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.
A few years ago, I noted that the anime "Ojarumaru"（おじゃる丸）has a long-running list of theme songs to match its own longevity on television. It would seem that anyone who's anyone in the music industry has given their contribution to the purin-loving title character. Eclectic rock diva Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）is one of those people.
Well, a few weeks ago, I saw enka singer Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）provide his own song to this current season of "Ojarumaru", and though Hikawa has been dabbling into other genres over the years, he has come back to his genre roots for this one. His "Tabi de Gozansu Ojarumaru" (It's a Journey, Ojarumaru) is a spritely old-school enka tune with a nice amount of brass. Written by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）, the song takes me back when Hikawa began his career as the Boy Prince of Enka.
Watching "Uta Con"（うたコン）earlier today, I saw that the husband-and-wife folk duo Humbert Humbert（ハンバート ハンバート）were back to perform what has probably become their most famous work, "Warattari Korondari"（笑ったり転んだり）which is also the reassuring theme song for the current NHK morning serial drama "Bakebake"（ばけばけ...The Ghost Writer's Wife）. That will wrap up by the end of this month, and to me, it's been the asadora that has really zipped by as in "I can't believe it's already finishing!" although it did start up all the way back at the end of September.
Maybe it's because the show has basically stayed within one time period instead of going through decades of time and the fact that any turbulent crises were pretty minor and quickly resolved, but it's also been one of the more comfortable and comedic serials that I've seen. Apparently, tourism to the city of Matsue where the story has mostly been based enjoyed a nice bump in tourism. Plus, I think the main character Heavin-sensei's pronunciation of "subarashii" has been copied in jest a number of times.
Just wanted to get my thoughts on "Bakebake" out of the way. In any case, enka singer Yoshimi Tendo（天童よしみ）was back on the show as well to perform her latest single which came out at the end of January, "Tabiji" (The Journey). According to the Teichiku Records Tendo YouTube channel (where the above video originates), "Tabiji" completes the trilogy of Showa Era-inspired songs which includes "Showa Katagi"（昭和かたぎ）and "Showa Gokoro"（昭和ごころ）.
Written by Reiji Mizuki（水木れいじ ）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森かおり）, "Tabiji" really does sound like an enka tune out of the last few decades of Showa. Maybe the only thing that's missing is a mournful background chorus. From what I've understood of the lyrics thus far is that a couple married for many years is looking back on their own journey together and haven't regretted the path they've taken. I'm hoping that will also be the case with Heavin-sensei and Toki by the end of "Bakebake".
Let me be clear...I've known about konnyaku, or konjac as it's alternately spelled (that spelling reminds me of an old 1970s TV detective), since I was a baby. It didn't appear all that much in our daily menu but I always saw it on New Year's Day when my mother prepared it as part of the osechi goodies. It's rubbery and chewy, and I'm not going to run toward it in glee but at the same time, I wouldn't sniff at it either. It fits the middle tier of my foods that I will eat with no problems.
I was surprised though when I was watching a recent episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本のうた） and encountered a "new" enka singer Shinichiro Kurokuma（黒川真一朗）, although his career began in 1999. I'd never seen him before but he came up with a cute little enka ditty titled "Konnyaku Yaro" (Darn Konjac) which is his 18th and most recent single from July 2024. Written by Osamu Arishima*（有島司）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）, it's a light-hearted song (the video makes that abundantly clear) about the gray and rubbery foodstuff being all too self-aware of his reputation and letting any epithets thrown his way smoothly slide off his exterior while appreciating the like that he does get. I wish I had nearly that level of self-confidence.
Kurokuma was born Toshiie Shizuhata（賤機利家）in Shizuoka City in 1972. As a high school student, he won a local karaoke contest after which he went straight to work in a hotel. However, he won a prize at the 1st Annual Hiroshi Itsuki Song Contest and was soon scouted. He underwent lessons with composer Toshiaki Arai（新井利昌）before becoming an apprentice under the aforementioned Mizumori's wing. The singer took on the new name of Kurokuma in 2003 and all of his songs save one have been composed by Mizumori.
