full grasp of what's going on with "Gunjou no Ito", so if anyone can perhaps explain the meaning of it all, I'd greatly appreciate it.

This video also has the recorded version of the song, but I just wanted to show how Hikawa's presented here. If he were going to still appear on TV programs and on stage, he probably would show up looking like this dignified and fantastical figure. The single is going to be presented through three different arrangements (unfortunately that video has been taken down).

I'm certainly grateful to Hikawa for all he's done for enka and entertainment thus far including "Gunjou no Ito" which will be KKP's first official article for a 2022 song. He can happily have his time off and I wish him well in his future endeavors. Hopefully, it won't be too, too long before he returns to the stage.