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.
Singer-songwriter and arranger Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）was one of a number of Japanese folk singers who made that transition into groovy City Pop from the 1970s into the 1980s. I think his most notable work in the urban contemporary sphere has been his "Moonlight" from 1981.
Ise kept going with that City Pop feeling for a few more years at least according to what I've heard so far from his November 1984 5th album"Heart Beat" (the above video from uploader Muzuki is of the entire LP). He also goes into New Wave in this album as well, but the first track is the title track and I'd say that "Heart Beat" keeps things more or less in the City Pop realm.
I say "more or less" because although "Heart Beat" is a City Pop tune, albeit one of a more sophisticated pop type which is different from the just-as-bar-friendly "Moonlight", it also incorporates some synthpop elements such as claps and syndrums as well as some jazz near the end including a somewhat mournful trombone solo. Perhaps this could be from some classy bar in Coruscant? I'd also add that Ise sounds a bit like Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）here and he was also one for the eclectic and City Pop at around the same time. Ise was behind words and music here but Takeshi Inoue（井上毅）also helped out on the lyrics.
It was just last night when I posted Issei Okamoto's（岡本一生）"Moon Magic"（ムーン・マジック） as part of the Urban Contemporary lineup for Friday. And then, today I noticed that it was September 13th. For anyone who's into science-fiction, that date should be notable since it was on that day in 1999 when the Moon was blasted out of its orbit through magnetic radiation via the show "Space: 1999". Heck, I even devoted one ROY article to the theme song!
Well, in honour of September 13th 1999 (and thank heavens, we still have the Moon out there [although no Moonbase Alpha😢]) and the fact that all those moon-based traditions are happening this month, I've got another Author's Picks...this time, honouring all those songs that have something to do with the moon, and these definitely only represent the merest of a fraction because as I recall, kayo kyoku do love their moon tunes.
As I was telling my good friend and fellow KKP contributor, JTM, I don't buy a whole lot of City Pop albums nowadays since I've been able to buy what I had wanted and the ones that are still desirable out there have simply been discontinued. However, I was very grateful and happy to receive this compilation from JTM last Xmas called "City Pop Story" since I did notice a few songs that I had yet to encounter.
One of those tracks is "Sea Side Story" by singer-songwriter Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）. He belongs to that august group in Japanese music which jumped from folk in the early 1970s to City Pop in the latter part of the decade going into the 1980s. A truly cherished song by him in the urban contemporary field is his cool-as-ice "Moonlight" from 1981 which brings images of cigarette smoke, clinking glasses and leather furnishings in the grand city of Tokyo.
Getting back to "Sea Side Story" though, this is a truly calming and introspective City Pop/J-AOR ballad about admiring that ocean. Written and composed by Ise, right from the start, the arrangement is so hammock-friendly that you'll demand an Orange Mimosa to miraculously appear in your hand especially when the sounds of waves (along with that haunting keyboard and Ise's crooning vocals) actually enter your ears. It's quite the opposite from "Moonlight" in tone and environment, and the above video by uploader Moto Mas clinches the deal.
Kaz-shin of the Japanese music blog "Music Avenue" said it best, and I have the translation from his entry regarding "Sea Side Story": For me, it's the kind of song I want to listen to on lazy summer afternoons when I don't feel like doing anything.
We're back at the AI art gallery for this Friday night and of course, Fridays mean the more urban contemporary of Japanese popular music. As was the case during the last visit, I got together with my fellow foodie friends including KKP writer Larry Chan for lunch, and this time it was at a nice restaurant existing within a converted former postal station in midtown Toronto. I am still digesting my Steak Frites and Tiramisu as I type.
Hope everyone is enjoying their first weekend of July 2024. Canada Day and The Fourth of July have now passed by for another year, but perhaps folks are still in holiday mode so the cottages are beckoning.
