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.
Showing posts with label Masanobu Tokuchi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Masanobu Tokuchi. Show all posts
Monzen-Nakacho Station happens to be one of the stops along my old Tozai Line. I used to pass by it all the time on my way to downtown Tokyo although there were a couple of times that I actually stopped by to meet with friends. One time, the inner city area was the place to have dinner at a restaurant along the monjayaki alley.
Thanks to This Japanese American Life
After all these years, I still can't say that I'm a huge monjayaki fan. I'll take okonomiyaki in a heartbeat, but monjayaki is indeed Tokyo soul food.
Admittedly, I never got the chance to fully explore Monzen-Nakacho but I was still a little surprised to find out that a Mood Kayo song was based on the area. I mean, there are areas in Tokyo that have gotten their due through kayo kyoku such as Ginza and Shinjuku but I never thought that Monzen-Nakacho was ever that big to get its own tune. Well, I was wrong since Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars（和田弘とマヒナスターズ）indeed paid tribute to the shitamachi neighbourhood by recording the 1963 single "Koi no Monzen-Nakacho"(Falling in Love in Monzen-Nakacho).
Composed by Masanobu Tokuchi（渡久地政信）and written by Minoru Shimizu（清水みのる）, it's all about the mournful singing of love gained and lost in the area...and probably drinking one's sorrows, and there are tons of watering holes in the area, I have to admit. The rhythm is appropriately laconic and wistful; plus there are elements of both enka and Mood Kayo along with that Hawaiian twang which was often part and parcel of the latter genre.
I see that "Uta Con"（うたコン）is back in the saddle again on NHK after several weeks' Holiday hiatus. I'll have to take a look at that later tonight, but it'll be nice to see and hear some of the ol' kayo kyoku again.
Reading that enka veteran Akemi Misawa（三沢あけみ）is 80 years old, I can't imagine that I would see much of her on television again. However, she can be active on YouTube via her long discography of music. One such song is her November 1964 single"Ashita wa O-Tachi ka?" which literally translates as "Are You Standing Tomorrow?" (OK, let's not giggle too much here, eh?) but I think it's likelier that it means "Are You Leaving Tomorrow?". I did hear some references in Takao Saeki's（佐伯孝雄）lyrics that the young fellow will be departing by sea.
I gather that this would be another parting-is-such-sweet-sorrow type of enka with the melody by Shunichi Sasaki（佐々木俊一）and arrangement by Masanobu Tokuchi（渡久地政信）. However, there is something rather interesting in there with the inclusion of what sounds like a steel pedal guitar for that Hawaiian feeling. Usually, I'd hear that most Polynesian of instruments in Mood Kayo but it's actually included in an enka tune. Maybe the fellow is headed off to the Aloha State for an undetermined period of time.
Those Mood Kayo Avengers...ever the fashion plates! I'm gonna have to have Kayo Grace meet up with these guys in the near future.
Akira Kurosawa & Los Primos (黒沢明とロス・プリモス) have done their fair share of regional songs over the decades such as "Tasogare no Ginza" (たそがれの銀座),"Asahikawa Blues"（旭川ブルース）and "Nurete Yokohama"（ぬれて横浜）. And many of them have been of the somewhat mournful variety with the the theme of heartbreak and bars.
That is indeed why this particular single by Los Primos stuck out to me. Another tune about the international port city, "One Chance Yokohama" is not only notable for its Hawaiian twang (which is admittedly a Mood Kayo characteristic although I don't recall coming across it in a Los Primos song) but the rhythm is a finger-snapping catchy one. It's kinda like a bit of jazzy and dangerous "Guys & Dolls" getting infused into Masanobu Tokuchi's（渡久地政信）melody and Tadao Hirayama's（平山忠夫） lyrics. It's about as happy-go-lucky as I've ever heard Los Primos. Their 23rd single, by the way, came out in September 1971.
Well, no, the above isn't Shanghai but Yokohama's Chinatown...just thought it would be nice to add some atmosphere somehow.
A few hours ago, I watched the Tuesday night episode of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン） and vocal group Junretsu（純烈）was up once more to sing an old kayo from 1951. The year alone caught my attention since I knew that none of us had written anything from that year since my article on Teruko Akatsuki's（暁テル子）"Minnesota no Tamago Uri"（ミネソタの卵売り）back in 2017.
