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.
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.
Just out of whimsical curiosity, I wondered about what the first Mood Kayo（ムード歌謡）to appear in Japanese music history was. With all of the mournful backing choruses, bars and broken romances, who was the first singer or band to provide the city cousin of enka?
Reading up on the history of Mood Kayo on J-Wiki, I learned that the roots may have been planted by jazz singer and old-time kayo crooner Dick Mine（ディックミネ）. A couple of songs attributed to him as the origins of the bar-focused genre are "Yogiri no Blues" (夜霧のブルース) in 1947, and this particular song released in October 1954, "Ame no Sakaba de" (At a Rainy Bar).
The fact that it has that mournful melody by Namiryu Hirakawa（平川浪竜）and it takes place in a drinking establishment certainly fulfills that Mood Kayo definition. Minoru Shimizu's（清水みのる）lyrics seem to have either a buddy helping out another guy who's literally drowning his tears in drink or a soon-to-be ex-paramour telling his inconsolable mistress to stop drinking and head home to face the inevitable. Not exactly the happiest of scenarios but perhaps it and "Yogiri no Blues" did start up a new genre in Japanese music.
Noelle Tham wrote up the original article on Haruo Minami's（三波春夫）grand "Yuki no Wataridori" but after having listened to Hiroshi Itsuki's（五木ひろし）fine cover of the song recently, I thought that I would also give my two (officially non-existent) Canadian pennies as a follow-up. Moreover, it's now been over 20 years since the beatific presence of Minami left the stage and this mortal coil (July 19, 1923~April 14, 2001), and I have to face the fact that I still miss him whenever New Year's Eve and the annual Kohaku Utagassen appear.
"Yuki no Wataridori" was one of Minami's earliest songs recorded for sale back in 1957 and the other information on the songwriting can be found in Noelle's article. She also talked about what the title is all about and I can say that it can be literally translated as "Migratory Birds in the Snow" but folks might interpret that title as something belonging to a "National Geographic" feature. Wataridori can also colloquially refer to those warriors of the past who can never stay in one place for too long for various reasons such as emotional pain or personal safety. Basically, I think it's all about the masterless samurai or ronin who have to trudge their way throughout all of the seasons including the harsh winter, and what better scene to show the hard life of a ronin than one in which he has to somehow navigate through biting winds and knee-deep snow?
Perhaps what I can add to the narrative that Noelle started is the gusto that Minami added to the vocals for "Yuki no Wataridori" and the proud arrangement that always accompanies the melody by Akira Mutsu (陸奥明). It may seem a bit counter-intuitive to have something sounding this proud for the story of a warrior who has to fight enemies meteorological and human but this isn't anything new for enka and it just goes to show how the display of suffering by one person to reach a goal is apparently greatly appraised by the Japanese. Then, I'd say that it's not surprising that Minami got to perform "Yuki no Wataridori" twice in his many appearances on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen, the first time being his very first time on the program back in 1958 and then in 1979 for his 22nd appearance.
Noelle also mentioned that Hiroshi Itsuki among other enka singers did a cover of "Yuki no Wataridori", and of course has performed it on TV and elsewhere as I stated up above, but his CD version was released in June 2001 according to Tower Records Japan. Itsuki's version doesn't have quite the power that Minami brought to it, but his fans have probably not balked at his take on this tribute to the warrior.
Last night, when I was watching the most recent episode of popular NHK educational variety show "Chiko-chan ni Shikarareru"（チコちゃんに叱られる!...Don't Sleep Through Life）, saucy CG host Chiko-chan was asked by one of the oldest tarento on Japanese TV, Shiro Ito（伊東四朗）, who was appearing as a guest whether she knew singer Yoshio Tabata（田端義夫）. Of course, Chiko-chan being a genius at most everything (by her own admission) knew who the late singer was by shouting out his nickname Batayan（バタヤン）, and then one of his biggest hits, "Genkai Blues"（玄海ブルース）started playing in the background.
"Genkai Blues" is a 1949 song that has already been covered by Noelle, and when it comes to Batayan's songs, KKP's resident enka expert is the go-to contributor. However, now that she is busy with her studies, she doesn't have too much time to spend here. So I thought I could also put in my Tabata tune.
