Hiroshi Moriya/KAJA -- Arigata ya Bushi（有難や節）

There have been a couple of articles featuring the late actor and singer Hiroshi Moriya（守屋浩）who had passed away in September 2020, including "Boku wa Naichicchi"（僕は泣いちっち）, an enka ballad by songwriter Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）which may have been the first of his songs to get recorded.

However, I have neglected to provide some background information on Moriya who was born in Chiba Prefecture in 1938 as Kunihiko Moriya（守屋邦彦）. In his late teens, he got his first taste of showbiz when he joined the rockabilly band Swing West（スイングウェスト）as a roadie in 1957 and then got involved with the Nichigeki Western Carnival（日劇ウエスタンカーニバル）the following year at the Nihon Gekijo Theatre in Tokyo.

At around the same time, Takeo Hori（堀威夫）, the founder of Hori Productions, later to become the talent agency Horipro tacked on the stage name of Hiroshi Moriya to young Kunihiko so that he could be promoted along a couple of other Hiroshi-tagged actor/singers, Hiroshi Inoue（井上ひろし）and Hiroshi Mizuhara（水原弘）to become known as Sannin Hiroshi（三人ひろし）, aka The Three Hiroshis, during the late 1950s going into the early 1960s. With the rockabilly boom in full swing (no pun intended), Moriya began to grow his fame.

Still, the song that I have here by Moriya tonight doesn't sound anything like a rockabilly tune. In fact, I'd say that "Arigata ya Bushi" (The Thank You Tune), his hit single from November 1960 is definitely in the traditional Japanese vein, although with a mix of festival-loving minyo, a bit of Latin even, and an arrangement that also feels like it could easily be played by an old-fashioned chindon'ya band. The interesting thing, though, is that the composer is unknown, although according to the J-Wiki article for "Arigata ya Bushi", it may have originated from a song devoted to the Buddha on the island of Shikoku, although it's been also said that it had been sung as a folk tune all the way over in Nagoya.

Whatever the origin legend may say, "Arigata ya Bushi" was written by the aforementioned Hamaguchi basically as someone's somewhat snarky theory of life (yeah, yeah, thank ya, thank ya, whatever!) as unnecessary hustle and bustle while the fellow himself is more than happy to go or lay about at his own sweet pace. Considering the times, the famed lyricist even installs a note about a woman he likes spending her time attending university demonstrations. "Arigata ya Bushi" may have been about the joy of fecklessness, but it really hustled in the sales department, selling around 140,000 records a few months after its November debut.

(I'm sorry but the video has been taken down.)

The J-Wiki article also mentions that "Arigata ya Bushi" had its cover versions including one by Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）via one of his movies in 1963. Speaking of that, the success of the song also led to a movie based on it, "Arigata ya Bushi Aah Arigata ya Arigata ya"（有難や節 あゝ有難や有難や...Doing What I Please） that was released in May 1961 with one of the stars being Moriya himself. In the above video, lyricist Hamaguchi himself gives his own song a go.

Another rollicking cover was provided by reggae singer KAJA as the ending theme song for the fourth season of the TV Asahi assassin series "The Hangman"（ザ・ハングマン）in 1984. Incidentally, KAJA shouldn't be confused with the obscure band Kaja that I'd already written about a couple of years ago. As such, I'll keep the reggae singer listed in Labels with "(reggae)" next to it. The pronunciation is also different in that the band Kaja sounds like "ka-ya".

Hiroshi Moriya -- Boku wa Naichicchi（僕は泣いちっち）

The theme for "Uta Con"（うたコン）back on Tuesday night was the world of the late songwriter Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）. Of course, a lot of his works are famous songs in the kayo kyoku sphere of influence which include the tender and folksy "Bara ga Saita"（バラが咲いた）by Mike Maki（マイク眞木）, the Group Sounds classic "Yuuhi ga Naiteiru"（夕陽が泣いている）by The Spiders and the Mood Kayo "Koukotsu no Blues"（恍惚のブルース）by husky-voiced Mina Aoe（青江三奈）.

One insight that I got about Hamaguchi from the broadcast was that he often picked musical influences from all over the world. Looking at my own list in "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I realized that he could come up with songs for singers all throughout the kayo spectrum.

One of the songs that was featured in the tribute was "Boku wa Naichicchi" (I am C-C-Crying), a kayo that had been written and composed by Hamaguchi for singer Hiroshi Kamiya（守屋浩）in 1959. According to the J-Wiki article for the songwriter, "Boku wa Naichicchi" may have been the first creation of his to get recorded.

It's a light and slightly melancholy enka about a man who's lamenting the loss of his girlfriend to the bright lights and big city of Tokyo. I could imagine the big lug trying to keep a brave face on the platform as she waves goodbye from the train, only for him to start crumbling into a pool of brine. There were quite a number of these exodus enka back in the day to reflect the mass migration of young people to the metropolis to find work and a new life.

Not sure how well "Boku wa Naichicchi" did but it was popular enough that Moriya got his invitation to the 1960 Kohaku Utagassen to perform it.

Chiyoko Shimakura & Hiroshi Moriya -- Hoshizora ni Ryote wo （星空に両手を）

Well, it's July 7th which means it's Tanabata in Japan, the time for those star-crossed lovers to meet for that day. The above video provides a very nice description of what the day is all about in the city of Sendai. I never got up to the city in Miyagi Prefecture but I've written my share of wishes on those colourful strips of paper and attached them to bamboo trees when I was living in the Kanto.

Of course, the holiday was also not lost on the folks at NHK. "Kayo Concert" devoted its 45 minutes to the annual Star Festival, and so the kayo all had a "star" theme to it. The second song was "Hoshizora ni Ryote wo" (Both Hands to the Starry Sky) which was originally sung in 1963 by Hiroshi Moriya（守屋浩）and the late Chiyoko Shimakura（島倉千代子）.

I couldn't really tell whether the song was an enka number or a pop kayo, but it definitely chimed in with my early memories of the J-oldies. It had that jaunty beat which seemed to invite all listeners into a singalong, and my memories of those kayo way back when didn't involve drinking establishments or samurai warriors but just regular folks having a happy time. For those folks who really remember the old movies and singers in North America, I've often likened such kayo to the duets by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in the 40s with the admittedly cornball devotion and love.

"Hoshizora ni Ryote wo", written by So Nishizawa（西沢爽）and composed by Yoshiyuki Kouzu（神津善行）, is in the same ballpark, thematically speaking. The couple in the song may not possess a whole lot of money but that doesn't bother them one whit. They happily bring up their joined hands to the starry night sky and proudly state that the stars will be their rings. Perhaps the younger couples these days may kinda stick their fingers into their mouths on hearing this, but for an old duffer like me, it's still quite adorable, and as you know, I'm all about the nostalgia.

Oricon wasn't around in the day but "Hoshizora ni Ryote wo" sold 700,000 records when it was released, so I could imagine it hitting No. 1 on the charts.