Grape -- Shouryou Nagashi（精霊流し）

 

Now that we're all heading into a major Holiday period, it might be a bit odd to refer back to another major holiday period in Japan in late summer, Obon. One event that I never got to witness since I was basically on my own in Ichikawa and Tokyo was an Obon event which involves the placement of floating lanterns on a river to represent seeing off the spirits of the ancestral dead back to the afterlife.

In Nagasaki, there is the Shouryou Nagashi or Spirit Boat Procession which is representative of that part of the Obon holiday. Apparently nowadays in the interests of preventing water pollution, the boats aren't actually floated in the rivers or ocean anymore; instead, they're part of street parades.

The folk duo Grape（グレープ）consisting of Masashi Sada（さだまさし）and Masami Yoshida（吉田正美）gave tribute to the event through their 2nd single, "Shouryou Nagashi", released in April 1974. Sada, whose hometown is Nagasaki, wrote and composed the song based on his memories of an older relative who had passed away in an accident. As is often the case with a Sada-penned song, "Shouryou Nagashi" is a warm and wistful folk tune which touched the heartstrings of many who heard it; according to J-Wiki, an initial release of 4,500 records was nowhere near enough and over time, the total sold amounted to 1.3 million records!

"Shouryou Nagashi" was Grape's first Top 10 hit by reaching No. 2. It would eventually become the 13th-ranked single for 1974 and won at the Japan Record Awards for Best Lyricist. Although Grape never got onto NHK's Kohaku Utagassen, Sada himself ended up on the annual special 21 times with his appearances on the 1995 and 2002 editions highlighting "Shouryou Nagashi". In the decades since its release, the song has also been covered by numerous singers including Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）, Shinichi Mori（森進一）and Peggy Hayama（ペギー葉山）.