With "Genkai Blues" taken, I took my usual route for any singer with a long discography and sought out Tabata's debut song. How did he start out in his career? Well, Batayan first made his splash in 1939 at the age of 20 when he recorded "Shima no Funauta" (Island Shanty) which was composed by up-and-coming composer (according to J-Wiki's file on Tabata) Haruo Kurawaka（倉若晴生）and written by Minoru Shimizu（清水みのる）. Listening to the scratchy original above, "Shima no Funauta" is a peaceful enka which seems to have the young Tabata out on some tiny boat in the middle of the ocean strumming on his guitar, contemplating the quiet life out there. Not sure which sea he had envisioned being on, but I can hear some Hawaiian in there.
As you can see from the thumbnail above, Tabata performed a very brief version of "Shima no Funauta" on a music show when he was 63 years old, so the broadcast was probably sometime in 1982. I also like his performance here with a grander arrangement brought about by the orchestra, and there's something about him in a classy tuxedo with that particular way of holding his guitar which made me think that he would have been at home on the Grand Ole Opry.
I'm probably a little slow in finding this out: when Haruo Minami (三波春夫) appears alongside the San'nin no Kai, they are then collectively known as the Yonin Shu (四人衆)... now that makes it easier for me to refer to all of them at one go!
Anyway, there's this show on NHK that airs from time to time on Thursday evenings whenever a Thursday drama has finished its run. It's called "Gokigen Kayosho Gekidan" (ごきげん歌謡笑劇団), or "Happy Theater", as mentioned in the English schedule, and it is hosted by my favourite monomane talent, Korokke (コロッケ). Starting every episode is a period skit performed by the man himself as well as the guest actors/comedians and enka singers of the day, and through one recent skit staring Tetsuya Takeda (武田鉄矢) as a ronin (he's pretty convincing as one), I finally understood some of the terms used in many enka tunes that feature these hardened wandering warriors. Minami's "Yuki no Wataridori" is one such example.
The first term was one that I had some sort of idea as to what it was really referring to, that being "Wataridori", which means migratory bird. Many, many songs about ronin have this term, but I wasn't able to fully understand how birds are related to the fellas. My guess was that the "Wataridori" referred to the ronin themselves as they too never stay in one place for long. But Korokke's skit helped to cement that idea. It really did refer to the ronin. The next term learnt, I've only heard in "Yuki no Wataridori", and that's "Koi na" (鯉名). This one really puzzled me as it translates to "Carp name". It is mentioned in one of the last few lines of "Yuki no Wataridori" where the scene seems to be that of a showdown between the ronin and some badies, and it had me wondering why Minami said that the name of his carp is Ginpei before the fight. Did he really like his koi that much? Thankfully, the skit came to the rescue yet again. When introducing Takeda's character, rather than the usual "Namae" before the name, it had "Koi na". So, if I'm not mistaken, "Koi na" is just the ronin term for name. Man, the relief felt at that moment when getting its meaning was amazing! That's about all the terms I got so far, though there are still a few I have yet to understand.
Alright, now that I got the concepts for some of the words used in this type of enka, I think "Yuki no Wataridori" should be about the ronin travelling around in winter, when the snow falls, covering the land and the top of his straw hat in a thin sheet of sparkly white. Just like the songs like it, "Yuki no Wataridori" has a chirpy score to it, and it really fits Minami's bright and cheery persona.
This song was written by Minoru Shimizu (清水みのる) and composed by Akira Mutsu (陸奥明). Released in 1957, this was one of Minami's first few singles and I imagine that it did well in terms of sales as it allowed the enka veteran to sing this on the 1st of his 29 appearances on the Kohaku in 1958. He sang it two more times on this competition in 1979 and 1984. Many singers have done covers of this hit, and one of them happens to another big name in the enka world, Hiroshi Itsuki (五木ひろし). He did a pretty good job. And then again, Itsuki usually does a good job with the classics.
laughy.jp/item/541f8c1b0cf23b564f04cebf
Ah yes, the nickname Mom had decided to give Minami... Well, fans of Minami please don't take any offence and I apologize if any taken, she didn't really like him at first (she's somewhat alright with him now... not his singing though) and thought of him as rather feminine due to his flowery and pastel coloured kimonos and graceful movements, so she called him "Sisi", as in "Sissy". I objected at first, but gave up eventually.
October 4, 2021: J-Canuck has also written up his take on the song.
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