*The first name has a number of readings so I took the first listed reading of "Osamu" and placed it in. If anyone can confirm or correct it, I would appreciate it.
As of last year's appearance, enka singer Yoshimi Tendo（天童よしみ）has been on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen a total of 29 times so far dating all the way back to 1993. Following further tradition, she once again released a new song last month.
Tendo's 81st single from January 15th is "Showa Gokoro" (The Heart of Showa) which seems to come in line with her previous single a year back "Showa Katagi"（昭和かたぎ）. Written by Reiji Mizuki（水木れいじ）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）, there's a lot of metaphor within the lyrics as the Showa era (1925-1989) is seen as this older but more-than-welcome traveler arriving at the station of Reiwa (the current era) to bring back some of those laughing and crying sepia-toned memories.
"Showa Gokoro" is a stately song with plenty of that sleeve-grabbing emotion that is de rigueur for any enka tune, and the way that Tendo delivers it brings some of those memories of Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, the Queen of Kayo Kyoku who Tendo has often been compared to. The single managed to reach No. 21 on Oricon.
The above video comes from YouTube's Hidaka Channel and it's a short presentation of Hidaka Town in Wakayama Prefecture which is basically where my ancestors hail from. I haven't been there in a few decades but my grandparents used to run a minshuku by the coast. It was in a very remote area where in all likelihood, the insects and reptiles (including the dangerous habu snake) far outnumbered the citizens living there.
I'm not sure whether it was TV Japan's way of making amends to the especially senior citizen group of viewers as the broadcasting service approaches its end on March 31st, but for some reason last Friday afternoon, my parents got two solid hours of kayo kyoku and enka as the 90-minute "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌...Songs of Japanese Spirit） and then 30-minute "Hayauta"（はやウタ）were shown back to back.
On "Hayauta", we all got to meet an enka singer from Wakayama Prefecture, Akari Yamanishi（山西アカリ）, who released her newest single last October. "Kinokawa yo"(The Kino River). It's quite the boisterous enka go-touchi song from her home province, delivered in those lower tones by Yamanishi. What really makes her stand out is that she doesn't quite sing in the usual way for female enka singers: basically standing still in a conservative dress or kimono while making graceful and sweeping arm gestures. She follows the upbeat rhythm with some sharp arm slashes almost on the level of an aidoru and in the music video at least, she's even doing some high jumps as if she were in an ancient Toyota commercial. Lastly, she's not in any traditional dress; Yamanishi is in a matching tartan blazer and slacks.
"Kinokawa yo" was written by Chisato Sakura（さくらちさと）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）. According to her biography on the Tokuma Japan Communicationswebsite, Yamanishi got her start in the music industry by winning the weekly NHK "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）episode when it was taking place in Tanabe City in Wakayama in 2008 and even participating in the grand championship episode. Then she was placed under Mizumori's wing to be trained as a professional singer. She made her official debut in 2017 with "MIZMO"（水雲）.
It was a pretty good night on "Uta Con"（うたコン）. One of my favourites, Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, was there and there was a segment of the singers covering some old kayo kyoku. I was surprised and then not surprised to hear the late great Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）covering the recently departed Shinji Tanimura's（谷村新司）"Subaru"（昴）. If anyone could do additional justice to the song besides the original singer, it would be the Queen of Kayo Kyoku.
Speaking of whom, veteran enka singer Yoshimi Tendo（天童よしみ）, someone that members of my family have dubbed the heir apparent for Misora, made her appearance. She did her own cover of Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）1975"Toki no Sugi Yuku Mama ni"（時の過ぎゆくままに） and it was nice to hear her tackle a non-enka tune.
However, enka is her realm after all so later on in the program, Tendo featured her newest release "Showa Katagi" which was made known to all a week ago as her 81st single. With that proud melody by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）spearheaded by that sharp trumpet, I had assumed that with the title, the song was a tribute to the Showa era, something that has been done by other singers over the past few years.