Came across this video by Nippon Crown which takes care of all things Kaguyahime（かぐや姫）, the famous Japanese folk band from the 1970s. I do love that cover of their May 1978 album"Kaguyahime Today"（かぐや姫・今日）with the band members standing in the middle of a flowing grassy field. Couldn't get more folksy than that.
Also, there is one of the tracks, "Ohayou Oyasumi Nichiyoubi" (Good Morning Good Night Sunday) which was written by Kaguyahime member Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）, composed by Tsuguto "Panda" Yamada（山田つぐと）and arranged by Takahiko Ishikawa（石川鷹彦）. The song is jaunty, reassuring and as flowing as that grassy field on the cover as someone helps their significant other with their homesickness, even deciding to take that drive together from Tokyo all the way back to the old hometown. Now, that's a loving person!
As for the album itself, "Kaguyahime Today" hit the top spot on Oricon and ended up as the 13th-ranking release of the year.
Although Torontonians learn never to say never when it comes to seasonal events such as snow, and yes, snow has fallen here in May, I think that we can all finally breathe some relief and perhaps do things such as change our snow tires back to summer ones. If you are Torontonian and you read this article, knock on wood firmly...just to be on the safe side.😉
Now, this is a song that I heard a few months ago on the "Weather Music" segment of "Weathernews Live" when snow was still all too real a thing in my neck of the woods. "Nagori Yuki" (Winter's-End Snow) has been a favourite of mine when I first heard it by 70s aidoru Ikue Sakakibara（榊原郁恵）on the 1982 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen and then heard the most famous 1975 cover version by folk singer Iruka（イルカ）. The original version was by folk band Kaguyahime（かぐや姫）and placed on their 1974 4th album, "Sankai Tate no Uta"（三階建ての詩...Three-Floor Poem).
The "Weather Music" segment had singer-songwriter Motohiro Hata（秦基博）perform his own take on "Nagori Yuki" and it still retains that wistful and woodsy flavour of the 1970s versions. There is nothing over-the-top here...it's Hata and his guitar for the most part, and that is all that is needed to send the emotion out to people. Hata's version was a track on an extra CD that was only available in the first pressings of his October 2010 3rd album"Documentary" which hit No. 3 on Oricon.
It's been about 2 1/2 years since my previous Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）article and so perhaps it would be appropriate for this 9,801st KKP contribution to bring the folk-City Pop singer-songwriter back into the fold this way.
(35:38)
Actually, that article was for "Tonight, Tonight", a track from Ise's 4th album"Orange" from May 1983. So is this one. "Orange Grove" is a bouncy Ise-created tune which lands in an area between City Pop and Resort Pop, so I gather that in a travelogue sense, the open convertible (it always has to be a convertible) is en route between Tokyo and Hakone. One odd observation is that Ise sounds here and there as if he's already lying down in his hammock and getting away from the mike for a few microseconds to grab that Orange Mimosa. So, just like the album cover depicted above, the song scores two out of three oranges. Great horns, though.
A couple of days ago in the final paragraph of the article for Masanori Sera & Twist's（世良正則＆ツイスト）"Anta no Ballad"（あんたのバラード）, I referred to the different Japanese expressions to describe the word "you". Well, it was never my intention to make the blog into "Japanese Grammar with J-Canuck" but it looks like I have another opportunity with an extremely informal form of another pronoun. I've known that the third-person masculine singular, "he" or "him" can be translated formally into "kare"（彼）or"ano hito"（あの人）. But then, there is also "aitsu" which can refer to "he", "him" or "that guy", but depending on the situation, the nuance can be such so that it can also mean "that jerk" or something worse; in other words, it's a term to be used sparingly if possible.
That is indeed the title for folk singer Iruka's（イルカ）track from her March 1975 debut album"Iruka no Sekai"（イルカの世界...Iruka's World）. But Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）, who wrote and composed the song, provided the mellow-voiced singer with a very gentle and relaxing melody for such a direct-sounding title. If I'm not mistaken about the lyrics, though, the story is told from the view of a secret admirer of a young lady whose current paramour has suddenly gone off into the mountains for some reason. The admirer is far from happy, thereby using the title against him and wondering how anyone could abandon such a wonderful lass although there is a hint that she still holds a torch for aitsu.
