Bin Uehara — Harusame Zoushi (春雨草紙)

Bin-san may look the most plain out of my six fellows, but for some reason, I find him the most adorable. 

From the 1937 Polydor Records
archives. National Diet Library.

I'm no expert in prewar Japan record censorship, but I got a record censorship 101 through some kayo history books like Hiromu Nagahara's "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" (no actual relation to the song) and my favourite Osakabe-Takehei Showa no Utagoe podcast. What I got out of them (correct me if I'm wrong) was that, since the 1934 revision of the Publication Law, records became subjected to censorship. Songs could be flagged as morally degenerate and a danger to public order with the silliest of reasons, but record companies and musicians could weasel their way around the censors with relative ease. Of course, the surveillance intensified from 1937 when the 2nd Sino-Japanese War began, and it only got worse when the Pacific War kicked in, but record censorship seemed to be nowhere near as harsh as that applied to literature. I usually find myself laughing and/or tilting my head in disbelief at the rationales behind some flagged pieces of music. But there is one that, as the kids say, gets me tilted. That song is Bin Uehara's (上原敏) "Harusame Zoushi"*. 

From the Koga Masao Museum of
Music's Spring exhibition (2022)

I first discovered "Harusame Zoushi" at one of the seasonal exhibitions in the Koga Masao Museum of Music a couple years back. This one room in the casa Koga section of the museum would have these special themed showcases that change every few months. On that particular visit, the theme was “Spring”, so stuff from ryukoka to J-pop that featured spring in its title would be on display. It just so happened that on this list of spring songs, there was "Harusame Zoushi", which I thought was a pretty sounding title. After all, it somewhat translates to "Spring shower notebook/journal". This was also around the time I started getting into Bin-san, so I was more than open to recommendations that weren’t gunka, which is actually quite hard since at least a third/half of his discography is gunka.

Upon listening to "Harusame Zoushi", I was quickly taken by Takeo Abe's (阿部武雄) composition with quite a strong traditional Japanese flavour. The smooth notes of koto and the tinkling bells are reminiscent of a light rain falling outside an ancient lodge and coating the plum or Sakura blossoms in a layer of crystals. What I think is the shamisen, or maybe just more aggressive koto playing, providing a harsher, raspy edge to the Abe-Take melody is like when some heavy droplets rain down from trees or the eves of a building. The beautiful melody is generally upbeat; I don't like the rain, but the tune makes the image of a downpour less dreary, hence it being one of my go-to rainy day tunes. Despite Abe-Take’s light and jaunty composition, Jugo Chichibu's (秩父重剛) words are contrastingly melancholic. They revolve around who I think is a ronin/wanderer who reluctantly broke off a romance. Bin-san's forlorn vocals convey the lingering affection our protagonist has for the woman he loves and the loneliness he feels because of the path he's chosen. Considering the title, I wonder if what we’re hearing are journal entries written by our protagonist and the spring rain outside his lodge reminds him of these bittersweet memories. I'd say it's pretty standard matatabi kayo topic, but it doesn't make the song any less enjoyable. 

You must be thinking, "Why was this song banned, then?" Well, Kiyomaro Kikuchi stated in "Showa Enka no Rekishi", the sentimentality of "Harusame Zoushi" was heavily frowned upon by the powers that be. Note that the song was released in 1938, which was soon after the 2nd Sino-Japanese War began and when censorship got tighter as the government/Internal ministry became more sensitive to such songs since they inspired weakness and irresponsible behaviour under the State of Emergency. I mean, fair enough, I guess, since "Harusame Soushi" is about an itinerant character pining for his lost love. And I suppose Bin-san's sad high tone didn't do the song any favour either. But the nail in the coffin was its music. According to Kikuchi's interpretation of the verdict, it not only showcased the weakness of a man, but reminiscent to caressing the body of a woman. Reading that for the first time, I actually vocalized, "WHO would've thought that?" Certainly not me!! It got me thinking: Wouldn't that just reflect the inner mind of the record censor(s) and authorities for thinking that? I'm looking at you, Chikagoro Ogawa (小川近五郎) - the head of the small record censors bureau. Get your mind out of the gutter, geez... I don't know why, but "Harusame Zoushi" getting flagged always gets me worked up.

Wild ban verdicts aside, since there are copies of "Harusame Zoushi" floating about, it can be concluded that it received the sales ban order some time after hitting the shelves unlike "Tarinai Song", another controversial ditty I covered a little while back. Personally, I think "Harusame Zoushi" is a song that matches Bin-san’s vocal quality, so I feel that it could've at least become a middling hit. How regrettable, but it came out during some dark times, so it can't be helped. But with that sort of record censorship being a thing of the past (correct me if I'm wrong), at least it can be fully appreciated for what it is now. 

Y'know, me thinking that Bin-san sounded so sweet and adorable when singing "Harusame Zoushi" would've probably made the censors more firm in their decision to ban it. 

ポリドール月報3月（昭和13）
National Diet Library archives

*I'm not sure if the kanji here meaning "Spring rain" is pronounced as "Shun-u" or the more common "Harusame". Soushi refers to those old booklets with pictures with some word/written story accompaniments. Noelle from 7/3/24: The title of this song could likely be pronounced as “Harusame Zoushi”. J-Canuck had put up a “What’s that title called” bulletin on Twitter and Showa enthusiast Tadaaki Kitakawa suggested that it could be “Harusame” since it’s more natural and there’d been pieces of literature that use this pronunciation, like “Harusame Monogatari” from the early 1800s. I’m inclined to agree. I'd been reading the title as "Harusame...", but I did have doubts as I kept associating it with the glass noodles and the fact that the title is four consecutive kanji, hence me going with "Shun-u" in my first edition of this article.

*Noelle from 8/3/24: I'd Tweeted out the promotional image above for the song and music memorial researcher Yuta Inoue kindly looked it up on the JASRAC site. Turns out it is officially called "Harusame Zoushi". The case is solved!! For those who'd seen this in draft stage and the first edition, you'd know that this article's title transformed many times: Harusame Soushi > Shun-u Soushi > Harusame Soushi > Harusame Zoushi. My goodness, what a learning journey it's been for me for just ONE song's TITLE. At least I know what one of my favourite Bin-san songs is really called. I greatly appreciate the input of those who've helped me figure it out(´人` ).‪‪ Incidentally, Inoue is also the person whom I knew about Bin-san's fan activities through.