But actually, when I looked up the second word katagi in the language banks, I found out that the term means "person in a respectable occupation" or "honest, decent". Looking through the lyrics by Reiji Mizuki（水木れいじ）, it's about a woman in love with her man in some small village or town. The trade that the man is involved in isn't known but he's putting in a hard day's work each and every day and perhaps the song is just as much about the impression of a Showa era guy: decent, hard-working if taciturn. I gather that the song title can be translated as "A Hard-Working Showa Man".
Kinda taking off in another tangent here but in recent years, whenever I think of the typical Showa era guy, I'm often reminded of Komi-san's father although seeing that the anime is based in contemporary times, he's really a Heisei era guy. Maybe he would have spent his earliest years as a kid in Showa. As he has been depicted so far, he hasn't exploded in rage either.
I've read that there is a castle in Japan whose altitude is high enough that it can be seen above the cloud layer. Well, as it turns out, there are six such castles including this one above at 353 metres above sea level, the ruins of Takeda Castle in Hyogo Prefecture as shown by YouTuber Japan Experiences. These castles or what remains of them seem to float above the ocean of fluffy clouds.
(shortened version)
Of course, that tourist site is what came to mind when I first heard enka singer Kouhei Fukuda's（福田こうへい）latest single last night on "Uta Con"（うたコン）. "Tenkuu no Shiro" (Castle in the Sky) was released just last month, and though the lyrics by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）don't specify any particular castle among the six, Hideo Mizumori's（水森英夫）melody is appropriately grand and magical for Fukuda. Samurai may no longer exist but I can imagine them occupying their proud castle as seeming shipmates protecting their vessel from attack as it floats on a sea of white.
Recently on both NHK's kayo kyoku and J-Pop programs, "Uta Con"（うたコン）and "Hayauta"（はやウタ）, I've been seeing this relatively new singer. Enka singer Shouta Mitsuoka（三丘翔太）has been singing professionally since 2016 but it has just been within the last few weeks that I have actually seen the man on TV.
It isn't just the Shizuoka Prefecture native's fashion that makes him look like as if he walked in from several decades ago. Listening to his latest single from October 2022, "Hassha no Bell ga Nagasugiru"(The Departure Bell is Taking Too Long), his vocal style also reminds me of a band that Noelle Tham has often mentioned, Tokyo Taishu Kayo Gakudan (東京大衆歌謡楽団), whose vocalist's stentorian delivery is a reminder of a time just before the Second World War and after it.
Hideo Mizumori's（水森英夫）melody though takes things some years afterwards as I treat it as something very Mood Kayo, a song that I would hear to describe the bars and the other drinking establishments of the 1950s and 1960s. Lyricist Kaisei Kishi*（岸快生）also brings back an old kayo trope of setting the song at a train station where the protagonist has just broken up with his girlfriend and is slumping in his seat on the express wondering where he will go and where his former flame will go. He just wants the bell to finish ringing so that the train will leave the source of his heartbreak.
"Hassha no Bell ga Nagasugiru" peaked at No. 48 on Oricon. Thus far, Mitsuoka has released 8 singles and 2 albums. His career got started when in 2009 as a high school student, he entered the amateur singing contest on NHK "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）and won that week's competition right in front of guest Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）. Right after that, he was scouted by the aforementioned composer Mizumori at a karaoke contest and went right into training. Mitsuoka has yet to get his opportunity to sing at the Kohaku Utagassen but he's apparently such an otaku-level fan of the Heisei era editions that he has devoted a talk segment on his regular radio show to the New Year's Eve special.
*That first name for the lyricist has a couple of other readings and I couldn't find any definitive way to read it properly. As such, I have gone with the first reading that I saw at Jisho.org. If anyone can confirm or correct me on the proper reading of the name, please let me know.
Well, that was quite the emotional episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）last night, eh? And I feel like I was a little too fast off the mark some months ago when I noted the departure of enka prince Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）for a career hiatus. That was for his earlier single this year, "Gunjou no Ito", when I had stated that the enka singer was going to take a break of undetermined length as of last year. Apparently, seeing him come back a number of times this year clearly illustrated that I had been premature and wrong.