It's been quite a few years since I purchased singer-songwriter Shozo Ise's（伊勢正三）"Light Mellow" compilation of his AOR period, and from there, I discovered his smooth down-home City Pop sound from his "Futari no Shuuki"（二人の周期）, originally from his 1981 3rd solo album, "Smoke Glass Goshi no Keshiki"（スモークドガラス越しの景色...The Scenery Beyond The Smoked Glass）.
The third track from that compilation and a track in the above video at 12:57 is "Tonight, Tonight" which takes things into some turn-of-the-decade (70s into 80s) West Coast soft rock and City Pop. Written and composed by Ise and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, "Tonight, Tonight" seems to be about really having that night out on the town as if there were no more nights coming. Both Ise and Sato were handling the lion's share of instruments including guitar, piano, synthesizer, Fender Rhodes and glockenspiel.
Liner notes for the "Light Mellow" compilation seem to have thrown in all of the folks who were involved on the entire source album, and in the case of "Tonight, Tonight", it had originally been recorded on Ise's 4th album"Orange" from May 1983. There were a lot of big names on the electric guitar such as Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）, Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）and Tsuyoshi Kon（今剛）so if any one of them including Ise took care of that electric guitar solo in the song, then my compliments to him. That solo had me thinking back to my teenage days listening to the radio.
For an October 1977 album that has been categorized as a folk release, "Umikaze" (Sea Breeze) by the folk duo Kaze（風）starts off with something that really doesn't sound like a languid or strident folk tune.
The first tune is the title tune. Beginning with a guitar riff that reminds me either of Simon & Garfunkel or "Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai" （君じゃなきゃダメみたい）, the opening theme for the hilarious anime "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん...Girls' Monthly Nozaki-kun）,"Umikaze" is a darn rollicking City Pop/J-AOR song. Performed by Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）and Kazuhisa Okubo（大久保一久）, it really demands a car, a car stereo and a bayside highway to go along with the attractive funkiness of it which includes a cool sax solo.
Words and music were provided by Ise, who's no stranger to the urban contemporary, and his "Umikaze" is delivered as his recommendation of a sea breeze to cure all that ails you. Well, driving in a top-down convertible during a summer sunset along the coast, I think that many can relate to that. As for "Umikaze" the album, it hit No. 1 and became the 43rd-ranked release for 1978. I'll have to check out some of the other tracks.
However, when I was living in Japan, there was another Sea Breeze that provided the pause that refreshes.
The last time that I put up an Iruka（イルカ）article was New Year's Day this year, so now with 2019 almost up, I gather that it's time to write about another one of her songs.
I'm going way back here this time. In fact, this is Iruka's debut single as a solo singer. "Ano Koro no Boku wa"(Me Back Then) was released in October 1974, and to my ears, there is nothing like a proto-Iruka or an Iruka-in-development in how it sounds. This is quintessential Iruka: plaintive vocals and that sweet folk sound that I've heard in many of her songs back in the 1970s.
Her good friend Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）wrote and composed this story of looking back at an old school romance with a mix of regret and gratitude. I could say that it's the perfect kayo of reminiscence. The protagonist is probably wondering how his old flame is doing right now. As he is making coffee for himself, is she making for herself and her current husband?
The above has Iruka and Ise performing the song. Wouldn't it be nice if Iruka could come back to the Kohaku Utagassen one more time?
It's been interesting getting to know the earliest times for the former vocalist of the pop band Fairchild and current TV personality known as YOU. I first only got to know about her from those Suntory commercials while one of Fairchild's songs was playing in the background, and it would be many years down the line before I realized that she had been an aidoru in the mid-1980s.