But at the same time, listening to Junretsu's rendition of "Shanghai Gaeri no Lil" (Shanghai Lil), it was nice to hear that old sing-song melody from way back so I decided to track it down on YouTube and J-Wiki, if possible. And sure enough, it was possible. The original was first recorded in June 1951 by singer Ken Tsumura（津村謙）who had debuted in 1943 under his birth name of Tadashi Matsubara（松原正）for Teichiku Records but was soon drafted into the war.
In 1946, he made another debut under his new stage name of Ken Tsumura but didn't register any hits until "Shanghai Gaeri no Lil" which was released for sale a month after its recording. A kayo about searching for a lost love, it became a huge hit written by Juzaburo Tojo（東條寿三郎）, (partially) composed by Masanobu Tokuchi（渡久地政信）and arranged by Isao Hayashi（林伊佐緒）as a tune with a tango twist.
According to the J-Wiki article for "Shanghai Gaeri no Lil", the title, the lyrical content and the intro for the kayo were straight from the theme song "Shanghai Lil" for the 1933 American movie "Footlight Parade"starring James Cagney and Joan Blondell. The original song was written by Al Dubin and composed by Harry Warren.
With the success of "Shanghai Gaeri no Lil" (by 1954, it would sell over 300,000 records), Tsumura was given his invitation to join the 2nd Kohaku Utagassen which was broadcast on radio on January 3rd 1952 followed by a movie based on the song that was released in April. There would even be successful sequels to "Shanghai Gaeri no Lil" with the same singer and songwriters providing listeners with "Lil wo Sagashite kurenai ka"（リルを探してくれないか...Won't You Find My Lil?）in that same year and then "Kokoro no Lil yo Naze Tooi"（心のリルよなぜ遠い...Lil of My Heart, Why So Far Away?）in 1953. Apparently for a little while, there were quite a few different songs involving a very busy Lil including the debut of actress/singer Miki Sanjo（三条美紀）with "Watashi ga Lil yo"（私がリルよ...Hey, I'm Lil!）in 1952. And no, I'm not joking about this.
"Shanghai Gaeri no Lil" has been covered by a number of artists over the decades including actress/singer Chieko Baisho（倍賞千恵子）. She gives an even more tangoesque take on the number although I couldn't find out when she recorded her version.
However, I did find this contemporary 1985 bossa nova cover by Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）from her album "Minato ga Mieru Oka"（港が見える丘...The Hill Overlooking the Harbor）. It still brings in the tango, though.
As for Tsumura, he would appear on the Kohaku a grand total of eight times between 1952 and 1958. He would continue to come up with the hits for the duration of the 1950s but in November 1961, he was coming home late one night from a round of mah jongg and not wanting to wake up his family, he decided to sleep it off in his car while in the garage. The strange thing to me was that he had left the engine running and although he was rushed to the hospital, he died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 37.
When I first got started on my hobby of enjoying kayo kyoku decades ago, there were a number of audiotapes belonging to my parents. One was a compilation of hits (which I actually bought for them as a souvenir during the 1981 trip to Japan) that helped me discover some singers such as Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）and Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）, another was a Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）BEST tape, and there was another one that I hadn't bought but somehow came into their possession (maybe my brother got it when he went over to Japan the following year).
That mystery tape was for an enka singer named Akemi Misawa（三沢あけみ）. I never played it and had no idea who she was. Moreover, I certainly haven't seen her appear on shows such as "Uta Kon"（うたコン）during my time back in Toronto, so I finally decided to do some digging. Born in Nagano Prefecture as Toshiko Miyashita（宮下登志子）in 1945, she became one of the fresh-faced newcomers as an actress in 1960 via the Toei New Face audition process, sponsored by the Toei (Movie) Company.
In 1963, Misawa debuted as a singer with "Furare Jouzu ni Hore Jouzu"（ふられ上手にほれ上手...Good at Rejection and Good at Falling in Love）but certain powers-that-be decided that she was simply too sexy for the small screen and didn't allow her to appear on TV for that particular song...not a great way to sell a record. However, karma paid her back most kindly with her 2nd single later that year, "Shima no Blues"(Island Blues) which she recorded as a duet with Mood Kayo group Hiroshi Wada and Mahina Stars（和田弘とマヒナスターズ）.
A huge hit for both Mahina Stars and Misawa, "Shima no Blues" is a go-touchi（ご当地ソング）song or an enka/Mood kayo number about a certain city or region. In this case, "Shima no Blues" was referring to Amami Oshima（奄美大島）, a large island belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture. It's become known as the home of many rare and endangered species of fauna.