However, last night's appearance on "Uta Con" was confirmed to be his final one on the show and I'm guessing that he might make one more performance on the Kohaku Utagassen in about a couple of months before calling it a day for a while. There was a brief retrospective of Hikawa's career before the man began weeping in gratitude and then performing twice. The first one was a cover of Hibari Misora's （美空ひばり）"Uta wa Waga Inochi"（歌は我が命）which he had done for last year's Kohaku.
Then, his second and final performance on the show was for his 40th and final single before his hiatus "Koushuuji"(The Koshu Road). It was released in July this year and compared to the serious "Gunjou no Ito"（群青の弦）, "Koushuuji" is a boisterous yet lighthearted enka about going on that voyage to anywhere which might describe Hikawa's immediate future. The song was written by Tsubasa Kazu（かず翼）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）.
Although we had that old-style pops beginning to last night's "Uta Con"（うたコン）, the show still had its enka guests with one of them being the bidanshi Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）. Hadn't seen him in a while so it was good to have him back on the show.
(guide vocal)
The above video is a guide vocal version of his latest (23rd) single, "Dare ni Aisarete mo" (No Matter Who Loves You) from earlier in March, so it sounds like all of the instruments were provided by keyboard. Yamauchi did perform this last night on "Uta Con" and it sounded nice enough that I wanted to provide it here. It has that modern and muscular electric guitar along with those dramatic strings in there to provide some oomph to Yamauchi's ardent love treatise, thanks to arranger Shunichi Makaino's（馬飼野俊一）arrangement of Yamauchi's mentor Hideo Mizumori's（水森英夫）melody.
Masao Urino（売野政男）was responsible for the lyrics for "Dare ni Aisarete mo" which also has a certain elegance that makes me wonder whether the song could also be classified as an example of New Adult Music, a category within Japanese popular music that has been around from at least the 1970s which mixes enka/Mood Kayo with a certain New Music addition. I mentioned the genre when I was writing about Takao Horiuchi's（堀内孝雄）"Itoshiki Hibi"（愛しき日々）last week. In any case, "Dare ni Aisarete mo" reached No. 3 on Oricon. The video below has a shortened version of the song by the actual singer.
I guess this would be a personal anniversary of sorts, but today is the 10th anniversary since I made my permanent way back from Japan to Canada after my long odyssey teaching and translating there. Time indeed flies like an arrow, and it wasn't too long after my return that I began "Kayo Kyoku Plus" which has kept my nights busy for nearly a decade.
(short version)
Therefore, I was looking around for what were some of the songs hanging about back in 2011, and I came across this song by Enka Prince Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）called "Jounetsu no Mariachi"(Passion Mariachi). His 23rd single released in September of that year, I recollect that I've heard Hikawa singing it on the various kayo shows which is why I'm surprised that neither me nor possibly Noelle has covered it on the blog before.
"Jounetsu no Mariachi" was written by Reiji Mizuki（水木れいじ）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）. I recollect that even a number of enka tunes have absorbed some of that Latin flavour in the arrangement, but I think that his particular one really has that mariachi band infused in the melody. I'll be honest, there is a level of cheese permeating through this musical plate of nachos in the music video and the live performances, but the entertainment value is there and Hikawa's fans were having their share of fun performing it at the karaoke boxes, I'm sure.
"Jounetsu no Mariachi" hit No. 2 on Oricon and became the 65th-ranked single of 2011. It also won a Best Performance prize at the Japan Record Awards that year.
As a fan of sumo, I have to say that the most recent Nagoya tournament in mid-July was most thrilling as it served as the stage for a good number of milestones in the sumo world. Among them were the indomitable yokozuna Hakuho's 45th title and perfect 15-0 run despite a year-long absence and the birth of a new yokozuna in the form of Terunofuji. Congratulations to them both!