From the material that I've heard performed by Yukiko Ehara（江原由希子）, the future YOU seemed to have been groomed to take on somewhat more classier or ethereal material. Her second single from August 1985, "Kokoro no Mama ni" (As It Is) is along those lines as it skirts with the mellower side of sophisticated pop. I could even hear an AOR riff and even hints of Omega Tribe in there.
And yet, neither Chinfa Kan（康珍化）nor Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）had anything to do with the creation of "Kokoro no Mama ni". It was actually 70s folk singer Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）who concocted this dreamier form of 80s aidoru. I have to say that I really like the keyboards in there.
Well, as I mentioned in another this week, I got my package of CDs which included another in the series of "Light Mellow" compilations of J-AOR/City Pop. The 2nd CD in the delivery was another "Light Mellow" (every time I read or hear that title, I always get reminded of Coffee Mate) album, but this time, it was one of the spotlight releases focusing on a certain singer of the genre. I decided to get the urban contemporary works of singer-songwriter Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）.
Ise is quite the interesting acquisition. He and Kosetsu Minami（南こうせつ）came up with some of the most famous J-Folk songs from the early 1970s such as "Nagori Yuki"（なごり雪）when they were together in Kaguyahime（かぐや姫）, and a year ago, I discovered this achingly lovely ballad that Ise wrote and composed, "Kimi to Aruita Seishun"（君と歩いた青春）when he was with another band, Kaze (1975-1979), a duo that was also folk but had elements of New Music and City Pop as well.
The transition further continued as Ise went solo in the late 1970s and embraced the totality of City Pop. I fell in love with the slick "Moonlight" when I first heard it on "Sounds of Japan" decades ago, although at the time, I did not make the connection between it and "Nagori Yuki". But years later, I finally figured it out and always wondered about more of his urban contemporary stuff from the early 80s which leads to this week when I finally got "Light Mellow -- Shozo Ise".
"Moonlight", his 2nd single as a soloist, is in there, but there are also a lot of other cool and urban delights. One of the tracks is "Futari no Shuuki" which translates as "A Period For Two". That struck me as being a bit too vague a title so I think "A Time For Two" may be an improvement. Of course, Ise took care of music and lyrics for this tune that's a bit airier than "Moonlight" but very much in the City Pop realm.
Not totally sure on the meaning of the lyrics, but I think Ise was trying to weave a story about a fellow who's still really aching for a lady although it looks like the brief and torrid affair is quite over. The featured instrument, according to the liner notes in "Light Mellow -- Shozo Ise", is Ise's operation of the guitar synthesizer but I think the even more intriguing thing is the instrument that are his vocal cords. His creamy and dreamy delivery especially of the first few lines had me thinking of Akira Terao（寺尾聰）and Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）...rather balladeer-like. Also, unlike "Moonlight", the feeling of the song is not like being in that hotel-top bar but just walking about somewhere in the concrete jungle that's Tokyo...perhaps aimlessly considering the poor fellow in the lyrics. He probably would need to pace around Shibuya, Harajuku and Shinjuku for a few hours to get all that angst out of his system.
Originally, "Futari no Shuuki" came out as his 3rd single in September 1981 and was a track on his 3rd solo album, "Smoke Glass Goshi no Keshiki"（スモークドガラス越しの景色...The Scenery Beyond The Smoked Glass）. I'm more than happy to delver further into this song as well as some of the other tracks during his City Pop period.
It's been a while since I did a BEST article so here is one in tribute to Iruka（イルカ）. A number of BEST albums on the veteran singer-songwriter have been released, but this one, simply titled "BEST", came out in 1989 and I bought it sometime during my Gunma days. Toshie Hosaka（保坂としえ）may never have become an Oricon-topping superstar but I know she's garnered a loyal following since her early days as a member of the folk group, The Shrieks (1970-1974), and as the guitar-strumming soloist since then.
