Haruo Minami -- Kobe wo Hiraku Kiyomori (神戸を拓く清盛)

Haru-san demonstrating how I should be spending my summer in this photo. Yes, Haru-san, I'm doing (trying to do) as my professor says, don't worry.

As expected of the one called the
"singing academic"

Haruo Minami's (三波春夫) birthday's coming up in a little less than a couple of weeks. On top of that, this year is actually his centenary! I've missed a few singers' centenaries in the past, mainly because I either wasn't in to them at the time or simply did not notice. But this is one I made sure to keep in mind - the constant reminders on his Facebook page do help in this aspect. So, to mark the occasion, I thought it'd be good to dedicate an article to him right here. And what better way to do so than to feature the one of his kayo-rokyoku creations?

Besides that glorious grin and gorgeous kimonos, kayo-rokyoku was probably what dear Haru-san was best known for. He gave us abridged versions of the traditional art of narrative singing, covering popular tales and significant figures in Japanese history in an exhilarating fashion since the early 60s. Of which his biggest undertaking was a kayo-rokyoku rendition of "The Tale of Heike", or "Heike Monogatari" (平家物語) from 1994. 

Quite some time ago, I featured "Kiyomori Tenka wo Iru" (清盛天下を射る), an early instalment from the series. It revolved around the infamous Taira no Kiyomori (平清盛) in his younger, hot-blooded battle commander days quelling the havoc a bunch of rogue warrior monks were wreaking on the capital. This time, via "Kobe wo Hiraku Kiyomori", we shall fast-forward to a Kiyomori in his fifties or sixties, who'd by then calculatedly worked his way up the political hierarchy, and his port-building exploits.

It's been a while since I've read Eiji Yoshikawa's (吉川英治) telling of the story and Haru-san's background explanation in the lead up to the song was a little hard to catch, but I believe Kiyomori settled in Fukuhara, Kobe, in his later days. As one with considerable power would, he aspired to make this rustic town by the coast great and bring greater riches to the country via sea trade. Thus, a port was arranged to be built. While the idea sounded good on paper, construction turned out to be a pain in the neck with awful consequences. The rough seas on Japan's eastern coast made the process arduous and many a labourer had their lives claimed by the tempestuous waves. Kiyomori himself couldn't care less about the losses, but his eldest son Shigemori (重盛), soft-hearted and a staunch Buddhist, did. Shigemori yearned to put a stop to the loss of lives and figured that the only way to do so was a human sacrifice to the sea. So, he flung himself into the bay. By the time the cynical Kiyomori realised what happened, it was too late and his heir was gone. Despite the tragedy, the port was successfully built and it became world renown as the modern-day Port of Kobe. If this Shigemori incident was one of the non-fictionalized accounts of the "Heike Monogatari", this port would've had quite the origin, don't you think?

Minami's composition also aptly captured the various highlights of this chapter: The grandiose start representing Kiyomori's ambition being followed by a sinister lull to showcase the project's dangers and Shigemori's dilemma, then a harried crescendo that encompassed Kiyomori's distress when he found out about Shigemori's drowning. Haru-san portraying the Taira clan's head's initial haughtiness and subsequent anger-turned-remorse was top-notch too. 

Kiyomori in the Mitsubishi
Ichigokan Museum

Even though I haven't had the patience to sit through the entirety of Haru-san's rendition of the "Heike Monogatari", a number of my favourite songs by him come from this collection, "Kobe wo Hiraku Kiyomori" being one of them. The songs were so riveting that they gave me the impetus to read the book and learn more about the literary classic. In that way, this labour of love, sweat, and literal tears by the chirpy, kimono-clad performer left a strong impression on me. No less from the one I call my Japanese history and literature teacher. Happy 100th, Haru-san! :D

I think you've more than achieved
your dream, Haru-san.