Masao Sen -- Bokyo Sakaba（望郷酒場）

 

Because I was never a huge drinker, I never really frequented a bar where everyone knew my name either in Japan or Canada. In the former country, my students took me and the teachers to a whole variety of izakaya and drinking establishments all over Tokyo whereas in the latter country, the closest that I ever got was Kuri, the karaoke bar of my university years, or the Madison Ave. Pub in the Annex, a neighbourhood right by the University of Toronto. And for that matter, The Mad was a place where I noshed more on the chicken wings and fries while drinking a Coke or coffee. I did have the odd Guinness, though.

To be honest, I was looking through the song list in the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen, just to see what else I may have not covered although I did feature a number of songs from that 32nd edition on the pages of KKP. And sure enough, there was one by a venerated and venerable enka singer, Masao Sen（千昌夫）.

"Bokyo Sakaba" (In a Bar Longing For Home) was Sen's 31st single from September 1981, and just from seeing the title, it rather grabbed my attention. I remember from reading up on some of Noelle's articles that the 1950s and 1960s were the decades for bokyo kayo（望郷歌謡）, the songs of nostalgia and homesickness that hit the airwaves to much success. At the time, many young Japanese were encouraged to leave their homes in the far-flung regions to head to the big cities to power the economic revitalization of the nation. Of course, many of those people probably did miss their hometowns and families.

So, it was interesting to see that as late as 1981, there was a song with the title of "Bokyo Sakaba", sung tenderly by Sen as the protagonist in Ryuichi Satomura's（里村龍一） lyrics waxes wistfully about becoming much like his own father as he looks upon his own life and drinking habits. The karaoke-friendly enka melody was provided by Seiichi Sakurada（桜田誠一）. 

Spring Songs

 

The first day of spring supposedly arrived at 5:01 am this morning. It's not exactly warmer out there and in fact, it's looking downright gray but I'll take everyone's word for it. As my friend tells me annually, here in Toronto, we will never be sure of spring's arrival until May.

Anyways, I didn't realize it until yesterday but I had yet to put up an Author's Pick on spring-titled songs so here are some of them although I'm sure that there are plenty of those out there in the kayo kyoku/J-Pop zeitgeist. 

(1976) Candies -- Haru Ichiban (春一番）

(1977) Masao Sen -- Kitaguni no Haru (北国の春）

(1983) Yoshie Kashiwabara -- Haru Nanoni (春なのに）

(1994) Yumi Matsutoya -- Haru yo, Koi （春よ、来い）

(1997) Takako Matsu -- Ashita, Haru ga Kitara（明日、春が来たら）

Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery -- Ichiro, Masao & Taeko

 

Ichiro Fujiyama -- Tokyo Rhapsody （東京ラプソディ）

Masao Sen -- Hoshikage no Waltz （星影のワルツ）

Taeko Ohnuki -- 4AM

Go-Touchi Songs（ご当地ソング）: Hokkaido and the Tohoku region

 

When we were watching the venerable historical TV drama "Mito Komon"（水戸黄門）as kids, I noticed that each episode followed a set pattern. It would start out with the disguised former vice-shogun Tokugawa and his heroic party entering a certain area in which by coincidence, someone was being victimized by evil officials. Then, there would be the gradual infiltration and investigation of the crimes being committed before the final sword-flashing mayhem takes place. Then, Tokugawa's samurai retainer would whip out the inro case near the end showing the villains and victims alike that justice has arrived and will be served.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find that particular scene on YouTube, but I'd like to go back to one of those tropes of "Mito Komon". I'm not sure if this had been the case with every episode, but whenever Tokugawa and his band entered a region, one of them, the ever-famished Hachibei, would always remark (or swoon) that the area was famous for some sort of food. And this was where I got my first hint that the prefectures and territories of Japan prided themselves on some aspect that set themselves apart. Yup, food was and is one example.

