Ah, yes. The post-relationship trip to someplace unknown...a classic enka lyrical theme. I've come across it a number of times since first posting Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）1977 hit "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）all the way back in 2012. I still wonder if there are melancholy folks who flee to that strait up north.
Well, not too long ago, I encountered this enka for the first time during an episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. Titled "Onna---Hitori Tabi" (Woman...A Journey Alone), this was enka singer Toshimi Tagawa's（田川寿美）debut song from April 1992, and the song even faintly hints at Ishikawa's trademark tune melodically speaking. However, instead of Takashi Miki（三木たかし）handling the composition, it was Jun Suzuki（鈴木淳）who created the sad melody. The lyrics of a woman going to this unknown place up north all by her lonesome without her erstwhile paramour as had originally been scheduled were provided by Keiko Yuuki（悠木圭子）, who recently passed away in March of this year at the age of 90.
Reaching No. 45 on Oricon, Tagawa made her debut on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1994 with "Onna...Hitori Tabi". She would make three more appearances thus far on the New Year's Eve special in 1995, 1998 and 2002.
I agree "the journey north" has been a theme in both Enka and Kayōkyoku! Tokyo → night train → snow → lonely station → rough sea → northern town is almost a visual vocabulary for separation, memory, solitude, and most importantly starting over. Before the Tōhoku Shinkansen and the Seikan Tunnel transformed northern travel, reaching Aomori or Hokkaido involved long-distance trains, sleeper trains, stations in the snow, and ferries. So going north actually felt like gradually leaving metropolitan Japan behind. I think a lyricist could simply mention Ueno, a night train, the Great Aomori prefecture, the Sea of Japan, or the Tsugaru Strait and instantly create distance. Historically there are cases in which people who were on the losing side of battles or who had lost favour with the Shogun were sent far away from the capital of Japan to what is now Hirosaki and to Mutsu (or the Tonami domain). Although I never lost any wars, battles, fights, or arguments I too made the journey north.
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. Yup, it's the classic trope for kayo kyoku especially snow and winter pretty much signify the nadir of romance. I guess getting banished to northern Japan may been like getting banished to Siberia, although I think the former definitely has its charms (apple pie, fresh fish, etc.).
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