It has been exactly a year to the basho since I started watching sumo and I've had the pleasure of witnessing the last leg of Teru-chan's comeback from the pits of the 2nd last division due to injury and illness. His inspiring comeback story and beastly performance on the dohyo made him a common favourite in my household, and we were all hoping he'd be the one with the perfect score and the title to add more pizzaz to his yokozuna promotion, but alas, ol' Haks was having none of it. Nevertheless, everyone's still stoked to have their 73rd yokozuna, one who seems to embody the sumo (Japanese) core value of perseverance, so sayeth the Yokozuna Council members, at least. For the time being, Teru had his tsuna (rope, i.e. that thick white belt with the lightning bolts) made and is in the midst of preparing for his dohyo-iri (ring-entering ceremony) during September's tournament.
Speaking of sumo and yokozunas, I bring to you today an enka tune that includes just that: Kiyoshi Hikawa's"Ninjou Toridejuku" (Kindness at the Toride station). It came early on in Hikawa's career on 7th July 2004 as the B-side to the successful single "Banba no Chutaro" (番場の忠太郎) and seems to be decently popular among fans. Like its A-side, there is a ronin element to "Ninjou Toridejuku" alongside the sumo one, the latter of which I couldn't quite comprehend, what with vocabularies like keisho-mawashi (decorative apron) not making any sense to my perenially struggling Japanese ability. I mean, I did vaguely understand that the words "dohyo-iri", sung once at the end, point to sumo, but I didn't see how it related to the whole assumed ronin-based narrative.
As with most songs I enjoy, what got me into "Ninjou Toridejuku" was its rousing melody courtesy of Hideo Mizumori (水森英夫). Making it stand out from most ronin-related enka in my opinion was the liberal usage of the taiko which seemed to suggest a protagonist with a powerful and/or stubbornly proud character... which is also not uncommon among this enka category. It took seeing Hikawa patting his kimono belt and taking on a shoulder-wide stance to finally allow me to fully connect the song to sumo. You can check out the video here.
After quite a bit of research, I believe that Yurio Matsui's (松井由利夫) words take inspiration from author Shin Hasegawa's (長谷川伸) novel "Ippon gatana dohyo-iri" (一本刀土俵入), which also served as the basis for many renowned rokyoku/enka-rokyoku pieces of the same name by the likes of enka greats like Haruo Minami and Michiya Mihashi. So, in a similar vein, "Ninjou Toridejuku" centers around the hapless (former) low-ranking sumo wrestler Mohei, who got kicked out from his stable for one reason or another. Intent on getting back into the profession so as to one day be able to perform the yokozuna dohyo-iri before his mother's grave, Mohei heads to Edo from Komagata, Gunma, to seek a new stable. Along the way, he ends up at the Toride post/pitstop in Ibaraki, broke in the wallet and probably spirit. There, he meets barmaid Otsuta, to whom he relates his story. Sympathetic to his cause, she provides him with some of her possessions and what little money she has to enable him to take the ferry to Edo via the Tone river, to which he swears to repay someday. I think Matsui's telling of Mohei's exploits ends here. Spoiler: Mohei never makes yokozuna... nor even returns to becoming a wrestler. He just turned into a gambler. I mean, he reunites with Otsuta and there's some sort of happy ending, though.
Frankly, considering what Mohei was up to, somehow Mizumori's score seemed to be on the extravagant side, but I suppose if you looked at it as representing Mohei's determination, Otsuta's graciousness and the powerful sport of sumo, it is rather apt. Also, it really gets the blood pumping when having it playing in one's earpieces on the way to Ryogoku.
To round off here's what yokozuna dohyo-iri are supposed to look like, as done by Kakuryu, Harumafuji, Hakuho, and Kisenosato. Can't wait for Terunofuji's.
P.S. J-Canuck had written an article on the other renditions of "Ippon gatana dohyo-iri", so you can check it out here if you're keen.
Almost a week ago, I wrote about last week's episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）being the 200th in the history of NHK's current incarnation of kayo kyoku broadcast and that singer Hideaki Tokunaga（徳永英明）was also celebrating his 35th anniversary in the singing industry. Well, on that same episode, it was additionally revealed that enka prince Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）was also celebrating his 20th anniversary as a singer.
