Hideo Murata -- Otoko no Dohyo（男の土俵）

Tsubame98 via Wikimedia Commons

The Nagoya Sumo Tournament wrapped up yesterday afternoon with Ukrainian wrestler Aonishiki（安青錦） grabbing the championship. Not only that, but he also secured his second promotion to the second-highest tier of ozeki as well. 

I thought then that perhaps we can start this week's edition of KKP in this final week of July with something related to sumo. And sure enough, we come to the legendary enka singer Hideo Murata（村田英雄）. He was known for bringing in some oaken manly-man verve into some of his discography, namely into those songs celebrating Japanese pastimes such as judo via "Sugata Sanshiro"（姿三四郎）and "Judo Ichidai"（柔道一代）, and even shogi through "Osho" (王将).

Well, Murata presented his take on sumo with his January 1964 single "Otoko no Dohyo" (The Man and the Sumo Ring), and once again led the way on the odyssey to become a worthy rikishi in this ancient sport of Japan. This was actually written and composed by Murata himself and does so in a way that reminded me of the musical story of a masterless samurai wandering the Earth that often provided material for an enka tune...aside from the peppery percussion in the middle that often signals a sumo bout. Interestingly enough, "Otoko no Dohyo" was released in the same month as the judo-based "Sugata Sanshiro". As well, "Otoko no Dohyo" was performed by Murata on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen but not until 1976.