Michiya Mihashi -- Osage to Hana to Jizo-san to（おさげと花と地蔵さんと）

 

I think I've mentioned this at least once or twice before on the blog, but when it comes to the period in Japanese history that I've been drawn to the most, it's been the postwar era because of how Japan was able to rise up from the ashes to become the 2nd-biggest economic power for many years (it's possibly come down to 4th as of this writing). One factor behind the government's charge to get the nation back up onto its feet again was its encouragement of people as young as junior high school graduates to move from the countryside into the cities to work in the factories and offices. It was a massive domestic migration.

Of course, music absorbs a lot of what's happening at the time and gets onto the record store shelves, so back in those early days of recovery in the late 1940s and 1950s, there was a certain type of kayo kyoku coming out known as bokyo kayo（望郷歌謡）or, as perhaps retroactively labeled, bokyo enka（望郷演歌）, which refers to Japanese pop music at the time expressing the loneliness and yearning for hometown and family while toiling away in the big cities such as Tokyo or Osaka. And one of the founding pillars of enka, singer Michiya Mihashi（三橋美智也）, released a bokyo kayo in 1957 titled "Osage to Hana to Jizo-san to" (Pigtails and Flowers and Jizo Statues). Written by Jusaburo Tojo（東条寿三郎）and composed by Junichi Hosokawa（細川潤一）, Mihashi gives a tenderhearted story about a man who has been thinking about his family and home back in the countryside as he's working in the city, a place where he's been residing for the past three years. His memories include what's in the title: perhaps the pigtails on her sister's or girlfriend's head, the flowers outside and the jizo statues spiritually protecting the house.

Not surprisingly, the song hit a tender nerve within the country as it sold well over a million records. I can certainly hope that the protagonist in "Osage to Hana to Jizo-san to" was finally able to head back the ol' furusato for a visit at least. After all, there's no place like home. 🏡