It was just last month that I wrote about Yamauchi's most recent single, "Furukizu"（古傷）and last week on "Uta Con", in commemoration of his 20th anniversary, he sang his debut single from April 2001,"Mujou". I actually had to dig a little deeper to find out how the kanji was pronounced since the dictionaries weren't as forthcoming this time around; in fact, I had to refer to a YouTube video for an early TV performance to hear how the announcer pronounced the title. As for the meaning of the title, that last syllable of jou「情」 has a number of meanings according to Jisho.org but ultimately I've decided to translate it as "Feelings in a Fog" after looking through the lyrics.
Written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）, "Mujou" is a pretty darn shibui enka for a 17-year-old kid from Fukuoka Prefecture to tackle as his official debut into singing as the stoic Mizumori melody wraps around the story of someone dealing with heartache perhaps at the de rigueur enka setting of a lonely port. Released in April 2001, there is plenty of wistful and melancholy atmosphere all over, and because of that title, I am reminded of a similar-sounding song from all the way back in 1965, "Muhyou"（霧氷）by Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）. Same sort of vibes although the Ichiro Tone（利根一郎）melody is even more downcast.
The remarkable thing is how Yamauchi's voice hasn't changed in 20 years. His rendition of "Mujou" sounds as if he had recorded it just yesterday. One thing that I'm happy that he has changed, though, is getting those bangs off of his forehead since his early days. I couldn't find any Oricon ranking for the song but of course, he had even better days ahead of him.
The above is merely a trailer and not the whole song representing enka singer Keisuke Yamauchi's（山内惠介） 22nd and latest single"Furukizu" (An Old Scar). When Yamauchi started the video off with "I was so young back then...", I kinda went "Like, really? Is 37 (Yamauchi's age as of this writing) old? And he still looks a decade younger!". Don't mind me...just a middle-aged guy grumbling through.😉
In any case, I saw Yamauchi performing "Furukizu" on an episode of NHK's "Hayauta"（はやウタ...Early Songs） that seems to have replaced "Gogo Uta"（ごごウタ...Afternoon Songs） as the daytime kayo program on the national broadcaster. When I saw the new title and the logo of a rising morning sun, I wondered whether this new show was actually being broadcast in the pre-noon hours. I thought it was rather early in the day to show off enka. But I was slightly flabbergasted on discovering on its website that it actually goes on at 4:30 am on Sunday mornings, though this isn't a fixed schedule. I can only guess that there must be some early risers for the good ol' kayo.
"Furukizu" was written by Kiyo Suzuki（鈴木紀代）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）as this remembrance of a past love that still throbs like the titular old scar from time to time. The arrangement by Norio Ido（伊戸のりお）seems like the old-fashioned enka with the languid rhythm, the Spanish-sounding guitar and the soft and silky strings. It rather sounds like a salve over the pain of lost romance. Yamauchi's latest reached No. 7 on Oricon.
I don't know very much about the city of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture which isn't too far away from Tokyo, especially thanks to the Tsukuba Express starting from Akihabara Station. An old friend who lived in another city in the prefecture once took me through the city when I went there to visit but that was pretty much it. The University of Tsukuba is one of the more prestigious national institutions of higher learning in the country, but the only thing that has really stuck out for me concerning the city is the fact that it did have a World Expo there in 1985.
And now, I guess I can even add that there is now an enka tune that has somewhat of a connection with the place. A couple of weeks ago on "Uta Con"（うたコン）, Kouhei Fukuda（福田こうへい）appeared to sing his latest single, "Tsukuba no Kantaro" (Kantaro of Tsukuba). Written by novelist Kouichi Matsuoka（松岡弘一）and composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）, it's the story of a vagabond gambler from the old days traveling not so much through the city but what was once called the Tsukuba region in southwestern Ibaraki.