I'm personally indebted to her since she was the first singer that I heard on the first "Sounds of Japan" episode I ever taped onto my cheapo Canadian Tire cassettes. There was a ton of static on my recording of "Ame no Monogatari" but the beauty of that song still came through if not so bright and clear. And that has been the wonderful thing about Iruka. She has that relaxing velvety and crumply quality in her vocals which could fit easily into countryside Folk, urbane City Pop and just plain Pop, and it was that rendition of "Ame no Monogatari" that made me realize that there was more to Japanese popular music than aidoru and enka.
Here is the playlist from Iruka's "BEST". The other entries for Iruka on the blog are all on this CD so you can just click on "Iruka" in the Labels section.
1. Kanashimi no Shomei 悲しみの証明 2. Mou Umi ni wa Kaerenai もう海には帰れない 3. Ame no Monogatari 雨の物語 4. LOST LOVE 5. Sarada no Kuni kara Kita Musume サラダの国から来た娘 6. Juu-Kyu no Haru ni 十九の春に 7. Itazu イタズ 8. Maarui Inochi まあるいいのち 9. Mukae ni Iku Asa 迎えに行く朝 10. Nagori Yuki なごり雪 11. Kareha no Season 枯葉のシーズン 12. Follow Me 13. Kimi no March きみのマーチ 14. Kaigan Douri 海岸通 15. Yoake no Goodbye 夜明けのグッドバイ 16. Itsuka Tsumetai Ame ga いつか冷たい雨が
The first song from "BEST" that I will talk about is her 25th single from September 1989, "Mukae ni Iku Asa" (The Mornings I Pick You Up), a cute and cuddly pop ditty that I had first heard as the theme song for a Fuji-TV morning news show. When I came across Track 9, I immediately sat back and wondered where I had heard it before and then remembered the smiling visage of announcer Tomoko Nagano before it all came back to me.
And whaddaya know? I actually found a clip of "Talk Shower" with the theme song and Nagano-san intact. "Mukae ni Iku Asa", by the way, was written and composed by her comrade-in-arms, Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）.
Track 5 is the just-as-adorable folk-pop song, "Sarada no Kuni kara Kita Musume" (The Girl From The Salad Nation) which was Iruka's 12th single from March 1978. As the title might hint, the Iruka-penned tune conjures up that land of fruits and vegetables for the kids. My bet is that the song can lull the little ones to the point where they will be able to eat their broccoli.
"Kareha no Season" (Season of Dead Leaves) is a breezy and mature City Poppish ballad about the ups and downs of love that came out as Iruka's 17th single in October 1981. As in a number of Japanese pop songs, the season of fall is used as that metaphor for romance swept away like so many of those dead leaves from the title. Once again, Iruka was behind the lyrics and melody, and the arrangement was done with a woman in mind as the protagonist. I love the slight echo in her voice here and that guitar in the middle.
"Kimi no March"(Your March) was created by the singer as a theme song for the anime, "Noel no Fushigi na Bouken" （ノエルの不思議な冒険...Noel's Fantastic Adventures）in December 1982 as her 19th single. It's a call to arms and fun for the toddler brigade. That rumbling guitar in the back there had me thinking of Yuming songs at that time.
"Kanashimi no Shomei"(Sad Proof), the song that launches the album off here, is another bittersweet ballad about a woman asking that a former lover let things be and part peacefully and permanently. Written by Toyohisa Araki （荒木とよひさ）and composed by Takashi Miki（三木たかし）, Iruka's 24th single from April 1989 has a definite sunset feeling with a bit of gospel & blues woven in the melody. Folk may have been where she started but like her friend, Shozo Ise, she can do a fine job with urban contemporary as well.
And I cannot finish the article without mentioning her 11th single from March 1977"Ame no Monogatari" once more. It all started from this song with the bluesy guitar, the silky strings and the Iruka vocal.
