Hisaya Morishige -- Tonkatsu no Uta（とんかつの唄）

 

One of the many things that I miss about my old life in Ichikawa City has been the tonkatsu restaurant underneath Minami-Gyotoku Station, Tonki. Just one of many commercial establishments lying below the Tokyo Metro tracks, it was also one of the most frequented by me for lunch and dinner in my 17 years living in the neighbourhood. I always enjoyed their hire katsu teishoku with the lean pork fillet and the mountain of shredded cabbage. Of course, the cabbage, miso soup and rice were bottomless. Double of course, the pork was exquisite.🐖

My memories of Tonki were ironically returned by my lunch of a roast beef sandwich earlier today. Now, the supermarket sandwich was OK but it doesn't hold a flame to the Tonki pork cutlet set. However, it was enough for me to wonder whether there were a kayo kyoku about tonkatsu and sure enough, it didn't even take me a few minutes before I found one through the Yahoo Japan search engine.

Back in 1963, there was a movie titled "Kigeki: Tonkatsu Ichidai"（喜劇 とんかつ一代...Tonkatsu One Generation: A Comedy） starring the late acting legend Hisaya Morishige（森繫久彌）. He was also a singer and usually when his name pops up in my head, the wistful folk song "Shiretoko Ryojou"（知床旅情）that he himself wrote and composed comes to mind. However, "Tonkatsu Ichidai" is indeed a comedy as he plays the owner of a tonkatsu restaurant with what I'm sure is plenty of gags and quips galore. Morishige even sings the theme song "Tonkatsu no Uta" (The Tonkatsu Song) which was written by Ichiro Sato（佐藤一郎）and composed by Hachiro Matsui（松井八郎）.

Right from the beginning, the comical brass pretty much telegraphs the tone of "Tonkatsu Ichidai" and the quaint marching beat led by Morishige may even give some insight into his character as he sings lovingly about his wife whom he compares to a freshly-cooked tonkatsu (I am assuming that he is being complimentary). He even sings about having an oil-filled kiss...which is about as far as I'm going to let my imagination flow. In any case, let it be said that the owner really loves his family and livelihood.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any decent footage of the movie itself but at least, I can finish off with a couple of more photos of my beloved Tonki.