But of course, this is a music blog and not a foodie-based one. Watching the most recent episode of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）, the theme was go-touchi kayo or songs that made the case for a certain city, region or prefecture, often with the name of such place as part of the song's title. I've been hearing the term for years now, but last week's episode finally sparked within me the idea of putting up some of those geographically based tunes up here. By the way, the above video by YouTuber Roman Hiko gives a full rundown on the go-touchi songs for the entire country so that ought to give you folks a good grounding of what we're talking about here.

Let's consider this particular article the first of a short weekly series of go-touchi songs representing areas of Japan, and for this week, I'm going to cover the northern area including Hokkaido（北海道）and the Tohoku（東北）region (Aomori, Akita, Miyagi, Iwate, Yamagata and Fukushima Prefectures). Obviously, my humble list is way too small, but I just wanted to display some of the songs. As well, you can check out the J-Wiki link to see the whole kit and kaboodle of go-touchi tunes.

1. Hibari Misora -- Ringo Oiwake （リンゴ追分）for Aomori (1952)

2. Saburo Kitajima -- Hakodate no Hito （函館の女）for Hakodate in Hokkaido (1965)

3. Masayoshi Tsuruoka & Tokyo Romantica -- Otaru no Hito yo （小樽のひとよ）for Otaru in Hokkaido (1967)

4. Masao Sen -- Kitaguni no Haru (北国の春）for the Tohoku region in general (1977)

5. Sayuri Ishikawa -- Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki （津軽海峡・冬景色）for Aomori (1977)

6. Muneyuki Sato -- Aoba-jo Koi Uta （青葉城恋唄）for Sendai in Miyagi (1978)

7. Yuji Mori and Southern Cross -- Suki desu Sapporo（好きですサッポロ）for Sapporo in Hokkaido (1981)

I'll go into the Kanto area next week. By the way, I know that I said above that "Kayo Kyoku Plus" isn't a foodie blog, but I will simply leave this article with a couple of dishes from Hokkaido and the Tohoku region: jingisukan（ジンギスカン）and kiritanpo（きりたんぽ...Akita, to be specific） respectively.

Masao Sen -- Jinsei ni Kanpai（人生に乾杯）

Happy Monday! It's been a few decades but I've wondered what it must have been like for my parents and their Japanese friends when they attended that Toronto special concert featuring enka singer Masao Sen（千昌夫）and his then-wife Joan Shepherd. As I've said before, we simply didn't get any of the big kayo singers here in this city unless they had happened to be doing a gig in New York City (it's only a 1-hour flight from The Big Apple to The 6ix) the day before.

But Sen and his wife did show up and in the past, there have even been visits by Hiroshi Itsuki （五木ひろし）and Sachiko Kobayashi（小林幸子）. Of course, the audience dressed up to the nines and maybe even the tens to show up for such geinokai royalty.

(guide vocal version)

The other day on NHK's "Songs of Japanese Spirit", Sen appeared to sing this jaunty and boisterous enka/kayo tune called "Jinsei ni Kanpai" (A Toast to Life). On first listening to it, I'd assumed that it was one of his older hits from, let's say the 1970s, along the lines of his trademark "Kitaguni no Haru"（北国の春）.

As it turns out, though, "Jinsei ni Kanpai" was actually released last August in 2019 as his 52nd single, but it was created by the same duo that came up with "Kitaguni no Haru" all the way back in 1977. Lyricist Haku Ide（いではく）and composer Minoru Endo（遠藤実）were responsible for Sen's encouragement to all to live that life full of vim and vigour while shedding all that nonsense about the aging process. Mind you, Endo passed away in 2008 (though Ide is still alive) so I'm wondering if "Jinsei ni Kanpai" was a song that was just languishing somewhere for years before it got its time at bat.

Methinks that this particular song must be quite the popular tune in the karaoke boxes for the senior set (or will be again once the pandemic ends), and while listening or singing it at home, Ide's lyrics may strike a pleasant chord for folks remaining safely sheltered. I'm sure that once the all-clear is given, all of us will be willing to give a toast to life.