Fukuda himself describes his June 2020 single above as a matatabi（股旅）enka which talks of the wandering life of a gambler. I hadn't been aware of such a sub-genre but from what I'm hearing, it seems to paint a fairly grand and carefree picture of the fellow through the proud horns and other instruments, and it seems to place the gambler on the same level of a heroic samurai. However, from listening to various enka tunes and watching some of the historical epics on Japanese TV, there's a certain romanticism that has been bestowed upon these lone wolf travelers on the open road, as if most people in the past and present have to be tied down to their lot in life and work.
Maybe "Tsukuba no Kantaro" and other similarly-themed enka are the Japanese equivalent of the country music classic "The Gambler" by the late Kenny Rogers, although with "Tsukuba no Kantaro", it's more about the journey than the actual sage tactics engaged in the game.
A couple of weeks ago, enka singer Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）made one of his fairly frequent appearances on NHK's"Uta Kon"（うたコン）, and I found out that the fellow was celebrating his 20th anniversary in show business! Like, when did he debut? Was he just entering senior kindergarten?!
Well, actually, he was probably going through high school since Yamauchi is now 36 years old. The lad is truly a bidanshi. Anyways, to commemorate that anniversary, his latest single came out a mere few weeks ago. Titled "Zanshou"(Afterglow), it seems to be a yearning for that special someone to not go away, and it was created by the same duo behind a Yamauchi single from the previous year, "Kuchibiru Scarlet"（唇スカーレット）, Goro Matsui and Hideo Mizumori（松井五郎・水森英夫）.
"Zanshou" has got plenty of emotion-on-sleeve-brio with guitar and cutting strings. In fact, because it sounds somewhat similar to "Yukiguni"（雪国）, my old karaoke favourite, I had assumed that it was made by Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）himself. But I gather that Yoshi hasn't cornered the market for bay-at-the-moon enka/Mood Kayo. I wouldn't be surprised if Yamauchi performs this one at this year's Kohaku Utagassen.
The last time that I wrote about a Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）song, it was for his 2018 single "Sarase Fuyu no Arashi"（さらせ冬の嵐）, a wintry and haunting enka piece created by lyricist Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composer Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）. Almost a year later, the three of them got together again to produce Yamauchi's 20th single"Kuchibiru Scarlet" (Lips Scarlet) released earlier in March 2019.
(cover version)
Now, we have quite the opposite result here...a passionate love song with Yamauchi promising all sorts of hot action to his lady love. It's been categorized as an enka at J-Wiki, but I think it's more of a Latin-spiced Mood Kayo, since I don't really see trees of any particular season or a single person walking in a lonely manner through the forest. This is more some fellow having his usual time of his life in a swanky establishment in Akasaka.
(empty karaoke version)
Yamauchi's hit peaked at No. 7 on Oricon and according to J-Wiki, there are 8 (count 'em...8!) versions of "Kuchibiru Scarlet" sold depending on its colour label with the difference lying in the coupling songs with the CDs ranging in time between around 16 and 22 minutes. I'm kinda wondering whether the singer's recording company has taken a page out of the AKB 48 playbook with that maneuver.
I actually caught Yamauchi singing this on an episode of NHK's "Gogo Uta"（ごごウタ）yesterday, and I realized as I was watching the lad doing his Latin bump-and-grind with the style of song and that certain nasal quality in his delivery, his performance reminded me of a young Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）! It would be intriguing to see whether Yamauchi and Go will collaborate in a future Kohaku Utagassen or even "Uta Kon"（うたコン）.
When I checked out what this "Utakata no Koi" was all about, I could only find various adaptations of a romantic tragic novel titled "Mayerling" by Claude Anet, including a 1968 movie starring Catherine Deneuve and Omar Sharif.
