I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Toronto got its first snowfall this morning with a couple of inches expected by the evening. I'm not sure whether this is the beginning of a snow-filled winter but as such, the accumulation may be enough for the local kids to take delight outside. Mayo, Kayo and Nayo Kyoku with Mr. Calico seem to think so. Anyways, I thought that it would be nice on this Hump Day to add at least one more Author's Pick to finish up 2024 since the last one in tribute to Casablanca. The theme here is songs with "snow" in the title.
To wrap up, I've already got Bing Crosby aboard "Kayo Kyoku Plus" so why not have him do his rendition of "Snow" from the 1954 movie "White Christmas"? Well, he's got his buddies helping him out, too.
To all readers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", Happy New Year and I hope that you've been enjoying a peaceful beginning to 2021. I did have my ozoni this morning and managed not to asphyxiate on my rice cakes. Currently, it's a rather serene day outside. As I was telling Noelle, it's not sunny but it's not storming out there either and the temperatures aren't too bad for a January.
Well, I figure that since this is gantan（元旦...New Year's Day）, something appropriate is needed to start off the 2021 session of KKP. Therefore, I've chosen the children's song "Oshogatsu" (New Year) originally composed by Rentaro Taki（瀧廉太郎）and written by Kume Higashi（東くめ）. Taki came up with a lot of classic Japanese songs for the kids including "Yuki ya Konkon"（雪やこんこん）which also had Higashi's lyrics.
According to J-Wiki, "Oshogatsu" made its first appearance in a music book for kindergarten children in July 1901 but since then, it has become one of the perennial songs to be heard and sung during this time of year, and in commemoration of that, it was recognized in 2007 as one of the "Nihon no Uta Hyakusen"（日本の歌百選...Collection of 100 Japanese songs） sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Parents-Teachers Association of Japan.
Enjoy this adorable version by the ladies at the Bon Bon Academy（ボンボンアカデミー）!
At this point in time, I'm aware of a few kayo that are meant to be odes to ancient Japanese castles, namely Michiya Mihashi's (三橋美智也) "Kojou" (古城) and Kiyoshi Hikawa's (氷川きよし) "Haku-un no Shiro" (白雲の城). I'm a fan of Michi's biggest hit and I'm in the midst of getting used to Hikawa's iconic single, but I hadn't yet got formally introduced to their spiritual predecessor "Kojo no Tsuki" until now.
"Kojo no Tsuki", which translates to "Moon Over the Ruined Castle", has a forlorn and haunting atmosphere, created by long drawn out strings and, in some versions I've heard, the tinkling notes of the koto (adds a more Japanese flavour). This eerie composition, written by the short-lived Rentaro Taki (滝廉太郎) in 1901, highlights the fact that these fortresses, once grand in their time, are now nothing but moss-covered ruins and remnants of the past. This brings to my mind the phrase "If the walls could talk, what would they be saying?". Perhaps the cobblestone walls must be lamenting over their fate of being forgotten or having been turned into a tourist attraction after being the epitome of power in their prime.
Yoshiko Yamaguchi's version
I digress. Moving on, the inspiration for the two aforementioned hits by the huge enka stars actually started out as a tune for music lessons in school. After Taki passed on, one thing led to another and some changes to his score were made and the lyrics were added by poet Bansui Doi (土井晩翠). Eventually, it did become popularized nationally as well as internationally in the 1920's, although I'm not very sure who was the first to record it. The English Wiki stated that operatic singer Yoshie Fujiwara (藤原義江) recorded it in 1925, but the J-Wiki has no mention of it. That aside, it was covered a number of times by a myriad of artistes, like the venerable Yoshiko Yamaguchi (山口淑子), Ichiro Fujiyama (藤山一郎), and of course, Michi and Hikawa. I'm not able to find Michi's take, but I've put up the others. I don't have a favourite, but I feel that Yamaguchi's soprano gives "Kojo no Tsuki" an extra layer of loneliness and eeriness.
Mr Fujiyama's version
Between "Kojou" and "Haku-un no Shiro", I think the latter resembles "Kojo no Tsuki" more in terms of its music. You can hear it in the video below. The score of "Kojou", on the other hand, sounds like it has slightly more modern touch to it.
Hikawa's "Haku-un no Shiro"
A little tidbit of information here: The castles the words and the music were based on were different. Taki had Oita prefecture's Oka Castle in mind, while Doi pictured the Aoba Castle in Miyagi and Aizuwakamatsu Castle in Fukushima.
Personally, I've not visited many castles in Japan. The only one I've actually gone up to for a look was the Osaka castle about 4 years back. T'was a majestic sight against the night sky and it's nowhere near ruin, but to be frank, I was more interested in this enormous Siberian Husky or Alaskan Malamute (probably the latter) that was stationed inside a photo shop. I really wanted to give it some love but I was advised not to - the elderly shop owner seemed sour over people going into the shop for the dog and not for the photo services. Well, lady, what do you expect when you've got a dog big enough to be ridden into battle? I wonder if Fido is still there.
Not a whole lot of time to do any writing today due to work and then my brother's family coming over for dinner so I thought it was time to put up an old children's song that was sung to me by Mom all the way back.
"Yuki ya Konkon"(Snow Falling Thickly) was composed by Rentaro Taki（瀧廉太郎）who sadly passed away at the very young age of 23 in 1903. However in 1901, he came up with this well-known cheerful winter song with lyrics by Kume Higashi（東くめ）.
Another reason that I'm putting this song up is that the Eastern Seaboard is getting hammered with a weather phenomenon that will probably go down into lore as "The Blizzard of 2016" so I'm hoping that some of my friends/commenters in the affected areas are doing OK. The translation for "Yuki ya Konkon" can be found here.