I was listening to the BEST compilation of Hiromi Ohta（太田裕美） for the first time in a long while when I heard her ballad, "Kimi to Aruita Seishun" (The Salad Days I Walked With You) and felt that I just had to write about it. It's one of those lovely bittersweet ballads of parting as a man says his goodbyes to a now-former love who was adored by all of his buddies. There's no recrimination, though. The man asks her to give his regards to everyone while he heads off for parts unknown and she heads back to the hometown. Shozo Ise（伊勢正三） from the folk group Kaguyahime（かぐや姫） wrote and composed the song, and I'm pretty much convinced he can make a block of granite tear up. He has written some of Iruka's（イルカ） tenderhearted ballads and Ohta's cover version is also another wonder.
Ohta originally sang "Kimi to Aruita Seishun" in December 1976 as a track on her 5th album, "Juu-ni Page no Shishuu"（１２ページの詩集...12-Page Anthology of Poems） which peaked at No. 9 and became the 46th-ranked album of 1977. Then she did a self-cover of it in 1981 as part of her 15th album which had the same title as the song. It was even released as her 21st single in August 1981 which got as high as No. 80.
However, the Ohta cover led me to the very original version by Ise himself through his folk duo, Kaze（風）. This version sent up quite a few shivers up and down my spine, especially when the guitar and the strings appeared during the bridge. It's the equivalent of watching the most brilliant sunset from a high point somewhere. "Kimi to Aruita Seishun" was a track on Kaze's 3rd album, "Windless Blue" from November 1976. The album had a mix of adult contemporary, folk and soft rock songs with a hint of City Pop, according to the J-Wiki writeup. It peaked at No. 3 on Oricon and became the 17th-ranked album of 1977.
As for Kaze itself, it was formed in 1975 with Ise teaming up with Kazuhisa Okubo（大久保一久） of the folk group Neko（猫）. The duo lasted four years releasing 6 original singles and 5 albums.
This was another song from my old tapes. I hadn't known who was behind the vocals, so I was surprised to find out it was singer-songwriter Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）, since as a member of 70s bandKaguyahime（かぐや姫）, he was behind J-Folk classics such as "Nagori Yuki"(なごり雪) and "Kandagawa"(神田川).
Instead of folk, though, "Moonlight",his 2nd single as a solo artist, is a nice slice of urban contemporary with some sax and a bit of piano jazz near the end. As I listen to it, I don't envision living in a tiny dilapidated wooden apartment by the Kanda River....this is more lounging in a luxurious rooftop bar by the skyscrapers of West Shinjuku while swirling two fingers of Old Parr. And Ise seems to fit very comfortably in this genre judging from this song. It was also a track on his 2nd album, "Nagisa Yuku"(渚ゆく...To The Beach), a City Pop-themed release which came out in March 1981.
Ise wasn't the only one amongst his contemporaries to make a jump from Folk to City Pop. Iruka（イルカ） also dipped her toes into the genre at around the same time.
I have often thought that Iruka（イルカ） is one of the more underrated singers in Japan. Usually when she appears on TV somewhere, it's usually to perform "Nagori Yuki"（なごり雪）. That song is great, don't get me wrong on that. However, she has also had many other wonderful tunes in her repertoire.
"Kaigan Douri" (Seafront Street) is one of those songs. Written and composed by Shozo Ise（伊勢正三） of Kaguyahime（かぐや姫） fame for release in April 1979 as her 13th single, Iruka sings about some of the alternately sad/happy feelings a girl has on the titular street after a not-quite/failed love of her life has gotten on that ship heading for that sunset into a new life. I think the magic of this song is that it sounds old and new, folkie yet poppy at the same time. And the melody seems to carry a child-like innocence at the beginning, progressing to a certain maturity which I think is signified by that lovely horn at the end of the refrain. Life may not be fair but it can be educational.