Masao Sen -- Yuuyake Gumo（夕焼け雲）

Jokyo（上京）...heading up to the capital, namely Tokyo. I don't think it has quite the feelings now that it had some 40~70 years ago (Bullet Trains and planes decreased the feeling of distance and time, and then later on, things such as Skype). Back then, it was all about young people, even teenagers, going to Tokyo from all parts of the nation to find work and start making a life of their own while helping to get Japan onto its feet again. All sorts of wistful scenes come to mind: getting onto the trains, mothers waving tearfully to their now-independent children, arriving at Ueno Station, and perhaps looking wide-eyed at their new urban surroundings.

Although jokyo is more of a within-Japan thing, I can understand the feeling as well. In my case, it wasn't so much a train ride of hundreds of kilometres to Ueno Station, though; it was more a plane ride of thousands of kilometres to Narita Airport, shortly after (barely) graduating from University of Toronto. It was quite the thing to enter Tokyo on that steamy summer day in July 1989 on a limousine bus with the hustle and bustle of Shinjuku all around us as we approached the Keio Plaza Hotel.

Tonight's theme on "Uta Kon"（うたコン）was, as you guessed it, jokyo. It's a topic that was so beloved in kayo kyoku that I'm surprised that the expression jokyo kayo wasn't really coined in the language. Of course, the big representative of that little corner of old Showa Era pop music is "Ahh, Ueno Eki"（あゝ上野駅）by Hachiro Izawa（井沢八郎）, and indeed that song was performed.

However, I also encountered another song that perked my memory engrams due to the familiarity of its melody although I wasn't able to peg the singer or the title until both were revealed to me tonight. Veteran enka singer Masao Sen（千昌夫）released his 24th single in March 1976, "Yuuyake Gumo" (Clouds in the Afterglow), an encouraging song of keeping at the new life in Tokyo and not heading back home until you succeed. Hiroshi Yokoi and Noboru Ichidai（横井弘・一代のぼる）took care of words and music respectively. Hearing Sen sing out "Kaere~nai~"（帰れない...I can't go home）in that anthemic way is one of the aural memories I have of kayo kyoku in general.

Sen released a new version of "Yuuyake Gumo" in May 1983 as his 35th single although I don't think the arrangement was all that different from the 1976 original. The singer performed this song for the first time on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen in 1983 during his 11th appearance on the New Year's Eve program.

北国の春 / Kitaguni no Haru

        I recently found myself down a Youtube music hole, as I often do, and ended up on this video of Toshimi Togawa (田川寿美).
>

        
As soon as the intro hit I knew I'd heard the song before, but sung by someone else.
It took around 20 minutes of me going through my iTunes library before I found Wo He Ni by Teresa Teng. 

     The original Japanese song, Kitaguni No Haru (Spring in the north country) was first sung in 1977 by Masao Sen (千昌夫) and there seems to be versions in various Asian languages. The Teng version is in Mandarin and the lyrics are different (Wo He Ni translates as "You and Me".)
Of course, Teresa was singing and releasing records in Japanese at the time, and there exists a recording of her singing the original Japanese version of the song as well.
The Japanese lyrics are from the perspective of someone from a small town in presumably Hokkaido, who has since left for the big city. This is a common general theme in Enka songs of the era, of course during this time many Japanese were leaving small towns for cities.
the string section flourishes and drawn out vocals really give the track a springtime longing sort of feel.

And there's a great version by one of my favorites, Fuji Keiko (藤圭子.) 

https://www.bilibili.com/s/video/BV1Jt411X7y2

She certainly brought a soulful, sultry touch to everything she did. 

