Ichiro Fujiyama -- Asakusa no Uta（浅草の唄）

 

This has been called the oldest underground mall in Tokyo. Japan's capital is one of many cities in the country that has a plethora of underground malls so it's something to hear that the network of restaurants, bars and other shops below the traditional quarter of Asakusa is the oldest. And it's one place that I walked through many times during my two years working at the NOVA branch there in the 1990s.

Over the weekend, NHK showed one of its documentaries focusing on the Asakusa Underground, and I was surprised/not surprised that it hadn't changed one iota in the past thirty years. The subterranean community still looks very earthy, grungy and grimy. I still remember the combined smell of oil, soy sauce and most likely sweat whenever I walked through the place to get to the other side of the street without having to wait at the intersection for the signal to change to green.

Apparently, there have been two different kayo kyoku titled "Asakusa no Uta" (Asakusa Song): one from the prewar era and one after the war. The one I'm posting about here today is the 1947 version recorded by veteran Ichiro Fujiyama（藤山一郎）. Written by Hachiro Sato（ｻﾄｳ ﾊﾁﾛｰ）and composed by Tadashi Manjome（万城目正）, Fujiyama sings "Asakusa no Uta" in his characteristic jaunty style as he describes the hustle and bustle and the million stories that have been told in the venerable neighbourhood. I'm sure the Underground has a good chunk of those stories, and to be honest, I wouldn't mind a silver dish of that yakisoba made down there.

By the way, I did post on another Asakusa-themed kayo kyoku back in 2016 titled "Asakusa Shimai"（浅草姉妹）by the Komadori Shimai（こまどり姉妹）.