Getting back to the song itself, it's quite the majestic enka number with lyrics by Shizuo Yoshikawa（吉川静夫）, and it contains some whistling that I had first thought was someone in the audience providing his/her approval. However, the composer for "Shima no Blues", Masanobu Tokuchi（渡久地政信）, actually whistled this during recording (according to J-Wiki), but I don't know what the significance of this is. Is it some sort of Amami Oshima tradition?
Although the original recording of "Shima no Blues" is that duet between Misawa and Mahina Stars, so far I could only find the one video of them singing it together in the video near the top (the one so nice apparently that the uploader recorded it twice). The other videos on YouTube have Misawa singing the song as a solo, including the one performance by her on the 1963 Kohaku Utagassen. She also earned a Best New Artist prize at the Japan Record Awards that year. Her history on the Kohaku has totaled 5 appearances with the 1968 Kohaku being the last one to date.
Being a song in tribute to Amami Oshima, minyo artists associated with the island have covered "Shima no Blues" over the years. As for Misawa, she has recorded 30 singles and several albums up to 2011, but ironically her list of acting performances is actually fairly short according to J-Wiki. She has also been currently hosting a kayo program on satellite TV.
Happy Monday to you! Well, while knocking on wood most vigorously, it looks like things just might be turning a positive curve with the pandemic in our province of Ontario since in less than a couple of hours, our Premier will be making an announcement on the timeline for re-opening up the economy. Considering that Doug Ford pounded the slogan "Open for Business" into our heads before COVID-19 hit us, he may be trying to hide some giddiness under that stony face that has been greeting us in daily pressers for the past several weeks. At this point, I think a lot of us will be happy for some good news although a local poll stated that 75% of the population is skittish about opening things up too early.
The surprising thing for me, though, is Tokyo. Despite the Greater Tokyo Area having three times the population of my province, it seems to have only a fraction of the infections that Ontario has been suffering. There are even rumours being bandied about that my old stomping grounds may end up re-opening up a lot earlier although the political leaders and medical experts are insisting that things should be kept under tight control for at least a few more weeks. Well, we shall see (with a healthy dose of skepticism), although if things truly are getting much better there at a much faster rate, they have my envy and gratitude.
In any event, I did PVR another rerun of "Songs of Japanese Spirit" over the weekend which my folks are watching right now. I'm always grateful for the broadcast of these kayo programs from happier times when audiences filled the halls and the singers were all together on stage without the need for remote screens. Not sure how the situation will last on NHK, although according to what I've observed through the previous paragraph, maybe the good ol' days will return soon.
Found this chestnut being performed at the beginning of "Songs of Japanese Spirit", and I think it's one that would be rather appropriate for this time. Titled "Fukeba Tobu yo na" (If You Blow On It, It May Fly) from November 1954, one would think that it's talking about a dandelion seed. However, the lyrics by Juzaburo Tojo（東条寿三郎）relate a happy-go-lucky fellow encouraging the lads that the good times are around the corner if not already here.
The jaunty music is from Masanobu Tokuchi（渡久地政信）who would provide a number of Mood Kayo tunes in the following decade such as Mina Aoe's（青江三奈）"Nagasaki Blues"（長崎ブルース）. However, "Fukeba Toku yo na" has more of a feeling of a cheerful countryside enka although the setting is in the city. And before you think that I've forgotten about the singer, it was recorded by Ichiro Wakahara（若原一郎）who hailed from Yokohama.
Born Nakayoshi Tanokura（田野倉仲義）, the future Wakahara won a prize at the 1948 NHK (Radio) Nodo Jiman（のど自慢）contest, and then made his debut as a singer the following year. According to the J-Wiki entry for Wakahara. "Fukeba Tobu yo na" may have taken its sweet time gaining success since the article states that the song became a hit in 1956! But with that success, Wakahara became a known name in music, and he got his first invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen that year (although he performed a different tune), the first of five consecutive appearances on the NHK special. In the four succeeding appearances, "Fukeba Tobu yo na" was never sung either.
Wakahara would continue releasing singles until 1988 and would pass away in 1990 from liver cancer.
It's been a while since I've put up a good ol' Mood Kayo number up here, and it is Friday night which should mean the peak evening for the bars and other drinking establishments.
Here is "Yogiri no Imperial Road" (Imperial Road in the Night Fog), the 13th single of Mood Kayo group Akira Kurosawa & Los Primos（黒沢明とロス・プリモス）, released in August 1969. It's a tad ironic that the song was released when it was since a Tokyo night in August is far from being cool and foggy. Folks living there would probably be praying for weather that comfortable in the dog days of summer.