Masao Sen -- Miso Shiru no Uta （味噌の詩）

Tonight, another group of folks and I rode the bus all through the suburbs outside of the city limits of my fair city to head to an elite sushi restaurant that is in the middle of a bunch of industrial parks. The place is called Zen and it used to be just a general Japanese restaurant in the east end of town in what is frankly a pretty seedy area (it was located next to a lot whose building had burned down). However in the past several months, the management moved the place to a much safer, albeit less accessible, neighbourhood, and streamlined and upscaled its operations so that it basically specializes in sushi now. We went for the most expensive kaiseki and were not disappointed. Of course, having a good soup with that meal was important, too.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Seguing somewhat clumsily then to an NHK program that I saw last week via TV Japan, "Utau! SHOW Gakko"（歌う!SHOW学校...Sing! SHOW School） stars enka legend Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）as the comically amiable teacher of a singing variety program shaped as an old-fashioned elementary school in which comedians and other singers appear as students to demonstrate their prowess (or not) in singing the old kayo.

Enka darling Kohei Fukuda（福田こうへい）earned his gold star in that "class" for performing an old 1980 enka tune originally sung by Masao Sen（千昌夫）. Starting off with the necessary "Brrrrr" to illustrate the winter setting, Fukuda launched into "Miso Shiru no Uta" (The Song of Miso Soup) which had his classmates and audience swooning and perhaps reminiscing.

Masao Sen had sung what is probably his most famous ballad, "Kita Kuni no Haru"（北国の春）from 1977 on the Kohaku Utagassen three straight years. The enka song about the longing for home in the old countryside away from the big city had that much of an impact on a listening public who love their nostalgia spread thickly on their toast like peanut butter. But then in May 1980 came his 33rd single, "Miso Shiru no Uta" which was another musical reminiscing of home, represented by Mom's miso soup. As Sen sings in his song, the son might act all big and tough for striking out on his own as a cog in his company but once the winter rolls in and visions of that hot soup materialize, he just turns into jelly and can't wait to head back on the Bullet Train for his hometown.

Mom's home cooking, indeed. Written and composed by Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）, J-Wiki apparently pointed out that "Miso Shiru no Uta" was a cover of a song written in a slightly different manner（みそ汁の詩）which originated in 1976. However, that is the only information of its origins; no mention of who the artist was or even if it had been officially released. Still, it really doesn't matter since the song has basically become another beloved Sen tune. In fact, it sold around 600,000 records. Plus, Sen was once again able to appear on the 1980 Kohaku Utagassen but instead of singing his homesick-inducing "Kita Kuni no Haru", he sang his homesick-inducing "Miso Shiru no Uta" for the only time. I wonder whether fathers and sons watching the program at the time suddenly demanded Mommy to whip up some miso shiru after seeing Sen's performance, especially regarding those families in the cold north country of Japan.

Masao Sen/Ikuzo Yoshi -- Tsugaru Heiya (津軽平野)

"Tsugaru Heiya" is a prime example of Ikuzo Yoshi's (吉幾三) works, and listening to him sing it in his gruff, abrupt and intense vocal delivery, I didn't think twice about the possibility that he might have written for anyone else but himself. But it turned out that Yoshi had put together "Tsugaru Heiya" for Masao Sen (千昌夫). I'm not complaining though, since the manner in which Sen sings this song is somewhat similar to Yoshi's (or should it be the other way round?), just that his voice is not as gravelly. Both are also able to express this tune's initial mournfulness and much later excitement well.

(short version)

Anyway, what allowed me to think that "Tsugaru Heiya" has Yoshi written all over it is the lyrics. Don't get me wrong, it's not because he penned it, but it's because of what he wrote; set in the Tsugaru plains of Aomori, it begins to snow, and our protagonist is reluctantly watching his father's lone figure leaving home to go to work (most likely in the city). Though lonely, he patiently waits for coldest season to pass, as that is when Pops is due to return home, hopefully with gifts galore. And by the end of the song, when the snow finally thaws on the mountains, Dad finally returns, much to his joy. A heartfelt set of lyrics that is not difficult to decipher - I was able to understand about 95% of it on the first read... now that's rare! But there are some little bits and pieces I have yet to figure out. The one and only song that I have gained full comprehension in is Hiroshi Mizuhara's (水原弘) "Tasogare no Beguine" (黄昏のビギン).

