Takao Horiuchi -- Itoshiki Hibi（愛しき日々）

 

The various genres listed in the Labels section on the right side, I confess, aren't a totally comprehensive group of the different kinds of Japanese popular music. Some days ago, I wrote about Quiet Storm being that blend of 1950s cool jazz and soul groove; it's a sub-genre of R&B that I adore but I've never bothered to make a Quiet Storm section in Labels since I think R&B is good enough. The same goes for the sub-genre of Fashion Music within kayo kyoku because the impression that I've gotten is that the term was something concocted by the media describing a mix of sophisticated pop and Japanese New Music with a bit of Leon Russell.

I think that I encountered an example of another type of fusion kayo years ago and wrote about it, but for the life of me, because of the size of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" now, I can't seem to remember either the singer or the title of the tune. 😩 But I do remember that sub-genre heading of New Adult Music which strikes me as being enka or updated Mood Kayo swirled with a cool New Music or maybe even City Pop arrangement. 

And it seems to be the type of song that would be ideal as contemporary kakoii theme songs for samurai dramas...such as this one. Singer-songwriter Takao Horiuchi（堀内孝雄）, one-half of the folk duo Alice（アリス）, has been listed as one such example of a New Adult Music artist, and as such, his "Itoshiki Hibi" (Beloved Days) has been categorized by that sub-genre. His October 1986 single, this was indeed used as the theme for a two-night chanbara NTV special titled "Byakko-tai"（白虎隊）, the story of several hundred teenage samurai who fought in the Boshin War. With lyrics by Kei Ogura（小椋佳）which hint at a lonely but mandatory journey, something very enka-like for a masterless samurai, Horiuchi's mellow and elegant melody is solemn and contemporary as if it could even describe a 1980s corporate warrior roaming the concrete jungle, wondering desperately how to get that next client.

New Adult Music had a lot of fans since "Itoshiki Hibi" hit No. 4 on the Oricon weeklies and became the 27th-ranked single for 1987, getting Horiuchi a Japan Music Award for Best Composer. It sold about 400,000 records and had the singer perform the song three times on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen in 1991, 1997 and 2006. Some of those other singers that have been considered to be New Adult Music artists include Kye Eunsook（桂銀淑）and a solo Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）, but you can give the J-Wiki list a look-see.