Kouhei Fukuda -- Hokugen Kaikyo（北限海峡）

 

Just looking at the videos from YouTube's Kuga's Travel, I'd assume that every ferry sailing around Japan would have the Royal Caribbean line green with envy. Of course, not every ferry looks quite that luxurious but heck, I wouldn't mind spending an overnight cruise on the Ishikari.

I couldn't help but remember that Kuga's Travel video when I heard this enka tune, although Kouhei Fukuda's（福田こうへい）"Hokugen Kaikyo" (Strait at the Northern Tip) is far more of a rustic description of the northernmost end of the main island of Honshu...basically the northern tip of Aomori Prefecture. There are plenty of shout outs to the local geographic features including the Tsugaru Strait which has been the target for many an old-fashioned kayo kyoku, the Shimokita Peninsula and the island of Hokkaido. 

Written and composed by enka veteran Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）, those lyrics bring up the bracing atmosphere of the environment surrounding that northern area by the sea with high waves rising up the cliffs and the coming blast of winter. I really shouldn't be thinking of a grand staircase and a buffet restaurant on board the Ishikari, but that's how it is. In any case, "Hokugen Kaikyo" was a track on Fukuda's 10th album "Kodama"（谺 〜こだま〜...Spirit of the Trees） from November 2017, and it's another song that I heard on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた...Songs of Japanese Spirit） along with Yuiko Kinoshita's（木下結子）"Hokasarete"（放されて）. Unlike the various genres that I added for "Hokasarete", though, "Hokugen Kaikyo" is 100% zesty enka.