"Tsugaru Heiya" was released as Sen's 36th single on 25th March 1984, and he sang it once out of his 16 appearances, on the year the song came out. As for Yoshi's version, it was first released as the B-side to his 9th single "Rausu" (羅臼(ラウス)), and then again in 1996, this time as the A-side of his 27th single. The video below features Sabu-Chan's take on "Tsugaru Heiya". I've decided to put his rendition up since I've seen Grandpa enka take on this song a number of times via YouTube and TV, and I must say, he does a fine job with it.

(Sorry the video has been taken down.)

Woah, hey there! :)

Y'know, as with some of the big fella's songs, I wonder if Yoshi was referring to himself in "Tsugaru Heiya"... I mean, he did come from a little village in that area.

billboard-japan.com

Masao Sen -- Hoshikage no Waltz （星影のワルツ）

About 11 years before Masao Sen's（千昌夫） heartwarming "Kita Kuni no Haru"（北国の春） there was the quietly heartbreaking "Hoshikage no Waltz"(The Starlight Waltz). This was another song that got a lot of play on the RCA Victor at home, and I remember it for the backup chorus and the muted trumpet that starts things off.

With a serene "swish-swish" beat, "Hoshikage no Waltz" sounds like an enka to be heard just before it's lights-out in the bar. However, Sonoe Shiratori's（白鳥園枝） lyrics lay a tale of sadness under the gentle melody by Minoru Endo（遠藤実）as Sen sings in a voice close to breaking about one final traipse on the dance floor before the romance between a still-in-love couple has to end due to circumstances beyond their control. In a way, it reminds me of Kyu Sakamoto's（坂本九） "Ue wo Muite Arukou" (i.e. the Sukiyaki song) in which the singer exhorts everyone to keep on smiling between the tears.

Sen's 6th single was released in March 1966, and although it wasn't a hit at first, within a couple of years when Oricon got started, it not only hit the No. 1 spot but it became the very first No. 1 Single of the Year in the history of the ranking system. It sold over 1.5 million records and earned Sen his first appearance on the 1968 Kohaku Utagassen.

Masao Sen -- Kitaguni no Haru (北国の春）

This is another one of my enka songs from my childhood. The flourish of strings within Minoru Endo's（遠藤実）melody at the beginning makes "Kitaguni no Haru" (Spring in the North Country) instantly recognizable for me. Haku Ide's（いではく）words about heading back home after a long time away evokes that eternal enka love for furusato (home). And Sen's plaintive singing at the end of the chorus: "Shall I go home?" always reaches those hearts who have traveled far from home.

Masao Sen（千昌夫）is one of the few enka singers who have made the trip to Toronto to do a concert for the Japanese-Canadian community. I didn't go to that concert in the 80s but my parents sure did. They dressed up to the nines as did, I'm sure, every one else who attended to see Sen and his wife at the time, Joan Sheppard. Sen has had that old-fashioned balladeer's voice which beautifully renders the lyrics even more tenderly for this song. It also didn't hurt that he is also from that north country....Iwate Prefecture, to be exact.

"Kitaguni no Haru"was Sen's 26th single since his debut in 1965, and the song has become his trademark. Since its release in April 1977, it managed to reach its peak of No. 6 on the Oricon charts, but it has also achieved many other accolades as well. Not only did it sell 3 million records, it also earned the Long-Seller Prize at the Japan Record Awards since it remained on the charts for 92 weeks! In fact, in 1979, it was the 5th-ranking song of the year. 

Getting on the Kohaku Utagassen was a foregone conclusion. The success of "Kitaguni no Haru" helped him get on the New Year's Eve special for his 5th appearance in 1977 (his first in 6 years), and he repeated the same performance for the next couple of years afterwards. He would sing his trademark song a couple of more times before the century was out, making it the most-sung tune on the Kohaku up to the year 2000. And he did his 6th rendition of the song just last year.... considering the events of March 11 2011, Sen's singing must have held special significance.

The song also became very popular outside of Japan as well. It has been sung in Mandarin and Thai, and in China, it's apparently recognized as the most well-known Japanese song there.