Continuing on with the Gosanke（御三家）series, I believe that this will be the first of the series in 2023. To start off, I'd like to introduce the Enka Sanba Garasu (The Three Ravens of Enka) who actually predate the first music industry-based Ganso Gosanke（元祖御三家）by several years, although I couldn't find out when these three had the label put onto them. Mind you, the Ganso Sannin Musume（元祖三人娘）had been brought together before the Enka Sanba Garasu by a few years.
According to J-Wiki, there were three other Sanba Garasu within Japan's show business thus needing to put on the enka tab. For the Enka Sanba Garasu, we have Hachiro Kasuga（春日八郎）, Michiya Mihashi (三橋美智也) and Hideo Murata (村田英雄). They all made their debut in the 1950s with Murata being the last one by coming out with "Muhomatsu no Issho" (無法松の一生) in 1958. As for why any trio back then would be compared with ravens or crows, I don't really have an idea since I think crows have had the image of being quite cunning and suspicious, but one part of J-Wiki mentions that the bird has had the title of being "a messenger for the gods". Mind you, I've had my own personal "encounters" with crows, usually on garbage day.
Hachiro Kasuga -- Akai Lamp no Shuressha (赤いランプの終列車)
Michiya Mihashi -- Ano Ko ga Naiteru Hatoba (あの娘が泣いてる波止場)
Hideo Murata -- Muhomatsu no Issho (無法松の一生)
Hi, J-Canuck.
ReplyDeleteI actually wasn't expecting to see Hachi, Michi and Muchi in your "Gosanke Series". I also didn't know that they'd been labelled as the "Enka Sanba Garasu" since I know them as the "Sannin no Kai". The former does have a cooler ring to it, though.
But, interesting point of you bringing up them being called "Sanba Garasu". The industry did seem to like calling trios of male singers back in the day a bunch of crows/ravens. Besides the guys you mentioned, I recall that there's the "Sengo Sanba Garasu" with Haruo Oka, Toshiro Omi, and Yoshio Tabata. I believe there was also the King Records version with Hachi, Michi, and Ichiro Wakahara. Besides the religious prestige, perhaps crows/ravens could've provided a more masculine contrast to their female counterparts that tend to be referred to as little songbirds, hence the label.
As for my experience with the crows, while I've thankfully not been accosted by them on garbage day, I occasionally wake to their... song... on some mornings.
Hi, Noelle.
DeleteYeah, I don't know how Hachi, Michi and Muchi ended up with that Sanba Garasu label although it's been mentioned on a few other sites including my main source for trios. Not sure whether it was the management companies or the emerging television industry or newspapers that came up with the name.
Ravens do have that rather intimidating aura around them, so I can imagine that they could be used for male trios. You did say that you knew some of the other trios and I didn't see any other Sanba Garasu at Idol.ne.jp so if you have time and interest, perhaps you can also add them to the blog with their representative songs.
By the way, I've had stare downs with the crows. Not pretty.
https://idol.ne.jp/big-three-other
That sounds like a good idea! I think I'll do one on the Sengo Sanba Garasu. Also, thanks for the Gosanke site link. It's fascinating to see so many variations of Gosanke and Sannin Musume outside of those I'm familiar with.
DeleteNo problems here. Looking forward to the Sengo Sanba Garasu.
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