"Yogiri no Imperial Road" is a straight-ahead Mood Kayo: bluesy sax intro, plucky Latin guitar and lyrics of love for that woman and the city. I think the NHK Creative Library definitely knew what to do with their video tribute. Written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Masanobu Tokuchi（渡久地政信）, this is the type of song to accompany you on your kayo adventures through the drinking neighbourhoods of Tokyo, or perhaps something to try out in karaoke.
I was trying to find out where this Imperial Road was, though. At first, I thought it was another nicknamed side street in the Kabukicho area of Tokyo since there is the famous Golden Gai of narrow nomiya. But perhaps it may just be a romantic concoction made up by Saeki and Tokuchi. After all, what better-named road to have that wonderful guy or lady on your arm as you slowly walk in the fog among the bright lights and neon signs during a luxurious night?
My visits to Sugamo's Mukashi no Uta no Mise, besides giving me the satisfaction and joy of singing songs I love for the people who love them, are opportunities for me to expand my knowledge in the field of enka and kayo kyoku. Many a times had the folks picked songs unfamiliar to me, and while some simply garnered a lukewarm "Eh...", a fraction of them get the immediate green light to be seared into the annals of my mind and to later be checked out via YouTube, and a couple even got articles of their own. Today, I will be giving another such song it's write-up.
I will always associate this song to this memory: It had been easily a couple of hours into the Saturday afternoon session and I had downed my sushi peace offering, a Madeline pastry and some sort of flattened, sweetened tofu thing (I didn't like this one, but finished it for the sake of courtesy). Waiting for my selection to go up the list of songs to be sung, I saw "O-hyakudo Koi-san" up next. It wasn't a title I knew, but the sight of Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars (和田弘とマヒナスターズ) beside it gave me a sense of familiarity and a little reassurance. It also gave me the impression that a Hawaiian-themed Mood Kayo, be it depressingly melancholic or whimsically playful, was about to hit the ears of all present. Whatever it was, we were sure to be in good hands as M-chan, the quietest but easily the most popular performer, was behind the mic.
Amidst the rabid cheers for M-chan and excited chatter, what I heard from the karaoke melody of "O-hyakudo Koi-san" and the unassuming uncle's gentle crooning had a different sound unlike my initial speculation. In fact, it had more of an soft enka flavour that agreed with me... even though I could just barely hear the song. So during my own free time, I decided to look up this interesting Mahina Stars number with the intention of listening to it again and to relive that insane afternoon. Hearing it again just made me like it even more.
With this being a song from a Hawaiian MK group, of course the music has to have that cold Western twang of the steel guitar, contrasting the otherwise somewhat traditional Japanese sound it has going for it. And when the vocals come in, both provide a lonely and haunting atmosphere to "Koi-san", though I find it oddly comforting. As for the lyrics, this song is set in Osaka's central business district of Senba (船場), and is about the titular Koi-san making trips to the famous Hozenji shrine to pray.
Considering that the Hozenji Mizukake Fudo is one of the best known deities to pray to for love and lasting marriages (Meoto Zenzai), I have an idea as to what Koi-san wishes for. From my understanding, I think she is absolutely smitten with this childhood sweetheart of hers, and in hopes that they'd be together forever she goes to the little temple to pray for that to happen. Despite the, perhaps, odds of their union, Koi-san refuses to give up on this fellow and religiously visits Mizukake Fudo (a hundred times, hence the title) to increase her chances... ... *Sudden epiphany* What if her beloved was actually set to marry/likes someone else, but Koi-san can't accept this and hopes that the moss-covered deity can intervene someway or somehow? (Cue dramatic gasp)
Well, that aside, this brings me to my favourite part of the song, which is hearing the way the Mahina Stars guys make her plight known through their forlorn manner of singing, which sounds like the woman desperately beseeching the deity for some breakthrough.
"O-hyakudo Koi-san" was released early on in the Mood Kayo group's career in May 1960. It had its words written by Kunizo Kishi (喜志邦三), and the melody composed by Masanobu Tokuchi (渡久地政信), who was renowned for putting together the markedly jollier "Otomi-san" (お富さん) 6 years prior. "Koi-san" seemed to be decently received commercially as I've been seeing that it does get its time in the spotlight during some of the Mahina Stars' medleys, so it wasn't just left as just a memory to avid fans of the group from days of yore and sung on occasion in a dingy little karaoke joint.
