Chiyoko Shimakura -- Karatachi Nikki（からたち日記）

 

Getting a bit late in the night but I just wanted to put up one more article since it's based on one more performance that I'd seen last night on "Uta Con"（うたコン）. Did want to make it a set to join Stardust Revue's "Sugar wa O-Toshigoro"（シュガーはお年頃）and Kiyoshi Hikawa's（氷川きよし） "Koushuuji"（甲州路）. 

Enka singer Fuyumi Sakamoto（坂本冬美）appeared on the show to pay tribute to her fellow entertainer and singer Chiyoko Shimakura（島倉千代子）nine years following her passing, and the song that she sang was "Karatachi Nikki" (Japanese Bitter Orange Diary). This was a 1958 single that Shimakura had recorded with lyricist Sou Nishizawa（西沢爽）and composer Minoru Endo（遠藤実） behind the songwriting. It's a very poignant enka about learning the hard lesson about that first love and that it often ends up in that first heartbreak. Incidentally, the above version is a 1963 re-recording of the song on Shimakura's YouTube channel.

Most of the song takes on a very wistful and content pattern but for several seconds in the middle, it goes into a minor key to signify the loss of love. As well, I think the title was well chosen since as the translation of it shows, the breakup is quite bitter. Plus, from what I've read about the karatachi（枸橘）or the Japanese bitter orange on Wikipedia is that its bitterness is such that it's practically inedible although it can apparently be made into marmalade and medicine against inflammation.

Another interesting thing that I read about "Karatachi Nikki" on J-Wiki was that it broke a jinx observed in the music industry back then. Evidently, kayo containing a spoken-word segment were seen as non-sellers. Well, "Karatachi Nikki" roundly smashed that superstition by selling around 1.3 million records and if Oricon had been around in the late 1950s, the song would have hit No. 1 easily. No worries about any lack of accolades though since Shimakura was invited to sing the song on the 9th edition of the Kohaku Utagassen in 1958 and in her appearances on the 1973 and 1984 shows. In fact, Shimakura starred in an adaptation of the song into a motion picture in 1959; in 1967, there was a TV drama version as well although I'm not sure whether Shimakura was in that one.