Koichi Miura -- Ochiba Shigure（落葉しぐれ）

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I may have mentioned this before, but autumn is my favourite season. The summer heat and humidity have given way to a refreshing coolness while retaining the mostly sunny days. Of course, in both Canada and Japan, it's also a fine time for good food and drink, although I'm not quite sold on pumpkin spice latte.

And so in keeping with that fall theme as we enter October, I bring you Koichi Miura's（三浦洸一）"Ochiba Shigure" (Fallen Leaves in the Autumn Rain). The fact that fellow contributor Noelle Tham has not only talked about this 1953 hit once but twice talks to its popularity and amity. My association with the song comes from a recent episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）where I saw it performed.

Written by Shizuo Yoshikawa（吉川静夫）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, it's a grand yet comforting enka (although it wasn't called an enka back then) in melody although Yoshikawa's lyrics talk about a roaming vagabond guitarist sporting little aside from the great weight of regrets in his life as he goes from place to place even in the midst of cold precipitation. Well, at least I can enjoy it from the confines of a warm cafe or bar, although I'd be willing to call in the poor lad to sit down and share a cup.

Miura appeared on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen a total of eight times between 1955 and 1963 during which he sang "Ochiba Shigure" in his first appearance on the New Year's Eve special. The singer was actually born Toshiyasu Kuwata（桑田利康）and he took his stage name from his hometown of Miura City, Kanagawa Prefecture. He left this mortal coil on January 11th 2025 at the age of 97.