P.S. To give you an idea of how M-chan sounded like, I thought his vocals were surprisingly similar to the lead vocalist Satoshi Mihara (三原さと志) - the singer with the deepest vocals and the one who sang first in this song.
I know that I have written about kayo based on Nagasaki in the past, including arguably the most famous one, "Nagasaki wa Kyou mo Ame Datta"（長崎は今日も雨だった）by Hiroshi Uchiyamada and The Cool Five（内山田洋とクール・ファイブ）. I've visited Nagasaki once back in 1991 in the dead of summer, and man, was I dead in that heat and humidity. Certainly was a beautiful city with the steep slopes filled with houses and buildings that made Nagasaki really distinctive when compared to some of the other major cities in Japan. Chinatown was also a lovely area, and I now regret that I only had that one day there. Doing all those travel article translations up until earlier this year, I discovered that there are so many things to see in that city and many others.
Tonight's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was based on the old-fashioned Showa kayo, so a lot of singers and songs that I've covered on the blog and I got to see the late Mina Aoe（青江三奈）again on the screen. I thought it would be nice to write about her again, and so here is her "Nagasaki Blues", her 11th single from July 1968.
Aoe sang a lot of those Kayo Blues including her most famous example "Isezakicho Blues"（伊勢崎町ブルース）and those geographically-based enka; in fact, I think a lot of her songs covered both types including "Nagasaki Blues" which name-drops sites in the city such as the amusement area of Shianbashi（思案橋）and Maruyama（丸山）while singing of the fragility of love. The feeling is Mood Kayo but that gentle lilt in the melody also makes it feel like an enka tune as well.
Shizuo Yoshikawa and Masanobu Tokuchi（吉川静夫・渡久地政信）came up with the words and music respectively. "Nagasaki Blues" went all the way up to No. 2 on Oricon and only missed the top spot due to the popularity of Pinky and Killers'"Koi no Kisetsu"（恋の季節）. It still sold over 750,000 records and ended up becoming the 10th-ranked single of 1969 almost a year and a half after its release. And eventually, Aoe finally got to perform "Nagasaki Blues" on the 1973 Kohaku Utagassen.
Going back to the theme for tonight's "Uta Con", it was nice of the program to show the revived interest in the old Showa music, and I'm not just talking about 1980s City Pop. Young Japanese and foreigners inside and outside of the nation have shown an affinity for kayo of the 1960s and 1970s also. I already spoke about this place in a past article, but NHK even showed Shibuya's Rhythm Cafe which has its monthly Kayo Nights.
Tonight's episode of "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）was about having a boisterous time at the bars of which there are many all over Japan. And to go along with them, there is plenty of Mood Kayo. There were quite a few of them Noelle and I have already written about, but then I came across this one that I hadn't heard before.
Kaori Mizumori（水森かおり）did the cover of "Tokyo Anna", a rumba dance of a Mood Kayo which was originally released as the 2nd single for then-17-year-old Yoshiko Ohtsu（大津美子）from Aichi Prefecture. It was quite the heady start for the singer who had just released her debut single of "Chidori no Blues"（千鳥のブルース...Plover Blues） just a couple of months before in July 1955. It became a huge hit which led to Ohtsu getting onto the 1956 Kohaku Utagassen for the first of 7 times.
"Tokyo Anna" was written by Tetsuro Fujima（藤間哲郎）and composed by Masanobu Tokuchi （渡久地政信）who acted as Ohtsu's mentor from 1953. As for the lyrics...well, the title says it all. It's about this legendary lady hitting the establishments of Ginza with the guys probably begging for a dance with her. In a way, the melody sounds somewhat like what would have been customary for a tokusatsu program. Considering that this was a song in the mid-50s, it made me wonder about what the most expensive neighbourhood of Tokyo (if not Japan) was like back then. The metropolis was still just a decade after World War II but I gather that Ginza had already become quite the happening place even then.
Here is Mizumori's rendition but on a different show and with the vocal group Junretsu（純烈）.
As many people who have lived in Tokyo will attest, the megalopolis has a number of city centres. Shibuya is the Mecca of Youth, Akihabara is the Electronics Haven and Shinjuku has got that split personality of tall skyscrapers and tightly packed bars and red-light establishments. Ikebukuro, though, is that amalgam of city centres that could just be an overall downtown, albeit a fairly dense one. It has the youth, it has the electronics stores and it has that one big tower in the form of Sunshine City 60 plus its fair share of seedy bars. I've visited the area as much as I have the other centres and I think I can say that Ikebukuro comes across the jack of all trades compared to the specialists of Shibuya and Akiba. It's got a bit of everything.
