Earlier tonight, I watched an NHK-BS program called "O-Zumo Dosukoi Ken"（大相撲どすこい研...Sumo Inside Out）, just in time for the September sumo tournament that began today in Tokyo. It's not a regular show on the channel, usually getting broadcast on the night before a tournament, but for sumo fans, it's probably TV manna from heaven as Osaka comedian/host Koji Imada（今田耕司）and guests which include at least one retired sumo wrestler go into the nitty-gritty about the centuries-old Japanese pastime.
One of the guests tonight was a model and tarento named Airy（アイリ）. Not surprisingly, she's a huge sumo fan but she's got some even deeper insights since her father happens to be just-retired former ozeki Mutsuo Wakashimazu（若嶋津六夫）who used to be known as Wakashimazu when he was active in the dohyo between 1975 and 1987. As well, her mother is former 1970s aidoru and pop singer Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）who retired to get married to Wakashimazu and become the okami-san at her husband's stable.
The above video comes straight from Airy's YouTube channel and here she introduces herself so you can get the basics. A lot of the videos on the channel involve her love of sumo. I have to say that the lady inherited her mother's eyes and her father's lower half of his face. A lovely visage!
As such, I have my inspiration to put up a new Mizue Takada article and so I'm going with the easy-to-remember "DOMO DOMO" (Hello, Hello) which was the B-side to her successful debut single "Garasuzaka"（硝子坂）from March 1977. A short and sweet ditty about falling in love with that galoot from afar, it was written by Yoshiko Miura（みうらよしこ）and composed by Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）.
Miura has a very long file here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" as a veteran lyricist but for those eagle-eyed blog readers, you may have noticed that I have rendered her name in just kana rather than the usual kanji（三浦徳子）. That is because that it was actually officially written in hiragana for the original record. You see, not only was that 45" record the first for Takada, "DOMO DOMO" was also the very first set of lyrics that Miura had ever made in her career after making the transition from copywriter, according to J-Wiki. In fact, the article also states that both Takada and Miura thanked each other for getting each other started.
Not sure if "DOMO DOMO" had anything to do with it, but from the Wakashimazu Wikipedia article, the former ozeki did mention back in 1981 that Takada would make an ideal wife. Four years later, they got hitched!🎎 Happily enough, their daughter Airy got married last year.
I'm also grateful to Takada in that she was one of the first singers that got me permanently hooked on kayo kyoku since I was always listening to "Watashi wa Piano"（私はピアノ）and "Ai no Imagination"（愛のイマジネーション）on audiotape after returning from that life-changing trip to Japan back in the summer of 1981. Composer Kato was also responsible for the latter tune.
I lowkey wonder, now that Mizue has been relieved from her okamisan duties following husband's retirement as stablemaster, whether there is a chance for even a brief return of her to the music business. Even if it was just a brief reappearance on Omoide no Melody like the one she did a few years ago (2015 I think?), that would be great.
ReplyDeleteHello there. I certainly think that there is a possibility that she will return to the microphone to do some singing on one of the music shows, if she wants. Momoko Kikuchi recently put out a couple of new songs so why not Takada? :)
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