Hachiro Kasuga -- Tasuke Mago Uta (多助馬子唄)

My Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) Centenary Project may have ended, but I’ve been almost exclusively listening to Hachi songs for the past few months so, of course, I’m going to do another Hachi feature.

Sometime earlier this year, I’ve had the privilege to receive what is perhaps the first ever and, perhaps, only album containing all of singer-songwriter Tadaharu Nakano’s (中野忠晴) compositions for Hachi. I cannot thank Hachi fan club vice president Fukui-san for creating what is the physical manifestation of my love for both the Enka veteran and the jazz dandy. There were my familiar favourites, entries I know by title but have never heard/not thought of listening to, and works I’d never seen before. Out of the latter categories, some eventually became constants on my current everyday playlist. One of them comes from the second category and is the tune of this article: Tasuke Mago Uta (Tasuke's Horse/Horse-leading Song).

Tasuke Mago Uta was released in March 1957, and accompanying Mr. Nakano's music was Jusaburo Tojo's (東條寿三郎) words. I was made aware of its existence via a mini Kayokyoku Shu (歌謡曲集… Pop song collection) from 1957 I got many years ago. This booklet contained the lyrics and music scores of some of a season's releases from various artists, Kasuga included. Tasuke... was one of those tunes that floated around YouTube, so I could've easily checked it out. Yet, I had this assumption that it was some sort of redux of Tsumakoi Toge* (妻恋峠), but infused with more Komoro Mago Uta (小諸馬子唄) min'yo. The fact that the same men made both songs reinforced this invisible barrier. It was only upon receiving the aforementioned Hachi-Nakano album when I was proved so very wrong.

Oh... Hachi...
From Kayokyoku Shu (1957)

For one, Tasuke... had nothing to do with the Komoro Mago Uta and I wouldn't say it has much/any min'yo flavour. But it still has to do a horses - more on that in a bit. The swelling strings and accordion, accompanied by the rhythmic thrum of the acoustic guitar and the flute whistling playfully produce a cheerful atmosphere and a sense of optimism. Said flute also adds a layer of rusticity; together with Nakano's melody that moves at a languid pace, it feels as though you're walking through a lush valley with the mountains towering overhead. On the note of tempo and Masao Ueno (上野正雄) arrangement, even though Tasuke… predates enka's birth by several years, it's a kayo which I feel, for the above reasons, most reminiscent of modern-day enka. I don't know if Tasuke Mago Uta will find its way into my Hachi Top 10, but I can say that I like it a lot.

Moving on to Tojo's lyrics. The main question I had was: Who is this "Tasuke"? A quick search online and confirmation with the Hachi club folks revealed that he was a real Edo-era businessman Tasuke Shiobara (塩原太助). Tojo based Tasuke Mago Uta's premise on the rakugo and rokyoku tales that were inspired by his life - the original tale was the rakugo Shiobara Tasuke Ichidaiki (塩原多助一代記), and the later-day rokyoku was simply called Shiobara Tasuke (塩原多助). It was the norm for kayo and, in later days, enka to derive its source material from other forms of entertainment. Among which was none other than the once ferociously popular rokyoku - which, in turn, derived much of its source material from even older types of entertainment, like the much-loved rakugo and kodan. So, I'd say Tasuke Mago Uta is one good example of this source material borrowing chain.

Coming back to Tojo’s lyrics on the tale of Tasuke Shiobara, the song zeroes in on the part of the story before the businessman’s rise to greatness where he had to leave his Gunma hometown for Edo. In doing so, however, he also had to part ways with his beloved horse, Ao, who had been his trusted companion for (I believe) over a decade. Tojo illustrated Tasuke's sorrow and even depicted him tearfully telling Ao to take care in his absence. To my knowledge, there aren’t many kayo that specifically depict the melancholy of parting with one’s horse, so Tasuke Mago Uta’s narrative instantly reminded me of what is perhaps the kayo with this scenario: Michiya Mihashi's (三橋美智也) Tassha de na (達者でナ). Oddly enough, this was also composed by Mr. Nakano, albeit in a considerably different style. You can have a taste of it in the video below.

* Tsumakoi Toge was from 1955 and the first hit Nakano produced for Kasuga. Its main draw was the inclusion of the Nagano variant of the horse leading min’yo, Komoro Mago Uta in each stanza. The fact that the min’yo and Tasuke... share the term “Mago Uta” you can see how my assumption arose. You can give it a listen in the video below. I sound as if I dislike Tsumakoi Toge, but I'm actually fine with it. It's just that it's not one of my go-to tunes.