Tatsuya Nakadai -- Ginza Rock'n（銀座ロックン）

 

We were all at the dining table away from the television although we could hear the NHK report. As soon as I heard "Famed for his performances in Akira Kurosawa's 'Ran' and "Yojimbo'...", we all knew that this was an obituary and it was for the master thespian Tatsuya Nakadai（仲代達矢）who passed away on November 8th at the age of 92.

Whenever I heard the name Tatsuya Nakadai, although I was never one to watch a lot of Japanese dramas either on the big screen or the small screen for a lot of my life, my image of him was one of thespianship on the level of Laurence Olivier whether it be in front of a camera or on the stage. He probably was at home doing either Shakespeare or jidai geki, and that slightly hangdog expression seemed to hide a lot of roiling emotions underneath. Speaking of Shakespeare and jidai geki, the only movie I saw with him in it was Kurosawa's "Ran"（乱）in 1985 (although I read that he did have an uncredited bit role in the legendary "Seven Samurai") which had some inspiration from "King Lear".

I have to admit that I have yet to see Kurosawa's other past classic "Yojimbo"（用心棒）, and that is indeed young Nakadai challenging grizzled Toshiro Mifune to a final duel.

Being someone who's in the music field rather than the acting one, I'm ill-equipped to give any sort of tribute to Nakadai; it's probably better reading his Wikipedia profile or any of the eulogies that will pop up on YouTube in the next several days by fellow actors such as his acolyte, Koji Yakusho. However, scrolling down the J-Wiki article regarding him, I did find that he had released four singles, three of which came out in 1958.

The last single to come out in that year was "Kosame no Chuushajou"（小雨の駐車場...The Parking Lot During a Shower） but I'm focusing on the B-side which is "Ginza Rock'n", all about having one swinging time in downtown Tokyo with the girlfriend. Written by Hisao Ohtaka（大高ひさを）and composed by Ryosuke Murasawa（村沢良介）, it's some rockabilly kayo but what is noticeable that Nakadai, although he was only around 25 at the time of recording, delivers the song in that recognizable baritone that has distinguished him throughout his long career. My condolences to his family, friends and many fans.