Therefore, I cannot be surprised that this hustling and bustling area also has a kayo in tribute to it, and it's done by the husky-voiced lady of class, Mina Aoe（青江三奈）. "Ikebukuro no Yoru" (A Night in Ikebukuro),Aoe's 16th single from July 1969, has lyrics by Shizuo Yoshikawa（吉川静夫）which go over the usual pining over a lost love affair in the particular area. However the music by Masanobu Tokuchi（渡久地政信）has more of an enka feeling than a Mood Kayo one although I can still envisage Aoe crooning away in some smoke-filled bar somewhere between JR Ikebukuro Station and Sunshine City 60.
"Ikebukuro no Yoru" became Aoe's biggest hit, selling over a million records and spending 6 straight weeks at No. 1. It would later become the 7th-ranked song for 1969 and it had enough push to even become the 30th-ranked song for 1970. Not surprisingly, it earned a spot for the singer on the 1969 Kohaku Utagassen as the top batter and also a Japan Record Award.
A couple of months back I had done articles on songs by each of the 3 reputable Enka singers from the 50's, collectively known as the 'San'nin no kai' (三人の会)... predecessors of the Gosanke, if you will. Actually, I prefer these ancient oldies to the real Gosanke with the reason being that they all look really grand and impressive during their senior years (didn't last long though). Well, there is also the part that they're more Enka than Kayokyoku which I kinda like.
So, a quick recap of the fellows: The fearsome-looking Hideo Murata (村田英雄), the stoic Michiya Mihashi (三橋美智也), and finally the amiable Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) who also happens to be my favourite out of the trio with his strange nasally voice. I had began the last '50's Gosanke posts' with Murata's 'Osho' (王将), so now I shall start off part II of this little series with Kasuga's biggest hit and one of my most played Enka songs, 'Otomi-San' (Miss Otomi). Full version is in the link below.
Released in 1954 with its jaunty, upbeat tune by the late composer Masanobu Tokuchi (渡久地政信), you'd think 'Otomi san' would probably be a song where everything is peachy and the protagonist is skipping through the streets without a single care in the world. Well, in reality, it's not as pretty as it seems. Apparently 'Otomi-San' is based on the Kabuki play by the name of 'Yowa nasake uki nano kogushi' (与話情浮名横櫛) wherein this fellow tries to get a rich merchant's concubine to fork over the cash... but unbeknownst to him the concubine was his ex. Ouch. Lyrics are by Tadashi Yamazaki (山崎正), and some of them are even from the play's script or something like that. The line below shows 2 examples of it... minus the 'ni' part, and it's also the song's first line.
Iki na kurobe mikoshi na matsu ni 粋な黒塀 見越の松に
I got this translation from this website or blog with some articles on Japanese music (culture) over the years... pretty informative too. You can check it out here.
Anyway, exactly how many copies of 'Otomi-San' is not known but it's not a long shot to say that it crossed the million mark. There is even a disco version of it from 1977 by EBONEE WEBB that is aptly named 'Disco Otomi-San'. That sold over 200 000 copies in just 2 weeks! Kasuga sang his hit twice on the Kohaku, during his first appearance in 1954 as well as his 21st and last appearance in 1989.
Just some extra trivia here... 'Otomi-San' was actually meant to be sung by the then famed Kayokyoku singer Haruo Oka(岡晴夫), but due to his shift from King Record to Colombia Record, the producers were desperate to find a suitable replacement. Then came the fresh-faced Kasuga (30 at that time) who was probably enjoying his time in the limelight after his debut hit 'Akai lamp no shuresha' (赤いランプの終列車) and the rest was history.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
There have been many later renditions of the song by other Enka singers, and my favourite cover has got to be by the demure Sayuri Ishikawa (石川さゆり) who tackles 'Otomi-San' with great ease... haha, that sentence sounds funny! The more I read it the funnier it gets. But seriously, her smooth vocal delivery plus the music that's a tad slower in pace and slightly jazzy kick to it just makes for a good relaxing tune. Ishikawa's version was released in 2007 along with countless other covers of songs from the 50's and 60's in the album called '20 Seiki no meikyoku tachi' (二十世紀の名曲たち). It's got 10 parts with more than a hundred songs!