The spark that started off my curious search was that I found this enka ballad with the same title performed by veteran Ayako Fuji（藤あや子）. The direct translation for "Utakata no Koi" is "Fleeting Love" and the lyrics by Yasuteru or Yasutoshi Miura（三浦康照）relate a love between two people...most likely walking through the streets of Kyoto while wearing traditional Japanese garb...although that love is temporary for some reason (extramarital affair, going off to war, illness, etc.). The music by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）is the thing that has struck me...although it sounds like a typical enka, there is something in that arrangement that hits a pleasurable nerve. Despite the ephemeral nature of the romance, the melody sounds fresh and optimistic and bubbly like a young creek as if it is trying to tell listeners that the couple is making every moment of their brief time together count.
It took me a while to find out when "Utakata no Koi" was released or even if it had originally been a Fuji song. My wrong assumption was that the song came out recently when in fact it had been released all the way back in March 1997 as Fuji's 10th single.
I remember turning into a fan of gorgeous enka singer Ryuko Mizuta (水田竜子) through Noelle Tham’s article of the song "Yopparachatta" (酔っぱらっちゃった) back in 2016, and, thanks to that song, have always wanted to buy one of her CDs since then. During last Christmas, I ordered her “Best Selection 2016”, which featured almost all of her singles from 1994 to 2016, with the exception of one, if I’m not mistaken, in order to finally have it in my collection. However, not only of “Yopparachatta”-like songs the compilation was comprised, and that was sort of a problem (in fact, the problem is to become infatuated by the woman regardless of what she sings, but let’s not talk about that).
Mizuta’s
discography, in special her latest singles, is comprised of… surprise, surprise…
enka in its purest form, with the melismas and all the stuff required… which I’m
not very fond of, to be quite honest. Her voice and technique are always on
point, but the overall production, sometimes excessively dramatic, is not really
for my taste (I still try to like it, though). So, besides “Yopparachatta”, some singles from the late 90s, and
a couple of others from past years, like the already covered “Uwasa no Minato”,
one of the highlights of the selection comes in the form of “Hirado Ujou”, a
more restrained kayo kyoku released back in February 2014.
“Hirado
Ujou” is quite smooth and classy, which is probably why I liked it so much.
While I’m not an expert on the subject, I think the song could easily pass as
an old Showa-era ballad with this nostalgic mix of Western arrangement with some
Eastern details. And Ryuko Mizuta still sings it in a light enka style, but not
in an overwhelming way. In the end, the song earned its spot in my enka playlist (yeah, even I have one of those).
Lyrics
were written by Reiji Mizuki (水木れいじ), while music was composed by Hideo Mizumori (水森英夫). As
for the arrangement, Toshioki Maeda (前田俊明) was the responsible.
Tuesday's "Uta Con"（うたコン）also featured enka singer Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）and his latest (his 19th) single, "Sarase Fuyu no Arashi" from March 2018. The host and perhaps one other singer were making a few good-natured jokes at Yamauchi about why he had to sing something wintry during a blazing summer. The handsome singer could have been downright stoic around it and merely replied "Because it's in my contract!" but that would have gone down like an anvil so he countered by stating that it could actually help listeners cool down. And considering how brutally hot it's been in Japan, even for a Japanese summer (it topped 40 degrees Celsius in Gifu), any sort of relief from the heat would have been welcome.
Unfortunately the original music video at the top is only available in its truncated form and there don't seem to be any performance videos of Yamauchi, so we'll have to go with the karaoke video for the full version. Composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）and written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, "Sarase Fuyu no Arashi" weaves between bittersweet and hopeful as a man apparently goes out into a snowstorm demanding absolution from his woes (perhaps romantic). The single peaked at No.4 on Oricon and ended the year as the 71st-ranked single.
I wasn't quite sure about how to translate that word sarase in the title. Looking at jisho.org, there are quite a few definitions for the verb with the closest ones for the purpose of this song perhaps being expose or bleach. Glancing through Matsui's lyrics, perhaps I could go with cleanse or maybe even the more high-falutin' term absolve so that the title could be translated into "Cleanse Me, Winter Storm". Yamauchi pretty much dares nature to whip him dry since he ends each refrain with a defiance stating that he will not die from the blizzard. Perhaps "Sarase Fuyu no Arashi" is just the tonic at karaoke to sing off that stress.