And in the middle of all that is Iruka's wonderfully warm and slightly lived-in vocals. As those adjectives may hint at, her voice represents those comfy slippers or that nice bowl of soup, something I can imagine the singer cooking and offering up.
The song went only as high as No. 24 on Oricon, but it remains one of my little musical treasures in kayo kyoku.
Toronto's definitely got its Winter back. As I was coming home from a party last night, I was doused in a coat of the white stuff. Nice to see and feel although I may have different emotions about it if it continues for another couple of months.
Anyways, this brings me up to this profile on Iruka's（イルカ） "Nagori Yuki"(Winter's-End Snow). If there is a trademark song for this veteran folk/City Pop singer, this would be it. It's a slow contemplative song with Iruka's tender vocals making it even more poignant. I think any audience or listener would tend to reflexively give a wistful sigh on hearing this song. The group of teachers who were in charge of the graduating students in my junior high school during my stint on the JET Programme gave a performance of this song for the kids, and the kids bawled out like babies...even the judo team.
Iruka's version was released in November 1975 as her 8th single. It peaked at No. 4 and was the 11th-ranked song for 1976, selling about 800,000 records. It was also a track on her 3rd album, "Yume no Hito"（夢の人....Dream Person) also released in 1975.
Iruka's take on "Nagori Yuki" may arguably be the best-known cover of this classic folk song, but it wasn't the first. Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）, the composer and writer of the song, and his band, Kaguyahime（かぐや姫）, which was also behind one of the most well-known folk songs in Japan, "Kandagawa"（神田川....The Kanda River), was the original artist. As for the lyrics behind it, they talk of a bittersweet parting between boy and girl at a train station while some unseasonable snow is falling at the end of Winter. One of the great lines at the end of the chorus is: "Kyonen yori zutto kirei ni natta"（去年よりずっときれいになった....You've become even more beautiful than last year). Another interesting trait which distinguishes this original version is that whereas Iruka's version is soft and lilting throughout, Kaguyahime's "Nagori Yuki" has this rather triumphant trumpet part in the arrangement which might illustrate that although the parting is sad, there is also pride in the time that the two lovebirds had together.
The Kaguyahime original was never released as its own single, but was a track on the band's 4th album, "Sankai Tate no Uta"（三階建ての詩...Three-Floor Poem), released in March 1974. The album did very well, hitting the top spot and not only becoming the 5th-ranked albumof the year but also held in there to become the 27th-ranked album for 1975.
Since Iruka's cover version, lots of singers have covered the song from aidoru Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）to pop singer Ayaka Hirahara（平原綾香）.
Although the title is about the final snow of Winter, I still rather enjoy playing "Nagori Yuki" over the Holidays. And it's a song that I would recommend to anyone who's interested in kayo kyoku.
When I first started listening to "The Sounds of Japan" on CHIN-FM back in 1982, the first program I taped directly off the radio had the theme of rain. Junko Yagami's"Mizuiro no Ame"was the second song. But this was the first song I heard. Now, after having heard a lot of aidoru and technopop over the past year since my trip to Japan, "Ame no Monogatari" was a revelation. Iruka(イルカ） (nee Toshie Hosaka...保坂としえ) has this soft yet resonant delivery for her genre of folk and light pop. The bluesy electric guitar intro grabbed me right from the start which then led into the singer's tale from a man's point of view about his feelings for his lover during a rainstorm outside. And then the strings come in during the refrain which gives the song a further richer feeling. As you may tell, this song remains a special one for me.
"Ame no Monogatari" was released in March 1977, and peaked at No. 16, ending up at No. 34 in the yearly rankings. It was written and composed by Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）, a member of the most famous folk band in Japan, Kaguyahime（かぐや姫）, which was responsible for arguably one of the most recognized folk songs in the early 70s, "Kandagawa"（神田川）。
Iruka means "dolphin" in Japanese, and Hosaka earned it after some of her friends noticed her walking with her guitar case and thought that she looked like the animal. I guess I had to be there.
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